Wyoming Weather More Moodswings than I

We had our first snow. We had our first severe snow a few weeks later and now it's in the 70's. We should expect a cool down soon. I still need to get my web store up. I have a lot of things I should be doing. It will all get done. It was a very short fall. The freeze hit before the leaves could fall off so the trees look a little shaggy. But boy the animals are going crazy..we had 8 deer in the yard this afternoon all begging for candy and we are regularly visited by a flock of wild turkeys.

I am sort of in a fog... I haven't been sleeping well. I need to go to extremes to get some sleep. I have the window open a crack to let in fresh air and the sound of the creek. That doesn't seem to help. It's been weeks since I have had a decent nights sleep.

Halloween was a non issue. No parties, no celebrations no revelry. This was a weird year too. It had the same calendar as 2003. That meant I could mentally relive the events of the Cedar Fire and the evacuation and the losing everything. Of course even after the rebuild with this economy the house is gone.

This will be a very solemn Veterans day. I have friends stationed overseas and some on their way out to the front. I understand the need and I respect the job that our military does but I still am very protective of my friends. I don't want to lose any of them. We could not have our freedom if it wasn't for their hard work and dedication. I say prayers for you all.

I've been working a lot at the day job. My current project is to label documentation photos from a historic site. It's not as exciting as it sounds. But because I needed to be not disturbed to finish on time .. I worked from home. That was very nice.

So wish me luck in getting my web store up. I have some new pieces of jewelry and some nice yarn. I need to start spinning again. I need to start knitting again and I need to start pounding on metal and melting hot glass.I've been out of touch for 5 months held captive by a computer game. Wow now that would be a trip...sleeping and crafting again. Sleeping starts tonight. Crafting starts tomorrow.

It's snowing!!!

For those of you who know me snow is very special. We got our first snow this afternoon and of course I was in tears. Yay!!!!

Resting

I am home today with feet up and thermometer at my side. I've been feeling under the weather the past few days running a low grade fever. I promised myself I wouldn't go into work yesterday but I did and fell and hurt my knee and back so today.. I am not going to work. I am resting feet up downing aspirin for fever and pain. I'll probably go into the urgent care clinic later when Hubbins get home. I know I can drive there but i don't know what they will do to my knee so I don't know if I would be able to drive home. So better safe than sorry.

This would be a very good day to start a knitting project. Spinning is out of he question. I need to finish bagging and tagging my yarn for the sale on Saturday. Should get it in the mail too. Hopefully it will all find a home.

Fall is in full swing outside. Winter is right on it's tale. We are expecting the first snow in the basin this week. Samhain this year will be disjointed. I don't know what we'll do. Maybe have a sit down dinner and tell ghost stories or something. I don't think the usual festivities will go over well here. It's time to brew beer. The weather is nice and cool finally. Time also to over winter the hops and the rose and of course the indigo. I figure we'll plant spring bulbs on he leach field of the new septic tank which is finally hooked up.

Hey it's my stove!!! Just watching Kelsey Grammar on the Good Morning America plugging his new show "Hank". The clip they showed had an old stove in the scene that was identical to the one I left behind in San Diego at our Alpine house. Sigh. Well I have a whole new future before me.

Now it's time to do a little house cleaning.... as long as it's withing reach of my Lazyboy. Maybe noodle on the squeezebox and build some more on my Evony Cities. Oh yeah... and start a knitting project.

People are funny today's blog isn't tonight

I don't get people. Maybe that's why I live in the middle of nowhere and enjoy my peace and quiet. Not that I don't like some people. I do. And these past eight months were not very fun with all the isolation and loneliness and stress. I can't say that it almost broke my spirit because it totally did. Love and friendship are good glue to put the pieces back together.

This house helps a lot. It is structural Valium. It made saying goodbye to MY house easier. Wood on wood on wood and soft colors of red and green and the warm golden yellow of my office/craft room created from blood, sweat, and tears and dreams.
Sometimes I think my purpose in life is to have what I want taken away from me.

Must infuse some whimsy in my life. I think it's time to change the drive band on my wheel.

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

I had kind of a creepy day today. It was the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. I remember when I found out. I was at home working, and I had called a supervisor for a question and he broke the news about the first plane hitting the first tower. I Turned on my TV and watched with disbelief. While I was finishing up with my customer, the second plane hit the second tower. The world stopped and the rest is history. A moment we should never forget.

Fast forward to today. I woke up at 2:00am with a panic attack, which I rarely get anymore. It was a bad one. I was uncontrollabley shaking and my heart was beating out of my body. I was drenched in a feeling of sadness and dread and felt like I wanted to climb out of my skin. I could best describe it as the feeling of being on a roller coaster when you don't like roller coasters. The feeling of hurling through space with no control. This feeling lasted all day and into the night. It's calmed down a little thanks to my friends on the online game I play. They made me laugh (LOL) and made me forget how I was feeling for a while.

Now here I am 24 hours later still buzzing with unwanted energy. I picked up the new issue of Spin-Off (the magazine for hand spinners ... but if you didn't know that why are you reading my blog??) In the back there was an artical written by my favorite fiber author, Stephanie Pearl McPhee, about a friend of hers (Denny McMillan) who made her own personal souvenier of S.O.A.R. 2008 by gathering all of the wool left behind by the participants in the classes and the spin-ins. She ended up with several skeins of yarn and knit a couple of items including a neck warmer. Having attended that S.O.A.R., and taken Robin Russo's exotic fiber class, I had contributed to her project. I was always embarassed to leave at the end of the day with a large pile of fluff under my chair. After all this was an exotic fiber class and that stuff ain't cheap!! I'm glad that the fiber found a home and a purpose. I cried a little at the end looking back on my memories from last October. And looking forward to spending tomorrow uncovering my fiber stash that has been packed away for a few months as we move into our latest dwelling.

This house has been a Godsend. While not perfect and it would be nice to have the septic system working correctly, we really like it here. The sound of the creek is soothing and the trees and wildlife are ever entertaining. It is as relaxing as our house in California was. That is the best excuse for not being unpacked yet. But as of last weekend I started to set my shop up again to work on jewelery projects and felting projects and hopefully this weekend I can find my fiber and yarn and start my spinning and knitting projects.

I need to get my website back up and my web store and move that in a forward direction. Holiday shopping season is rapidly approching. It's time I caught that wave and rode it for all it's worth. And as winter approches, settle in for a while.

When Winter does arrive I will have plenty of time to spin and knit, plenty of time to shape metal and blow glass, and plenty of time to spend with my friends online building cities and conquering barbarian cities and laughing. However one of my online friends won't have all that time to spend with us. He will be in harms way defending Democracy on the other side of the world. Cleaning up what was started 8 years ago on a sunny September morning. My thoughts will be with you. God Speed and come home safely.

Story Days

Recently I moved to a little town called Story. Population 650 and I think a lot of those are seasonal residents. It's a cute town. EVERYONE wants to live here. We have a creek running along the property and the sound of the rushing water has lowered my blood pressure way down to where I am probably normal.

This weekend is Story Days. The whole town gets together and puts on a shindig. All of the locals do something. There is even a parade. Now if you live in a large metropolitan area and have the occasional parade you ain't seen nothin' like this! Although not as Norman Rockwell as the ones I saw in small town Wisconsin, this one was truly a delight.

It started before it started. First there was gunfire followed by sirens. Then some Civil War troops marched down the street.... then the sirens got louder and then they announced the parade.

First in line were the Fire department and rescue squad followed by the sheriff, highway patrol and National Guard. Thank goodness nothing ever happens here as all of the protection services were in the parade.

There were cowboys and Indians. There were Masons and Shriners (including the contingent in go carts weaving around in their Fezzes. There were clowns with pitchforks (yes clowns with weapons very scary) There was a few floats. I think the most confusing one was the kid in the wire pen and a guy in a chicken outfit dancing and there was a tipi on the back. There was a pipe and drum band and later on a lone piper. The local radio station had a boom box van playing classic rock and there was a showing from both the Big Horn Model A club and another classic car group who had not only the usual 1930's and 40's souped up cars but a large group of high end muscle cars squealing their wheels and revving up their engines plus a viper a prowler and several model years of corvettes and mustangs.

The whole thing was so cute I cried. Now my neighbors think I'm nuts.

Currently outside ...probably in front of my house is an Indian Dance performance.

And a fun highlight that I enjoyed was the kid who walked over to my fence and tried to dump trash nonchalantly on the ground. He saw me see him and he gave me the "what are you going to do about it" look. I gave him the "pick it up or I will jump this fence and rip your head off and use you as a garbage can" look. He picked it up and put it back in his pocket. Justice prevails.

Well as non social as I am, I am a prisoner in my home this weekend. The street is parked up with visitors and crowds of people. But I'm fine. I still have unpacking and cleaning to do.

Next year will be different. I want to enter my Lamb Tagine in the dutch oven cook off. I also want to set up a booth at the bazaar and sell some yarn and jewelry. Had I known about this a few weeks earlier I would have done it this year. Day late dollar short... story of my life.

I know I know it's been over a month!

So when I last blogged I was hopelessly addicted to a stupid computer game that was holding me captive. Well now I have 5 cities not one, I have prestige reaching 140000, I have been promoted to General and Earl. I'm still addicted but I can put the computer down.

Also since I last blogged the house we were living in sold so we had to find a place to live. Hubbins was out of town still (since March) I was freaking out and got totally depressed to the point of no longer functioning. It's been almost 20 years since I have been like that. Things turned around in the weirdest way.

I had put in an application for a house on a quiet street in town. I went to the grocery store to get some comfort food. As I was leaving the store I stopped at the gumball machines and put my 50 cents in for a Santo. Yes tiny plastic saint statues from vending machines. I received a Saint Jude. Patron Saint of hopeless causes. My next day at work I placed the little Santo on my computer monitor. Later in the morning I got a call from the potential landlord saying I didn't get the house. My boss's wife at that point, sent me a list of a few places for rent. One was already rented, one was too expensive, one was way too small and I called the third. The owner said it was a "very rustic" cabin in a cute little town. It took me three tries to find it. Once I found it I fell in love. We moved in this week.

It's right on the creek and I sleep like a rock and my blood pressure has gone down enough were I almost had silence one morning. My tenitis had quieted down to where it wasn't like walking through a field of cicadas.

Well Les Stroud is on Craig Ferguson tonight ... I will try to say awake an watch.

Back to basics

For the past week I have been held captive by stupid online computer game. The two weeks before that I was held captive by an even more stupid computer game. Today I am trying to get back on track. I started spinning again. I received my copy of Maggie Casey's new spinning DVD. It inspired me to get my wheel spinning. I must say my spinning is loftier and more even. I knitted up a sample with Polwarth and it's soft and lovely.

I put together a necklace last night. It is sterling silver bead and waxed linen thread. It's very delicate. I would do it again with heavier cord but it's very wearable.

I am going to spend a chunk of my day photographing my new pieces for my webstore and I really need to update my website. I really should finish that felted purse and get that up on the store.

If I can stay off the computer and stay awake.

Well yes it snowed

This past weekend, I saw more of my new state than I had before. Previously I had seen Yellowstone,and out east to Cody. On the way out here from California, we saw the road from Evanston to Casper and up to Buffalo and from Buffalo to Sheridan. Last week I had to drive out to Gillette with my boss and that expanded my horizons a little. I also drove up to Billings, Montana which took me through Ranchester. This weekend we went through Gillette and all the way to Devils Tower. That was cool. Made me crave mashed potatoes. This means something!

Sunday the weather forecast was for fun, a.k.a. snow. So we loaded up the car and drove over the mountain to Winchester, a little town south west of Worland has my name all over it. It's funny, my sister says they aren't relatives, however we do have relatives in the Neighboring town of Worland. We went looking for the Cemetery but couldn't find it so we turned around and went home. Maybe next time we'll go north and go to Medicine Lodge Archaeological park or maybe down south a little more to Thermopolis. Eventually I want to see the whole state.

On the fiber front, I finished the first of the Woodsy socks. I'll start the send one after dinner ... after I harvest my crops on Farm Town (a facebook app) I am not addicted to Farm town.. I know because I took the "Are you addicted to Farm Town" quiz.

June 07,2009 The weather report said snow

Snow? Snow!! We drove to Devils Tower today and looked around. We hiked a little on the trails, hung out with the prairie dogs and got rained on. I took some great pictures of everything from trees and rocks to prairie dogs and wild turkeys. Tomorrow we are going out to Winchester (just past Worland) to visit the family cemetery. I think I'll knit in the evening. I want to finish the first of the Woodsy socks. I am doing the gusset so it's not really that much to go!

A quick update

I am still knitting the first sock of the Woodsy socks. I haven't done much because I have been held captive in facebook. It's more than an social networking site- its got to be a scientific experiment and it's like a 2nd job. Between that and twitter and my blog I haven't had time. To do anything. I need to catch up with my Etsy site.

I had an adventure at work today. I got my lesson in Coal Bed Methane wells and local geology.

Finally a Man vs Wild worth watching. But it took Will Ferrel to do it.

Back to knitting

Survived another week

My Hubbins comes home today. He missed his first plane and will be in later than expected. No biggie, Custer Battlefield will be there. I can mail order my beer supplies and I really didn't need to spend any money at Cost Plus World Market.
I started updating my Ravelry page. I had just finished one pair of socks and started the next. Knitting eases the symptoms of my OCD - which isn't really OCD it has another term but whatever. I like knitting socks anyway. But like I was saying I was updating my Ravelry page when I noticed I am so far behind on documenting my stash!! I need a day with a lights, camera, yarn! I also have several projects that need photographing and posting.

I need time to spin too. I got that dark grey bump of Mountain Meadows Merino roving. Great stuff! At least the natural white is. I haven't spun any of the dark gray but i am expecting it to be the same or better.

I need to find a local farm supply where I can get some 500cc syringes to mix dye liquor with. I have all of those lovely Knit Picks sock yarn blanks waiting to be hand dyed.

Well I need to finish up a few things before setting out for Billings. It's 167 miles at about 2 1/2 hour drive. I need to stock up on 5 hour energy and Good-n-Plentys- my road food of choice.

Taking the morning off

My Boss at the job said there was noting to do till late afternoon. I'm taking the morning off to catch up on a few things and get the house ready for Hubbins to return. I have knitting and spinning projects all over the livingroom. It won't take that long to wrangle them in - it just needs to get done.

I have almost finished the second sock ... it should have been done on Sunday or Monday but I picked up my computer and tweeted and played on facebook and I think I even blogged once or twice. Now here is the twist. Am I putting off housework to knit? Or putting off knitting to do housework? I think it's a standoff!!!

I get to go to the big city on Saturday. Going to Billings Montana. Population 100,000. That's 20% of the entire state of Wyoming- in one place! I haven't seen that many people in six months. I'm stopping off at the homebrew supply to get some ingredients for a wheat beer. The brown ale went well. I may stop off at Cost Plus World Market for some culture. Maybe a bookstore (totally jonesing)

OK enough stalling ... I need to get my housework on!

One more thing... down a total of 8 pounds!

Hell bent on breaking the sock curse

As you may know I have been hexed with a sock curse. If I am knitting a sock and speak of it, the sock does not get finished. I stared a pair last night around 9:00pm and was finished the first one by 11:pm tonight. I had an inch done on the 2nd one by Midnight. I will continue working on it tomorrow. Picture to follow

I had so much fun I forgot to take photos

That's nothing new. That's my usual MO. I went to the woolen mill to spin today. I met the resident crafter, Monna, who is a really sweet lady. We talked about spinning and weaving and felting and essential oils and beads... she sorted and weighed skeins and I spun. The name of the mill is Mountain Meadows. It's located in Buffalo, Wyoming. Just like me. They process local Wyoming raised fleeces into wonderful roving and yarn. They currently have two grades of yarn worsted and bulky and they are working on a sock yarn next. It's really fun fiber to work with. If you spin fine my advice is to pre-draft. It takes dye well and is super sproingy! A lot like CVM. It's a Merino wool but not super over selected uberfine micron. It's great homegrown wool that gives back to the sheep raising community. 10% of the sales go back to the growers. And have I said how pearly and luminous it is when spun up and knit?

I have been making - sorry, designing jewelry lately. I have worked up a couple of prototypes for a ring and a locket and for my spinning accessory kit a wraps per inch guide. I might get gutsy this weekend and experiment with my drill and see if I can make a needle gauge. That would be cool. I can make a fine gauge/ sock needle model and one for medium project size. Come on! Large needles are billboards of their size, the brand, where they were made, what they were made of, website info and a google map to the shop you bought it at. You don't need a gauge for those size 19s!

I need to pick up the needles and knit. My colorful basket of sock yarns from Knit Picks has stopped me dead. I know if I were to take an afternoon and pick up the needles and study the chart, I would get a move on and break the curse. Yes it's the sock knitting curse again.

On a personal note I finally started the diet up again 3/4 assed (not 100% and better than half assed) and I have lost 5 lbs! I used to weigh a lot. I lost 71 pounds then over the past few months I gained back 38 pounds (yeah I know- I'm so ashamed and feel like a beached whale) I am trying to kick the sugar habbit and up my exercise ratio. I hate making diet goals - that's gotten me into trouble before. But ever since I started this program I decided if have a bad eating day I can start fresh the next say. If you don't beat yourself up you are more likely to stick with it. Anyhoo I need to up my exercise and water intake.

I have also made a big effort to sleep more. On that note I'm going to bed.

Nightie night

Update time

Ok I apologize for ignoring my blog for so long. I got caught up in the twitter world. Only having to type 140 characters is very inviting, plus I can do it from my phone.
In the meantime, April is done and so is my sale. I have gone back into my studio and have been designing jewelry. I have fabricated two more spiral charm holders, one in a smaller gauge than my usual one. I also have created a several pair of earrings. They will be posted on my Etsy site this weekend.
The weather is getting warmer. I might have to do some dying. Bring a little color into the world.

Setting Goals Are Important

We're expecting a foot of snow. Hubbins is out of town and I'm home all alone. Yeah I know sounds pathetic but I have stuff to keep me going. I found all of my tax stuff so I can file my Property Tax, State and Federal Income tax, Sales/Use tax for the two business' I am closing and the first quarterly tax for the new business in Wyoming. I feel like a total accountant. Well I hope that I am busy filing hefty quarterly use tax reports for the State of Wyoming this year.

As for my crafting goals I am going to photograph some new things for the Etsy store. I also am finally going to put together a few of my knitting accessory kits. They contain stitch markers, yarn needles, point protectors, a stitch counter and a stitch holder all in an attractive container.

On the wheel I am going to finish off the churro. I am thinking of felting up some bunnies as Easter is approaching rapidly. Mother's day is sneaking up on us too. It's not a holiday we celebrate anymore. We ran out of Mothers and Grandmas and I don't have any kids to claim so it's just another Sunday for us, but I will have some very special items for Mother's Day.

Beltane is also approaching. I will have some Goddess items that are a little different from my usual faire. I am definitely evolving. Speaking of revolving, I will be running an Earth Day special on Whirled Peas malas. The non-denominational prayer/meditation bead bracelet to help you focus on happy productive thoughts. You can help direct change by focusing with deliberate intent. If you don't believe me ask Hubbins about the four big horn sheep in Yellowstone last year. He'll tell you!

Maybe I'll get the hotpot out and fire up some PMC. I made a sea urchin texture stamp today. I want to try that out. I also have a neat sheep brooch idea. I could get out the Pysanky tools and do a few eggs as gifts. I don't want to go overboard with that like usual. What ever I do I'll take lots of pictures!!

Sale Sale Sale

Did I mention I am having a sale? Did I mention I'm on Twitter? Did I mention I am official in Wyoming now?

It's tax season. This weekend I have six sets of taxes to do. I feel like I'm an accountant. After taxes (and paying bills) I think I will work on jewelry. Maybe spin a little. I'll be snowed in anyway.

Perfect Weather for sitting and spinning

It's cold outside and snowing. We're supposed to get 5-6 inches tonight and another 9-15 inches tomorrow with more snow possible on Tuesday and Wednesday. I have a room full of fleece and three spinning wheels to spin on. Sounds like a party. Of course I don't know any spinners in my general vacinity. I need to infect some locals with the fiber addiction. I'd settle for a knitting circle or a stitch and bitch. There's a good chance that there won't be a lot of people in the office tomorrow. I need to send in my time sheet and monthly accounting. I need to be there to answer the phones to tell people we are snowed out.

Maybe I can compromise and bring a spinning wheel to work. Naw, that's not productive.

Gearing up for some Crafty Fun

Things to play with: I got my sheet of copper and copper tubing. I cut my rivets last week and hopefully I can get my etching solution. I received my glass tube to blow last week and I have my felting projects ready to go. Oh yes and the hotpot fuel for the PMC projects.

My sale in my Etsy store starts Wednesday. 30% off anything in the store. I am going to get everything packaged and ready to ship so that I can give my customers a speedy delivery. I always send an extra gift with each order. I need to get those done. Maybe I'll launch a new banner and homepage for the website too. Sounds ambitious and it is!

I need to focus.

Bearing the torch

Well I got my torches up and running today. I tried out my soldering torch and made a bezel. I tried out a new fire scale preventor. It worked great. I also got the glass torch set up. I made a few beads. That's progress in getting the shop up and running. I am anxiously awaiting my kiln to arrive from San Diego. It's looking like May or June. I'll have to stick PMC silver until then, using my torch or hot pot to fire my goodies.

I designed a few new pieces. They are still just demons in my head but I have put a few on paper. I'm thinking of a long weekend or two to get them out. They should be some pretty awesome pieces.

I am playing with cold connections. I spent part of my morning checking gauge of wire and size of hole and made a bunch of rivets. I'm pretty pleased with myself. I have to get some copper sheet to play with. There's a bracelet trying to bust it's way out of my creative box.

My sea urchins arrived. They will make really cool textures for PMC. I'm going to make a mold of them so that I can get a positive image. I am excited!!

My socks from the toe up is starting slow. I have the toe done, that's the hard part. I just needed to find the packing tape to fortify my pattern print out so that I can take it with me on the road. You know like if we get snowed in. Don't laugh. It might be spring everywhere else but we are expecting a blizzard tomorrow. They say we might get 8 to 18 inches depending on the weather report. I'm thinking of bringing the s'more maker to work to raise some spirits.

If you haven't heard, starting April first everything in my Etsy store is 30% off. April is my birthday and I wanted to share it with everybody. So If you have been ogling that special yarn or jewelry piece it's the time to buy. Don't forget Mother's Day is coming up. Get mom a special gift. I do custom work - "convo" me in Alchemy. I'll make you something special.

Spring is almost here

Spring is almost here and the weather is warming up. It's actually above freezing. For the few and the proud that follow my twitter I've been posting temperatures outside. Mostly in the single and negative digits.

I finished my latest pair of socks. I got the yarn on the way from San Diego to Wyoming. The first night we stopped in Las Vegas. They came out very lovely but had a few issues that I will find out if they were an isolated incident or a problem with the manufacturer. I have two more skeins to knit up

I am still thinking about craft faires and getting the word out that I teach classes. I made a sample piece of jewelry that shows three techniques I will be teaching. It felt good to be making jewelry again. I also ordered the supplies for witch balls (blown glass ornament style balls) I can't wait to start that project. Those will be up on my Etsy site.

Speaking of my Etsy site. I will be running a spring sale soon. It's time to move some merchandise. I have my list of classes I will be posting them soon.

New Projects

Well I spent a good part of Sunday putting my shop together. I am still missing a few key pieces but that will work itself out. I have found a huge chunk of my books and inspiration is hovering above me. I must rise and meet it face to face.

I am a lot like a raven or a magpie. I get distracted by shiney objects. Which makes being a crafter interesting, especially when you make jewelry. I have a few jewelry demons starting to bubble up from the depths. My major issue is that they are PMC demons. My kiln is 1200 miles away and I'm out of Hot Pot fuel. I hear you, why not just use generic gel fuel? I tried that several months ago and I didn't like the results. I might have to buck up and get my torch going. I have fuel. I have a brand spanking new charcoal block and even a rotating firing surface. I even have PMC. Sounds like a plan.

Speaking of plans, I have an opportunity to get my name out. The local Chamber of Commerce is having a Small Business Expo in two weeks. I need literature, examples and my DBA and resale. The DBA is proving to be the most difficult. I have support here though. The devine Ms. K is urging me to start teaching. She's eager to learn. I am so glad that I have found crafty people out here.

I've started a new knitting project. I've finished my last one this week, another pair of socks. They are the best fitting yet. I also signed myself up for a sock torture experiment. Not really, but I did buy into the Knit Picks 12 months of socks. All of the yarns ar beautiful and the patterns are gorgeous! My main issue is they are all knit from the toe up. I don't do those. I hate the cast on. I am though going to become an expert. I have 12 pair or 24 socks to get good. I will be very good and I am always up for a challenge.

Well it's time to cast on some zzzzzz and get to sleep.

Damn You KnitPicks!

I love to knit. One of my favorite things to knit is socks. This evening I opened my email up and there is the most recent sales mails from KnitPicks taunting me with their new sock yarns. The email asked me to choose between the "Spring/Summer" collection and the "Fall/Winter" collection. Choose?? I have to choose? I can't make life altering decisions like that! In protest I refused to decide between the two yarn collections an purchased one of each. There! That showed them! Anyway it was a bargain. The balls of yarn came out to about $4.50 each which is very very reasonable and that makes it $9.00 a pair. That's even reasonable.

Let's see. We have some catching up to do. I got back from Tucson and went right back to work. I seem to be getting better at my job. That makes me feel better. I hate not knowing what to do. At the home base I have been setting up my workshop. I also have had requests for classes. That in itself is exciting. I need to clean out the front studio as it is much warmer than my workshop. I could hold classes in the dining room but that's not professional. I really am craving my kiln since Tucson. I purchased all the goodies for PMC Bronze. I got to speak to the Rio Grande people and they showed me an example of things to come. This year we anxiously await PMC Copper!!! OOOOOOOh baby! That's gonna be great!

Tucson was a very interesting experience this year. It was definitely an exchange of ideas. We stopped off at the Art Clay World room and actually gave THEM some tips on using photo polymer plates. For those of you who use pad printers will be very familiar with these. And if you make photo positives with your laser printer and use products like "Ultimate Black" you already have the tools to make really great impressions.

I have a new appreciation for soldering and welding. I already have my tanks of gas and new soldering blocks ready to go. I just need to clean up my bench. Hubbins has been a real doll helping me get organized. He put up peg board and shelves above my work bench. He also let me indulge in two new tool boxes at the show. One is a mini Jewelry bench. Speaking of Jewelers benches we found a perfect solid wood desk at the local resale store up in Sheridan that was only $55! What a steal! then they gave it to us for half price. Awesome!

I will post my class schedule online as well as a list of projects and supplies as soon as I am ready.
Well Letterman is on. While it's on an hour earlier than it was in California and I for some reason can't seem to stay up late like I used to. I'm a 10-6 sleeper now a days. No more 2am-7am as was my usual. Thank goodness for DVRs or I would never see Craig Ferguson!

The best layed plans...

Once again at the mercy of technology. It's Sunday, day five of the Tucson Gem Show and I finally have Internet! It's not for lack of trying. At one point I tried to post from my phone. I got onto blogger. I even logged in and typed out a post feverishly wielding my stylus, but when it came down to pushing the post button? The post button wasn't active. But enough of failures,I have seen so many wonderful things and met so many wonderful people. Where do I start.

If you've never done Tucson during the Gem and Mineral Show season it's wacky. Every convention hall, hotel, motel, city park, and vacant lot is filled with dealers from all over the world peddling their wholesale gems, minerals, fossils and beads and everything else you can think would go with it. Last year was our first year and it was overwhelming. This year we came with a shopping list, a map of shows, and a game plan.

Our first stop was by chance but it was on my hit list. Deep in the heart of the Tucson year round gem and mineral district was the Madagascar Minerals and Gems Show. We encountered a dealer of mineral specimens and fossils who could win a sales award. He redefined not taking no for an answer. He was there to bargain. We started out looking at a pair of earring sized Ammonites and wound up walking out of there with a flat of them (50 pairs) a stone dinner plate with fossils in it (not sure how we only got away with buying one) and this bowl that had fossil critters arranged in them artistically. It isn't natural but it's awesome. We had dropped some serious dough but it was a very good bargain which we found out a few days later.

From there we went to the Manning House Bead Show. A very different show than last year but they had some cool dealers. The ladies from Goddess were there(they have boothes at several of the venues). I made a few purchases and we pressed on to the next show. I was taking classes at the Manning House and would be back later in the week.

Not all shows start on the same day,which is nice because it spreads it out over a few weeks but confusing if you don't look at the schedule before walking into a venue. I mention this so that you don't make the same mistake we did. We tried to go to our next show one day early. They weren't set up yet. So we pressed on.

Next on the tour was the Renaissance Bead Show. A very small show filled with some gem and bead dealers there was one with felting supplies and there was a lot of worked glass. There were glass beads, lampwork and fused glass.

We met two ladies manning a booth that sold hand painted glass beads from Ghana. It was a charitable organization called Nyame Adom Foundation of America which assists orphaned children in Ghana to be self sustaining. One of their ventures is making hand painted glass beads that are then sold through a website. The sales from the beads goes to food clothing, medicine, education and more supplies to make the beads. You can find more information on their website at www.beadtofeed.org. 100% of the proceeds goes to the orphans.

More to come... I have to go out and do more shows!!

Out of the icebox into the frying pan

I have lived in Wyoming now for three weeks. I have seen snow and ice. Tomorrow I am going to Tucson for the big gem and mineral show. I have not rubbed it in to my chilly breathren and I feel guilty for going on vacation only three weeks into a new job but hey - it's a business trip.

I have a jam packed week filled with classes, meeting with wholesalers, shopping, and rubbing elbows with the uber creative artsy crowd. I am looking forward to getting touchy-feely with the tools at the Rio Grande Catalog in Motion, running my fingers through all of the hanks of beads at J.O.G.S. and hunting for bargains at Electric Park and seeing what's hot at the Manning House and to bead true blue. I made some friends last year and hope to see my friends at Goddess and Vintaj. They are the Reeses peanut butter cups of the hand made jewelry artist set. Put Vintaj dragonfly on a Goddess leaf and voila! Art!

Also on the docket is the Steve Poltz show my first night at Club Congress. He is backed up by the duo who call themselves the Cynics. I know them as Christopher Hoffee and Patrick Dennis formerly known as the Truckee Brothers. Friends from my days in San Diego which all seem so long a go. Sunday I will have been gone for a month.

Well I know it's not 1:30 and Craig Ferguson is not on the Tele but I have a plane to catch in about 9 hours and I still have to pack!! I will be attempting to live blog from the show so say tuned!!

The Tragety Of Living in the digital age

I just got my internet back. It was gone for a week. Thank goodness I don't have time to surf because I am still unpacking. The Tucson Gem show is coming up quick so I won't have time to blog much but I will try live blogging from the gem show. I wanted to do that from SOAR but I was overwhelmed. We will have to wait and see,

Week one

So here is it the end of week one. I like the new job but am still terrified of it. Once I get in the groove I'll be fine. We drove up to Sheridan for shopping for essentials again. Todays count was 6 bald Eagles 4 golden eagles, about a dozen hawks about a dozen deer a huge herd of antelopes and a bobcat. I love Wyoming.

We went looking for the rumored home brew supply. It was supposed to be in the neighborhood we were going to be in anyway. It was gone. The good news is the fiber shop is accross the street from the grocery store. They are very nice there. The fiber, while not diverse is very yummy. I restrained myself and only purchased just short of a pound of alpaca and some beautifully dyed tussah silk. I also purchased some needles (some eboney US1 dpn, US 8 Brittany, and some US 1 circular speed needles) and some yarn ( fuzzy jeweltone mohair to attempt that scarf AGAIN!!!)and Hubbins added a few other items to the bill like a sheep ornament, an eyeglass case, and some point protectors. I could hang out there.

I can't wait to get my stuff. Our live has been on that moving truck for going on two weeks. We have officially paid them (stopping to check the bank account to see if the charge cleared- not yet maybe by Tuesday)We could really use comfortable furnature.

Tomorrow is organizaton day. We are going to hang up clothes and maybe do some laundry and decide where we want things to go. Also on our list is to split the cable in the basement and run a 2nd line to an existing hole to move the MTA (the box that runs our digital telephone) to where is can connect into the whole house phone system. That would be lovely having a phone in more than one location.

It's late and time to get to bed. The weather is supposed to be fine until Thursday when we are expecting more snow. Oh joy.

Check off another new experience

Today was the first day of the new job. I'm kind of in free fall there. I'm pretty much the go to person for everything. I don't know what "everything" is yet but it seems to be just that, everything. I'm their Girl Friday, the hub of their communications network. I have a lot of stuff to learn. I don't even know what I don't know that I need to know. Time to make a "how to " manual as I go.

On the fiber front, I have decided to frogg the second half of my project. It has three problems. The first is a dropped stitch about a half an inch into the second half of the project. That was surmountable. A few inches later I skipped a needle which left several inches of hanging yarn on the inside of the project then there was the two needles dropping out while we were on the road. It's time to frogg it.

I started jonesing for spinning today. I have my travel wheel here and about 4oz of fiber (2oz Llama and 2 oz Alpaca) That should take me about an hour to spin up. I was going to play with it today but I took a nap this evening. They said on the news this evening sleep is good for you. It supposed to help prevent colds and help keep weight off.

It snowed today. I was expecting it. Everyone else seemed to be surprised. Don't they watch the weather channel?? I expect more snow on Wednesday/Thursday. I've put people on notice about it. Hopefully they will be less surprised.

Hubbins procrastinated in putting the snow thrower together. I paid the price this morning. It's still not running so we will be trudging through the snow out to the car tomorrow morning. I need to put together a snow maintenance manual for him. Although I should talk, you don't see me out there with a shovel!

I know it's early but I'm headed to bed. Things happen an hour earlier in Mountain time.... even sleep!

Well...we're here

Just arrived in the new town, numb. Numb from driving three hard days on the road. Numb from the reality of "this isn't a vacation road trip" it's a one way trip to a new life. There are a few other things that are numbing me but I don't get into the bad things here. It's very blustery outside, but not that cold. There is still some ice on the walkways but no biggie. I have some road stories to tell.

First... even before we left. The moving truck didn't have enough room for all of our stuff. So we tried to pack as much of it as we could but didn't even come close. The idea of getting a UHAUL trailer came up and for the first few attempts was shot down. I finally gave in and then they came up with an idea. build a 2ND story onto the pick up bed. We were a rocking chair with Granny short of a Tennessee style move. My car was packed to the gills to. So our 9am exit strategy turned into a 5pm slink out of town.

The first leg of the journey was uneventful - 6 hours to Las Vegas. This was going to be a piece of cake. When we got to our timeshare we had no Internet and we were both too tired to call and complain so we suffered in silence. The next morning we headed out to breakfast and to gas up the vehicles and to find some needle stitch holders because my knitting had fallen off of two of 4 needles. That was not very pleasant. We found some places listed in the phone book and one sounded interesting and it was just down the street sort of from where we were staying. It turned out to be a really cute knit/spin/weave shop that had some great yarn and some fiber and books. So I got my point protectors, 2 oz of Alpaca fiber, three really cool balls of sock yarn, the book "A History of Hand Knitting", the two last issues of Interweave Knits and the 2009-2010 listing of fiber shops nationwide, now in a new compact format. Then we headed down the road for the 2ND leg of our journey.

The next leg took us from Las Vegas through the Nevada desert to the town of Midway Utah, where we have another timeshare to stay at. Hubbins missed the sign warning of the avalanche danger. I got to drive through it with full knowledge of impending doom which didn't make me feel very comfortable as I don't like driving in the dark, I don't like driving in icy conditions and I don't like avalanches. Well I could enjoy watching one as long as I wasn't in it and no one else got hurt. But here I was driving in the dark on icy roads through avalanche country. Once we got to where we were staying all I wanted to do was fondle my new fiber page through my new magazines and relax. That didn't last long... it was time for bed. Had I known there was a whirlpool tub in the master bath I would have done that. I didn't find that out until morning. As I was making my last rounds before I left. Note to self: Next time check the whole place out before settling in.

The last leg of our journey took us through the rest of Utah and into Wyoming. There was this one section of highway in Utah where we went through this pass that I can only describe as I have never in my 45 years felt so tiny and insignificant. It was awe inspiring. The rest of the trip was OK, parts were long and tedious. I am glad to be here but I miss my house and all of what I left behind. This has happened so fast my mind can't comprehend it all yet. At least I have Hubbins with me this time. Last time I did something like this I did it on my own. I was OK then and I will be OK this time too. But we'll have to discuss the new house...we at least have six months to figure that out.

Countdown: three days till I start my new job. Not sure when my stuff will arrive on the moving truck. Cable gets installed tomorrow. New life is officially underway.

Busy busy busy!!

Well the house is almost packed up I am still only a little more than halfway through of one knitting project and started a second today. I found my abandoned ball of silky wool conveniently next to my lace pattern. I got all the way through one round of instructions. I don't have a comfortable place to knit today because my father showed up to pick up the home theatre seating we were donating to him. No place to sit so once we got home from setting it up for him we disassembled the home theatre. So now it's basic cable on the tiny TV in the bedroom. I shouldn't complain, there are wars and starving people and global warming!!

There are 8 days until I start the new job. I'm a little nervous about missing the magic paperwork window. It's one of those has to be filled out and filed with the pee test within three days. We told them to send it to the office but we won't be in town until at least Thursday. I almost hope it comes Monday especially since we leave Tuesday.

Hubbins gave me another Yuletide gifty today. It was a beginners book of enameling. Yeah baby it's cool! I drooled on it for a while and started making mental lists of tools and ingredients needed. I have had some really interesting projects planned for enameling. I purchased a tiny piece of enamel jewelry when I was probably 11 or 12 years old and was fascinated by it. It was a forest scene and the artist's name was Maki I think. I think enamel and PMC are very interesting medium to design in plus you can do enamel on PMC. Yes the kiln is going in the car and is already packed. We were out running errands last week or so and happened to drive by a chefs supply store. I picked up three sizes of lidded stainless steel pans (like fast food restaurants use for ingredients like pickles and tomatoes. They are for firing PMC bronze which needs to be done emerged in charcoal to come out correctly. I've had great plans for PMC bronze, even before it was invented.

Well I had better cut it short tonight,if it were a week night Ferguson would be on the TV. I want to knit a bit before I crash out.

I'm off to a great start

Most people start the new year making resolutions. Things like lose 10 pounds or stop smoking or give more to charity. I don't do that anymore. I tend to break them. In fact I think last year my resolution was to blog once a day. While I did better than last year, my 365 days of crafting didn't happen. I even abandoned that blog when I started this one. Nope but even without setting a resolution I did what a lot of people aspire to do. I lost weight. On a lark I weighed myself before I went to bed and on the way up i drank a liter of water. I was more than a bit puffy from too much sodium and like magic I was still a bit puffy but when I weighed in when I got up I was seven pounds lighter. So if I could do that every day (lose 7 pounds or even lose just one pound) I would be at my target weight (if I lost a pound a day ) sometime in mid July.

The house is almost packed. We figured out what to do with the trophy heads. We carefully packed them two in a box with lots of stuffing. We are going to top them off with some packing peanuts tomorrow. We have to finish the tool shed and all outside stuff tomorrow before the rain hits on Saturday. We might be totally done by tomorrow night which would give up a few days of nothing to do. Hubbins didn't even argue when I suggested a dry run with packing the personal vehicles. We would hate to send the truck off with everything and hope to get everything else in the car and truck only to find something didn't fit. That would suck. We will be prepared. We even decided which route to take and hopefully which hotels to stay at.

I didn't get much knitting done today. For most of the day I was missing my fifth needle. I found it then got distracted. I think I'll set a goal of getting to the next change on my pattern that should only be in about a dozen rows. If we finish packing the house early I can finish my project.

Speaking of crafts, I saw an infomercial today for this really cool craft tool. It's the Cricut Expression. It's a friggin' vinyl cutter! You can make rubber stamps! It cuts chipboard!! You can make stencils for painting and even glass etching! It's really cool! I told Hubbins that I wanted it for my birthday. We shall see. It could be a banner year in the gift department. If I reach my next weight goal I get the Nintendo Wii Fit, and on my birthday the Cricut Expressions.

Yesterday I alluded to my next great craft project. It's starts with a sad story that you probably have already heard. In 2003 Southern California had the worst wild fire in the state's history. In it we lost everything. Now for the cool part. I had a reproduction phrenology head in my collection of stuff. On the bad side it was destroyed. On the cool side most of the face is intact and big portions of the cranium are intact. Ceramic objects with cool designs or writing make cool jewelry when cut to size and embellished. I have a whole bunch of pieces that are going to make really neat art pieces or jewelry. It's kind of a weird thing that we kept three large trash cans filled with glass, ceramic and metal. We at one time had gone through the remains of the house and saved so much stuff. It was going to be an art project like a mosaic but like everything else with the house was a future project.Since we are moving everything in our life those parts (mostly) are not coming with us. 99% of those mementos are going away. Going through it was painful and in some cases it was a "what was I thinking when I saved that?" moment.


4 days before the big move.
10 days until I start my new job.
Ferguson is on the TV- again.
it's time for bed.

Happy New Year

Here it is 12:05 and the new year has just rung in. Why am I on the confounded computer blogging? Hubbins went to bed about an hour ago. I can't do any packing I am officially more than half way done with my knitting project (it's coming along nicely thanks for asking) and I didn't go to bed last night. I am seriously thinking about going to sleep. In my bed. Horizontally configured. I have a big day tomorrow.

I did a box count and got the measurements of the furniture and called up that third moving company. They gave us a good bid and promised a smooth move and we think the third time is the charm. We are scheduled to be loaded on Monday. That gives us Thursday, Friday and Saturday to finish up and organize our lives. The deciding factor was the 30 days free storage if needed. That gives us the luxury of maybe having them load up, we can give it a once over to clean and then take off the next day headed north. We are seriously considering buying extra insurance for protection. I have read too many horror stories on the Internet about moving companies.

My new company had to reissue the offer letter and I will probably have to take the drug test again (I can pass one of those any day of the week) and I would start the following Monday. Have I mentioned lately that 2009 is all about the new? Let's take inventory again. New Year, new home in a new town in a new state with a new job for a new company and I will be wearing new clothes if everything I bought in the past month still fits. Stress+Holidays+lack of sleep+careless living=extra pounds on the middle. My old clothes still are too big and once I get settled it will come off again plus more.

Part of my personal bailout plan is to invest in some exercise equipment. Something versatile and unisex, like a BowFlex. I can pay for most of it with AMEX points, or maybe the whole thing when I pay off Amex. I will be motivated by adding a pounds lost to my blog. Maybe something like pounds of fleece washed spun or dyed and number of pounds shed. I am sort of toying with getting a 2nd piece of equipment like the Bowflex stair climber. I could be doing my 20 minutes three times a week on one machine while Hubbins does his on the other and then we can switch. It would be nice to have more energy and less bulk and maybe by Spring a spring in my step. And stamina to walk all over the place to all those fun historic place we are surrounded by. Since I probably won't be going to Disneyland when I reach that next X99lbs mark I will have to think of something fun to do. I know! I can get a Nintendo Wii fit! Tomorrows goal is to drink a whole bunch of water and flush out all the salt that has me puffed up tonight. I'll weigh in and start "fresh".

Tomorrow I will tell you all about my future art/ jewelry project. Remind me also to tell you about the fun Power of Attraction stuff that has been happening. If I hadn't mentioned it before I am one of those. No, not Oprah fanatics, but followers of the Power of Attraction philosophy. I have some fun storied of things that have happened. More of that later. Right now while the Craig Ferguson theme plays in the background I am switching off the Tele and going to sleep. My motto for this year is "Back in line in 2009" which includes financial stability, sleeping during normal sleeping hours, the bathroom scale going in the decreasing direction, more craft work and making money at it. And learning how to interact with people in person again.

OK step 1 TV off (check)
step 2 drink some water (to get the sodium flush started) (check)
step 3 going to bed and getting 8 hours sleep ..... Ferguson's show is a re-run anyway.