Christmas Takes Longer And Longer Every Year

Christmas used to be on December 25th. Now it seems to start the week before. Nobody seems to be in the keep office, those in the office seem to have other things on their minds. Not me, I am here with the same dedication I always have.
I think instead of a New Years resolution, I think I am going to make a checklist of things no to get done.I am pretty good at checklists. Yeah checklists, calendar reminders, and th tasks, that's way to go.
With this new trick phone I think I can stay on top of things. Let keys see how fast procrastination.
One of the top things on my list is to get knitting again. And to start photographing my craftwork and getting it onine. I have a friend that makes hats who wants me to make custom hat pins for his business. That would be fun and expand my horizons as a jewelry artist. Next year is going to be all about expanding my craft .
So the rest of this year I will be setting things up for a smooth transition. I would love to start things off smoothly.

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A bigger digital life

I got a new phone and the technology is amazing. This thing can do more than my current laptop.This will make it easier to stay in touch with family and friends as well as keeping my business growing. This post alone is a step up from my blackberry. I can seven stream live video from remote locations like fiber festivals and even from the middle of a trout stream! With a decent camera attached, I should be able to bring back the content. As with anything I need to to keep the motivation going. Most importantly, I need to learn to use this blasted thing.

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It's that time of year..it's the Tour de Fleece

Day 2 Estes Park Oddessy

It started out as a beautiful day .. sun shining and all that. I picked up breaky at Mickey D's and headed off to the fairgrounds to check out the Wool Market. I had forgetton that classes were on Thursday and Friday but the actual Wool Market didn't start until Saturday. That's OK I had to drive down the hill to take care of some business.
The Drive down the mountain was absolutley gorgeous!! I WANNA FISH THE BIG THOMPSON! I don't have a font big enough to express that. There were fly fisherman everywhere!! They all looked like they were having a blast. And me here without my rod! =Sigh= oh well... next time!

On the way back up the mountain I stopped by a local rock shop and looked at the goodies. I got into a conversation with the owner who had some tourmaline from Pala. We traded some rock stories and some Tucson Gem Show storied and I left with a few pieces of stone. Two nice moonstone cabashons, two tourmaline cabs and a string of tiny faceted garnets (very nice). When I got up here I sat down with full intention of going down to the creek and knitting for a while... but of course as things go fell dead asleep. I woke up hungry and fretted over dinner. Nothing like an agorophopic with social anxiety disorder traveling alone. We don't go out much! I found a local Mexican restaurant that had take out and fretted some more over trafic and parking... but I got the courage to drive my ass down there and was pleasantly surprised at the lack of trafic and loads of parking!! I made my order and took it back to the timeshare and pigged out while watching Man vs Food (Man won both episodes) and was quite full.
I finally got the knitting out and finished the first in the next of a series of baby socks for the boss's progeny. Very cute! I figured that instead of just starting the second of the set I would knit another in the pattern as the correct series of colors had not come around again. I dropped a stitch on a purl and it ran down to the cast on.. I'll have to frog that and start over ... no biggie they are tiny little things - it was less than a hundred stitches into the sock anyway. So I have been poking away at my grey wool socks. A lesson in sanity or patience. It's a solid color sock so no pattern to keep me awake and occupied. I am just hanging on with the pattern as my push. Although I am still in the 2X2 ribbing I am enjoying it. It's very soft and cushy... and is as fun as bubble wrap to play with .. just a little quieter.

Well tomorrow starts the Wool Market. I have cash in hand as well as my resale permit (saves on taxes now is a pain later) so I have a buget. I had a bigger buget until I went to the rock shop ... but I was good ...I didn't spend the bank. My sister will show up sometime ...that should be fun! We both enjoy the wooley arts.

The weather has been interesting. It started raining this afternoon. It was really pouring a short while ago. They had tornado warnings from the Wyoming border all the way to Trinidad Colorado. I am glad I am up in the hills... tornados don't form in the mountains. Russ and I have a deal that if either of us sees rotation in the clouds and a wall cloud and large hail you have to grab the camera. You probably though I was going to say head for safety... but this is from the woman who when Russ put the nail from the nailgun thru his hand the first words out of my mouth were "Where's the camera" I knew he was fine.... but how often are we gonna have the chance to get another kodak moment like that???

Well I'm beat and I need to jet off some directions to my sister so she can find me tomorrow. I will be back here in the evening maybe with a few more stories and if I get coordinated some pictures.. The difficult part is the only internet is in the lobby of the timeshare... and I have no cell phone reception here. Where I do have cell phone reception I have no internet so getting 2 and 2 together to make 4 has been difficult. Maybe I'll talk Juti into eating a the brewery ... generally those places have good grub and this one boasts of high speed internet. And I think I can get cell reception ...

It's time for the Estes Park Wool Festival and Market

Ok everytime I go to one of these cool events I promise to try to live blog.. this time I won't... I can't - no cell phone reception. I will try to nightly blog - how is that? The trip up here to Estes Park was a trip! I had really cool thunderstorms with finger lightening (haven't seen any of that since Wisconsin) And of course everything was lush and green. There wasn't any wind between Chugwater and Ft. Collins which was very unusual. I usually hit 50mph with higher gusts going through that route...it was nice today-probably because of the storms. I saw a double rainbow! Very cool and while enjoying the rainbow I listened to the National Weather Service Tornado Warning... oh joy! I even got to use my rusty California driving skills in traffic. Since I left work 4 hours plus late [ugly story of the past two days are omited from this blog] I got to drive the last two hours in the dark... and the last hour of it was a thrill ride! New Moon... no stars... no lights... and because of the terrain it was like driving through a pitch black tunnel with the only light the reflection of my headlights on the double yellow line on the road in switch back mountain roads. I can't wait to see it in the day! I want to know what I missed. Part way up the mountain I passed what looked like mountain/rock climbers - not sure if they were going up or coming down. From what I hear (sounds like home) the river is raging out here... I got glimpses of it on my way up.

Tomorrow I'll check out the wool market. I need to find Susan (Susan's Fiber Shop in Bristol, Wisconsin) and give her the sample of cleaned, carded and spun Teeswater from the bag of fleece she handed me when I visited her shop back in March. It's really nice stuff... it's just like Yearling mohair only softer and easier to work with and has a beautiful luster! I hope she likes what I did to it!!

Ok well off to bed.. I have wool to drool over tomorrow...

Holy Wah! I'm knitting again!!

It's been a knitting drought for almost a year now. I started that pair of green striped socks after breaking the sock curse and ....[insert sounds of crickets] Yeah well chalk it up to the sock curse and that 9 months of Evony addiction [2 months clean and NPC free] I attribute my return to normalcy to three people. The first is a gifted hypnotist from Seattle who broke me of the evil addiction. It took a few tries with reinforcement but it worked. The second a new online friend who pointed out that I was smart and really should be doing something with that. The third is my sister who ungrafted the sock that was holding me back from picking up my needles again. So I hit the start button on life and started doing things again. Let's compare to last year.... Prior to June 11Th I was knitting and watching TV. I think it was the same 6 movies over and over. Gone in 60 Seconds, The New Guy, Groundhog Day, The Holiday, Mad Money, and Pretty Woman. Yeah I know pretty pathetic. But compare to after June 11th. Evony and watching said movies. Extremely pathetic.

Fast forward to this year.. two trips by myself out of state. I have been taking day excursions by myself to see some of the sites around Wyoming and also have started fishing again. For those of you who know of my Social Anxiety Disorder and borderline agoraphobia you know that that was a monumental feat. Knitting had to come back into my life. Have to keep those idle hands busy.

Been working on jewelry again. Well designing it .. can't work in my "shop space" it's not conducive to production. That's the one really nice thing about the house in Buffalo... It had a room for fiber and sewing and a shop space for metal and glass. I will have to adjust. The exciting thing about designing jewelry this time is I have a purpose. I found a call for artists for a book that someone is doing on the Steampunk aesthetic. One of my favorites! I have three designs but only one could I put together in the amount of time I have...so I will settle for the lesser of the three designs. I still have to execute the design.. I will start on that this weekend.

So back to knitting... I have that 2nd sock to finish. Just saying that shakes a fist at the sock gods who curse those that talk about their projects. The patron saint of U.F.O.s I will finish this pair and wear them proudly. Take that those who would stand in my way!!

Oh and my next trip is planned. It will be fiberific. I am going to the Estes Park Wool Market. That should be fun. Me... fiber... and no one to tell me I can't!

That time of year

The weather outside to way too nice to sit inside and be on the computer.. It's time to pack up the crackberry and the spinning wheel and go out on the deck and enjoy the longer, warmer afternoons. I was out there a few minutes ago watching Mr. and Mrs. Mallard tooling around one of the still pools of the creek. They too were enjoying the sunshine and the spring warmth. No leaves yet on the trees but the evergreens are soothing. The sound of the flowing water relaxes me. I can't wait to take the storm windows off and have that sound lull me to sleep at night again.

Now for the big decision .... which wheel do I take out on the deck? One of the Kromskis? or the odd Irish tension wheel? I could go light and bring out a drop spindle... naw.. that chocolate creamy alpaca is calling my name.. it deserves a wheel. Ok .. I promise to ply the Polwarth tonight. I'm going to use the method my sister showed me last week. very intriguing. Wind the bobbin into a center pull ball and ply from both ends. But that's this evening.. right here ..right now .. put down the damned computer and walk away..pick up a wheel .. any wheel and spin. Listen to the water. Relax and let the troubles of the day flow down stream. Away from me .. away from the house... out of the neighborhood out of the hollar and down the valley. Diluting as the creek branches come together and flowing away far away. Past the dam... past the freeway and disappearing into the lake..

Been a while

So I kicked the Evony habit. No really I did. I have no desire to play anymore however I do miss the friends I made. I have actually met some of them live and in person. It was very fun. The first was Kiltedhighlander. Nice young man whose real name is Aaron. And yes he actually wears a kilt. Next on the list was Tura. Out of all the players on the game Tura was one of of my first three friends. His real name is Chris. He's my age and lives the closest. A very cool individual and a wonderful person. And his wife tolerates crazies like me. I also got o meet Alatar. Phyllis was one of my newest friends on the game. We met basically when our alliance was a war with someone we shouldn't have picked a fight. She and I worked very hard in diplomacy to end it peacfully. Her and her wonderful husband (who also tolerates crazies like me) are a riot. I wish they lived closer. I have to remember to box up some hops for them this week - they brew too. The fourth person I met I can't say enough about. We met in the game when his alliance attacked my me. I played up the "you must be secure with your manhood to attack a little old lady" angle. Exchanged witty barbs at each other for two days until our leaders negotiated peace and they had to stop attacking. So what did I do? I ported a town in an empty space right below him and said "We're friends now" and we have been ever since. What can I say about CuEire ... aka Casey. He's funny, well read and as right wing as I am...maybe more. I adore my newly met friend. I hope to meet more in the future. At least LadyTera aka LT aka Linda. She's like one of my best friends and we've ever met face to face. I gotta change that!

I'll have to go on and on about my two trips I took. For now I need to go to sleep and dream pleasant dreams -

Now that i have kicked the Evony habit I will have more times for crafts and for blogging and maybe even getting more stuff on my website so that you can buy it.