Dream a little dream.....

It's been a roller coaster ride here and I'll spare details to the public.

I've been trying to focus on my passions, knitting and spinning, and while doing so I thought about why I turn to them when I'm stressed. For me, it's the soothing sound of the needles, click, click click. The feel of the soft wool through my fingers. The whirl of the wheel and how amazing it is (even in this day and age) to produce a lovely skein of yarn no matter how imperfect.

In the meantime when life hands me lemons I will turn to dreamsicle ice cream ;).

What do you focus on when stressed? Why?

Goodies Galore

I'm trying to win at the game of procrastination and thinking it's a no win situation. I received this box of goodies from Chan a week ago. A beautiful merino/silk roving aptly named Gypsy after my own little Gypsy. I love the colorway and it's from all my friends who sent the e-spinner to come live with me. Thank you all so very much. Miss Victoria Vespera and I will enjoy the spin.

Also in the box of goodies were scrapbooking stamps, instruction booklets, a skein of Ella Rae silk sock yarn and a book, The Mayflower.

Dearest Chan, you have succeeded in keeping me occupied. Housework has gone to the way-side and I'm knitting, spinning and now reading. Thank you, Dear Friend.

Of course there were goodies from Chan and the girl gang.
Miss Gypsy sniffing inside the box. She knows there are goodies for her in there.

I set the bag of cookie treats on the chest and Mr. Bettis could barely resist but he did. Because of his good behavior he was rewarded with a special treat. *sigh* Of course, he has no idea why he was rewarded but he was licking his chops and wagging his tail.
He and the gang send paw shakes to Sissy, Gretchen and of course their owners for including something for them in the goodie box.

I've been eyeing hackles for quite some time. They're a bit pricey and I would rather try one before buying. My dad made this hackle and presented it to me last evening.

Needless to say I've been playing. It works fine for me and I'm happy with it. The spinning DD is eyeing the hackle and the wool. I seriously need to padlock the wool stash room.

It's hot and humid again. Is it fall yet?

Victor/Victoria

The e-spinner and I have become best friends. It's a she and her name is Victoria Vespera. She was named Victoria because my wonderful friends helped to overcome my disability in order to enjoy something I love, so victory it is.
Victoria and I spun some BFL roving I had laying around. A navajo plied worsted weight with a generous 250 yds. I still have a bit of the roving and will spin it to match.




My apologies to ravelry stalkers for the following post.
I carded some corriedale fleece with a small batch of alpaca and spun it on my Kundert spindle.











When finished I had approximately 500+ yards of a singles.
It grew up to be a Swallowtail shawl. Since there was so much yardage I added a few more repeats to the main part of the pattern as well as the edging.








It is unbelievably soft and I love it. I must admit (rather sheepishly, no pun intended)that I am so proud of this project I could bust at the seams.
It is drapped over an antique quilt rack in the bedroom and I gently touch it every time I pass the rack. From start to finish I think this project is my most accomplished project since I started knitting way back when at the ripe age of 9 yrs. Trust me, it's been a long time.

What do you think is your most accomplished project?

Playing catch up

The rain mentioned in the previous post gave way to less humidity. Whew! I seriously thought I was going to melt. Poor Mr. B & Co. had the same sentiment.
Since lower humidity has arrived, I'm playing catch up on blog reading and posting.
An email pal was de-stashing fiber so she sent a box of fiber goodies my way.






A few of these samples are a new spinning experience for me and I can't wait to try them.
Finn and Llama as well as a nice bag of Romney.
Thank you, Beth for thinking of me in your de-stashing process.
I can't wait to spin these fluffy goodies.

p.s. My sock knitting mojo was on hiatus during the heat but has returned. Pictures coming soon.

Date Night

Hubby called on his way home from work and suggested we go out for the evening. Since we haven't been anywhere to speak of for awhile. Date Night. Woo-hoo! Where did we go?
Well let me see, we grabbed a sandwich at the local diner, Wal-Mart (to get dog treats), the market (to get human food) and of course the evening would not be complete without a trip to Lowe's. I'm not a fan of Lowe's unless I can look at paint or I have a craft project in mind. Other than that....meh....not my kind of store. I stay in the car while he shops. Too much walking (otherwise known as hobbling in my case).


Lately I have been smitten with spindles and have wanted to try a support spindle for quite awhile. Cotton and angora are anxiously waiting in my fiber stash and they need a support spindle.
I've looked at them online and wiped the drool from the monitor for weeks now. I also wanted to try one first before I actually saved the cash to purchase one.
DH found a dowel, some kind of closet wheel thingy (don't ask, I forget the specific name of the thingy) and hooks. Cost? $4.36


At that point, Date Night was over for me, I wanted to make the spindle and give it a whirl immediately.
So we went home, we put away the groceries and at 9 pm last night, hubby made a spindle. Took about 15 minutes and boy is it a spinner. My youngest son is an artist and he made this bowl for me a long time ago when he was in high school. It is the perfect support bowl until I can find a smaller one. This little spindle spins forever and I love it.


There's a running joke between my sis and me about flamingo decorations in the Appalachian Mountains.
She presented me with a flamingo light set. Oh thank you so much, Sis.....LOL
So here they are in all their pink glory hanging on our deck.







Just so you get the Full effect, here they are lit at night.....













She also presented a package of Flamingo napkins for a future picnic. Now all I need is a Flamingo lawn ornament....LOL And if I wake up one morning and find a Flamingo lawn ornament in my front yard, I'll know who put it there.

Anyone know where I can find one of those dress-up geese? I have a sister who needs a lawn ornament.....LOL

In the Spin

Life. Somedays it's stressful beyond words which is why when I found this wine container I snagged it. Love, live and laugh are the words I plan to repeat daily.
It's not holding a bottle of wine although I may have to purchase a bottle if life continues to dole out stuff.....
It is the new house for a few of my new spindles :)





Hubby had some "mad money" stashed. Each of our daughters chipped in on the mad money stash and they purchased a few spindles for me. I will show the other two spindles in another post. These are from Zebisis Designs. This is a hematite rainbow and you know me, I love color.








The seller included this spindle and a small braid of mulberry silk FREE! Now that's customer service. These spindles are well made and a work of art. They appear to be fragile but they're no more fragile than wood.
I love the flower design and the photo does not capture the true color.
Hubby did well (with the help of our girls) and these are so much better than my normal gifts i.e. a swiffer.These mean so much to me as I know he and the girls saved their money to get something special for lil ole me. They're keepers in my book :).

We visited my parents over the weekend.
Mom and I dug around in her fiber stash (which rivals her yarn stash). I did some carding for her and she shared the above grey fleece with me. The staple is approximately 4-5 inches long with a beautiful crimp and I have about 13 ozs.
She also shared her Angora fleece and gave about 10 ounces to me. Trust me when I say, she still has plenty of stash...lol
Dad went to his garage and made us each a spindle. Mind you, it's not as fancy schmancy as the above spindles but because Dad made it for me, I'll cherish it. It has a great spin and is very lightweight so it's perfect for fine spinning.
Looks like I have a lot of spinning to do:).

It's a Date

Spinning has taken over my life.
This is a sport weight yarn with 375 yds.






This is Prom Date.
Considering I have a massive amount of fiber in my stash, I decided to drag out the carder and do some serious carding.
See the sparklies?









I couldn't wait to spin this one and I like the result.
A worsted weight with 150 yds.
I truly enjoyed spinning these batts.













The youngest DD has claimed this skein to be knit into something for her.
I'm caressing this one for awhile until I find the right pattern.

Any suggestions?

In the meantime, I'm carding and spinning like a fool.

Time......tick...tock

Time passes slowly around here.
I'm trying to get back into the swing of life. Not going quite as planned but I won't give up.
I had some starter dough in the fridge so I snagged some of it and made homemade bread. There's nothing like a cup of tea and a slice of warm homebaked bread slathered with butter. I sent pics to the college DD and she is drooling on her monitor....LOL
She has a list of home cookin' when she gets home, grilled chicken, Cherokee fried bread, cookies and the list grows by the day.





I've been staring at the spinning wheel trying to figure out how I could spin my mountain of fiber. Try spinning a right pedal wheel with the left leg....didn't go so well but I did manage to see what the fiber will look like when spun.

Tomorrow will be spent trying to clean out 'stuff'. Hopefully I'll get farther with that than the rest of the tasks I've undertaken.
In the meantime, I'm casting on projects. A sweater, shawl, socks, afghan etc. Pictures will come later.

Knit 'n Spin

It's been a snowy month and a busy one for this spinner/knitter. There's not enough time in the day for me to accomplish all that I want to do. Add Mr. Bettis wanting in and out all day long and well...........you see where this is going.


This little shawlette scarf thingy (for lack of a better name) was knit from a skein that I spun. I love the spin to knit process. It's gratification in the finest.

This little sweater was gifted and received with appreciation.

It was made with Sirdar Bamboo and I can't say it's my favorite yarn to knit. I'm not a yarn snob and knit from just about anything including plastic shopping bags. Hey don't knock it, I must try something at least once. LOL

Back to the yarn review. The colors are beautiful and rich but it was a slippery yarn to knit. The only thing that saves it's little yarn soul is the end result. Finding the button was a task in and of itself but I found a lovely little heart button that was perfect. I will definitely knit this one again only in different yarn.

Smarty Pants #2 Son's afghan. Mr. Smarty Pants didn't want the "technicolor dream coat" afghan and requested a solid teal color. Not too sure he really understood the concept of the circular lace afghan but I think his wife appreciated it.

Hoping to accomplish some much needed spinning this coming week. Looks like the map is calling for another snow storm next week but time will tell. In the meantime, Mr. Bettis wants outside. Again.

Spinning Wheel goes round and round.......

In 1980 the need to spin became an obsession for me. I found an antique walking wheel on the back porch of an old local store and the owner sold it to me for a cheap price. I taught myself to spin which was not an easy task by any means. There was very little spinning information available but I managed (or should I say, struggled). New wheels were born over the years and I want you to meet one of them. It's a Country Craftsman and was purchased in 1991. Unfortunately they are no longer available. The gentleman who crafted these beautiful wheels retired in 2003. I have two of these but this one is my favorite. I have no idea why, we just seem to get along well.


I have purchased masses of fleece along the spinning trail and was even known to pack a lunch, put the kids in the car and go for a ride looking for sheep farms at shearing time. Nothing like taking your kids to a stranger's door to find out if they were willing to sell a fleece. Trust me, I begged and managed to snag a few during those excursions:).
The spinning bug has recently invaded my knitting time and I've been spinning away. The red skein is romney, the other two skeins are unknown. I navajo plied the two on the left. Now to find patterns for these three.

Way back when (in the 90's) I spun and knitted a few items for the family. Here's a pair of well worn fleece stuffed mittens.

The yarn was dyed for the pink pair of socks. The pair on the right is a spun corridale.

The pair on the left are a border leicester fleece with a shetland sole. The pattern is Elizabeth Zimmerman's design. As you can tell they're large to fit hubby's Fred Flintstone sized feet. The pair on the right are for me. They're thick and warm. Perfect for cold winter days.

There's a sweater hidden around here somewhere that my youngest son requested when he was 12 yrs old. I took him to my favorite sheep farm on shearing day and he chose the fleece that he wanted. I must find that sweater.

Okay, Anita, is this enough info? LOL There's an inside joke going on here and I'm going to ask for your help. Anita requested these pics and I requested gingerbread men stitch markers. If you haven't seen her new apple markers check them out and put in a request (better yet, demand) for cupcakes, donuts and of course gingerbread men.........hee-hee).

The Little Black Bag

This is the birthday that never ends and I must admit I'm enjoying every bit of it.
The black bag arrived. Not sure if it's because my birthday is close to Halloween or because the giver was indicating my age.............LOL










Anita sent this bag full of goodies. Cute note cards, a notepad, gorgeous spinning fleece to fill my fiber stash and the most beautiful knit scarf. Check out the handmade button. I must figure out how to make these.
There was more in the package but it's for the DH so I'll post that later.







She wanted a picture so here it is. I'm sure there are quite a few people who think I should wear it like this all the time in order to keep my trap shut. LOL
She purchased some of my handdyed roving, spun it, designed the pattern (Mermaid scarf) and then knitted it. There are a lot of firsts in this scarf for Anita and she should be proud of her work. I am surprised at the softness of the scarf. It is definitely a next to the skin wear.
Thank you so very much, Anita.


I made some time to spend my birthday with my mom, dad and grandmother. After all, they were just a few who were present the day I was born:).
My mom knitted a Central Park Hoodie for me. I made 5 of these last year. They were Christmas gifts and I have been wanting one for quite some time. I have a tendency to knit for others and not myself. Any of you like that?
I absolutely LOVE this sweater. It will be my new go-to sweater. Hey mom, I'm putting in an order for another one. LOL










Mom outdid herself and gave these as well. This is from a sock blank that I handdyed last year.
Aren't they cute? Perfect Halloween socks.
Dad didn't have much input in this birthday gift but I received a beautiful handmade cedar chest from him last Christmas so I'm not complaining in the least.

Thanks mom and dad. You're the best!

Knitting gods

The knitting gods have struck my knitting. Can't you just see them? I just know they're dressed in black and flying around with their sharp pointy sticks (no they're not needles, they just appear to be needles).
I have no idea why the struck. Maybe because I was a bit smug on gift knitting. I procrastinated and thought I was ahead of the game. Those little knitting gods with their dyes in hand (yes, I believe they also dye yarn) decided to strike my yarn.

This is what I get for purchasing yarn in increments. Yes, I know, I'm supposed to purchase all of the yarn at one time. But this yarn screams NO DYE LOT on it's little label. Well guess what? Apparently it does have a dye lot. The back of the sweater was finished. Grabbed the yarn last night and cast on for the front, held it up to the finished back and guess what? The knitting gods have struck the yarn! It doesn't match. I give up. Please dear knitting gods, I promise to never be smug again or to procrastinate on my gift knitting (well......after this year....maybe?)

Spin Forward

Knitting is on a roll here in between the spinning. Chan is making one of these so I had to snoop and find the pattern. Found it! Now to look in the stash for yarn. Found that too!
I bought this cotton fingering yarn at MD Sheep and Wool ions ago. I have no intention on making cotton socks. So I put the two together and started another project.
It's easy. It's mindless and I need this right now. It is a great project to drag along in the car. Love it!






This is a blend I finally spun. It is a mohair/wool blend. Those Mo's are a little scratchy (lol) so I'll be careful to make something that isn't close to the tender skin. I don't spin for perfection, I spin for enjoyment.

Spinning has taken a first seat to knitting these days. Of course, I have no support or encouragement from family members.
As Mr. Smarty Pants DH put it to the DD,
".....oh your mother gets on this wool thing every year at the same time right before the MD Sheep & Wool."
On top of that, Lil Miss Smarty Pants DD had the nerve to ask last evening, "...so how long is this spinning/wool thing going to last?" (she's just like her father)
I have no idea what these people are talking about. I admit there are a few rather large bags of wool in the spare room. Wet wool is drying on the deck and containters of batts and roving are in the rec room patiently waiting to be spun.





I love summer food. Although I'm still purchasing at the market, I just love the food choices. Baby greens, cucumbers, red peppers, strawberries & pecans. Add a little poppy seed dressing and Yum!

Quiet Thoughts

Forgive the photographer and her lack of camera skills:).
It's morning and I wanted you to see that I did a little yard work/planting this weekend. Do you see Phoebe and Molly waiting at the door?

We hung the flag earlier than normal this year. I think we all need to be grateful for our freedom and human rights. So often we as Americans take our freedom for granted. I salute our military who sacrifice so much so that we may have and enjoy that freedom.

The DD attended a tea luncheon this weekend to benefit her flute teacher's missionary work in Ethiopia this summer. She and the DD played duets for the luncheon and it was a very nice Saturday afternoon.







I finally finished this project. I love this pattern.
The DD's flute teacher will be presented with this at the recital later in the month.
The colors are perfect for her and I know she will appreciate the shawl.







This shawl is a comfort shawl for my future DIL's mother. I named it The Angels' Hug.
Our #2 Son is getting married May 2, 2009. i will be certain to post pictures after the wedding next weekend.
In January I mentioned there was a family illness that I would disclose later. Our future DIL's father was diagnosed with brain cancer.
This wedding will be beautiful but bittersweet.








On a slightly lighter note I drum carded some pink BFL with cashmere. Reminds me of cotton candy. I love the color and I can't wait to spin it into some beautiful yarn.

Laid Back Sunday

My BFF gave this cookie jar to me for Christmas. It's a Longaberger pottery cookie jar and I love it. She knows I collect cookie jars and enjoy baking cookies. This is perfect. I especially like the lid that seals in the freshness.
She also gave me an I Love Lucy calendar called Best Friends. A little stuffed black sheep was also in the gift bag and it has taken residence on the shelf in the bathroom.

So have a cookie while you finish reading the post. I'm eating one for you, Di:).

It was warm and sunny here today. The temp went up to 61 F. I cracked windows and enjoyed the sunshine. The dogs ran in and out a zillion times but it was okay because it was warm and it was an excuse for me to go out with them.