sheepless in suburbia...

Are we there yet?

 

It's Raining Parasols ... at the Venetian - Las Vegas 2009

As you are well aware, I like to think of myself as a "process" person. I think I've made this a conscious decision because it takes me so long to get from point A to point B in virtually everything I do (from knitting a sock, to weaving a tea towel, to reading a book, to baking muffins, to writing a blog, to cleaning the bathroom ... not to mention that nasty 20 pounds I gained after childbirth some 19 years ago - or was that when I quit smoking?)

 Atree3 describes it all very nicely... (it's on Youtube but she has disabled the embedding code). Therefore, you must - CLICK!

Happy Mother's Day! A day late of course...

I had a wonderful Mother's Day this year. As you well know,  I am very big on celebrating any day which I feel I can get out of work free use to my advantage. I don't really have too many expectations on Mother's Day, other than doing pretty much whatever I want for the day (which I pretty much do most of the time anyways). And the success of that endeavour rests on my shoulders.

On so, what did I do yesterday?

• I went for a nice long walk with a very good friend. We are planning to walk the Calgary 1/2 marathon at the end of the month. It seemed like a good challenge to set back in January, when all those lofty resolutions are made. And here we are almost 5 months later. I thought I'd be in better shape by now. I thought I'd be about 20 pounds lighter and leaping along like a gazelle. I thought I'd be taller! But I'm not. In fact overall, I weigh more now than I did when I started. I keep telling myself it's ... muscle. The fact that we discovered a variety of coffee stops along our route did not help.  Two weeks ago we discovered a gellato shop. Chocolatini raspberry blackberry swirl... need I say more.
• I fell off my scooter in the parking lot of a very busy grocery store. No damage to me or the bike. Just heap big embarrassment. And a reminder as to why I am wearing my full suit of armour, even for the "little trips". (PS.  Even at the ripe old age of 53, this old aging gracefully overweight voluptuous grey haired  natural woman is a man magnet. When I fell off my bike, every guy within 3 blocks came a running. With in seconds my bike was upright, and the questions began "Wow! Nice bike! What is it? Good mileage? How's the pick up on the highway?... Oh, do you want help getting up too?"
• Go home, hand Old Guy his coleslaw, and retreat to my room. Pick up the needles and continue knitting my lace wrap, while watching Season 1 highlights of Coronation Street.
• Old Guy, Cosmo the wonder dog, and I go for a walk, in which I purchase my mother's Mother Day Card, and pick up more leg waxing strips (my experiment last month went quite well, and I'm going to try it again).
• Have a beer.
• One of the true Mother's Day traditions in the sheepless household, is the annual Smoked Pork Pull BBQ. Old Guy starts the night before, seasoning and preparing the pork. He lovingly smokes and turns and babysits it all day while it slow cooks to perfection on the grill. He makes baked beans (new recipe this year) and drenchs the coleslaw in some kind of pig pucker sauce. All very time consuming. All very succulent. All very, very, much worth it... and appreciated.

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all ... now clean up your plate!

Knit my ride...

As you know I am scaling back. I am looking at my purchases, supplies and fibres all with a much more discerning eye. I am scrutinizing my numerous subscriptions trying to determine which ones are truly inspiring, which I reread, and which are ... well not so compelling.

This week, I opened up my mailbox to find my Summer 2009 Interweave Knits had arrived. I sat down for a quick preview and look what I found!

A hand knit cozy for a 1980's Kawasaki motorbike.
Fibre artist Theresa Honeywell.

Look what I found...

... I was gathering up my weaving supplies (shuttles, bobbins, sley hook etc) when I came across three tea towels from projects past. They are a bit off, one is too short, one is a bit fat and I don't know what's wrong with the other one, but I'm guessing these were my mill ends. Anyways I'm quite excited to have found them, as they only require hemming. I enjoy hand stitching my towels so I have found another project for the mindless projects basket aka what to do when I'm watching my favorite reality TV  I don't have the strength, will, or ambition, to get off the couch.

It is technically " Judi Day" (in which I spend all day doing whatever I want to)  so I am spending the morning threading my loom  ( I am very slow, so this may take several Judi Days). In the afternoon I am

• taking Youngman 2 out for Ginger Beef Buffet 
• taking my surrogate sheep (aka Cosmo the magnificent canine) for a spring shearing, and finally
•  going to the the garden centre with Youngman 1 who has decided that cooking isn't enough of a challenge, and he now wants to grow his own garden. We are looking at all the salad plants, herbs and tomatoes.

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and I am good to go!

Loom in... loom out

Earlier this week I put my Flip rigid heddle loom together. As part of my 2009 High Fibre Diet  I had found a cotton tea towel warp that needed completion. Besides my tea towels are looking a little sad. Once you have gone handwoven - you really can't go back to store bought. My tea towels are over ten years old - and going strong. But I'm wanting some new towels.

Once the loom was together, I realized I was very much going to miss the stomp stomp stomp of my old floor loom ( donated to the guild during the great equipment destash).

My friend Ruth wanted to try out the rigid heddle. She had still had the Leclerc compact loom which I have had a prior relationship with (call it a love - hate relationship).

And so...

Loom in... loom out.

 

Welcome home stranger!