Time....it does fly by

It's been almost seven months since my last post.  Whoops!  All I can say is that I've been busy enjoying life and can't believe how fast time is flying by.

So, what have I been up to?

I've been weaving, of course.  I've woven several baby wraps -

Rainbow at Midnight!  These are, obviously, another rainbow warping, but the weft on both of these were superwash merino wool.  

Next up was "Heartbreaker".  Two of these used superwash merino wool (different colorways), and one was 8/2 cotton weft in a light gray color.  I designed a heart weave draft for this one and I'm pretty happy with it.  

Next was a custom - another heartweave.  This one was called "Sleeping Beauty".  I did two warpings for this.  The first batch was woven with a natural colored superwash merino wool.  

The second warping was woven with Sweetheart (light pink) superwash merino wool.  

After that I still had enough warp left to weave two ring sling sized wraps using natural cotton for the weft.  

After this was another custom - "In My Daughter's Eyes":

Three of these were woven with tencel for the weft, one with cotton.  

Another custom went on the loom after that - "Sunset Blush":

And right now, the loom is empty (well, I have the Mighty Wolf warped for some towels),  but the Megado and I are taking a quick little break before I start in with the next custom.  

The main reason for the break is that my daughter just got married, so more of that in the next post!  

I'll be back in a day or two.  

What I've been up to

It's almost Christmas, and I've been doing some crafting.

I have 3 baby wraps on the Megado loom that I'm really trying to finish up by the end of the year.  I actually cut one off to wash and see how it looked.  I'm using 100% superwash merino wool for the weft on all 3 of these, and I wanted to see how it washed up.  I will admit to waking up in the middle of the night with a panic attack about this.  The weft is a hand-dyed wool, and sometimes hand-dyed yarns have a tendency to bleed.  Add in the fact that this is a very dark, midnight blue, and I really panicked thinking about the blue bleeding all over the beautiful rainbow gradient warp.  I am so happy to say that Tanis Fiber Arts yarn is really color set! No bleeding at all.  Whew!

I've been doing some knitting also.  My daughter asked me to knit up some hooded cowls for my granddaughters, so I have those almost done.  I'll post photos after I get the buttons sewn on.

I've been knitting socks, socks, and more socks too.  Footies also.  There is just something so comforting about knitting these, although I probably have more socks and footies then I will ever need at this point!  I also knit up a cute pair of super toasty warm, lined mittens.

I needed a bunch of Christmas gifts for my knitting group, and with being on a very limited budget, I knew that I had to handcraft some type of gifts, so I decided to make a bunch of key fobs using some of my handwoven fabrics.  I like how they turned out - there were 5 different kinds.  The extras ended up going into my etsy shop (www.stringalongfiberarts.etsy.com).

Josie is recovering well from her surgery.  We love her, no matter how she looks.

And Koby is as goofy as ever.  He's slowed down quite a bit due to his back and hind leg issues, but he's a happy guy.  Can't ask for more.

December

I'm having a hard time believing that we are now in December.  I can not believe how fast the days fly by.  Now that I'm home all day, I thought that maybe the days would seem longer, but that is just the opposite of what has been going on.  W is amazed that I'm not bored, but I have too many crafts that I love doing to be bored, plus I get to spend more time with my dogs!  :)

Josie made it through her surgery.  She scared us coming out of it and also when we arrived to take her home with a bad reaction to her morphine, but she's been home for a week now and is healing up. I'm finally able to come to terms with what needed to be done.  She had another mast cell tumor and this time it was in her ear.  Unfortunately, they need to be removed and removed with wide margins around the tumor so it doesn't come back.  So, to make sure that they got it all, she had to have her ear amputated.  She has a ton of stitches which will be removed next week, and has been wearing her cone, but she is such a little toughy and is doing just fine.  We've stopped with the pain meds - she just doesn't need them anymore.  While she was under, our vet recommended that we also have her nostrils enlarged to help her breathe, so we did that too.  She looks different, but in my eyes, she is still beautiful, funny, and one of the loves of my life, so I am so thankful that she is still with us.  The tumor ended up being a low grade one, and they did end up with clean margins, so that is great news.

Tiffany and the grandkids came down for this past weekend to celebrate my grandson's birthday.  He is SO into Spiderman and wanted Spiderman apples, so I couldn't refuse, and made some up for the kids.

Saturday we went downtown to see the new Holidazzle Holiday Market.  What a disappointment and such a money pit.  Don't waste your time, if you have kids along with because there is very little to do for the kids.  Basically, you pay admission to get in and EVERYTHING inside also costs money.  Overpriced food and drink and a very small area where all the little buildings are crammed into.  I hope that they do away with this plan for next year and go back to having the parade.  We actually didn't stay long there and headed off to Macy's where we had much more fun.

Sunday was spent at home with the whole family having birthday cake and the opening of the birthday gifts.

I've been spending the last two weeks or so warping up the Megado for another run of baby wraps.  With the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, Josie's surgery and the family down this past weekend, it's been taking much longer than it should have.  I finally have all the heddles threaded and need to sley the reed, so I'm off to head back upstairs for some more "work time".

Thankful

As the holiday season is starting to ramp up into full swing and Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I just wanted to say that I am very thankful for my family, friends, and pets.  

I consider myself very lucky that I am able to stay at home after the closing of the shop.  My husband works hard, and money is tight, but he makes it possible for me to be at home.  He's a great guy, my best friend and I love him so much.

My daughters, parents and grandchildren are all in good health.  Love them!

My pets are getting older, and we had some unfortunate news from the vet regarding Josie that we will address on Monday, but I am so thankful that they are here.  (It's too hard for me to verbalize about Josie, but she will be having a major surgery on Monday for another mast cell tumor.  I pray that all turns out well for my baby).  My dogs are my company here at home and I love them dearly.  

So, all in all, I have much to be thankful for!

In "business" news, I've been working on more baby wraps.  I finished "Graffitied Rainbow" and this one was sent off to a momma in Texas.  

I warped up the Mighty Wolf for some more dishtowels and wove up a bunch.  My friends in our knitting group ended up purchasing all of these!  

I've got another warp that I'm tying on to this existing warp to weave up some more of these.  

A week or so back, I had the desire to do a little bit of spinning.  My spinning cupboards upstairs in my second studio are stuffed with spinning fiber.  Although it's really pretty when it's unspun, I just have too much!  I decided it's time to do a spin-down.  This one that I spun up is from a club that I'm in from Enchanted Knoll and was a 65/35 Merino/Silk top.  

Otherwise, that's about it for now!  Tonight will be getting the stuffing ready for the turkey.  We'll be having a small gathering tomorrow since my older daughter and her kids can't make it down for Thanksgiving.  As I said, there is lots to be thankful for - this year and every year.  

Quick Summer Recap

So, we closed up the shop right before Memorial Day Weekend.  There have been no regrets about closing - no pangs of remorse, no missing the store, etc., so this definitely was the best decision.

This past summer flew by and I enjoyed every minute of it!  I think my husband and I did something together every weekend.  At the beginning of the summer, we got caught up a little bit on our gardening chores.  It's not so bad to do when you have a partner helping out.

I got serious with my weaving this summer.  I made my first baby wrap sale, "Rising From The Fire".

I just recently finished "Tickled Pink" for a customer.  This one ended up being 5.6m long (at her request for a long wrap).

I participated in a towel exchange, so wove up 5 towels.  I've yet to receive any back, so I don't think I'll do another exchange, but I did save back one of mine.

I took another weaving class this summer.  I went with a friend to Sievers School on Washington Island in Door County, WI.  It was fun to get away, although a little stressful, since Koby was very sick right before I left.  Luckily, he recovered, and two days into the class, I was finally able to relax and enjoy the experience.

Right now, I have this warp on the loom for another babywrap.  Even though it's just cotton, the colors just glow.  Warping a gradient is a pain, but the results are so worth it.  (I use the warping wheel when I warp on my Megado, so I think it's a little easier.  Still time consuming though.)

In August, W and I got to talking about being able to go away on the weekends.  It's tough to do when you have pets, however, so we decided that we would just have to take them along with us, so we made the decision to get a travel trailer!  We're starting out small, and are already talking about upgrading in the next two years or so, but we had such a great time camping and can't wait for next spring.  We have found that we really prefer the State Parks, because the campsites are more private and roomy.

I've been doing some knitting and spinning.  I sold off some of my spinning wheels.  I decided that I really didn't need any "travel wheels", so sold my Sidekick and my Lendrum.  I did end up getting a Hansen MiniSpinner, so when I do need to take a wheel with me somewhere, this will be the one.

More later, with some camping trip/weekend trip highlights!