The Christmas Spirit

For some reason I just couldn't find my Christmas Spirit until yesterday. Better late than never, I guess.
Here's to wishing all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Hadn't realized it had been so long

It has been a long, long time since I've posted.
So much has happened.
After the death of our beloved Cino, we became the proud parents of a pair of puppies. One afternoon in early November we went to the SPCA and adopted the newest members of our clan. Shayla, our female is a black lab mix and Buster our male is a boxer-beagle mix. They are both cute and get along great. Pictures here. (Of course these picture are about five weeks old. I hope to post new ones soon.) The puppies are so much work but also a lot of fun. I love watching them grow and learn about their environment. We have our first puppy training class this Sunday. Wish us luck. With all the time we've spent with the puppies not much else is getting done.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and now it's less than two weeks to Christmas.

I've gotten busier at work, thanks to the pending legislative season. I very glad to have my job.

Tomato Harvest

Last night we picked most of the ripe or somewhat ripe tomatoes that were left. After this cold snap I'm not sure if any of the ones left will riped.

Cino 1998-2010

Rest in peace, my dear friend.

Pledge of Conscience

Sunday morning are the best because we lounge around reading the paper, drinking coffee and watching CBS Sunday Morning. This last Sunday Ben Steins comentary hit home. He was comenting on the Republicans newest "Pledge to America." While is might be a good thing, it looks a lot like "Contract with America." He feels we can do better by pledging not to give in to hate. Hear and read to whole comentary here.


In this season of politics and the news in general has a lot of hate messages in it. I pledge not to give in.

OFFF-Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

This last weekend we needed to go up and visit Mike's folks and it just happened to be the same weekend as the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival in Canby Oregon.
I hadn't made it to OFFF yet so I was glad to get a chance. Last time I was in Oregon, for Black Sheep, it was cold so this time I brought cold weather clothes. Saturdays weather was sunny and humid which made for some hot weather. I was very over dressed.
I love this whole fiber festival thing. One gets to see friends from far and wide. The first friend I got to see was Linda.It was sure a surprise to see her. She's living up in Kelso Wash. and came down for the day. It great to see her so happy.

There were lots of vendors and sheep and people. I had a great time.
Sunday the weather changed a lot. It was rainy and drizzle all day but it wasn't cold. In fact despite the rain it was quite nice. Too bad for the vendors the turn out wasn't as good as Saturday.

I'd like to give a shout out to the PDX knit Bloggers and Duffy of the Portland Spinnerati for giving me a place to hang out Sunday. It was fun to see/meet people I only see at Black Sheep Gathering.

Of course my friend Morgaine of Carolina Homespun was there. I always get a kick to see her. She was a great mentor when I learned to spin and is always a wonderful resource.

Tomaotes, A summer time treat?

I always think of fresh tomatoes as a summer time treat. We always had fresh home grown tomatoes when I was growing up. We even had the at Thanksgiving thanks to my grandfathers green house.
Any way it took me moving away to realise that all tomatoes are not the same. I'd come home to visit in the summer and make a bee line to my fathers tomato patch and pull one off the vine and eat it right there.
This year is the first time I've ever tried to grow my own tomatoes. We got them into the ground late and what with the cold spring and late start to summer I thought we'd never have any ripe ones. I just had to be patient and wait a bit.
I have lots of ripe tomatoes now. Of the six types I started with so far the yellow Darwin's are my favorite with the chocolate strip, a super dark red with greenish tops, coming in second. We also have some a 1884, two beefsteak plants and a green zebra. Haven't had a green zebra yet but I hope to this week.
Pictures here.

Burning Man & Rotary, a commentary

I am terrible disappointed at all the hate comments I received here.

My husband and I have come out and built and given and received from our home away from home. I went along to make sure that these folks did understand what the experience is all about.

You see most of these folks only knew about Burning Man from what they read in the papers. All they knew was that Burning Man was about drinking, drugs and the naked people running around like savages. They’d experience the art only as pictures. They’d see the cars driving back through Reno after the Burn. They’d see is the craziness, the trash dumped in town and by the side of the roads, the dirty cars and dirty people. They had a very one-sided view point.

These people are not artists and most of them have never had a chance to be involved in a concept like BRC. They are muggles, going about their daily lives not knowing about another world.

I was pleasantly surprised by the openness of these folks, these “tourists”, willing to go out and experience something different, to put aside misconceptions. They did give as much as they received. They asked question and participated. They were so excited to be there. We didn’t stay with the buses once we got there. We dispersed like leaves in the wind. Some went out on bikes, some on foot.

My Mom and I went to Center Camp. She was enthralled by a drum circle and the acrobats and the art on the walls and just the overwhelming sea of people. We laughed and sang and danced a bit. She loved it.

After dinner we walked out to the man. Hand in hand like children in a dream. Stopping now and then just to turn around and take it all in. It was a very special time for me, to be able to share with wonderful place that mean so very much to me with her. For me it was a chance to come home and dance barefoot on the playa, even for just one day.

The “tourists” were bowled over by the reality of BRC. What I heard then as I still do is the amazement in their voices, that such a place can exist with all of its energy, and vitally. The amount of creative talent blew their socks off. The beauty, generosity and kindness and just plan awesomeness of the whole city was astonishing. They have a greater appreciation and understanding of why many of us are called back year after year, despite and the conditions, the weather and the costs.

Many of them would like to come again, either as “tourists” or as residents, and many will never come again not because they were ill treated of anything like that but it is just not their thing. Which is ok.

But one thing it very true, they were all very glad to have been able to come.

Some time we need “tourists” to come and become treasured friends.

Sincerely yours,
The Fiber Floozie

Two new friends

This weekend two new friends came to live at my house.


The first one is relatively new, built some time between 1989-1993. It came from Southern California, possible around Torrence.
This ones a bit bound up and the wheel does not spin freely yet but I plan to that her to my uncle whose a woodworker to see if he can help.

This one is a bit older. I'm thinking 80-100 years old. She was a bit dusty and dirty but after a good cleaning she a beauty. She does have a distaff but the basket part is broken. I might try to see if a friend of mine can fix it. She spins like a dream.

I plan to contact the Spinning Wheel Sleuth to see if she has any ideas as to the origins of these two wheels.

Wild Weekend

This weekend was a wonderful wild ride.

First I was off on Friday because Mike and to have some tests done and I need to drive. It was nothing major just routine and all is well.
After spending a few hours working on my yard we decided to go to the Rib Cook Off at the Nugget. I found a new dress and a parasol for my up coming trip to Burning Man.

Saturday morning I met up with my mom and her rotary group for a ride out to Burning Man. It was great to see how many folks showed up for this trip. We had two buses full. We had lunch on the way and when we got there we had a great parking spot, C and 6:30. That was one block off of center and three block from the playa. (For more info on how Burning Man is layed out go here.) Some of us got on a double decker art bus for a tour of the playa. A large dust storm kicked up. It was good for everyone to see what the weather can be like. Pictures can be seen here. After dinner there was a lot of food left over so we fed anyone who wanted to eat. It was a great way to meet people. Everyone was so friendly. after the Man burned, mom and I headed back to the buses to wait til 1:00 am when the buses would leave. I wandered a bit around our neighborhood. We finally got home around 4:00am. I went straight for the shower.
Sunday I just hung out and played with my animals.
And Monday we had some of my family over for a BBQ. I got in a last swim for the season.

September already?

It's September already. What happened to the summer?
Well, there were fiber festivals like Black Sheep, and camping and retreats and fairs.

Wow I guess that's why summer just blew by.

But wait, it's not over yet. There's the labor day weekend, with a party at Sharons and the rib cook off; and another retreat and Oregon Flock and Fiber and a Celtic Fair.

I think I might come up for air in October.

See you later.

And now we ply...

I'm done spinning for Tour de Fleece. I am going to make a two ply yard from the milk pigtail I started with but I am also going to challenge my self to finish some other stuff that needs to be done. From left top, Rovings Polworth / silk, color parrot; Abstract fibers merino / silk, color bonfire; right top, Colorbombers milk top, color lava, and another silk and merino whose name escapes me cause I lost the tag.

I really want to ply up these four. Wish me luck.

Tour de Fleece

The Start, and

Half way there

Black Sheep Gathering

For me Black Sheep Gathering is about friends, food, fiber and fun.

This year I had alot of friends to play with. Friends from northern Nevada, friends from the Bay Area and friends I only see at BSG.

My monkey George loves having his picture taken with folks.

Here's a Link to all my BSG photo's.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fiberfloozie/sets/72157624407349032/

National Cowboy Poetry Gathering

Here's an old post that never got posted. I'm working on some thing from Black Sheep Gathering. It's funny to be sitting here in June, nice and warm, and reading about a time when it was really cold, snowy cold.

In January I went with my folks to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, NV and had a blast.

My folks have been going to this event since 1992 and my sister joined them in 2000. I had been able to go for the last few years.

If you've never been, its interesting, in a good way. We saw a lot of very good performances. Even some new people my folks had never seen before. Which you would think would be hard. I mean how many cowboy poets can there be. Quite a lot as I learned. And not just from our own western states but as far away and Canada and New Zealand. There are many different traditions with their own flavors. This years focus was on Florida and Louisiana and the Cajun influences.

My favorite musical group was a group from the Bay Area called Red Meat. Their style of toe tapping Honky Tonk had the place jumping.

I really like the funny stories the best. Some times you laugh until you cry. Then there are the sad ones where all you do is cry.

Of course this trip would not be the same without the food. We eat at a couple of the local Basque restaurants every night. Basque food is always served family style and the plan is to order and entree that keeps well because there is always so much of the stuff before that be the time the entree is served you are stuffed. There is always soup and salad, baked bean, pasta, french fries, green beans. Of course after dinner there is the small dish of ice cream. Start the whole meal off with a couple of Picon Punches and it is just perfect. I had my left over entree for breakfast the next morning. Most mornings that meant lamb. Baked lamb, lamb chops plus some of the other stuff, Heaven.

I always take some projects to work on while I am there. I had either a scarf or a pair of socks to work on where ever I went. It was grand to be just hanging out with a beer, pull out the knitting and meet lots of new friends.

Now you see it....

Now you don't.

I has blossoms

I have some tomato plants that my boss gave me that he started from seeds. They are all heirlooms. Here is a picture of three of them.

All of the have blossoms. If all goes well by August we should be swimming in tomatoes.

Off to Black Sheep

Well it's Thursday morning and I'm all set to take off for Black Sheep Gathering. I'm meet some friends to caravan up together. I hope to be able to post from there.

Wisdom

I just found something awesome. There is this book called "Wisdom" This guy when to all these great people and asked them to share their experence about work, love, wisdom.
I've just spent time on this website.
http://www.wisdombook.org/
I really want to get this book.

Greatest thing ever.

If you are a Muppets fan or a Queen fan, this is the greatest thing ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgbNymZ7vqY&feature=player_embedded

I'm a sunflower

I am a Sunflower What Flower Are You?

Finished projects

I finished another project over the weekend. I knit a Citron Shawl featured in the Knitty, Winter 2009 addition. It was a fun and quick knit. It think it went faster because I created a chart of the increases for my self.
I'm now wanting to start on something new. My choices are, Herbivore by Steven West, The Fall Leaves Shawl by Sara Lamb, Spin Off Fall 2009, or Storm Cloud Shawlette by Hanna Breetz. Actually I modify that one a bit to include some kind of cool border stitch and maybe make it stockinette.
Too many projects not enough time.

I also finished a five year old project, Meg Swansen's Super Sprial Shawl from A gathering of Lace. I hand spun all the yarn for this project. I started with 2oz of cashmere and silk I got from Chasing Rainbows. In the end I needed to put this project on a 120" needle to be able to see all the stitches. I used the super stretchy bind off from Knitty. I used 88 markers in the border section and a whopping 1760 bound off stitches.

Another great weekend

What makes a great weekend? Hanging out with your best friends, some of which you didn't know before you got there. That right folks it was the first annual Spindling Retreat. Sorry no pictures, I forgot my camera.

Mike and I loaded up Friday morning and took off about 9:30. Because we were driving our VW camper van, we decided to take a slightly longer route. If you've been driven or been behind a VW camper van, you know its great on the flats and the downhill but murder on the up hill parts so we took a route a little less traveled. Anyway we decided to take 80 from Reno to Truckee, 89 from Truckee to Sierraville and 49 to Dobbins/Lake Francis. We left early because we weren't sure how long it would take and we wanted to be able to stop along the way. It was a beautiful drive. Lots of wildflowers and wonderful greens. I was surprised and the amount of snow still up there.

We pulled into the camp ground 1:00 and the nice people at Lake Francis let us go on up to our site and set up. The others started coming in about 3:30. It was great to meet some many wonderful people that I knew from association.

Friday's pot luck was great and I have to thank my sister for baking me a Tres Leche Cake for me to bring. It was so good and everyone wanted the recipe.

The weather was so changing as it can be this time of the year in the Sierras. Sunny and warm to windy and cold. Dry and cloudy to rainy and sunshine. If you wanted some different weather wise all you had to do was wait 10-15 minute.

I was finally able to see Amy's trailer first hand and man is it beautiful.

We had a a rather large cloud burst Saturday afternoon/evening. It was quite comical scrambling to get all the equipment under the easy-up and then dumping the water out of the tent so that it didn't leak or fall in. We were passing the stick part of my noddy-noddy around to poke up the places were the water would gather.

Mike was a true trooper making lunch and dinner for me so I could hang out with everyone.
Even Cino had a good time. She slept al the way home.

As we were packing up to leave there was talk of next years event. We even scouted around to see if there was even better spaces with in the park for us.

Decadance is...

Having your favorite hair dresser over for dinner and he insists on cutting your hair.

Our friend "Hair*" Michael was in town for a party my friend Lisa was having on Saturday. Lisa always has a Kentucky Derby Day party since she from Louisville. The party is always a blast. Lots of great food and fun people. There a $2 pot and a $1 pot that you can get in on. It strictly be chance, you pays your money and draw a name out of the hat. Mike and I won both pots, having drawn the winning horse, Super Saver. Lisa also made a real bet and won as well.

On Sunday, "Hair" Michael, "Photo" Michael (My husband), and my sister, Gretchen, went out to Lake Pyramid for a walk. "Hair" Michael had never been there and was blown away by the serenity of the place. They all came back to our house to hang out until dinner. My Mike cooked a great meal of bbq'd tri tip and grilled veggies. Lisa and her Mike joined us as well. A good time was had by all.

* There are way to many "Michael's" in our group. We've had to come up with a way to distinguish which one you are talking about. Hence "Hair" Michael or Heidi's Michael or Lisa's Michael.

From left ot right; "Hair" Michael, "Photo" Michael, Lisa, Gretchen, and "Survey" Michael.

Another finished item

Well not quite finished but off the loom. Another scarf. I hadn't woven since January and was determined to finish this. Now all it needs is the fringe finished and to be washed and blocked. If I could just get some pictures up here it would be perfect.

UFO, UnFinished Projects

Again I'm behind in posting. I meant to do this last week but am having problems getting the pictures off my camera and into the space call blog land. Oh well.

In the last week I finished off a very old project, Fibertrends Felted Slippers (pictures to come I hope.) I don't know why these have taken so long. It may have had something to do with the fact I had to focus on what I was doing the whole time or it was knit a row, rip back three, every time.

I also had a piece that was a sampler that I had thought to turn into a small bag but never got around to it. I was playing with it one night and then it hit me, a head band. A seam here and a few stitches there and here I had a finished object.

I'm on a roll with the unfinished objects. I'm about 4 rows from being done with a shawl I've been working on since 2005. The only problem is the fact that there are 704 stitches to a row and it take about an hour to work one row. I have to pay strict attention because I don't want to rip any of this back.

I went through a bunch of my UFO's and it seems they all have to same thing in common. They all required large amounts of quite time to work/finish them. Some things have charts and some have beads added. These projects are not the kind that can be worked on a few minutes here and a few minutes there. One day last week I actually sat in my car with a project and the radio for an hour just to get some quite time. I find if I'm at home there's always something else that needs to be done. And if I with friends most of these project just don't work. Unless I want to rip out everything I've done for the last two + hours.

I really like this quote.

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with to high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The money habit

This new habit that I wanted to develop is not the easiest thing I've ever done. I had gotten into the habit of being able to buy, within reason, anything I wanted and not have to worry about the consequences. I had enough money to make the bills and stuff.


What I didn't have was a good handle on where the money was going.


Then in 2009 I noticed that this way of thinking wasn't working any more. We weren't saving any more. In fact every time I put money into the savings account I would end up using it later in the month to cover something else.


I've been using Quicken and it's ability to categorize things better and I am more aware when I spend but it's not easy. I am having a hard time telling my self no when I want to get something. Like a ball of yarn for a project I'm working on or The YarnHarlot's new day-to-day calendar. I am dealing with feelings of sadness. I work hard I should be able to have what I want and stuff like that. I keep telling my self the buying those things, even those they are small items, they do add up and don't contribute to my goals.

Happy thoughts from the weekend

• Sleep and plenty of it.
• Sunshine and plenty of that as well.
• Working on unfinished projects. Why is it when your working on an old unfinished project it takes twice as long to finish it as a new project? Maybe that's why it's an UFO.
• The first BBQ of the year.
• Time spent out of doors for everyone, the dog, the cats and the humans.

As a note, the Governor veto the bill that would have given us a four day work week. I am bummed because I was so looking forward to having Fridays off. I'm not complaining. I'm just glad I still have a job. In fact I am blessed I have a job.

It's been a long, long, long time

It's been a very long time since I've posted anything. It is because we, here at work, have been busy, busy busy. At the end of every Legislative Session we print the laws that were pass during that session. Usually this happens in September-October. This multi volume project is called "The Nevada Revised Statutes." This year there was a law passed that required to make the whole thing to be gender neutral. The long and the short of it is that it took the people who put the books together a lot longer to do their job this year. We started our part of this project in middle of January. We are now coming down to the end.

To give you and idea of how big this project is there are 58 volumes, put together in three volume packages. Each package has about 1700 pages. (That's about a 4" tall stack of paper.)
I've been helping out in the bindery, marrying packages together, feeding them into a very large punch machine and generally helping out where I can. I may be weird but I've really had a great time working on this project and will be sorry when it is over.

Any way I want to tell about the trip I made in January, to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, in Elko, NV. But that is another post.

Holiday weekends are wonderful

I just love holiday weekends. I do manage to get a lot done without feeling like I've run myself ragged.

I managed to paint another wall.







It was the one with the most stuff on it. That's two down with two to go. The others should be a breeze.

It was also a good time to clean out the files and get ready for tax time.

I also went out to Linda L.s for our weaving study group. She lives out in Stagecoach which is a bit of a drive. Nancy was the only other one to show up so it was nice to just sit and talk. I took my ridge heddle loom with me. I bought some more storage bobbing from Nancy so I could clean off my spinning bobbins. It felt good to do that. Now I just need to set aside some time to ply.


Sunday we went to my nieces birthday party. She's 10 now. Gosh she's growing up so fast.


Monday I plied. I have so much that is in single form that is waiting to be yarn. I also got all the laundry done and vacuumed up the basement.

Movies, movies and movies

Over the holidays we went to two movies and had a great time. Both of these I want to see again.

The first was Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey Jr. and Jud Law. Although the theater had the sound up way too loud, the movie was a lot of fun. I want to see it again. I'll probably buy it when it comes out on DVD. We were even able to get 9 of us to the movie in time enough to sit together and with my family that's no mean feat.

The second was Avatar in 3D in an Imax theater. IMG. Amazing experience. We went to the Bay Area to visit a friend and since we were going to be there any way we thought we try to see this movie in Imax. The only show we could get into was the 9:45 one on Saturday morning. This worked out great because my friend got sick on Friday so we stayed with her Friday night, got up early went to the movie, then after headed home.

That's two first run movies in a theater. That more than I went to last year. I don't usually like going to the movies in a theater because I like being at home, where there's popcorn I don't have to spend an arm and a leg for, and there's beer, and a bathroom I don't have to wait in line for.

We also saw a bunch of new stuff on DVD. Angles and Demons, Up and Inglourious Bastards. I liked Angles and Demons and want to see it again. Up was cute. I didn't like Inglourious Bastards at all.

There are some new ones coming up I'm looking forward to. Iron Man 2 and Alice in Wonderland, 2010 just to mention a few.

New for the new year

I'm not very much of a make-up kind of gal but when my sister in law went to work for this company, Bare Escentuals, I just had to see what was new and boy do I like what I see.

I had used this product years ago when it first came out and I like the results but not enough to wear it every day. I liked the fact that it was a mineral powder that doesn't clog you pores. You can sleep in it and not wake up the next day looking like cement face. It has a SPF of 15 which makes it nice that you don't need a separate sun screen. I don't like most sun screens for the face cause they are greasy. Even the ones just for the face.

What I didn't like was the foundation color was a little off. I felt I looked a little too pinkie.
They fixed that little problem. I just love it now. It is so easy to put on. It takes seconds. I don't even look like I have anything on. Just me only better.