Earthwhisper Fiber Arts

Last week was an emotionally stressed week.  Tony’s mother passed away.  We drove ASAP to Washington last week and made it in time to see her.  The week was very surreal and we are still trying to process it all.  I find myself getting upset at little things and it is hard to try to pick up my life where I had left it.  Oh, and *oops* I forgot to pay the bills last week.  (Not like I had the money to do it, either.)

One day at a time, though, right?

It makes things like my Options needle breaking not seem so bad.  (Or any of the other misc. sucky things that have happened over the last week.)

The one thing that really helped Tony through all of this was his family.  It was wonderful to see all of them, it had been awhile.  We brought the kids with us as well.  Tony and I realized that even the “parenting” of them wasn’t so bad as it took our minds away from the present.

I think it has really made me re-evaluate my life and the things I find important and to really pursue the things I want.

I don’t think I want to talk about her passing as it really is a private thing for Tony’s family.  I do want to say that I love her and miss her.  I am deeply saddened that my children barely got to know her and am hoping that they will cherish memories of her.  I hope that Tony’s father can move on.

I am starting my garden late this year.  I just couldn’t find the time and wasn’t feeling well enough at times to go out and weed my planter box.  I have almost half of it done now, worked my butt off (I mean back off) yesterday.  Today I am finishing it up.  I bought my plants (already started by Home Depot) and will plant them today.  I decided it was better to have a late garden one that may or may not be bountiful then no garden.

However, last year I had tomatoes all the way until the late fall.  In fact, when I pulled out my plants this winter they had green fruits on them.

Last year I only planted 2 tomato plants, they were both Better Boy Hybrids.  This year I am planting a variety of tomatoes.  (Cherry, Better Boy, 100 Sweet, and Roma.)  I am also planting yellow crook neck squash and zucchini.  I think I might also see if I can get some watermelon to grow.  We don’t really have the room, but perhaps I can think of something clever.

While weeding my garden, I looked under the wheel barrow and there was a HUGE black widow.  It was the biggest I have seen in a long time.  I have only seen small ones this year.  It scared me.  They always do.  I called the girls over to see it as I really want them to know 1.  How prevalent they are and 2.  what they look like.   Then I killed it.

At the Junior college I go to they don’t kill black widows, but rather move them to a location away from where people are sitting…fools.  I know this because one day I saw some spider webs under a bench outside of my class.  I looked under it and Lo and Behold, a Black Widow.  I went to the office department of that building.  They didn’t seem to care.  I stressed the serious of it and then they called someone from the Biology Department to come and get it and move it to another location.  You would think they would call someone to just come over and kill it.  I suppose I could have tried to kill it with my shoe.

Seriously, they are not in any way endangered and they make 5 to 10 egg sacks which contain 200-900 babies, though the babies do eat each other, several offspring come from each egg sack.  In this area we are not lacking in black widows.

Tony is almost done with putting down the patio stones.  He has to redo some of it and buy a few more stones.  Then we will be all set up to sit out on the patio and watch the garden this summer, something we both enjoy doing.

Yesterday I found time to re-pot all of my house plants.  They have been needing it for awhile.  I also chopped the top of my rubber tree off.  I was hoping I could just cut it off and throw it in water to see if it would propagate.   Later I read online that you have to wound the plant, wrap it in moss and wait a couple of months for it to form a root ball.  Then you cut it off.  The plant is pretty tall and so I am thinking about doing this and making the top of the plant a new plant.  I shouldn’t have let it grow that tall.  It is just long and awkward.

I knit a few dishcloths/washcloths and gave them to my girl scout co-leaders as a Thank You.  I needed to create something for Sierra’s teacher.  Perhaps I will get her a gift card.  I just am not sure if I have enough time.

Sierra’s last day of first grade is tomorrow.  The last year sure went by fast!  In the fall, Madeleine will start preschool every day for 3 hours and Sierra will be in 2nd grade.  What will Tony and I do with no kids at home?  Ha ha.

I am not sure what is going on with my and the Junior college.  I registered for Summer school, but couldn’t afford to pay for my classes.  The day school started I logged on to drop the class and couldn’t.  They froze my account because I didn’t pay the fees.  So now I owe for a class I never attended and will have to withdraw and it might just cause me huge problems.  I was so busy with other things that I didn’t realize that was going to happen.  This weekend we are going to have a mini garage sale, all proceeds will go towards groceries.  Then I think we will work on our backyard.

I took these pictures about a month ago. The kids still look the same, so here they are…

Madeleine  (One thing this picture doesn’t show is how tall she is getting.  She is growing out of her baby look.)

Sierra

This is Sierra’s last week of school.  I can’t believe she is almost in 2nd grade.  We just finished up Brownies for the year.  It was a blast and I am going to miss it.  We will still do some fun stuff over the summer.  I am trying to get a job to pay down our debts so we can buy a house.  Every day I put in 1 or 2 resumes.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  I am realizing that it isn’t easy for a sahm to re-enter the working world.

Here is one of  the infamous banners created by Netter. This will be laminated and treasured. We love it! Madeleine loved it! It took up our whole living room wall. I drag friends and family into my house just to show off the banner. Sierra will be surprised that she gets one too. We will hang hers this Sunday.

Oh, see that ugly scratched up chair…it is a goal one day to reupholster it along with the one that is to the right in the picture (buried in blankets.)

Here she is with the doll I made her.   The doll surprised her and at first she wanted to hide behind it.  It was pretty funny.  She was happy that day. Then the next day decided she hated it, too much hair. Then a few days later she saw it in my room and wanted it back. She then slept with it. I think she likes it now, but I am ready to take it back and keepsake it any time.

I need to update you about Madeleine’s birthday and provide you with pictures.  I have been so busy, I just haven’t had time.  I don’t know if I shared this tidbit, but I became a Girl Scout leader in April.  I am leading my daughter’s Brownie troop.  It is a blast.  This month we are making paperbag scrapbooks.

So, that is where I have been…sorry.

I did have a little crafty/crochet question for you…

If a pattern suggests using 1 ball of yarn, however then says to hold 4 strands together.

a.  Do you buy 4 balls and only use 1/4 of each ball?

b.  Do you buy 1 ball and then wind it into 4 balls?

c.  Some other variation (liking working 2 balls from each end…)

Just curious…

Oh, and Netter, the birthday banner was a hit.  I am going to cut out the 4th and have it laminated so I can use it every year!  It is truly awesome.  Hopefully I will upload some pictures this weekend.

Today was my birthday.   It was better then last year. A friend of mine (non-yarn friend) gave me a basket full of yarn, knitting needles, coffee and a cheesecake. Coming from someone who is not a yarnie, it was an incredible thoughtful gift.

Tony made me a lemon cake. It was good, but not as good as my mom’s. I told him not to feel bad. Not many people can live up to my mom.

The girls gave me cards and then the girls and I went out to dinner. Sierra, of course, made sure everyone know it was my birthday. She even tried to make me wear her princess crown (she wore it the entire time in the restaurant.) I told her, “you know your mom, Sierra…she ain’t no princess.” When I was a little girl, I didn’t dream to be a princess. I wanted to be a cowgirl.

Madeleine’s birthday is Monday. I am hoping to be able to take her and a friend to Build a Bear. She is going to be 4 years old.

I knit a sock, with Noro Kureyon sock yarn. I just knit a generic sock, with a CO 64 st, size 1 needles.

The yarn had a problem though…the colors went from brown to a blazing pink! There was no gradual change and I started to question my ball of Noro yarn. I finally frogged back to the brown and cut the yarn. I then wound the yarn until I went through all of the colors to the next brown and lo and behold…it did not go right into a bright pink. So I joined the yarn there and went on with my knitting.

Here you can see the lovely blue that was cut out of the yarn in the above picture. The sock below looks much better.

I am trying to get Madeleine’s doll done. It hasn’t been easy making clothes for it. You think it would. However, I really gave the doll too much hair. She is top heavy and her head likes to flop around. It makes putting on doll sweaters difficult. Maybe she will leave it on? Or is that not much fun? I was hoping to be able to make the doll more clothes, but I think as long as she isn’t naked, it will be fine. Then I can make doll clothes at my convenience this summer, right?

Thanks all for the nice comments about her face.  This doll has been very challenging for me.  Seriously!  Please let’s hope that all the work I put into giving the doll hair isn’t for naught.  I spent hours giving that doll too much hair.  It would only take seconds for scissors to take it away.  Maybe this is too much doll for a 4 year old?

I finally gave the doll a face. It took me a couple of times to get the eyes right and the nose. The mouth was the hardest. I first started in red, but didn’t like it. I was trying to make them look like lips. Then, I finally gave that up and went with a pink smile. I am not good at embroidery, this is as good as it gets.

So, what do you think? Does she need eyebrows? Is the nose okay as just a poof?

Her hair is Patons Allure. It seemed to work well for hair and gave it a funky curly look without me having to curl yarn. I crocheted it on, just like you would fringe. I did the bangs and then around the scalp. Then, I worked from the back of the top of the head to the front. It got so thick that after awhile, I lost place where I was. The very back, I embroidered the the allure to make it appear there was hair on the back of her head, but hair doesn’t acutally hang from there. It is so thick, I just couldn’t add hair back there.

Plus, I don’t think Madeleine is going to care.

I attempted to make her a skirt, but goofed on the gauge and well, it looks more like a baby hat then a skirt. That is what I get for guessing if a worsted weight wool yarn doubled is equivalent to ggh davos.

Today, we went on a nice bike ride.  It is the first time I have ridden my bike (besides in my small neighborhood.)  The trail was short, but it was perfect.  It had a fun hill, a cool bridge, and then a small straight away.  Of course, going back up the “fun” hill, was not so fun and the small straight away was really, really long when riding back into the wind.

Sierra had a blast and couldn’t get off her bike.  So I rode with her around the neighborhood by the trail.  I should have gone back down the hill, but I have to admit, the thought of trying to go back up it scared me.  At one time, I was pedaling so slow, I thought a person could walk faster then me.  Sierra pedaled up and down the hill like it was nothing…KIDS!!

It was really nice that we all got to do that.  I am bummed I forgot my camera.  It won’t happen again, though riding a bike with a camera doesn’t seem too fun.  Maybe I need a way to attach my camera to my bike.

I finally finished these! They took forever. I had single sock syndrome for awhile, but finally decided I need to be able to wear these.

I love them!

Patten: Rockin’ Socks! by Gail Marracci. - Cast on 72.  This is a generic sock pattern, which consists of a 2×2 rib cuff and a short row heel.  I have memorized the pattern.

Yarn: Trekking XXL 110

Needles: Size 1

I knit another clapotis. I used 4 different colorways of Cherry Tree Hill’s Silk & Merino Worsted. This was yarn I picked up at 50% off when my local yarn store went out of business.

I just rotated the balls and carried them up the side of the shawl. It worked out really well. I am amazed on how well the colors blended together. No one would know this was 4 different colorways. I can’t remember which ones they were. I thought I saved the ball bands, but can only find two, Spanish Moss and Country Garden. I think the other ones are Gypsy Rose and possibly Blueberry HIll.

I also knit a doll. It is from the Rebecca Magazine. You can purchase the pattern seperately, which I did. I couldn’t find the yarn in the pattern at any lys and didn’t want to buy online. So I bought Patons Grace, which is as close as I could get to the gauge that I needed. I was able to get it at a discounted rate at Michaels (when I still worked there.)

I knit this on size 0 needles. Yes, it was slow going and hard on my hands, but I did it. The hardest part though was grafting on the head, arms, and legs. In the instructions, there is not a suggested way on doing this, so I just winged it.

For the head, my main concern was making sure her head would be straight. I think I did okay. There is still a small angle, but it is hard to line up those small stitches.

For the arms, I grafted the top part of the arm and then also grafted the bottom part of the arm…so, it looks like the stitching is pretty continuous on the top of the shoulder and in the armpit. I did the same style of attaching the legs. Also, by sewing the arms and legs together first at the top, I think it gave them more of a bendable quality at those joints.

My grafting isn’t perfect, but I think I might take a close up picture of what I did later, so that if there is someone out there who is knitting this it will give them an idea on how to do it. I also think grafting them joints on using the same yarn as the doll makes a stronger join at the joints then any other type of joining.

Now I need to figure out how to embroider on a nice face (maybe it would have been easier to do this before sewing everything together?

I also have to figure out how to attach the hair.  I wish I could do curly hair to match Madeleine.  While I figured out how to get a nice curl, I don’t know how to keep it curled.   Oh, and I need to knit some clothes.

I am hoping to finish this doll by Madeleine’s birthday, May 5.

Speaking of Birthdays (mine is coming up on May 2nd…the big 34…,) I won a contest a few months back. Netter made my daughter’s the COOLEST BIRTHDAY BANNERS EVER!!! She also sent them little birthday goodies, lollipops (these cool long stemmed ones) and even birthday ribbon/buttons.  Birthday months is coming up and I can’t wait to hang up their banners.  They are going to be so surprised!!  Tony was really impressed by how creative and perfect the banners were.  Thanks Netter!!  Sorry I took so long to blog about it.

Now I need to start planning some parties that are inexpensive, yet fun.  Last year we didn’t do parties.  We just took the girls to Discovery Kingdom.

This year, Sierra has lots of school friends and she is really wanting a party.  Madeleine would be jealous if she didn’t get one, too.  She doesn’t have many friends, since she isn’t in school.

Finally, I am sorry that I have been missing. I won’t bore you with some of my personal issues, but I am dealing with them. I had to make some changes recently (I quit caffeine.) That was a biggie, but I needed to for my own health.

I had to drop the class I was taking. I hate posting that here because I am embarrassed, mad, sad, etc. about having to quit again. I was doing good in the class (88%), but I missed some days when I had the flu and then I had some rough spots a few weeks ago.  After some thought I decided I needed to simplify my life for the next few months.  I am in a much better place now.  I am considering summer school (I registered,) but I may just take the summer off too.  I don’t know.

Tony and I are doing good.  The girls are healthy and happy.

• We are all feeling better.
• After sleeping for days straight with the flu, then not sleeping two nights ago.  I went to bed last night at 9pm and  woke up at 5am.  So now I am a morning person?
• I bombed my test.  I don’t know the grade, just know it is bad.
• We did blood sugar lab in my school.  Everyone’s was in low or normal range.  Mine was high.  I ate 2 hours before taking the test.  Now I am embarrassed, scared, and worried about it.  I think I am fine.
• My job at Michael’s as a knitting teacher has been terminated.  It wasn’t a personal thing.  All teaching positions (except Wilton’s) is being term’d.  I am going to tell my ladies this Friday.  This makes me sad.  I have grown to love them as my “grandma’s.”  (I was getting use to the money, too.)
• I feel like cleaning the house.
• I had a dream I was on survivor. However, we slept in cabins, with bedding, ate normal food (even with desserts) and I think we even had tv.  We had winter boots and jackets.  It was the “winter version” of survivor, so it seemed prudent we had the amenities we did.  I found the immunity idol, actually…I found four of them.  I didn’t know where to hide them.  I played hackey sack.  I had an ally.  Then, when I was caught moving the immunity idol, I tried to make another ally.  One girl tried to talk about plus-sized people and they all looked at me.  I told them my life story, and they all cried.  I just looked tough.  Then, I had this realization I was being filmed and tried to remember if I picked my nose or if I pulled the underwear out of my butt.  I became self conscious of standing in on place and decided I would look better outside the cabin.  I found it weird that people would drive up to our wooded area in cars, but I just needed to ignore them.  Family members would show up, too.
• Thankfully, I woke up and am not on any type of reality tv show.
• I can’t believe it is 6:30am and I have been enjoying the house while everyone sleeps and am well rested.
• I need coffee.  (I should give it up, but don’t want to.)
• This is just twilight zone like…normal just isn’t my, well…normal.