Earthwhisper Fiber Arts

First my grades….I got 2 A’s the last semester. What I am really proud of is my Microbiology class and the fact that I got the highest grade on the final in my class.

Of course, it will never make up for my past grades, 11 years ago when I took 19 credits one semester and bombed the semester getting a whopping 0.94. Those grades haunt me and will always pull my grade point down. In fact, they may prevent me from getting into the programs I need to get into. I am now attempting to find out if I can do something about that semester…it may haunt me forever, unfortunately.

On to other things…Tony and I have been doing a lot of yardwork in the backyard.
Here we moved two plants closer towards the house so we can eventually have more patio space.

The plants we moved is the one in the corner and there is one behind the center gardenia plant.

See that shrub? I think it is jasmine. There were three huge shrubs that took up the back planter box. We spent this weekend tearing half of it out. We killed atleast 30 Black Widow spiders and I am NOT exagerating. It was frightening and an eyeopener of the poisonous critters we had in our backyard. We have some more tearing out to do. I might keep one jasmine on the end and reshape it so it grows up and not out and get rid of the dead debris and spider nests undereath. Apparantly this is the Black Widow Spider Mecca. Can you imagine if one of the kids threw a ball in there and went after it and got bit? One black widow was twice the size of most of them and now the picture of that mutant has scarred me and I cannot shake the image of it. I told Tony that maybe when we pull out the other half maybe tomorrow or this weekend I will take pictures.

Tony is off of work tomorrow for my birthday. I am excited to spend the day with him. It was suppose to be a surprise, but apparantly we can’t keep secrets from each other.

You can see the corner where we tore out the shrub I planted a lavender plant. It looks small, but it is actually a pretty good size and I expect that once it takes and grows it will take up that whole corner. It smells so good over there.

This is walking towards my front door. I planted some flowers, can’t remember their name. They are suppose to like direct sun, which they get most the day (except for the moment I snapped a pic, ha ha.) However, they aren’t doing so well right now. They haven’t died but the flowers looke kind of wilted, so we will see what happens. The purple bunch is an African Daisy and is doing pretty well. I expect it to get quite a bit bigger.

Here is another view of my front porch. Do you see the little patch of wait flowers in about the center of the picture? Last night I sprayed them real hard with the hose and 2 seconds later a huge black widow popped up onto the siding of the house. The shells in the corner are abalone. My husband and dad went diving for those a few years ago. The plant in the green pot is a Spanish lavender. It smells a bit different then the variety I planted in the backyard. I don’t know how the lavender will do in that pot. So far, so good. Planting lavender in your front yard is suppose to give you luck.

Tomorrow is my birthday, Friday is Madeleine’s birthday (she will be 2,) Saturday Sierra is in a gymnastics event, then the next weekend (the 13) I am planning a joint birthday party for the girls, Sierra’s is on the 18th so it makes sense to me. It will be lots of kids (hopefully) in the park with pizza and cake and I am trying to think of fun games and activities for them to do.

This week is suppose to be my “vacation” between semesters, but tomorrow I get an ultrasound on my thyroid. I also am trying to mail ebay stuff out, meet with my school counselor, and contact the University of Montana to find out if there is anything they can do to help me with my 0.94…I feel crazy from it all, but will be okay. Oh… and I missed a period. I am not pregnant, no worries there, but isn’t that weird?

I have been crocheting. I might have pictures tomorrow…or Wednesday.

This is the yarn I kettle dyed. It looks wonderful wound
in a ball. I can’t wait to see what it looks like worked up.

I

Here is the beautiful purse she made for me.  I am going to
run it through the wash again, her washer stopped
agitating.

got a huge reveal box of stuff, on Thursday!  Thank you
Deneen for being a great secret pal.  I actually didn't know,
so it was a big surprise.  You were pretty darn secretive.
I received a gorgeous felted purse, a pattern book 101 Easy
Tunison stitches with several different sized tunison hook.
I have never tried Tunison crochet, so that should be
pretty interesting.


I also received, Adagio teas, 4 different varieties and they
all smell good.  I have never tried this type of tea, and can't wait.

She sent some of her Jasmine Shea Butter and several skeins of sock
yarn.  Deneen, you really did spoil me!

Oh, and that wasn't enough, she also sent my girls teddy bears with
these cute little bags attached to them and flower lei's, which they
wear as headbands.

I am lucky to have had Deneen as a secret pal and also as a friend.

I will try to post pictures in a bit.  I just logged on to post this
and now back to studying.

I think I did okay on my Micro test last week and got a 92% in my
Anatomy test. I will be done with finals after Tuesday!  Yay!!  I
cannot wait. 

***Test/School Update***  I got a 75 out of 76 on last week's test, that is a 98%.
I got a 95% on my Anatomy final, which gives me a solid A in that class.
I find out my Microbiology final and class grade on Saturday.  I think I did
okay, but the first 30 questions were iffy (you know...those go back 3 months)

I registered for school for the summer, which starts May 8.  I am
taking Anatomy and then Physiology and also Political Science, 1 more credit
and it would be an official full time load.

So...how much crafting can I do in 12 days?

If it is quiet here the next week and a half, that is because I am drowning….in homework/studies/finals…

Easter was fun. Maybe I will post more another day, some of it is private so am not sure how much I feel like sharing.

I finished Sierra’s socks and she loves them.

One sock looks a little baggy by the heel, but it isn’t. She wore them all day at school and I think they got a little stretched being squished into the shoes she wore. I am sure after I wash them they will go back. Either way, she is happy and I am happy to finally finished them. She will leave me alone now for a few more weeks and then will beg me to make her something purple. It is cyclic. Madeleine hasn’t figured out how to ask for handcrafted garments yet, so I have a few more years with her. However, I can already tell she is a hat and handbag type of gal. Oh, and see the shirt with the 3 racoons? That is Madeleine’s favorite shirt. She always points at their eyes and then laughs.

Angelica Tunic update. I have 18 rows left of sleeve one and ran out of yarn for that sleeve. I am at the 3/4 sleeve point and I don’t like 3/4 sleeves. I want long sleeves.

I am now kicking myself because this is a discontinued color of yarn, so now I must search on ebay and yonder to see if I can find one more skein. sigh.

It is my goal to finish up some WIP’s this weekend, so I can start my mass studying for my 2 tests next week and then finals the week after.

Today in class we learned about the potential dangers of the Avian Flu and why researchers are looking for a vaccine for a disease that hasn’t yet mutated to infect the human population. There is history there and so I shall share it with you. In 1918, the Spanish Flu started as a Bird Flu. There was a mutation that allowed it to go from birds to humans and the flu killed over 40 million people world wide. That number is HUGE!

Every 20 years there has been this type of bird flu that has mutated to infect humans, causing pandemic problems. However, the last one that we had was back in the 60’s and so scientists and researchers are worried that we are long overdue. This is the reason when you hear about the Avian Flu in the news and why researchers are tracking the outbreaks in birds and why they are already trying to get a vaccine for it ready. Hopefully this pandemic will never happen.

Just thought I would share that tidbit of info and also tell you I got an A on my last test! Remember I thought I did bad? Well, I didn’t. It was just a really hard test. My grade is now an A- and I cannot be more thrilled. I have one more test and then the Final! I have 3 more classes left. I have to admit, I am going to miss my Microbiology class. The knowledge that I received in that class is priceless.

I am too tired to do the dye tutorial. I will try tomorrow, otherwise I might get to it this weekend. I am almost done with Sierra’s other sock. I have been incredibly slow lately in the fiber department…so sorry.

I tend to be having a bit of “Insert Foot in Mouth Disease.” I am sorry to all of those involved. I suppose it is better than having the dreaded “Head up the Ass Disease.” Luckily, I am not that flexible.

One example of my disease is when my Secret Pal sent me this lovely yarn.

Yep, it is a huge roll of yarn. I showed my husband, who immediatly told me he thought it was carpet. NO! I exclaimed. However, it really was a lot like carpet,rough texture, same color…and that is where my disease took over and I mentioned to my secret pal that I thought she had sent me a roll of carpet yarn. There was no piece of paper or anything telling me what kind of yarn it was, so I even did a bit of a burn test on it, finding out it was wool.

I later found out from my very gracious and generous secret pal, that it is 100% New Zealand
wool, 2 ply, 1000 yards per pound in Antique White. Wool that I can dye with, suitable for purses, bags and hats, but probably not so much for garments. Thankfully my secret pal has a sense of humor and has probably noticed that I am inflicted with this disease, so has overlooked my jerky-ness.

So, tonight I made a hank of 6 ozs and because I ran out of saran wrap, I decided to try kettle dyeing again. Each time I do it, I am thinking of a better technique of kettle dyeing.

The first time I dyed, I learned, “Do Not Stir the Pot.” This is very important.

This time, I learned that different colors exhaust at different times. It appears green is kind of last. When I dyed it, I put all the yarn in the pot and all the colors I wanted on the yarn. Then, waited for the dyes to exhaust. I am thinking this “all at the same time” method is interesting, but not what I want.

Adding to my list of what to do next time is that I will pour 1 color in and wait for it to exhaust, then pour the next color in and let it exhaust….down the colors. I also think I need less water in the pot. This time I had it at the right temperature and so I didn’t felt the yarn.

The yarn did turn out interesting. It was not bright, which I am kind of liking and the yarn strands are 2 tone in many areas. In fact, many green strands also are purple, so they seem a bit irridescent.

Here are some pics of it drying.

As suggested by my secret pal, I soaked it in Conditioner and I also added some lavendar oil to the soak and some lanolin, to soften up the yarn. I think the yarn ended up much softer and my hands are super soft! It smells really good, too. Maybe the lavender oil will help deter bugs?

Thanks secret pal for the yarn.

I didn’t sleep last night. I tried to. I tossed and turned for 2 hours. My brain kept thinking of crochet stuff….I thought of a cool felted belt and some other stuff. Will see if anything comes of that. I finally got *tired* of trying to sleep and got up. Now I am online just zoning. Tony is going to work early today and I am going to try to volunteer at Sierra’s school. Why I would do this on no sleep? I don’t know. If I was smart (I never claimed that…I hope) I would jump in bed and sleep for 3 hours and then get back up. I don’t forsee that happening.

Odd and yet annoying thing I have noticed recently. I live in California (no, that isn’t odd…) and apparantly stores assume that if you live in California you must own a California King sized bed. For the life of me, I cannot find just regular King sized bed sheets. Everything is California King. If you have ever tried to put California King sized sheets on a King sized bed you will realize it is like wrestling a giant buffalo (okay, so I don’t really know what that is like.) It is annoying though. Target, why do you only sell California King? Hmph….

Tony and I have been on the search of finding the best French chocolate truffles. We bought some Harry and David’s truffles and they were good! Not the best, but good. Tony got caught by Sierra eating them. Instead of sharing a bit of heaven, he told her that the wrapper was “batteries” (my man cannot think on his toes.) It didn’t fool Sierra. She looked right at the bag and said, “but Papa, there is candy on the bag. Are you sure that isn’t candy?”

Finally, I have gotten some use of the treadmill, but only very short intervals at a time. After about 15 minutes my back kills me. I suppose it is better than nothing. Yesterday was a terrible back day. So far, today it feels much better. I think I am going to write my surgeon a letter to let him know my outcome. I feel I failed him. I am hoping this is just a slight glitch in the healing process. I also thought about calling my health insurance to find out if they cover massage therapy. I really need a good deep tissue massage. Tony massages my back a little bit, but he only gives about 10% and for about 5 minutes, plus his hands are really rough.

Oh, so back to the treadmill…atleast someone is getting use out of it.

She climbed up there with a pillow and blanket and decided to make it her little bed. My Madeleine definately dances to the beat of her own drum, just like her mom.

Are Sierra’s favorite colors. So, when a person online was destashing I *had* to buy this yarn. It is purple/redishpink/and pink. (redishpink…don’t you like that, I guess I am not very good with color names.) There is a hint of blue in there too. It is Knit Picks - Sock Garden in colorway - Hydrangea. Funny thing is I almost bought some of this about a month ago, but decided I need to cool it on the yarn acquisition for a bit. When I saw someone was destashing it, I decided to buy it because it was just enough for Sierra sized -socks. Well, when she sent it she threw in 2 more skeins that she found.

So, here is 1 sock…she is already demanding I start/finish the second sock. Also, she wants grandma to have matching socks (so she is already queing up what I should be working on next.)

The socks pattern is : Most Basic Kid’s Socks

Well, I got a 89% on the last exam. That doesn’t bring my grade up to an A, still hanging at a B+. I missed some stupid ones, like always.

We just covered vaccinations in class and now are covering diseases. If you need to know anything about vaccinations, ask me. I would be happy to share my knowledge. One disease you might want to consider thinking about, if you do not vaccinate is Congenital Rubella Syndrome. We saw pictures of babies that were born with this disease. It was sad. It is a disease that affects newborns whose mom was not ever exposed to the disease until she is pregnant.

I was also amazed by the charts on how vaccinations have brought diseases down from the 1960’s to current. We are very lucky to live in a country that has developed and implemented these programs. A lady next to me in class is from Africa. She has told stories of her people in Africa and the diseases she has seen, first hand and the crippling side effects of the diseases.

Two other things I need to comment on as I have read other blogs and other online communities.

1. Rape is not okay, no matter what your profession is, no matter what you are wearing, no matter if you are intoxicated or whatever. If you are a stripper at a night club or at a party, you do not deserve to be raped. Being in these types of professions and environments will increase the risk of being raped, but that does not mean it is deserved. I hate that mentality.

2. Faking your own death in an online community is just dumb. Don’t do it. Don’t go there. I feel bad for all of the people that have recently lost a loved one who thought they were losing an online friend. I was in chat room with the “deceased” last night and it was incredible all of the lies and bs she was saying. I don’t know if she did this to get out of swaps or to get people to send her $$ or what. Man, if you join swaps and find out you can’t do them, just say so.

It isn’t the first time I ran across this online. I am surprised she didn’t come back and say her kid broke into her account why she was away and concocted the whole story…heard that one before years ago on a birth board.

I do have another (big) test next week…it is never ending, huh? I have 3 more weeks and then finals. WOW…putting that in writing makes it so real. I am going to do something craft tonight…stay tuned.

Here is the yarn I dyed. It is an odd bunch of colors. It is shades of oranges/rusts/browns/grays with turquoise. I have no idea what it will look like when I knit it into socks. I actually kind of like it, even though the colors are muddy…guess I like mud.

My bruise on my side is big, about 2 inches in diameter, which I think is kind of big. It doesn’t ache, only hurts if I touch it or lay on it. I did do a google search (why?) and found out that bruising your liver can cause it to be susceptible to bacterial infections. This was good to know, but hopefully that won’t happen. I am counting on the fact that I have several inches of “protective tissue” (aka fat) that probably saved my life. I seriously am not kidding about how close I was to having a major problem here. I swear if my mini blinds had any type of point on them I would have been “stabbed.” Give thanks for blunt ended mini blinds.

I woke up at 7 am this morning to Madeleine mangling my glasses. She has done this before, but this time it was so bad…so bad. One lens was on the floor, the arms were twisted around the other direction…they were bad. I looked at Tony, please, save them.

Snap, twist, click…he had them all put together and turned the right way. Yes, he is my own personal eye glass technician…wink.

So, it is time for new glasses. I guess I need to find an eye doctor as it has been 4 years since my last exam.

I don’t have anything else to really add, except that I hope Deneen is feeling better soon.

There is something else I wanted to talk about….well, maybe tomorrow.