Beads and Wool

Better frame of mind today. Much better. I have an appointment to get my teeth cleaned tomorrow. No cavities I hope. Here are a few pictures of some jewelry I'll be listing for sale on Etsy in May. Why May? That get's me through birthdays and is towards the end of school. Plus, it's enough time to get a nice amount of items made. The pictures are really not great since they were taken with my phone camera. I need to get my digital one some new disks. Till then, the old phone camera will have to do. The shell bead necklace was made with beads I got while in Virginia on Spring Break. They had two bead shops there and it was heaven!!! If you like yarn shops, you'll like bead shops. So much color and texture! Also, I wanted to include a picture of some wool fleece that I bought from SheperdChik. I loved it so much I ordered more. The chocolate brown is from a Romeldale named Pepper. If Oliver (my cat) were to meet her in person, he might be her boyfriend. He loves her fleece. He actually frolicked in it until I caught him and shooed him away. Scandolous little devil!! The grey is from a CVM named Andy. If I had a farm, I'd ask to have Andy come for summer visits. Like Oliver, I would have frolicked in his fleece if I could have. I also got a small bit of black Shetland wool. A bit advanced for a beginner like me but I've been known to throw caution to the wind on occasion. The way I figure, life's short so go for it. If you screw it up, at least you can say you tried. BTW, if you spin, SheperdChik has lovely fleece and I highly recommend her. I'll link to her blog as soon as I, techno doofus, figure out how to do it. All of the fleece I received was so nice! I even ordered a drum carder because I realized that hand carding all of it would drive me batty. Now, for an update on what's on my needles/hook/bead board/etc.:
Somewhat Cowl--I'm waiting on replacement needles since, after consuming two glasses of wine, I sat on my needles and broke one. That sucked but at least I wasn't impaled on the needle.
Tube Sock #2--I'm sick of knitting these even though I like the pattern and yarn. Maybe I'm sick of it because I know they won't fit me and will end up being a gift. Damn.
Crochet Afghan 1-
Crochet Afghan 2--
Scotland Wave Shawl--There is an error in the pattern that the errata doesn't explain. Must sit down and figure it out. Crap!
Coral Necklace--Need to order extra sterling beads and I can string her up and be done with it!
Plus, so much miscellaneous other stuff I may never finish it all. Best get back to work!!!

Spinnin' the Night Away

Okay. I'm channeling the song Tubthumping here. Hit your itunes and search it if you can't remember it. They're an Irish band who had a hit with that song some years back. Not sure why I thought of that but I did. Spinning is such a relaxing thing for me. It is as calming to me as yoga. Probably one of the few times I can smile at my mistakes and not feel overly critical of them. I need to spin right now. Need it like you can't imagine. Why is it that when you move forward in life something comes along like a speedbump from hell to remind that nothing can ever be easy? I have to confess. DH and I have been in the midst of a legal wrangle amongst his dad and uncles over his late Grandmother's property which all of them inherited an equal portion of. The fact that DH inherited an equal portion of that property which seems to have his dad and uncles in twist. To make it worse, one uncle sued to be bought out and that's the legal wrangle. You don't even want to know the drama that caused all that. Dh was willing to do whatever his dad and uncles wanted at first. They want to keep the house at this point. You cannot imagine the grief we've had over this whole thing. They've tried to get us to be part of a loan on the house and even suggested Alan just sign away his portion of the home to his Dad without being bought out. To make a long story short, it looks like we are going to have to retain our own attorney in this matter. Dealing with this while DH is deployed has been a nightmare. After the correspondence I recieved this weekend, we are just insisting that they buy us out. I've had it with dealing with these people, who have no interest in us and only call when they want something. There is so much to all this, so much that it would take more room and energy than I am willing to expend to explain it all. I just wish it would be done with. I want to say, "Buy us out and leave us alone. Don't call, ever again. Don't pretend interest in our kids, whose names you don't even know and whom you tbought were girls until we corrected you. Just go away. Our lives are fine without you and will continue to be fine after you leave. You have only brought stress and frustration to us to this point." But, I know for DH's sake, I cannot say those things. So I will write them here and I will spin when I'm not writing. And I will knit and make jewelry when I am not spinning. I have some jewelry to show you but that will keep until tomorrow. Tomorrow I will be more positive and in a better state of mind. Tomorrow I will not let this stress seep into me like poison. I'll process it today and plan how I'm going to deal with it all. That way, I can enjoy the rest of my week. I'm going to spin up the rest of this fiber(pictured as yarn on the bobbin). It's a superwash merino tencel blend in tamarack spruce colorway. It came from Susan's spinning bunny. I love her fiber. Look her up on ebay. She is a dream to deal with and has lovely fiber and yarn if you happen not to spin. Spinning this blend is so wonderful. It's soft and silky. The colors are better than I even imagined. Susan, can you tell I'm going to be ordering more from you in the future? I'm also going to finish the mate to this pink tube sock. The yarn is fleece artist and I love it. The pattern is from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks. I love that book!! The socks a little tight on me so unless it loosens up with blocking it might be put away as a gift for next year. I really hope not because I love that yarn which is odd because I at first thought the color was too girly. Now, I can't bear to part with it. Guess I'm just feeling girly after all. Till tomorrow and in the hopes of better spirits.

Wicked

Well, here is a really crappy picture of my Wicked. I wasn't actually going to do this one with the SKC but I saw Jeanie's and decided to give it a go. I used Rowan's Cashsoft Aran from Webs. Webs, you are evil and I spend more money with you than I care to think about. Please stay in business forever. Jeanie, quit making things you know I'll want to make. You are also responsible for my making the Simple Knitted Bodice too. Do you know how much that Tilli Tomas cost me??? Still, this was a quick knit and just what I needed for some instant knitting gratification. Now, I don't normally have folks flock to me and pet my knitting but this time they did. This sweater I got tons of compliments on and everyone loved the softness of the yarn. Rowan, don't ever quit making Cashsoft. I love it as much as I love Noro Silk Garden and that's a lot. If it were possible to marry a yarn, I'd marry Silk Garden and maybe date Cashsoft too. If you like casual knitwear and can wear a pocket around your middle (though you don't have to add the pocket), Wicked is nice pattern. I'd recommend it and definitely recommend Cashsoft Aran too. Let me add a note, I was a bit off on gauge even with one needle size smaller (6 I think) with Cashsoft Aran but not by much. I didn't change needle size down more than one size because I felt the fabric would be too stiff. Instead, I compensated by sizing down one size in the pattern which worked nicely for me. If you do this, check your fit often. Oh, a mistake I made was to accidentally use the size 7 needles for my pocket. I liked the larger pocket and didn't feel the difference was so obvious that I had to rip back and change it.