Buttons From A Little South of Heaven

I got a nice little package today. About a week ago, while searching the net for buttons for a sweater I am making, I decided to see what was available on Ebay. I never win Ebay auctions, but it doesn't hurt to look. I came across several listings for large lots of buttons, and I do love buttons, so I bid on a couple. To my surprise I won one of the auctions of 170+ buttons for less than $10 including shipping.

I am someone who sees buttons as little jewels, or treasures, so I was very excited to open the package and rummage through them all. Fortunately, the seller wanted to make sure that everything arrived in very good condition, because it took me over 10 minutes to work my way through all the packaging! There to my surprise was this lovely picture frame, slide-top box. It was filled to the brim with lovely buttons and had a picture in the frame of a young woman doing needlework. I haven't decided if I will replace the picture yet, as I find it quite charming. What a wonderful bonus to come with my buttons!

Now if I can just get my hands to stop sorting through the buttons long enough to finish the sweater!

Spinning Fun!

I have been spinning for the CJ Kopec Creations August SAL on my Bellwether 1.6 oz. spindle. I have been using the spindle so that I can keep my legs elevated as they have been swelling quite a bit lately. So far, I have spun up about 50 yards of ww/bulky low twist singles. I am thinking that this very soft, squishy yarn will make a lovely cowl. (click on the picture to enlarge it)

As you can see, I have found a new use for my TV tray holder. It works wonderfully to hold my spindle while I wind off the yarn. I am going to try using it for plying from spindles in the future, as the grooves that hold the trays in position seem to be perfect for my spindles.

Also, I have started using a bead as a diz for predrafting my roving. I have previously used the holes in a button, but that can create a thinner drafted roving than I desired. I am finding that the large hole in this bead is perfect in size, approx 4 mm, plus it is very smooth, so nothing catches on it.

My other revelation this week has been how to make and use a wrist distaff while spindling. I have seen a few pictures of wrist distaffs, but I didn't quite understand how they worked. Last night I came across this blog showing how to make your own wrist distaff, which looked simple enough. Then I wondered why or if I really need one. I found a video showing how to use one and decided that I would make one and take it out for a spin (lame pun intended).

In the photo collage above you will see how wonderfully it holds my fiber in place. I will never spindle without one again! Below is a better picture of the one I made. I think I will make another one with better yarn and beads, since this was just a quick trial with what I had within reach. Although, I must admit that the trial one works wonderfully!

Fiber of a Different Kind

This season, I have been tending to veggie plants in pots just outside my back door. I have 2 tomato vines, a bell pepper plant, and a cucumber plant that has a few leaf lettuces sprinkled in with it. They require watering every day, and for the past few weeks I have been anxiously watching a little tomato grow. This past week it started to change colors and I have been anticipating the day I could pick it.

I wish I had picked it yesterday, but I thought that it needed just one more day of vine ripening. This morning I went out to water the plants and found that the little tomato's skin had started to split. I quickly picked it and brought it into the apartment.

At first, I was disappointed that I wasn't able to capture the "perfect" tomato, but I then wondered, what is perfect? I grabbed my camera and took a very imperfect photo of my little tomato.
Then I thought about how I would like to eat it. I decided on a tomato and cheese sandwich. A simple meal that would allow the tomato flavor to shine. I made the sandwich on 12 grain bread with American cheese, mayo and a little pepper. I finished it off with a granny smith apple and enjoyed a wonderful lunch. The tomato was juicy and very flavorful. Nothing like the bland hothouse tomatoes of the supermarket
I apologize to any of you who came here looking for a yarny fiber post and are disappointed, but this was the highlight of my day and I wanted to share. I have been spindling this morning and I will be knitting later, on my Hey Teach. The next post will be back to my yarny endeavors.

Let There Be Spinning!

I did manage to just barely get my entries in for the CJ Kopec Creations July SAL. I had not been able to spin for part of the month because of a flare up in my arthritis of my hips, but in the last few days of the month, I did my best to catch up.

The first is the Navarro colorway. I separated the 3 colors in the batts, a mint, a strawberry and a dark chocolate (reminded me a little of a variation on Neapolitan ice cream). Then I spun them in sequence.

Finally I Navajo plied it to obtain 407 yards of a fingering weight, 3 ply, self-striping yarn. This is the first time I have ever made a self-striping yarn. I think it turned out quite well.The second colorway for the KAL is called Second Chances. I pulled the batts into thick rovings and then spun from that. I attempted to control the fiber color in the drafting to get long color sequences without separating the colors, then Navajo plied it, resulting in 100 yards of bulky weight 3 ply.On August 9th, I was fortunate to be able to attend the Bartlett Yarn Mills open house in Harmony, ME with my mother and sister. I will try to get pics posted from that trip soon.

Thank you for all your wonderful comments that you have kindly left on my blog and for your patience with my infrequent posting.

A blog that I would like to share...

I am beyond words so I will just post the blog link for you to read for yourself, so that you may understand how truly touched I am by it.

Knit One, Spin Two

Thank you.