Quick note New Product Launch!!!

Well I finally did it, everyone has been trying to convince me to sell my homemade laundry detergent and fabric softener forever and today I was feeling so adventurous that I listed my Fabric softener on Etsy! You can see it here . I only have it in three scents because those are the three that I use but if people like it I will definitly be trying out some other scents too! Also to celebrate, if you would like to buy a bottle of fabric softener, just convo me beforehand and let me know that you saw it on my blog and I will take $1.50 off the price just for you!

My favorite Kind of Day

The weather is amazing! Yes, it's rainy and grey but it's a light refreshing kind of rain and the breeze is so fresh and it's not cold. I've got a window at either end of the house open and a mild breeze blowing through the house and I have spent my day dying some wool and working on a new thick and thin yarn. I am trying to pull together a road trip for spring to visit family and maybe get some buns too! Speaking of buns, there are only two babies left! I am is such a wonderful mood. Today we are writing letters to grandma, who we haven't gotten to see in much too long and I've got the radio on and the kids are being wonderful and I have accomplished something, even if my living room looks a bit like a toy box puked all over it. Some days are just good and almost nothing can spoil it. Oh! and I got season two of the tudors to watch this week while the kids are sleeping. I watched an episode last night and it was awesome. Contemplating doing something new and interesting with the hair..... either more red (because I LOVE it) or... hmm, I have a hard time thinking of a color that motivates me in the way that red does. I used to purple but now I think I am truly more of a red kind of girl. Maybe I'll do red with black underneath. I don't think it's considered a rut when you love it so much. If it was just a few degrees warmer I would take the kids out to play in the rain. Spring is coming and I am enthralled. Yes, I know that it will still be a bit of waiting but I am seeing signs, my garden knows it and so do I! Guess I need to start shopping around for a better air conditioner for the buns this summer. I've only got an hour and a half until the husband gets home! It's seriously like the highlight of my day, I think I will cook him chicken picante tonight for dinner.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

Today was rather nice, I met another fiber person who lives pretty close to me, found out that some fiber I had been planning to buy was cheaper than I had thought, the weather was nice if a little rainy and I am in a pretty good mood. The buns are all doing well, Tigerlily is plucked and much more comfortable. The babies are loveable hugable fuzzy balls of cuteness who like to entertain me with thier acrobatics as they hop around my kitchen floor. I am working on a very pretty yarn out of white angora and green sparklies and I am really pleased with how it is coming along. I am reading quite a bit lately, I started colleen mcculloughs rome series again because I liked it so much the first time. The kids are amazing, especially on days like today when I remember that sometimes I just need to sit back and enjoy them. I am really trying to focus more so that I can be more productive, I just have so much that I want to do that sometimes I just end up all over the place and don't get anything accomplished.
Oh well, speaking of accomplishments.... Yesterday I made the most awesome chicken noodle soup from scratch from stuff I had just laying around the house. It is soooo good! It has lots o' chicken to start with and that wild rice stuff and noodles and carrots and potatoes and celery and onions and red sea salt and fresh ground pepper and dried rosemary, thyme, and cilantro from my garden this summer. I did cheat and throw in a few bullion cubes for extra flavor but everything else is totally from scratch! Did I mention how wonderful this soup is? I was especially proud when the husband smelled it and started eating it cold right out of the fridge. That's when I know it's good!

Moderate sucess!

After the encouragement about the wheel I've kept it out in the living room and practised whenever I sat down for a moment and thought about it, Today I had a break through. I was struggling to ply the merino that I had been working on, cursing myself and the beast when the foot pedal thing started squeeking. So I stopped and thought about it and remembered a tube of something that had come with the wheel. After five minutes of digging in my bottomless desk drawer of horrors I found it and it WAS a tube of lubricant! So I squirted some on the hinge thingy and decided to try forr just a little longer. OMG! One of my biggest problems was that I couldn't treadle slowly because there was a spot that it would kind of stick and if I wasn't going super fast then I couldn't get the wheel to keep going no atter how much I tried but as soon as I oiled it all of the sudden treadling got soooo much easier! I can still feel where it wants to stick but all in all it has made things so much easier. I am thrilled! I finished plying the merino and feel rather pleased with myself. The beast has been given permission to stay in the living room for now. I still haven't fixed my biggest problem though, the drive band keeps popping off.... I shortened it multiple times and it got somewhat better but it's still a big problem. It seems to happen the most when I start to feel the wheel stick when I am treadling slowly but there are plenty of times that it will just pop off for no reason that I can find. It is so fustrating and I don't know what's wrong. Besides that I still don't fully understand what the different size things on the bobbin that the drive band sits on are for. I use the middle sized one because it seems like a good choice but really I have no idea. Either way, today I find myself hating the beast quite a bit less than normal and I am actually considering giving it another go with the plying. Oh! and I got Tigerlily halfway plucked last night! I am setting aside her primest prime (the select wonderfulness that she produces that is about 6-7 in. long) and instead of saving it for myself I am going to gift it to some lucky person who orders from the shop! I think I will give it two weeks or so and then just randomly pick someone. Or maybe I should do some kind of contest? There's not a huge amount of it but it is awesome.

Awesome

First I would like to say how awesome I think it is to get all those supportive comments on yesterdays post! You guys really brightened my day and this morning I pulled the beast back out of the closet to practice some more. I've got another yarn that needs to be plied and plying is easier than spinning from roving. Today I wanted to show off another batt that I really loved spinning and the yarn that it turned into. The batt came from squambo at etsy. I really love her batts, they are tons of fun to spin and have all the sparkly stuff a girl could want. I spun it a bit thinner than usual and plied it with a a soft creamy white wool roving that I had been spinning to practice spinning thinner yarns and it came out so pretty! I could so see something for a little girl made out of this. I posted it for sale in my etsy shop . I am really excited about the yarns that I have been doing lately and I have been washing up fleeces and making some really awesome art yarn rovings and really been getting some stuff done. I set up a gate in my kitchen doorway so that my bunnies can hop around and get some excersize for a few hours a day and now I have to be careful because when I step over the gate I get mobbed by seven little furry monsters. The kids are behaving today and I am on my second cup of coffee, the day is wide open.

The Beast

Well, for x-mas I bought myself my first wheel. It's nice enough, I don't really know much about wheel's as this is my first one and I had never spun on a wheel or even touched one before mine came in the mail. I am sure that I am doing multiple somethings wrong and that I will eventually figure it out. Right now I am going through cycles where I get adventurous and pull it out of the closet, then I get angry and banish it back to the closet, behind the clothes where I do not have to look at it. I call her the beast and I'm not sure that we like each other at all. Today I decided to try to ply two singles that I had spun on my drop spindle. I did fix some minor problems, I put a yoga mat underneath of it and that stopped the movement across the floor. But I am having issues with the way it winds onto the bobbin, issues with the drive band, issues with treadling, and issues with those issues. I had really hoped that she would come in the mail and we would be best friends but it's just not happening. I had planned on a pretty paint job but I have a hard time wanting to make the effort when every time I try to mess with it I end up in tears. I finally did get the yarn plied and it came out pretty nicely but that is besides the point. Maybe she just has low self esteem from all the bad names that I call her......

Anyway, it's put me in a rather foul mood today and now I don't want to do anything that I was supposed to do today. Maybe i will just bring Tigerlily in and forget about all the rest.

So Many Things

So many things have happened I don't know where to start. My babies are getting big and fluffy, they are at an age where it is almost impossible to get a good picture because they never sit still.
My husbands grandmother passed away, which provoked the usual deep introspection on life and death and what I want to be doing. I have gotten alot more done and have really been thinking about what I want to accomplish and how to get there.
My daughters fish had babies today and she is just thrilled. I have finished two new art yarn rovings and am working on the 2nd single to ply for my next yarn. I have washed half of a filthy but now wonderful cotswald fleece and a pound of cheviot. I got some angora dyed up really pretty and will have to go out in the next few days to replenish my dye selection. Tigerlily is ready to pluck again and I am hoping to get her done tonight. Oh, and I almost forgot, my little phinny turned 1 year old on Jan. 23rd!!!