On The Move…

So the month of June has disappeared in a flash.  We started out with the end of school, two graduations, five relatives living in our house for a week and a graduation party for J and R ( my son’s best friend) with 70+ teenagers and adults.  Oh did I mention that I started three summer school classes during that time and completed a toddler blanket for a client.  Thank goodness we are done with the first three weeks of the month because the last one is going to be a big one.  We are finally packing the house tomorrow, loading up the truck on Monday and pulling out of SoCal for a new adventure in the Midwest.  St. Louis here we come…this makes me think of Judy Garland and her movie… Meet Me In St. Louis. You just have to love those old movies and musicals.  On this journey we will be transporting three horses, two dogs and two teenagers.  Oh yes, I have one last project that I have to get off the loom before Monday morning.  I only have about 2 hours worth of work so I should be able to complete it.

Well enough for the moment we are out the door to have dinner for the last time with one of our neighbors.  See you in St. Louis…..

What a crazy time

Okay, so my goal of blogging at least a few times a week has not been as successful as I would like.  It has been a crazy first half of the year to say the least.  We, my husband B and I made a huge decision for him to change companies in these very uncertain economic times.  The new job would include moving to St. Louis, MO and me potentially give up my current part-time teaching load, and moving our daughter S just before her freshman year in high school. Our son J is off to college so the decision was not as important for him.  So…, he got the job finalized in February and we were off to St. Louis to search for a rental property and check out the new city.  I have to tell you I have never done anything but drive through St. Louis let alone visited it.  It appears to be a great place with lots of friendly people.  We found a house, saw the new job site for my husband and found a home for our horses. With this taken care of I could move onto trying to find a teaching job.

Searching for employment is truly a full-time job, and while this does not bother me I was teaching at my local community college, in my LYS and finishing projects for clients – weaving…what is that? I have been walking past my loom longingly saying soon.  I have one last project that has to come off before the moving van appears.  Oh right, I also had to get three quotes for moving and take care of horses, children etc.  I have been busy. Anyway, the hard work has paid off.  I flew to St. Louis in mid April to interview for a part-time teaching job and spend a weekend with B. Yes I traveled for a part-time job.  Anyone who is not willing to take what they can get in the present economy is, in my opinion….St*p*d. We do what we have to do.   The job panned out and actually turned into a full-time teaching position with the contract signed 10 days ago.  You never know what is going to happen, however, my willingness to travel for a part-time job payed off. YEAH.  So throw into this mix B leaving Mid April, J’s high school graduation in June and taking care of three horses, one acre and two dogs, teaching and finishing the school year and private clients–well you get the picture.

I will do my best to blog during this busy time as we move at the end of the month.  Have a great week and see you soon.

Mingled fibers and a little crazy at the moment.

What a Week!

It has been exactly one week since TNNA. What a great time I had with my Sister and the people I got to see. Nothing like visiting with fellow fiberists’s to get your juices flowing.  I was able to catch up with my weaving guru Deborah Jarchow and Gerry as they maned the local both for the spinning guild.  I was able to watch my sister work her knew business Urban Fiber Studios.  She had a successful show and we had couple of girl days together.  We will be hooking back up for Madrona in Washington next month – I can’t wait.

I was ready to come back from TNNA and get busy on my projects – but – life got in the way.  the new semester began at the local CC I teach at, I began teaching a class for an Online University and I began helping out at my LYS Pearl’s Knitting Parlor. Busy week, oh did I forget to mention that we found out that one of our horses broke out in hives as a result of hay mites.  With the SoCal rain – he blue up like a balloon.  My husband B and I spent 4 hours last night bleaching his feed bin, the mats, water buck, and cleaning out the hay barn, and also all of the storage buckets for the goodies!  WE have 4 more stall to do.  While we do keep a very clean barn, he must have had some hay dust in his bin when it rained (yes this year we are actually getting rain) and the mites came out.  A  fixable issue, but labor intensive as bleach is the only thing that kills them.  Oh the joys of having horses.  Did I mention the cost and vet bill to find out this information – needless to say we do carry insurance and hopefully they will cover 80%.

So, I am off for an evening hike with the other half and coming home to begin an afghan for my couch.  B would like the same pattern that I made for his Uncle J. Last time I am going to make this pattern for a while. It is fun, simple and double sided so it is perfect for a coach or baby blanket.

Have a great weekend and I am off to hike…..

I am off to TNNA

So I am off to TNNA at the last-minute to help my sister – Urban Fiber Studios.  She is giving a class and everything.  Wow am I proud of her and what she has done in the last year with her new business Urban Fibers Studio. I have wanted to go to TNNA for years and I finally get to go and actually help in the process. Also, it is official I will be working at my LYS – yes Debbie at Pearls Knitting Parlor in Thousand Oaks, CA asked me to start teaching classes and knitting at the shop.  I am also going to start helping in the shop a few days of the week.  I am truly blessed that Debbie and her wonderful, lovely Angela want me to come and help them – keeping my fingers crossed that we can get some classes going in the next few weeks and in the future.  I have my first private lesson tomorrow.

I promise that I will bring pictures back from TNNA and also post pictures of the baby blanket that is leaving for Africa in a week.

Have a great weekend.  I am going to go play.

Oh yeah…I just purchased my tickets to Portland to attend the Madrona Art Festival in Tacoma, Washington in February.  Yeah!!! Keep your fingers crossed that I might be able to get into Jean Wong’s class.  Here is hoping!!!

It is a New Year…

Before I get to busy working and getting ready for my new semester to start I just wanted to share with everyone a Happy New Year Wish.  I think that most of us were happy to see 2009 leave.  Here is to a better 2010.  My year started off with a wonderful phone call from the owner of my knit shop asking me if I would like to come and teach Knitting – I of course said yes.  We will be working out the details this week and I will write more about it once everything is finalized.

The holiday’s were great in KC – Uncle J loved his blanket and so did his wonderful dog Versachi -at any given time you could find this cute little dog snuggled under the blanket.  Outside of the fact that we did actually get snowed in on Christmas Day we did manage to see KC with the family.

I have been spending the remainder of the vacation knitting a baby blanket for charity that will be going to orphaned babies in Kenya in a few weeks.  It is really cute- pictures later after I finish work this morning.  This post is going to be short and sweet with a longer one later.  No S’s  scarf did not get done – that is going to be this weeks project.  My loom sits in the TV room and the family does not like to hear me beating while watching TV.  Oh well – Have a great first week of 2010.

Bah -da, Bah-da, Monday, Monday so good to me…

Do you remember the Mamas and the Papas?  What a voice Mama Cas had!!!  It is raining today in SoCal and for some reason that song came to mind today.  A quick update on the projects and life:

The projects: Uncle J’s blanket is almost finished – he is 5’11” and it has to be long enough to cover his feet – boy am I glad I am short.  Anyway, only 3 more balls of mochi plus and then crochet the edges and it will be in the mail by Saturday.  Yes, I have set a deadline because I have added another project into the mix – a simple scarf for my sister-in-law that is coming down to KC for the day.  She is so much fun that I decided that I had to make her something – okay, yes I am crazy – but I rationalized that I could finish this little project on the plane if I had to.

S’s Scarf on the Loom: I have finally started and have woven about 6 inches.  It is looking  great.  I promise pictures on and off the loom when it is completed before we leave for KC.  I only have to hand her this project ,not put it in the mail.

Outside of my projects the semester is winding down for me which means grading, grading and more grading.  I will be done with classes this week, but have finals to give and grade before next Wednesday.  Oh, the life of teaching.  I wouldn’t change it for the world.

The horses are doing great. We are training for one of our favorite endurance rides of the year –  Warner Springs.  We head down on Thursday, camp with the horses, get a cabin for the kids and enjoy the amenities of the resort.  My favorite being the heated hot springs pool.  Let me tell you, after a day in the saddle with friends and a great stead the pool leaves you as loose as a goose.  Okay, so the Bailey’s and wine help too.  Anyway, last time we did this ride it rained the entire time.

Other than that nothing new in the loop, on the needles or waiting to be warped on the loom.  I have an idea for a beautiful deep purple and grey scarf to put on the loom, however this will most likely not occur until after we get back from KC.  I am also trying to finish a Debbie Bliss sweater for my mother that I think that she will love.  Okay, so if I finish everything by the New Year I will be superwoman.  As usual I have to many fiber projects and not enough time.  If only I would win the lottery – after splitting with my sis – I would not lack for projects or goals.  I am off to grade some papers, start a fire and try and finish a ball of yarn on the growing afghan.

Until next time…

What a frustrating weekend

So…I had my weekend planned with the boys gone on a college tour  to the Pacific Northwest  for our son J.  I was going to spend the weekend horseback riding with my daughter S and a girlfriend, weaving and working on the new knitted afghan for Uncle J in KC.  Instead  I spent all weekend trying to fix my free loom.  After over 2 hours of tightening, repairing and re-warping I came to the realization that the brake wheel had been striped.  The wood on the wheel had been warn down unevenly from the previous owner and never maintained and/or adjusted.  So…no weaving and not much knitting either.

Having said this I have a wonderful husband that is truly one of those “handyman” types.  He trucked down to the local hardware store and with about $20 he has rigged the brake.  Yeah!!! I can now weave the scarf for my daughter for X-mas.  The key here is to get everything finished by the 10th of December so that  I can ship everything to KC.  We decided to visit  Uncle J for the holidays so everything has to be in KC by the 20th.  I absolutely refuse to pay the airlines for the extra baggage.

Uncle J’s afghan

I am loving the yarn that  I bought in two different locations: the solid color is a Prime Alpaca by The Heavenly Fiber that I purchase a few years ago at Knit-Purl in Portland,Oregon and the variegated Mochi Plus at Wildfiber in Santa Monica, Ca.

I actually have to get to work.  So see you next time with a finished scarf and a longer afghan.

As you can see I have figured out how to upload the picture from my new camera it the blog.  Cool!  Here is the warp for S’s scarf I will be weaving this weekend.

Finally have a moment!

This is going to be a very short post. I have finally decided on the new name for my new adventure for co-mingling my two real fiber passions – Knitting and Weaving.  As I have been very busy with teaching, training to teach for an addition online community and beginning my weaving career I have decided that 2010 is going to be my year to begin mingling my love of fiber into one.  I have begun to have some basic ideas of how I can design, knit, weave and create finished fiber projects. This is most definitely a process and a journey that  I promised myself I would allow myself.  Having moved and returned to our home in SoCal in less than 9 months, I promised myself that I would continue the journey I began in Nevada — well — life  intervened and I have had to redirect some of my energy to work, finding more work and helping my son begin the process of making a decision for College.  So, as I have always told my student  - take work and school a day and a time. With this approach they can do anything! I am going to take my own advice.  I am going to take life a day at a time and have a fiber goal for everyday.  This weeks goal is to complete the scarf that is on the loom.  I think that I have figured out how to correct a tension issue so that my Dog On The Loom can be salvaged.  This is a scarf that my 13-year-old daughter asked for.  Since she does not ask for many of my creations I would like to finish this project and surprise her for X-mas.

That is all for tonight – However, let me note that I have officially, in writing, committed myself to taking 2010 as my year to explore and develop my ideas for a business that combines knitting and weaving.  With over 25 years as an advanced knitter and spending those years as a textile artist,  this will be fun and exciting. I have know that this will also be hard at times.  Words are powerful and make you accountable.

I will take pictures of the loom tomorrow and begin recording the scarf.

What happened to Summer?

Okay, so I have been busier than I anticipated this summer.  I have been having a blast teaching a World History class this summer..all be it that I have spent most of my time grading papers and preparing lectures.  I have managed to sneak up to Portland with my daughter S and visit my twin sister, finish two knitting projects and re-warp my loom all by myself. Let me tell you I was intimidated to do this, but I did it, had fun and intend to start weaving this afternoon. However, I have to finish grading essays for my students. The life of a teacher, grading, grading and more grading.  I am thankful that I have a teaching job in this environment.  

Oh, did I mention that my son and his friend had a birthday party on our property and invited 150 people.  Yes, we had that many teenagers on the property and all went well.  Even the four cop cars that came buy to let us know that someone complained about the noise. Yes, we did let the neighbors know that we were having a party…oh well. A great time was had by all. However, I have to finish grading essay’s for my students. 

I have yet to go buy my new camera so I do not have any pictures.  I found an old camera that i am going to use and take pictures of my first independent weaving project.  This project has to be finished before my workshop with Deborah Jarchow in August…I love giving myself deadlines.  Anyway,  As I start the fall semester in two weeks I will be moving out of my summer mode of relaxation and be putting myself back on a schedule, that will include posting more on my blog.  

Back to grading essays and preparing for a final exam tomorrow night.  I WILL be weaving today.  Sadly, my New York Beauty quilt is sitting at the machine. I have managed to sew the center panel together but not the border pieces.  Oh, well.  Have a great week.  S

Slow getting started

Sooo…I have not be very good at blogging.  I have been working on getting ready for a summer class I am teaching Monday and Wednesday nights and knitting a cream sweater.  While I have decided that I need to write down my thoughts and ideas I have come to the conclusion that I am going to have to treat this a little like a new habit for awhile.  Set a day and/or morning to sit down and type out my thoughts and ideas.  

These next weeks are going to be very busy personally and professionally.  I am teaching a summer course that I have not taught for awhile and I am really enjoying finding old and new information for the course. Lots of time and lots of fun.  Can’t wait for the students input.  In two weekends I am taking a two day weaving workshop with Debbie Jarchow at Studio Channel Arts Center Channel Islands.  I CAN NOT wait.  I have wanted to take this workshop for over a year and I am finally getting the chance to find out if this is an art form in textiles that I seem to have a need to learn.

My knitting is coming along and I only have about half of the sleeves for my cream colored sweater left to complete.  I then need to start on a friends birthday lap throw and find the time to finish the squares on my New York Beauty quilt that I started last summer.  In my defense, I did finish two quilt in the last two months and I am knitting almost every day.  I keep thinking that if we could only add a few more hours in a day…who am I kidding, I would still need more time.

My equestrian life is taking on a set schedule that is nice and relaxing for the summer.  Riding Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday with the occasional Sunday.  My husband and I volunteer patrol on our horses and certification and training has taken up the last few weekends.  Today we finished our last certification training with CPR.  This is a program that we love and we are helping keep the national, state and local parks safe and fun.

I am off to finish a little work on my sweater and calling it a day.  I promise pictures in the next week-I need a new camera and have to go shopping.