Almost Finished knitting Orders!!

Well have finished all the knitting orders I had to have done in time for Christmas, have two pair of socks to knit and would like to have them finished too but no panic over them, almost have one pair finished and they should have been finished but my right wrist is giving me grief, can not use it today and can not find my brace, it has been at least ten years since I needed it so who knows where it is, so knitting is on hold for a bit. Did some carding of alpaca fibre adding some merino silk to it

And got some soft fluff, which I spun into yarn

And then knit into a pair of fingerless mitts

which completed the order for fingerless mitts

Also had a last minute order for a pair of slipper socks with a leather heel sewn on for an elderly fellow for his wife, he has been a good customer, he loves my socks so got them knit up and off to him. Forgot to get a picture before they left the house. Now to some house cleaning, it gets scary when the dust bunnies are big enough you mistake them for a cat, have had to corral them with the dust mop until I had time to get at vacuuming. Have to get the baking done for the kids and grandsons goody bags, also have to make some plum jam for them, put the plums in the deepfreeze this summer, now to get the jam made up. Sister Jean has been baking up a storm and gave us some of her baking for Christmas which is the best gift ever, have hidden it away from the other person in the house, keep telling him it is a Christmas gift so he can not have it until Christmas Day. Still have not sent my Christmas cards or even written my Christmas letter but then people are used to getting it late, they would be too shocked to get them early, has never happened. We have really had winter here, cold...cold...everything looks so white and clean out there, weatherman says it is supposed to warm up a bit starting tomorrow....hope he is right. Well off to vacuum and decide what to have for supper, had made up a big pot of soup but it is almost done.

Markets Done!! But Still Knitting!!

All our markets are over for this year although I am still finishing up orders, hopefully by the end of this week I will be finished them. Last market was not the greatest,  we were so crowded together in the area we were in it was hard to even move...even the customers. My allergies to dust and all the perfumed items almost did me in, Friday was bad as they were open until 9 pm as they had a Santa Parade and it was so cold out and having to drive home in a cold car.....not good!! I had finally decided on what decoration to put on my felt hats and managed to get flowers crochet and sewn on four of the hats, took them really not knowing if customers would be interested in them. Well the four sold right away and people wanted to buy the flowers I had made, of course I had not made any flowers for sale that were not on the hats. Sat. I took the other three hats and yarn to make the flowers and as fast as I made and sew the flowers on the hats they were sold. A person just never knows what will appeal to customers, for some reason the way the hats were made they pretty well suited everyone, people would say they did not look good in hats and then they would try them on and never want to take them off, I really liked the pink hat and thought I might keep it......well it was the first one to sell. Will have to make some more after Christmas.

So it is just knit...knit...knit  around here and my right wrist is swollen and sore which I am trying to ignore. I know I am knitting too fast but it is hard to slow down as I want to get everything finished and off to customers so I can get my baking and house cleaning done up and get organized for Christmas around here. Well off to bed, we have had nice sunny weather for the last few days but is to get colder tomorrow. Cats had been sleeping but right now are running around doing something.......good grief... they have pulled the stuffing out of their toy and it is all over the floor....now Grey Kitty is carrying around the stuffing-less toy talking to it like it was her baby. Better go clean things up and hope they also realize it is bedtime!!!

Knitting and Knitting and Knitting.................

Am late in posting, our market on the weekend was so successful I do not have many knitted items left so that is what I have been doing is knitting and then some more knitting. So far have a pair of socks and a pair and a half of fingerless mitts, hopefully will finish the other pair tomorrow. Have a Dr. appointment tomorrow but RH has to go into town too so he can drive and I will knit while he drives. Did not get the hats decorated to put on the table last week so will have them done for the coming market, the market this coming weekend is two days, thank-goodness I have enough yarn and fibre to cover the table. Friend and partner Gaby is also at home knitting up a storm, she knits the mitts for our tables and she sold many of them. Took a picture of our table while it was well stocked, Gaby is behind the  table.

Had dyed up a few pots of wool for the market and of course forgot to take pictures until I had everything packaged up ready to go. Took a picture of what I had left after the market, I dyed enough to cover the coming market thank-goodness. Should have dyed a couple more pots but this will have to do.   
    I have been working on a website and hopefully in the new year I can get the fibre page up, just have not had time lately, am really looking forward to January when things slow down a bit. Well my website such as it is is out there on the web but I have not advertised it as yet so it was a surprise when this lady came over and said she had been on my website and read my blog!! That was so super. They had the tables across from us, she had beautiful scarves on her table and her husband creates beautiful  pottery . Evaneseenee Gallery and Art Studio    I am getting him to make me a special pot...which I will share with you later.
     Well it is after midnight here and I think my eyes are saying it is bedtime!!  And so is my brain!!

Spinning and Dyeing and Admiring the Cactus!!

 Stayed up late last night and finished spinning and plying some more of the llama/merino/soy silk and here she is ready to be washed and hung to dry. Am having problems with my electric spinning wheel and suspect it could the fluctuation in the power with the cold weather, have not had a problem before so my spinning is not what it should be but it will look rustic and handspun....right. Is really hard to keep an even twist when it slows down and then speeds up. It is warming up right now so hopefully will not have to worry about it, should really do some spinning when it is warmer and see if that is the problem........hmmm....while I am writing this another thought has come to mind....could it be the electric cord I am using is too long.......all the cords were taken for use at the Christmas market a few weeks ago and do not know what happened to them so in desperation I brought  this really long cord in to plug the spinning wheel in....and it is really long. RH did buy a couple new short cords the other day so will try replacing the long one tomorrow, that might solve the problem.

Washed up some of the Alpaca sock yarn I had spun at the mill to get the spinning oil out of it, have to get that reskeined tomorrow . Am slowly...slowly...getting things ready for Sat. Although I really did not feel like it I managed to get some yarn dyed tonight, will try to get a few more skeins dyed tomorrow, did not help that the other person in the house wanted help with the computer when I was in the middle of it, I prefer not to have any humans in the house when I am dyeing, is enough to have the demands of the house animals, to them I can just say go! go!

I am so busy with all this market stuff I am missing the blooming of the Christmas cactus, the sun was out today so opened the blinds to give them some sun, the way they are blooming they will be finished by Christmas.

The white Christmas cactus is my Grandmother's, when she moved to the lodge it moved to my house, this plant has to be at least forty years old or older, can not remember when she got it, it is a very large plant.

Now this Cactus was gifted to me by my Son and Daughter-in-law because it was not happy at their house and it was always all pink...look at it...now it has some white blooms..and they are on the same branches as the pink blooms, it is like Grandmothers cactus is moving in on the other cactus.

Now this Cactus was my mother-in-laws and it came to me when she passed away, it looked like I was going to lose it, it was all wilted so I repotted it about a week ago and has it ever perked up, I don't think the soil was holding the water anymore...and look at it...it was all pink too... and now it has white blossoms on it. When I find a minute will have to read up on Christmas Cactus and see if I can find out why this is happening. The cactus are so beautiful but sooooo messy.  The temperature is getting warmer outside and with it the wind is coming up, now they are warning us of blowing snow, hope it does not get too bad as the feed truck is supposed to arrive and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel so need it bad. Well off to bed!! Tomorrow is another day!!

We are in a Deep Freeze!!

Knit a pair of fingerless mitts from the llama..merino..soy silk and almost have another mitt knit, have to get spinning so I have enough yarn, will wash and block this pair tomorrow. Washed up twenty skeins of yarn today and have them hanging drying. I like to wash the spinning oils out of the yarn I get spun at the mill, makes it so much nicer to knit with.

 Had knit and felted these hats a while ago but was not happy with the shape of them so put them in mesh bags and put them back through a short wash and rinse in the washer. Then tugged and stretched and finally got them into shape, they turned out pretty good, will let them dry and then crochet some flowers or something to decorate them, have seven of them.

Went through all my balls of yarn trying to find some colors that would go well with the hat colors, might try a few pin felted flowers, will see, I better get myself organized or am not going to get everything finished. Christmas market is this Saturday. Tomorrow really should get a couple of dye pots going, only have one skein left from the last market, can not leave it too late or they will not be dry in time. Do not think frozen yarn will sell too well. Right now the temperature is -30.8 and it is cold out there, thank-goodness no wind. Weatherman says it should warm up a bit by the end of the week and hope he is right. When it is this cold you do not want to go far, specially when you live up in the hills like we do, is a real trek to get down to where you have cell phone reception, not good if you have car trouble. Well off to bed, dog actually went out to do his business...mainly because he knows that is the only way he will get a biscuit.

Another Pair of Socks Finished and Yarn Ready to Go!!

Well here is how the llama yarn turned out, not plyed as tight as I like but after her ordeal she is looking not too bad, should make a pair or two of rustic looking fingerless mitts, when I was spinning this roving up I did not know whether I was going to like it but after I plyed it and set the twist I love it, it is sooo soft.......which is surprising after all it went through at my hands I tell you!! Each ply spun on different spinning wheels...then getting into a tangled mess when the bobbin on the spinning wheel fell apart......she is looking pretty good!

Finished another pair of socks last night and got little miss llama roving wound into a ball and although I could barely keep my eyes open (won't mention what time this was) I cast on and got started on the fingerless mitts, could not wait to see how she was going to knit up and am not disappointed, although I only have a few inches knit it is looking good. Have already started spinning some more of the llama/merino/soy silk roving and will see how it looks done properly....well I hope done properly...who knows...!!
    Well have a loaf of bread on the go in the bread maker, I enjoy making it by hand, you can start your day out right by taking any frustrations out on dough kneading but have decided to use my bread kneading time knitting. RH just informed me last night his wool gloves I knit him last year are toast and he needs a new pair...it never ends......better get a new pair started.....but want to knit on the fingerless mitts a bit first..then maybe I will cast on for the gloves.......It is -22 outside with a breeze so who knows what the chill factor is....the animals have not come out of the barns.....so is a good day to stay inside and knit!!

Poor Little Rosebud and the Spinning Mess!!

Here is what poor little rosebud looks like this morning, snow and blowing snow all night until noon today, drifts all over the place. finally the sky cleared and the sun came out for a bit but tonight it is -22.6. It just got too cold too fast.

  

Last night as I was spinning all of a sudden my electric spinning wheel just did not seem to have much power.....I thought maybe the power was low....hoping that was the problem and not the motor!! Off I went to make some supper and this morning I went down to see if I could see what the problem was, I had oiled the shaft but maybe that was the problem and I would oil it again.......while I was trying to take the bobbin off......there was my problem...the end had come off the bobbin!! O.K. breathing a sigh of relief that it was not the motor I took the bobbin off and started to wind the yarn onto a paper roll on my yarn winder.....and ended up with a real mess!! I finally had to cut the mess out and managed to get the rest of the yarn wound off the bobbin, RH came in from doing chores just as I was wishing I had a few more hands and lent a hand in getting things under control. Now I had a bobbin spun on my lendrum of this llama...merino...soy silk mixture and thought I would spin a bobbin on the electric spinner and then ply them together, hoping that it would ply up reasonally......now throw this messing about in the mix!! HopefullyI would end up with something I could use!!

                                                              Well got it plyed up and here is the result, did not look too bad after all this poor yarn had gone through. She has had her bath and is hanging on the shower rod drying. Tomorrow will tell the tale but I think it will turn out O.K.  I will make some fingerless mitts with it. Will spin some more of the roving tomorrow and hopefully get it to the plying stage without all the drama. Got the bobbin ends all glued on and hope they hold. Well the day is done and am off to bed.....tomorrow is another day!!