Close but no cigar...

Well, I went to the closing, we all signed all the paperwork and I handed over the keys, the garage door openers and all the manuals and other stuff. The buyer agreed to deal with the insurance company on the roof, then there was a glitch with the check from the mortgage company...they were balking over the termite certificate and refused to send the money...so the deal did not really close, because no funds were actually dispersed. I am hoping and praying that everything calms down and I get a check tomorrow and the whole thing ends before I am supposed to go to Atlanta.

Please, oh, please....

We are scheduled to close on the house tomorrow. I am a little freaked out, because the buyer keeps coming up with things, even though there is no time left to do them. She also has not made any arrangements to transfer the gas, electric and water service into her name. But, at this point, all I can do is hope and pray that it all goes through in the morning. If not, I guess it was just not meant to be.

The house appraised for more than the selling price, so if it ends up back on the market, it gives me some leverage. Also, my roofer went by and he said the roof was in okay condition and would last another couple of years. I have no idea how people can stand this kind of stress on a regular basis. I just hope that when all is said and done, I have enough left over to replenish my savings account!

Turning Myself into an Art Nouveau Illustration

The perception laboratory face transformer was a lot of fun to play with and I uploaded several photos. I decided to use one of them for my profile, because I liked it so much. Of course, Alphonse Mucha is a favorite of mine. :-)

I thought this was sort of cool, I did me and my great grandmother.



Here are two actual photos, it was very hard for me to find a picture where I was not smiling with all my teeth showing. This picture is nearly five years old, but my mouth was closed and head was at the right angle. My face is much fuller these days and we are probably close to the same age, although I have no idea when the photo was taken. It is also painted over, which was fairly common back then. It is funny, because the transformer made her eyes and lips bigger, making them more like my own.

Roll-edge Hats Galore

I bought one of my nieces a book about knitting aimed at the younger crowd and was tickled with the a hat pattern in there. First I got out some Lamb's Pride Bulky in Blue Flannel and made it according to the pattern for one large and one small Beanie Hat.


Then I altered the pattern a little and knit a small and smaller hat with wool that I dyed with Kool Aid. I am blocking them on a rubbermaid bowl in front of the fire place.

Finally, after that, I decided to knit the pattern with pencil roving on slightly larger needles. Then I tossed it into a pot with three packets of Berry Blue and one packet of Black Cherry Kool Aid. I planned to dye and felt/full on the stove top.



The roving hat might be my first real felting/fulling mishap. I tried everything boiling it with soap, going back and forth between rapid boil and ice water. The more I boiled it with soap, the more color it lost and it never did full. I'll share photos later.

Counting blessings

Okay, there really is a lot to be thankful for, despite my whining. I mean, bad things happen and will continue to happen, that is life, but there is so much for which I am grateful. Rather than use this forum to enumerate my blessings, I just want to say that I am very thankful. It transcends the ritual of Thanksgiving Dinner, but sometimes you need a ritual to prompt you.

By noon, I had caught up on BVS (thanks to TiVo), fixed the toilet (replaced the lever and the flapper), helped my husband hang the medicine cabinet, feed the cats, ate some cold sushi, caught up on email, and even spent some quality time with my husband. I have a long list of things I want to get done around the house over the four-day weekend. The shopping hysteria will guarantee that I stay close to home and work on all of those neglected projects. Hey, maybe I will even get the boxes either unpacked or out of our general living area!

And just so I don't disappoint my friends by posting without some wackiness...I watched the "Pangs" Episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer today. It is sort of a dark Thanksgiving episode...but there were a few lines that put things in a new and amusing light. LOL So I decided to include a snippet of dialogue here.

Willow: Well, yeah, sort of. That's why she doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving or Columbus day... You know, the destruction of the indigenous peoples. I know it sounds a little overwrought, but really she's...she's right.

Buffy: Yeah. I guess I never really thought about it that way. With Mom at Aunt Darlene's this year, I'm not getting a Thanksgiving. Maybe it's just as well.

Anya: Well, I think that's a shame. I love a ritual sacrifice.

Buffy: It's not really a one of those.

Anya: To commemorate a past event, you kill and eat an animal. It's a ritual sacrifice, with pie.

Now go forth and commence with your own rituals.

Wedding Photo

I decided to share one the funnier photos from our wedding, after first asking my husband if it was okay. He is a little embarrassed by this photo, but I think it is hysterical. He has since shaved that beard and looks a lot younger.


Oh, in case you are focusing on the shoes, don't worry, everyone always does. I paid more for the shoes than I did for the dress! They are Italian, handmade, embroidered and just all around FABULOUS.

Not how I wanted to spend my anniversary

Seriously, I had to take another day off to deal with the repairs and other stuff from the inspection. They said the furnace was remarkably clean considering the age, but they cleaned the heat exchanger anyway, because the home inspector and buyer wanted it done. He retaped the ductwork in the attic too. The chimney sweep also said it was actually in very good shape considering I had never had it cleaned before.

The bad news was that the termite inspector found a small tunnel of infestation. No damage inside or really out yet, but they have to treat it...which requires drilling holes and costs almost as much as a new roof...something the buyer also wants. I have to take off yet another day from work tomorrow to wait for the pest control folks to do their thing. I have been hemorrhaging cash, my savings is completely depleted. If this sale falls through, it is really going to suck.

Now for a little good news. I have been happily married for three years! Oh, and the status on the shipping of the spinning wheel shows that it is actually on its way to Jackson.

The Ashford Traveller is on its way!

I had to take a personal day off from work to get things sorted out over at the other house. I also have to take off next Tuesday. You have no idea how boring it is to sit in an empty house waiting for people to do their jobs. Which is precisely how I spent my morning over at the other house! I walked out the door and left my book and my spindle and everything else. So after a day of dealing with electricians and plumbers, I am back at home.

On Tuesday, I have to wait for the chimney sweep, the heating & cooling guys, and the termite inspector. I still have not heard back from my insurance or the one roofer I found willing to come take a look at it before next year. Oh well, that is the way things work out some times.

But the good news is, when I did finally make it home, there was a message from Melissa. She was at the UPS store and my wheel is on its way to Jackson! The expected delivery time is Monday, November 28. I am so excited. Oh, and there was a package too! I got a new Briar Rose from Jeanne @ Simple Market Farms. So I had some immediate gratification and something to look forward to in ten days!

Oh and here is the yarn I spun and plied last weekend on the guild's Ashford Traditional.

The Inspection

Basically, the inspector found a bunch of little things that he wants me to repair and one really big thing....the roof. He says the roof has hail/wind damage and he wanted me to contact my insurance company to place a claim and have it repaired. A new roof? Gack.

I have to spend my day tomorrow waiting for the plumber and electrician. There are a slew of little things. An outlet in the ceiling of the garage for the garage door opener, instead of the extension cord that has always been there. An outlet that is not grounded properly. A toilet that is hard to flush. A leaky pressure valve on my hot water heater. A whole laundry list of little things that I will have to take time off from work to get repaired.

The big problem is the roof, since people are still so busy that I can't even get someone to come out and give me an estimate for some time. :-/ I don't know what that is going to mean to the sale, but I

Asford Traveller

I just bought a used Asford Traveller with accessories. Well, I have paid for the wheel and now all I have to pay is shipping once she has it boxed and ready to send. :-) I am glad that it worked out for me, since I was not the first one to contact her.

Here are the photos she sent:





On another front, the realtor has the list from the home inspector. I will get it tomorrow and see what all needs to be done. I still have my fingers crossed!

More Fiber Fun

I decided to look up Roc Day and I discovered that there is a Wikipedia entry for this event! Roc Day (AKA distaff day) is January 7 of each year. It marked the day after all of the Christmas celebrations when folks would return to their spinning. I have sent messages to Lisa and Karin to see if they want to carpool over to Louisiana for Roc Day 2006.

Cynthia stayed over for the whole weekend and we dyed the laceweight yarn she skeined last night today. I am very happy with the results as she seems to be. We dyed it all at once, so she could use it to knit a lace shawl. Here are the photos of all the skeins hung out to drip dry and an extreme close-up.





I finished spinning the sliver that I started on Friday at the Ag Museum. Then I showed Cynthia how to Navajo ply. It made for a very pretty yarn. I am washing it right now and hope to have photos soon. Cynthia and Rodger are on he road home and I am watching TiVo, between piddling around, doing chores, and posting here. It has been a great weekend.

More than just the Ag Musuem

It was another busy day, we were up early and out at the Ag Museum way before 9:00. We were the first ones there in fact. Cynthia's husband had fun at the blacksmithing booth and joined their guild. They meet on the same day as Mississippi NeedleArts, so Rodger will have something to do while Cynthia and I are at our meetings. It could not have worked out better. Then Lisa showed up and spent some time spinning on her new spindle. It was a lot of fun, even if there were not nearly as many kids as yesterday. I hated to leave to go to the EGA meeting, but the three of us had to do just that.

We did a Swedish Weaving Petite Project, a christmas bell ornament. It was fun to see how fast Lisa picked up on the technique. She was my star pupil and I even got her to help teach others. It was great to see so many people get so excited when they had the *AHA* moment. Lisa, Cynthia and I all decided to meet up for dinner with our husbands. It was great. My face hurts from smiling so much. :-)

Then we topped off the evening by winding lace weight yarn. LOL Tomorrow we plan to do a little dyeing. Holy cow, I can't believe there is one more day left in the weekend. It has been so action packed.

Spinning at the Ag Museum

I spent the better part of the day at the Jim Buck Ross Agriculture Museum demonstrating spinning on the guild's Ashford Traditional. We had a bunch of children come by and I let several "help" me spin and I gave away about a pound of washed and dyed cheviot fleece that looked an awful lot like cotton candy. I did not mean to give away quite so much, but there were a lot of girls who wanted it and I figured that maybe it would help create future spinners.

I enjoyed hanging out with the Chimneyville Spinners and Weavers Guild members. I was so wrapped up in my spinning that I forgot to try the Karin's Babe. Oops. She was spinning up some beautiful fiber that she prepared on her new drum carder and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I only got about half a bobbin spun, but wow is my left thumb aching! I really have a death grip on the fiber.

Ironically, the booties were a hit with the kids, so I left them out for them to see and feel. They had so many questions! Not just what are you doing and what will you make with that either. I think "why do you take your shoes off" was the most common followed by "how does it work" meaning the spinning wheel. I also had a lot of questions about dyeing, which was fun since all the wool I brought was stuff I actually dyed. I also brought out some camel to show them and they were all universally impressed with how soft the camel was. I think I enjoyed it as much as they did. I wanted to spindle spin, but it was just too windy out there on that porch.

There were so many school children there today, literally bus loads of them. I only hope that we have as many come by the Farm House porch tomorrow morning. I plan to drag Cynthia along with me, so that we can all head straight from there to the Mississippi NeedleArts monthly meeting.

Signed a contract!

The buyer accepted my counter offer and we signed a contract today! She wants to close by November 30th, so things should move fast. I sure hope that the sale goes through.

Got the first offer

Well, last night I got an offer on my house. Already. :-) I am going to make a counter offer, but I am not sure it will work out. Still, it is a good sign, a firm offer from a prequalified buyer within one week of listing the property. I am going to think positive.

Then tonight I got home and I had a big box of fiber waiting for me. I got Falkland 56s Wool Top (4 lbs), Domestic 56s Wool Top:(4 lbs), New Zealand Romney Top (2 lbs) and
Dehaired Natural Camel Hair (2.0 lbs). I want to spin it up, but have errands to run and I want to get another set of booties knitted. But I will have it for the demo at the Ag Museum on Friday.

Lace & Bobble Bootees

Okay, let me be honest, I love Debby Bliss yarns and patterns. I feel about them like I used to feel about Annie Blatt back in high school. I found a copy of Debbie Bliss Cotton Knits for all Seasons at the local bookstore on Saturday. There were several patterns that were cute, but I was drawn to the Lace & Bobble Bootees (the pattern is on page 47.) I happen to have several odd balls of Debbie Bliss Cotton/Wool in my stash, so I pulled out some and started knitting. I can't wait to give these to someone. LOL

All Plied Up

I wanted to share a photo of all three skeins from the Reeves 30" Saxony wheel. Tequila Sunrise is a 3 ply yarn that was Navajo plied. The other two skeins are regular old two ply. I finally thought to change to the high speed whorl for plying. I wish I had thought about it when I doing the Navajo plying!


The other spinning news, is that I tried a stretchy drive band, the Pony Bead Lacing, and I did not like it at all. It was too hard to control the back-spin, no matter where I stopped the wheel. I also moved the mother of all and tried adjusting the tension, but it would not cooperate. I ended up splicing back the original soft cotton yarn. My only complaint with the cotton yarn is that it is shredding and the knots do cause a "galump" so maybe I just need to splice the cotton better.

The Secret Life of Bees

Okay, so most of you have already read The Secret Life of Bees...I was procrastinating...in part because my passive/aggressive father suggested that I read it. Regardless...it was a very moving story that resonated in me, despite it being set a couple of years before I was even born. Much like Lily, I was raised by someone else, except that my mother was alive and well...she just worked all of the time.

A few years ago, my oldest sister and mother were arguing and my mom snapped at her *who do you think raised you?* and without skipping a beat, we both answered *Minnie.* It was said without malice, because it was what it was. Minnie was our surrogate mother and our savior. I can't imagine how lonely, barren and bereft our lives would have been without her. She passed away when I was young teenager and it was very difficult. I had never really realized that I was white, probably because I was Jewish and an outsider, until her funeral service...when the preacher made me keenly aware and ashamed of it.

Many years later, a friend of mine here in Jackson lost his mother and I went to her funeral. I knew I was headed for trouble the instant I walked into the church and saw her in the casket, looking so much like Minnie my heart almost stopped. I was not sure what I expected, but it was a moving and loving tribute. As the service progressed, my grief was as raw and as real as anyone there. Before it was over, I was openly sobbing. It was a gut wrenching catharsis.

Anyway, it was a good book and I highly recommend it.

It is always something....

Well, now that my house is on the market, I called my insurance agent to let her know. Let's just say, it did not go well. It is very disheartening, but I guess she is mad that she is losing business.

On the fiber front, the Tequila Sunrise is plied, washed and dried, so I took a photo to share.




The brown split is plied and washed, but still wet! When they are dry, I will take a photo of them and name the yarn. LOL

Oh and I got my second Kundert spindle. This one is prettier than the first one, but spins just as well. Check out the link:

This is the Kundert Spindle I got!

The sign in the yard

The real estate agent came over this morning, we finalized the paperwork and my house is officially on the market. Woo hoo! I took a personal day to get the place cleaned up and wait for the sheet rock guy to do the stippling on the ceiling. I am so glad that it is finally done and on the market. With any luck it will sell before the end of the year.




I also finished plying all of the wool from the previous post! I Navajo plied the Tequila Sunrise and plied the other two together. Shockingly, they was an almost completely identical amount of yardage on the two bobbins.

Anyway, it was a really tiring day.