Weaving

I am weaving the days away.
Can you tell that I LOVE my new loom?

Gansey Booties

These are just the cutest little booties! I knit them with Red Heart Kids yarn in the color Jump. I knit them on size 6 needles. But I did change to size 5 needles on the cuff, because I wanted to make sure that they don't fall off. I don't like it when I pick up a baby and their booties fall off all of the time. I made them in the newborn size. They were quick to knit and very cute!The pattern can be found here

Daddy's Girl

I hand dyed this Merino wool with professional dyes, using the colors Hot Fuchsia, and dark brown. The color in this yarn ranges from Deep Hot Fuchsia, to a very soft pink, with warm brown accents through out the yarn. I have named this yarn Daddy's Girl because this was the colors that our daughter choose for her wedding. This is hand spun, 2 ply yarn, that is 16 WPI which makes it a Sport weight yarn. 336 yards. Perfect yarn for knitting, crocheting, weaving, or felting. You will receive 2 skeins of this yarn, that are wrapped together.

Violets hand dyed, handspun yarn

Inspired by the very fragrant, and Beautiful Violet Spring flowers, I created this soft, warm yarn. Violets bloom in early Spring in a wonderful range of violet colors. Just like this yarn, starting with violet, going to light blue, then into a very light pink. A very soft, and feminine color.
I hand dyed this Merino wool, then spun it into a DK weight yarn. It is 12 WPI, and 2 skeins that I have wrapped together, into 174 yards of soft luxurious yarn. 1 skein is 126 yards, the 2nd skein is 48 yards.
DK weight
12 WPI Gauge is 5.5 - 6 stitches per inch
needle size 5 -6
Hook size F
http://mrae123.etsy.com

Red, Brown, and Green Scarf

This scarf is HOT off of my loom. It is red, green, and brown. It is 6 inches wide and 44 inches long not including fringe. And I LOVE it!!!!!

Step 4 and 5

Step 4 would be to Decorate the Cake. I can not decorate a cake. So I just put white frosting on the bottom, and chocolate frosting on the top. Then added sprinkles. What cake is complete without sprinkles?
Step 5 is to EAT the cake!!!

Step 3

Out of the refrigerator, and out of the pans. The top of the cupcake stick to the pan a bit. I will just fill that in with frosting. Now back into the refrigerator for more cooling. They are still to warm to decorate.

Step 2

Hot out of the oven. The cool down begins. These cakes are so very thick it takes a long time for them to cool down. Hours. I will put it in the refrigerator for a while to help speed up the cooling.

Step 1

I have mixed up the cake batter. The bottom of the cup cake is Chocolate The top of the cupcake is French Vanilla. It is in the oven now. It has to bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Weaving

Enough practice. I warped my loom again last night and started weaving a scarf. The colors are blue, green, and brown. This scarf will be for my husband. He picked out the yarn for this scarf. I hope that it turns out beautifully. I want to finish it this weekend.

Practice Weaving

This is my practice weaving. I have a lot to learn!! I have decided that I need to order a book about weaving. But I have no idea what book to order. I will be searching through Amazon.com later today. To find a book about weaving. I do enjoy weaving, I just don't know how to do it. I have never even touched a loom before I got this one. But I can see myself weaving many scarves on this loom!!

My Cricket Loom is here!!!

I waited all day yesterday for the UPS man to get here. He finally showed at around 5:00, with my Cricket Loom. I was sooooo very excited!!!! I handed the box right to my husband to put together for me. After he had it assembled I watched some video's on You Tube, and read the instructions. I got my loom warped!!! Today I will thread my Heddle, and start weaving my scarf! Woot, Woot!!

Spring Garden hand dyed, handspun yarn

The words that I would use to describe this yarn are soft, colorful, Spring, warm, beautiful, Merino wool. Because that is exactly what this is. I hand dyed Merino wool with Easter Egg Dye to get this Beautiful mix of Spring Flower colors.
I see purple, pink, orange, yellow, green, and a hint of blue. Every color of flower that I would want in my Spring Garden.
This is 2 skeins of Merino wool yarn, 1 skein is 52 yards, one skein is 58 yards, for a total of 110 yards of luscious , warm wool yarn. I have wrapped the 2 skeins of yarn into one skein. This is a heavy worsted weight yarn, at 8 WPI.
Gauge per inch 3 - 3.75
Needle size 9 - 11
Hook size I - k

Big Cupcake

Casey and Grandma, baked Grandpa a Big Cupcake today.
I have been wanting a Big Cupcake pan for a while now. This is the 2nd pan that I have bought. It is a Wilton Big Cupcake pan, and I LOVE it. I can see Casey and I making a lot more cupcake cakes with this pan. I did have to use 2 cake mixes for this cup cake. I did have batter left over. But the directions said that 1 box mix would not be enough to make a nice cupcake with. I used Dark Chocolate cake mix, and Cherry frosting. Grandpa's favorite flavors. Casey enjoyed decorating the cake so very much. The hard part of this whole project was getting a 10 year old to smile nice for the picture. I guess she thinks that she is getting a little to big to have her picture taken every single time that we bake something.

South Dakota

COLD IS A RELATIVE THING . . . . . . . BRRRRR!!

65 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in South Dakota plant gardens.

60 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in South Dakota sunbathe.

50 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in South Dakota drive with the windows down.

40 above zero:
Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in South Dakota throw on a flannel shirt.

35 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in South Dakota have the last cookout before it gets cold.

20 above Zero:
People in Miami all die.
South Dakotans close the windows.

Zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in South Dakota get out their winter coats.

10 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in South Dakota are selling cookies door to door.

20 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in South Dakota let the dogs sleep indoors.

30 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
South Dakotans get upset because they can't start the Snow-mobile.

40 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops.
People in South Dakota start saying...'Cold enough fer ya?'

50 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
South Dakota public schools will open 2 hours late.

Dakota Sock

I have designed another sock. I am calling this sock Dakota. Because I designed and knit this sock during our last two winter blizzards. It is an easy to knit sock. It features a ribbed cuff, a V heel, and a classic toe. It is knit on size 1 DPN from the top down. I just listed this pattern in my etsy shop today. http://mrae123.etsy.com

Dreaming of weaving

We have been in a deep freeze here in South Dakota, we had two winter blizzards in a row. We are finally starting to thaw out a bit. It is 7 degrees above 0 this morning, and it is supposed to be Sunny and get up to 29 degrees today. I sure hope that it does. During our cold spell I have been knitting and designing, and dreaming of weaving. I don't know how to weave, but I have been wanting to try it for some time. During our blizzards the mail man still came through. You know the mail man, he comes through wind, through rain, through sleet, even a very cold South Dakota blizzard. Any way, a Lion Brand Yarn catalog came to me in the mail during this cold spell. In that catalog was a sweet little weaving loom. It is called the Cricket Weaving Loom. I placed an order for the loom, and I am looking forward to teaching myself to weave this winter. I am so very excited about that.
I have been designing also while I was snowed in. I have designed another sock, and a Folk mitten. I hope to get the finishing details on the patterns, some time this week. That is enough for now. Stay warm everyone!!

We have LOTS of snow

It is COLD, and SNOWY here!!!

the Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

the Lace Reader was originally a self published mystery.
It is set in Salem in 1996.
It is narrated by Towner Whitney.
Witchcraft and religion are intertwined in this book.
This is an interesting book, sometimes hard to understand.
I want to visit Salem some time. I think that it would be a very interesting place.

Jeni

My daughter Jeni is featured in, and on the cover of 605 Magazine this month. Who's Who in 2010. Young Leaders of the Sioux Empire.