Spring Cleaning

 Upstairs in the woolly room, I have been sorting and organizing my fiber stash. This is only one bin's worth.
 

 Uh-oh. I have filled all my shelf space with roving and I still have three bins left in the closet. Shameful but I have some real beauties in this mess. Fiber Optics, Gale's Art, Miss Babs, Loop and Into the Whirled to name drop a few.

 I was also surprised to find this giant bag of Corriedale from Copper Moose. This could be a sweater's worth, if I'm not mistaken. I think it may have a date with some dye.There is also at least 6 bags of beautiful Copper Moose Merino in several colors in that stash behind me.

 In the newly organized closet I have bins of projects that have been banished. There are also boxes of wool that I bought for projects that I know I posted about that never even got started. Also shameful.

I am not even going to mention the twelve Knit Picks kits I have waiting to be cast on or the very expensive Swirl Shawl kit from JoJo Land that I couldn't live without-that is also still in the package. Now I just need about three years of being locked in the house with nothing to do to get all this done-which would only work if I don't buy anymore stuff in the meantime.
What's that you say? The MD Sheep and Wool Fest is only four days away? I better figure out a way to clear some more shelf space. Sigh....

My Space

 After spending 6 months stuck into that teeny tiny craft room while The Mister took over my upstairs living room, I couldn't take anymore. As soon as Daughter vacated the premises, I re-claimed my living room and better yet, I also claimed a larger front downstairs bedroom as mine. All mine. It used to be The Mister's exercise room which meant it was a storage area for unused equipment. Not anymore. 

Daughter was even nice enough to leave me some extra shelves which will soon house my ever growing quilting stash. All I need now is the energy to run up and down the stairs a million times transferring all my crafty stuff into my new sewing room. As for my other little upstairs room-it will still be mine also. It will continue to be the woolly room. With the sewing stuff gone, the spinning wheels can now all be put to good use again and I can finally unpack my giant yarn and fiber stash. It is going to be wonderful.

Roadblock

I was going along quite nicely on my hooked rug when I ran across a bit of a dilemma.

My hoop has become too small. My quilting hoops are too big and my embroidery hoops are now too small. Hmmmm..... If and when I ever do this again I need to take things like this into consideration. The hooked material is very thick. Too thick to fold over and through the little hoops I have. I'll have to figure something out.This time next week I will be at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival where they have plenty of this stuff going on and I am hoping to not only bring home more rug hooking goodies but some knowledge as well.

An April Daddio Update

It seems fitting that I am going to update Daddio on what would have been Mom's 77th birthday. I've tried to imagine what she would have looked like with that many years on her but I can't. It's strange when you age but your mother doesn't. Soon I will be older than she ever was. At least I hope I will. The way things are in this world anymore, I will consider it quite a victory to hit that milestone.

Daddio's eye surgery earlier this month was successful but it took him several weeks to be able to see so things in the sewing room have certainly been piling up. Middle Sister's spring table runner still needs appliqueing and quilting. It was supposed to be for Easter. Ha.

All the seams on his Serendipity quilt have to be reinforced. He has been keeping me company while I cuss my way through this ordeal.

The binding on this crazy looking thing is one fourth of the way done. Three sides still have to be hand sewn down and this thing isn't exactly small. I'm taking it home to finish in front of a good movie. That's the only way it's going to get done.

 I wasn't even going to mention the thing on the design wall but here it is.

All those blocks still have to be sewn together. We sort of lost interest due to its wintery theme. That's its backing up there with the moose. I say we put it away until fall.

What he is most anxious to get back to is his latest paper piecing projects.

He's got several table runners that he wants to use as gifts, if we ever get them done.

The big problem is that now his other eye needs to be done so he can actually see well enough to thread a needle and that is still weeks and weeks away.
In the meantime, trying to keep him busy and out trouble will continue to be quite a challenge.

 Mom, if you're listening, I could use a little advice. I got nothing.

A Box of Batts

 I spent a relaxing afternoon picking apart the bag of newly washed Clun Forest. I needed some fluff to stuff in the carder.

 It's been a while since I cranked out plain old vanilla fleece.

 I had six pretty little batts in no time at all. I love that little carder.

Spinning Clun Forest is a bit of a challenge though as I have been spoiled by longer staple lengths and professionally prepared roving. It's been a long time since I spun my own processed fluff in the hope of getting something consistently thin. Sadly it's just not happening so now I am going to have to rethink this whole darn thing.

Restraint or Lack Thereof

The Gulf Coast fleece that I had put on to soak a few days ago was clean enough for color-and there I tread lightly. Past experience has taught me that less is more so I gingerly picked out two similar colors to mix and mingle.

 So far so good but on one of her last day's living here, Daughter got involved. When she saw I had neon colors in the dye stash all was lost.

 It seems neon is the new black.

 In no time at all the Gulf Coast was looking almost good enough to eat.

 After a good steaming I had more color than I knew what to do with.

 I confess it made me happy. Spring has still been hit or miss around here. Where is that sun when you need it?

Who cares when I can make my own candy colored rainbow. Squeeee.....

The Lady of the Camellias

 I wasn't blessed with a green thumb but I can grow camellias. I've got giant bushes of them in three colors. They have a bit of frost damage this year due to it being so cold for so long but the later blooms-the ones with good sense and timing, are lovely.

They are too top heavy to be able to arrange with any grace but that doesn't stop me from trying. As pretty as they are, they don't smell like anything and I think that is such a pity.

 While outside picking them, I came across something mighty peculiar. One single blossom on my ginourmous pale pink bush was dark pink-now how did that happen? The dark pink bush is on the other side of the house. Hmmm...Camellia, you got some 'splaining to do.

Two Things Done Equals Four

In spite of all the moving drama, Daughter's Calligraphy mittens are history. They were the hardest "simple" knit ever. I had to redo the tops and the thumbs over and over to get the size right. Jeesh.

 Also done are the last of the Corriedale socks. The box of sox is officially empty and it is staying that way. It's one pair at a time from now on.

So Big

 I tried every trick I knew to get a photo of the crocheted motif wrap I am working on but nothing was working.

 It was too sunny outside and it was too big.

 I wanted to show off the fact that I just completed the second row. That's a big deal because I really, really didn't want to finish it but I guilted myself into it. This is $30 worth of mohair and it needs to be something.

I'm glad I did because now I really, really like working on the funny looking thing. I was going to end it here but I'm going for the whole three rows. 

Holy Moly

 Daddio handed me these socks the other day and asked if I could fix them. They went straight in the trash. Whatever I used to make these many years ago was clearly infested. These things were NEVER coming near my stash.

I still have tons of handspun waiting to be socks so I pulled out this Jacob and got started on replacing them but something was missing. Jacob is pretty-but plain and Daddio is anything but plain. In no time I had some darker Jacob combed, spun, plied, washed and dried.

Much better.

Congratulations are in Order

 I haven't said anything before now but my life was turned upside down last October.

 That's when Daughter and her new husband moved in.

 They needed a place to stay while they were house hunting.

 My house became a storage facility overnight. It's been like living on a train for six months.

 Every square inch of space is covered.

 I don't even know who belongs to what anymore.

 I've got book cases in front of book cases.

 Those blue storage thingys hold my good china. They are under the TV along with a lot of other random junk.

No potential storage space was overlooked. Random junk is everywhere.

 I've even got a kitty box in the dining room.

We have had five fussy kitties sharing the same space for a long time now. Ah choo.

I've forgotten what windows are for.

I never want to see another plastic bin. Ever. I wake up surrounded by them and I spend all day tripping over them.

I can confess all this now because yesterday afternoon Daughter and Son in Law went to closing on their very first house.

Hot diggity dog. Let the moving begin!