I happened upon a Craigslist listing for an old spinning wheel, which ended up being a Canadian Production Wheel. I’ve wanted a 30 inch wheel for years and years, and this was too good to pass up!

When I cleaned the inside of the bobbin, this is what came out!

I RAN 3 MILES, I RAN 3 MILES, I CAN’T BELIEVE IT I RAN 3 MILES!
It’s my first time, and I’m SO excited!!! I felt so strong today. I don’t know when it’ll happen again, but today it was amazing!

I wanted to wait until I weighed less that 200 lbs to up my run from 2 to 3 miles, because I’m so concerned about hurting myself. But this morning I felt strong, and thought that if it were going to happen, today was the day. I’m so glad I did!

It doesn’t look like there’s a button to submit the photos that I select to post on the blog. I’ll keep messing with it. Or maybe, I just have to plug my phone into my computer 🙂

I have a bunch of little dolls and monsters to knit for little people for Christmas. Like, around 14. Or more.

Here’s two!

So cute.

I want to be asleep. I really do. I NEED to be asleep as I’m sick and coughing and exhausted and haven’t slept through the night, pretty much since Clark was born in 2006.

These boys are going to kill me.

They just won’t sleep through the night. It’s more Max now than Clark, but if it isn’t one, it’s the other, and if it isn’t either individually, it’s both.

When they’re sick, as they were for the last couple weeks, the maternal thing kicks in and of course I want to be there to comfort. When they’re not sick, it’s frustrating and hard not to martyr. When I’m sick….. I JUST NEED TO SLEEEEP! For heaven’s sake.

So that’s that. I’ve whined. Now I can talk about these really cool books I picked up today. Well, technically it would be yesterday, but since it isn’t really time to be awake yet today, yesterday still feels like today. ‘Cause that’s not confusing.

There’s a silent auction coming up to fundraise for my girls’ church group to go to camp in the spring. I thought about revisiting the past and knitting some Best Friend Dolls again. (Oooh, and this one and this one and this one). I’ve been wanting to knit them anyway because they’re so darned cute, and this seemed like a good opportunity. Then I was wishing I had something that cool to make for boys. So Nate and I went to the book store today (yesterday) and found this and this.

Knit monsters and, wait….. crochet?

Yup. That Amigurumi book is really cool! I finally found a pattern (or patterns) that make me want to learn crochet. So I bought some hooks and I’m telling myself that I can totally figure it out.

‘Cause I can totally figure it out. Right?

Of course, I’m going to need a bunch of worsted weight wool now so I have lots of colors and textures to choose from. Most of my stash is sock yarn, lace, and dk.

I’m excited. Which is good, because it wouldn’t be hard in my current condition, (horrible chest cold, fatigue, sleep deprivation, violent coughing with nasty side effects, that awful pit in your stomach that happens when you don’t get enough sleep, cold sweats, and have I mentioned that I’m TIRED?), to be flat out miserable and grumpy and not wanting to do anything.

Hooray for yarn. And color. And funky things to do with them.

Nate and I also went to a yarn store in south Austin today (yesterday). She said she had a lot of Cascade 220. She clearly doesn’t know what “a lot” means. There was not a great selection of anything. She was very nice, I liked her, but how I missed The Weaving Works and Serial Knitter! I hope I can find a good yarn store down here. I guess I was spoiled up in Seattle and took it for granted. There’s quite the hopping fiber arts community up there to support a well stocked shop. Even the yarn selection at JoAnns was dismal.

Ugh. I’ve run out of things to say. I’m sooooo tired, but after getting up who-knows-how-many-times to comfort crying boys or to cough myself silly, it seems pointless to try to lay down again. You stop being able to sleep because you’re keyed up waiting for the next interruption.

Martyr, martyr, martyr.

I’ve been wanting to post for weeks, but haven’t had much opportunity. I have loads of pictures of what’s been going on, which has me a bit wary, as uploading pictures to this blog is tedious as heck. But I’m here, I’ll get to it. Don’t worry.

I’ve knit all of the first, 1100 yard skein as of this morning.

I’ve been working on this shawl since the beginning of July, as time has allowed. Now I need to wind the second skein into a ball and…. keep knitting. I’m not sure how many more yards I’m going to use, but I have about 45 rounds left, and somewhere in there, I have to do another increase, doubling the stitches.

And I’m already trying to decide what to knit next. I have 700 yards of a gorgeous, purple laceweight yarn to do something with. That’s where I’ll start. Maybe another half round wrap, or a large rectangle?

In our initial setup of the living room, I had made a nice little corner behind the chairs for my guitars and amps and such. It was SO great having my own space set aside to play.

But, it was short lived.

The couch arrived yesterday. (They DIDN’T fabric protect it like they were supposed to. Awesome. Fabric couch with 5 kids and no stain resistant coating).

While I’d planned to put the couch in a particular place, it just didn’t look right. I tried everything, but my music section had to go.

and much of my gear is currently sitting in the kitchen while I try to figure out where the heck to put it now.

(See my little sheep bag in front? That’s holding the big shawl I’m working on right now. Yup, still knitting)!

I’m not done arranging the room yet, and a lot of the art will need to be moved around. On the plus side, it’s looking really, really nice.

And I need more plants!

We made it. I’m too unbelievably tired to say much now, but here’s a picture of part of the view from our back patio. It’s so peaceful and green. I really like Buda, TX.