I have a floating bell fountain, which I love. I can’t, however, figure out how to get the tarnish off of the stationary bells. Any ideas? I’ve used silver polish, brass polish, steel wool… I haven’t tried bleach.

Anyway, this morning, I saw something hilarious. I know it won’t be quite as funny to you, as you can’t see it in action, but check this out.

There’s a spider in one of the floating bells. I’ve been watching it circle round and round, tapping the stationary bells, which sends it into a Disneyland teacup type spin.

I’m curious how it managed to get there. Those bells never stop moving. I took the bell out and set it on the counter an hour or so ago, and the spider is gone now. I think it would have starved on that thing, I can’t imagine how it would have gotten off. I saw it try, once.

My illness is keeping me from a fun luncheon this afternoon that I helped organize with some school moms, which is really annoying. I’m going to spin more wolf yarn today. And pout.

Oh, speaking of pouting…

One of my friends that moved to New York last year (so not Hayden) came back last weekend. I’m very pleased. Welcome back, Carol.

Nate and I are both going to the doctor this morning. We’re both sick and not getting better. After the doctor, I’m heading off to pick up the Clemes and Clemes that a woman I know is selling cheap. That’ll be 4 wheels in my house (tho’ one is out on loan), one for each of the girls, myself included.

It’s very exciting.

I washed an entire fleece yesterday. My revised method is SO much faster. So that leaves me with 2 left to wash. One of them is only 5 1/2 pounds, so that will be quick. I have to wait for my drying racks though. Washing more at a time takes longer to dry because the layers on the shelves are thicker.

It’s been a really long time since I actually knit something. I’m so antsy, but everything I can think of that I want to knit, I want to knit with handspun. That slows things down. But, my dye should be here soon, and I’ll take the plunge and make a big batch of something. I swear I will.

And I still have all that yarn I spun for Clark’s sweater, waiting to be dyed.

That could be a satisfying and quick knit.

In the meantime, I’m tapping my fingers for the dye to get here.

While we were in California having a great vacation, as I slept at night , I dreamt of fleece.

That’s so funny to me.

I ordered a bunch of dye yesterday. Colors that I can use straight and don’t have to mix. That should eliminate my problems. I’m so ready to be done “sampling.”

The second fleece is almost washed.

It’s the light gray, the one I want to make into sweaters for both Nate and myself, leaving me with three more to wash. I’ve washed this gray fleece much quicker than the others, washing more at a time, not separating and aligning the locks, and so far it’s worked out well. It’s cut my washing time by at least half.

I put Abby at the new wheel this morning before school, and she did great. It’s been quite awhile since she’s spun. I’m picking up another Clemes tomorrow from a lady I know that’s decided to sell hers. Abby likes the Clemes. As I was thinking about the girls spinning, and possibly taking them to fiber events, it occurred to me that a single treadle Ashford Joy would probably be perfect for the kids, as they’re so small and spin so easily. Too bad those aren’t cheap. I don’t think the girls could carry a Clemes, and the Traditional is light, but bulky.

Which means that yes, I am still sick. Not bad. Tylenol and Aleve got me through Disneyland and the wedding surprisingly well. And Nate, who has been sick since the beginning of July, is coming down with what I had. Joy. Honestly, at this point I think I’d rather be sick again myself than have him sick. He takes 5 times as long to get over things than I do.

So, the trip. It was tremendously fun. We went down for a wedding in the family, so my husband and 5 of his 7 siblings (minus the one that just had their first baby, and the one that is just about to), plus my in-laws all converged on California. There were 18 kids, Abby being the oldest, and 13 adults. Most of us flew down together on the same plane.

This picture shows half of the kiddos, and the little boys so excited by the airplanes!

We filled an entire Alamo shuttle. The looks we got were hilarious.

Just imagine the number of strollers and carseats 18 kids under the age of 10 would require…

At Disneyland, we broke off from the group and spent most of the first day as a family. We did the Winnie the Pooh ride first thing.

I discovered a few things right off. First of all, Clark does not like rides. At all. In any form. Liv is a close second, in that she doesn’t like anything that might be scary. Roller coasters are absolutely out of the question, while Abby and Veronica LOVE them.

I also discovered that despite the fact that I went to Disneyland most summers as a kid, I really had no idea what was actually there. Which means that either I have the worst memory imaginable, or my mom wasn’t very adventurous with us kids. Most everything we went on this trip, I’d never been on, and didn’t even know about. Like Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, the Storybook Land cruise, the Jungle Cruise, the Tea Cups, Thunder Mountain…

Ah, Thunder Mountain. I have distinct memories of wanting to go on Thunder Mountain as a kid, and not being allowed to. While we were standing in a brief line (there were almost no lines the whole two days on most everything) to ride it for the 6th or so time, Abby and Veronica, my roller coaster buddies on this trip, wanted to know why my mom wouldn’t let me ride it. So I texted her to ask. She texted back and said that she doesn’t remember keeping me away from it. Having now been to Disneyland as the adult with many, many children, I can understand that she was possibly too tired to go on one more thing. However, I think that she isn’t much of a roller coaster goer, herself. I’d never been on Space Mountain ’til Nate and I went 6 years ago. I didn’t know it was there. We did, admittedly do Matterhorn when I was young. I thought it was my favorite ride at Disneyland. Not anymore. Ah, Thunder Mountain.

All I remember riding as a kid was Pirates, Matterhorn, Small World, Haunted Mansion, Autotopia, a slow, touring train… maybe the Tiki Room… help me out, mom. What did we ride?

So the first half of the first day, poor Liv stayed out with Clark and an alternating parent as Abby, Veronica, and the other parent rode rides. Then we did the carousel and tea cups. So I guess I overstated earlier. Clark LOVES the tea cups and likes the carousel pretty well.

I tried so hard to get a picture of Clark’s face on the tea cups. He had the most exuberant smile when the tea cup would get a good spin. It was pure joy. So amazingly sweet.

The first half of the second day, we were at California Adventure. Nate loves Soaring over California. We did the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Veronica did it twice, even though she thought it was too scary, the hype and narration more than the plummeting elevator.

She was extremely ticked that she was too short for California Screamin’ and the Maliboomer.

Once back at Disneyland, we did Space Mountain twice. I think I rode it 6 times over the two days. Veronica wasn’t with us at the end of the first day, so she heard about it and couldn’t talk of much else ’til she got to ride it herself. I’m wishing I would have bought some of the pictures they take on the rides. Their faces… so cute. Especially the time I made Liv come on Splash Mountain with Abby and Veronica and I. I’d promised her I wouldn’t let go of her the whole ride, and told her she could close her eyes, so Abby was in the front, huge smile, Veronica was behind her, huge smile, Liv was next, with her eyes slammed shut and my hands on her shoulders, and I was in the back. It was great.

At around 5 on the second day, after playing in the fountain in Toontown

…Nate was all tuckered out, so he took Clark and Liv back to the hotel, and Abby, Veronica and I stayed ’til it closed at 11,

shopped for another 45 minutes on Main Street, and got back to the hotel around midnight.

It was great. We hit Thunder Mountain (again) twice, then got Pirates (again) on the way to Splash Mountain (again) twice (seriously soaked that second time). Then the lines started picking up, so we stopped for dinner in Tomorrowland around 8. Rode the Teacups (again)

saw the amazing fireworks and light show (really, holy freakin’ cow),

waited in a long line so Abby could do Matterhorn again, FINALLY got to do Alice in Wonderland (which I’d been wanting to do since the previous morning tho’ we never did make it to Peter Pan. There was ALWAYS a long line on that one. Is it cool? I haven’t done it), and squeezed in the Storybook Land cruise for Veronica, who was dying to ride a boat into the mouth of the big whale. Should’ve got a picture of that.

Funny story, the actor they had dress up as Jack Sparrow on Thursday was shockingly good. He looked just like him. The amazing facial structure that Johnny Depp has and everything. He was also not stopping for pictures, which was lame. The Jack Sparrow wandering around the streets on Friday was hilarious. He came running down the walkway in front of the Tiki room, arms and legs flailing like in the movie. I leaned over to Nate to say that it was a different actor than the one on Thursday, when all the sudden he was behind us, his hands on our shoulders, hiding from whoever was chasing him. Then he swings around, eyes Nate’s pineapple juice (completely in character) and takes it, like he’s going to drink it. He stops, sniffs it, then scoffs at the lack of booze no doubt and hands it back, waves his hand dismissively, and takes off again. Nate shouts after him, “but why is the rum gone?”

So much fun. All I want to say, aside from a HUGE Thank You to my father-in-law for taking us all down there and arranging everything, is I WANT TO GO BAAAAACK!

To the happiest place on earth.

Ugh, I’m sick. I’m really sick. A little better today, I wasn’t able to get out of bed Saturday and Sunday. Tomorrow is the first day of school. Wednesday, we head to California for a wedding and will be gone the rest of the week. We’re going to take the kids to Disneyland for the first time. We’re all excited.

Please, please let me be healthy.

So, since I missed Health Group on Saturday, I’ll just say that it’s been tough. I’ve been doing pretty good. Getting some exercise, eating pretty well. And I’m still puffy and on the high end of my normal weight range. Whatever. I have too much on my mind to worry about it now. When the kids are back in school and I’m back in a routine, I should be able to be more consistent.

So, our little trip to the cabin was super fun and Clark was just fine after sleeping the morning away.

Clark, who wouldn’t go near the trampoline in February, wanted to try this time.

Liv took to the spinning wheel and did really well. With my kids at least, they seem to do much better with a single treadle wheel. The double treadle is too much for them.

She filled a bobbin.

The spinning wheel was on this gorgeous place called Fox Island. The people selling it were a nice, older couple. Retired school teachers. The wheel is perfect and came with the lazy kate and 4 bobbins. I’m glad I thought to bring spinning wheel oil though. The wheel would barely turn and squeaked and squawked like crazy ’til I got some oil on it.

When we got home, I oiled the wood and took steel wool to the metal bits. It looks and spins great.

I think I’m going to card up the fleece I’ve been dyeing for the girls to spin. That seems like the best use for it, and they need something to learn on.

My throat is killing me and I’m tired. There’s not a TON to do to get ready to go, but I do have some work to do. Wish me luck. I’ll see you next week.

Yesterday, we took the kids to the Evergreen State Fair. I don’t think I’ve ever been. I didn’t get to walk through the exhibit bldgs, which I really wanted to, or ride the ferris wheel… but I saw sheep, and the kids had a really good time. We went with one of Nate’s brothers and his family, kind of last minute.

Veronica loved the Wacky Worm. She went three times.

Abby and Nate went on some hideous thing that spins you every-which-way you could imagine. I have no idea why she did it, but I’m proud of her.

We’re going anyway. It’ll be a low key trip.

I don’t understand what the problem is. He’s having digestive distress, again, and is very lethargic. The digestive distress pops up every couple of months for a day or so, but he doesn’t usually get sick with it. I’m assuming it’s a coincidence and hoping it doesn’t have to do with the fair.

Last night, while sitting in my favorite chair, I asked Nate to toss me my camel swatch that I noticed was on the floor. He did. I gasped.

Clark looked up, saw what had made me react, and then started bringing swatches to me.

When I looked at him with a sad face and said, “oh no, Clark!” he said, “Sorry mama. Sorry mama. I sorry mama.” He is the sweetest boy.

I had caught him earlier in the day with super sharp scissors that had been left on the floor, but didn’t think much of it. He was just holding them, and handed them over quite willingly. Fortunately, they’re only swatches. If any FO’s had been in the vicinity… I shudder to think. And his precious little fingers… And then I think that I’ve made it through four toddlers as a knitter without this happening ’til now. That’s pretty good.

My poor little camel swatch.

So, I have a mountain of bits of dyed wool samples that haven’t turned out.

This morning, I thought of dividing them into a couple of “colorways”, carding them to see what general color they’ll be, and dyeing some alpaca and silk to compliment it and turn it into something. Maybe sweaters for Liv and V, since they didn’t get theirs last year and it’d be neat to have a sample knit of this tweed I’m trying to come up with. A finished project to see it in the big picture.

It’s a thought.

I’ve picked a number of colors to order of the new dye I’m going to try. 11 or 12 of them, I think. I’m working my way through the washing of the first of my 5 new fleece, and I think I’m about half done. I also think I’m going to start stuffing my netting bags a little less carefully to speed up the process some. But I’m not sure if I’ll actually be able to do that.

Still working on things…

Anyway, with this dye I’m going to order, I think I’ve come up with some nice colorways, one of which is a masculine or gender neutral tan/brown color for Nate. When I said that I thought it would be romantic to make a sweater for both Nate and myself out of the same fleece, my kids looked at me like I was crazy.

I feel a little crazy.

Who cares? There are worse things. Crazy is fun.

First of all, the Wild Flyer is completely and totally, amazingly cool. It is going to take significantly less time to spin this wolf yarn now, and I will have hands free to work on placing the mohair better, instead of freeing it from the hooks all the time.

Here’s the latest skein.

Second, I love the new wool. Nate wanted me to card up some white wool, white alpaca and that gawsh-awful-ugly silk noil that didn’t dye well. So I did, and while I think the batt looked pretty bad

I’m spinning it up to see what the finished yarn will be like and really, I was just extremely anxious to spin this wool.

It spins like a dream. It’s the softest, silkiest, most delightfully easy-to-spin stuff ever. I’m so excited to make a batt with those fibers when they’re actually dyed pretty! And I think the wool is so silky, I can reduce the alpaca a little bit.

It cracks me up that women are primarily the spinners, while it’s ALWAYS the men that come up and ask questions when I’m spinning in public. They’re fascinated by the “machine”. I’ve had them lay on the floor and watch the treadles, then slowly get up as they scrutinized how the treadles connect to the wheel, connects to the pulley, connects to the flyer, etc. Last night was no exception. We had one man come and ask about how it works, and two men come up and ask what kind of fibers we were spinning. Then they went on and on about how nice alpaca is, talking more to each other than to me and my friend. Then they asked to touch it.

Makes me laugh. Why don’t more men spin, I wonder? There are two men in our spinning group and they’re great.

So a friend of mine took the Weaving Works spinning class last week, and is in need of a wheel. We met up last night and I lent her my Clemes. She loved it. They’re such nice little wheels.