Olds college final day

I was tired.
My throat was back to hurting.
All the bags were packed again in the van.
A few extra bags had mysteriously appeared.
Good thing I brought the mini van!

I arrived to class under cloudy skies.
It had rained and stormed quite a bit that last night.
I was not looking forward to the 3 hour drive home at 5pm.

We took a classroom test that I did ok on.
I forgot the two types of spinning wheel types:

Saxony

Upright

I have an upright.
I did remember the parts of the spinning wheel when labeling tho!

                                                

I was worried about this one.
The menopausal memory is crap.

After we graded and passed in our exams and evaluations,
our instructor talked about her passion for silk!
I understand that unknown until now fiber source.

She showed us cocoons with the worms still inside...
rattling around, dead of course.
She showed us her 12 strand 2 ply silk yarn she spun
and was knitting a beautiful lace shawl with.
I learned what a wondrous thing silk hankies are~
(flattened out cocoons into 8-10 layers of squares
which you stretch out across the room and spin with.)

We blended merino top with tussah and bombyx silk top.
(top is parallel fibers in a long roving)
I spun the best skeins I had spun all week!
Pictures of the differences hopefully tomorrow!

We all went to Mr. B's for lunch.
The ham and pea soup with grilled cheese sandwich was just what I needed.
Chatting about our dogs, homes, and funny stories was just a way to end the week.

When we got back, two of our classmates had baked cupcakes
for the class the night before.
They had asked who liked coconut, and I said I was allergic,
but not to worry about it....diet you know!
Well, I must tell you that those sweet friends made 4 cupcakes
with no coconut frosting.
AND there was one cupcake surrounded by its coconut free friends
so that no allergens could contaminate it!

A level 5 student came to our class and shared with us
her assignment books from levels one and three.
HOLY MOLY!
I have a lot of work to do this year!
We took a class photo and hugged and started a ravelry class page,
shared emails, and are so looking forward to being classmates next year
and for the next five years!

I drove home, hurting and exhausted, and very happy to see Hil and Chuck!
I tried to watch a bit of the Olympic opening ceremonies.....but.....ya.
I slept very well, and am ready to begin preparing for my studies.
So much fun and learning!

I appreciate Hil and hubby with as much interest as they can have.
It's hard really, when no one close to you shares your interest.
I have accepted that my classmates and one or two friends
know and understand my passion.
I know that at the end of this six year adventure, I will be a master spinner.
I am looking forward to improving my knowledge and skill level.
If only for myself.
That is enough for me.
I am blessed!

Olds College days 3 and 4

This week has gone by way too quickly!
As I am about ready to go to sleep,
yes at 7:19pm,
I am thinking of how very much I have learned
and how much fun I have had.
Day 3 was all about woolen spinning.
Worsted spinning, Day 2, is a smooth, fine, sturdy way to spin.
Woolen is the fluffy, warm yarn that is not the strongest of yarns.
Two completely different preparations,
and two completely different ways to spin.
You choose different types of wool for each,
based on what end product is desired.
Today, day 4, was the natural dye day.
We all brought white yarn skeins...
150 yards divided up into 25, six yard smaller skeins.

One skein was left undyed,
one skein was soaked in plain water overnight,
and the other twenty three skeins were soaked overnight
in an alum/cream of tarter mordant.
(a mordant helps the dye stick to the yarn)

We separated all the skeins into six groups,
and dyed with six different natural dyes:
Onion skins, marigolds, brazil wood shavings, osage orange, annatto, and cochineal.
Some known products, some technical names,
and one...crushed up bugs that live on cactus in Peru!
Interestingly, cochineal bugs are used as red food coloring,
since red #4 is bad for you.
You are welcome.

After half the dyes were taken out of the baths,
iron powder was added to the bath with the remaining yarn skeins.
What a difference iron makes!
Many beautiful variations of olive greens, deep purple reds, and yummy mauves.

I really will get pics up as soon as I get home.

Tomorrow is my last day of class,
a day of silk and merino blends,
a quiz, and a lesson on our final workbook requirements
to be completed this year at home.
We classmates have collected each other's emails,
and started a ravelry group just for our class.
Hopefully we will all take the remaining five classes together
in the next five years,
and will travel to Canada for graduation together.
I have really enjoyed my teacher Coleen, and other classmates.
Well, I had a problem with one student, as we all had a problem with her,
but we were all accommodating,
and the teacher has a heart of gold and so much patience with this girl.
I don't know if I would have been so patient.

Overall, it has been a wonderful experience
and I look forward to the upcoming year's homework and  assignments.
I plan on setting aside at least one day a week for schoolwork,
research and writing papers,
as well as lots of fiber fondling!
Again, thanks so much honey for this opportunity~
I am blessed!

Olds College day 2

Not much time to write today, as I have tons of homework!
Lots learned tho.....mainly how and why to spin worsted yarn.
It is different than spinning woolen for different reasons,
that I will explain later!
Took back to hotel, some sample skeins of romney, coopworth and
spun in the grease coopworth wool (dirty, not washed)
to wash in the hotel sink.
It is all drying on my hotel door.

My homework is to divide 150 yards of prespun wool for dyeing Thursday into
25 equal skeins.
This will take some time.
First I have to divide 150 by 25.
Then because I discovered that the niddy noddy I have been using,
and thought that it measured two yards of yarn,
actually only measures three yards.
Not only to I have to remeasure my prespun skein
with the newly acquired one yard niddy noddy,
but I have hundreds more yards of yarn at my house than I thought I did!

P.S.  A niddy noddy measures how many yards from a spinning wheel.
Then it gets rolled into a ball, or it could stay in the hank right off of the tool.

A measuring I go!

Olds College day one of actual class

How much fun this is going to be!
And how much work.
I can see that it will definitely take a year to complete,
after only reading the first three chapters of the workbook.

To start off:
I never should have gone off of my diet and eaten that reuban or onion rings!
Ya, I was in the bathroom from midnight until 4am.
I set my alarm for 7am.
I woke up with a sore throat and headache.
Blech!
Of course the coffee at the hotel is not Starbucks
and I only grabbed a small blueberry muffin for breakfast.
The shop where the class is held is only 4 miles away,
and I will be getting coffee across the street tomorrow.

I am enjoying my ten classmates and teacher.

Today mostly, we learned how to grade and sort a shorn fleece.
We looked at 4 fleeces
that had been shorn and then folded in thirds and rolled from tail to neck.
We unrolled each out onto the floor,
found the feet, back shoulders, sides
and britch (the nasty part).

We learned that the shoulders are the best to use, then the sides.
The back is usually weathered too much
and the legs may be too short or felted to use.
It makes a difference in the finished knit item if you use all the areas together.
My hands are silky smooth from all the lanolin!

We then separated the fleeces: southdown, romney, corridale and border leicester
for use in our year end project of ten sheep breeds.
That being a small report on each breed,
a 10 yard plied sample of yarn and a knit sample.

We spent the remainder of the day washing the fleeces
so we will have fiber to play with the rest of the week.

I relearned to spin on a  dropspindle,
once I bought a working one.
The one I originally learned on six years ago,
was poorly made and no wonder I hated spindling.
(To spin yarn with a drop spindle,
 you use a top like tool and spin the wool together without a wheel.
A slower process than a wheel, but very nice for thin yarns)
I must turn in 10 yards of this yarn before the end of the week.

In my reading I am learning some interesting facts:
For instance, before the Revolutionary war,
England's most exported item was wool.
It was illegal for colonists to spin wool or even have sheep.
It was an act of patriotism to make yarn.
Wool is still so important in England,
that the Lord Speaker in Britain's House of Lords
still speaks from the Woolsack and upon it rests the Mace,
which is the embodiment of power in that country.,
The Woolsack was originally filled with wool from Britain,
but in recognition that many Commonwealth countries also produce wool,
it is now stuffed with wool from all over the Commonwealth.

Enough interesting history.
I went to Walmart and bought some healthy food items,
have eaten my dinner and am finishing up my reading.
I don't think I will be spindling tonight, as I am pretty tired.

I have HEYTELLed with Hilary and Chuck,
so all is right with the world again!

I have been taking pictures all day
and will try to post some this week if not when I get home.
Good night South Bend!
I am blessed.

Day 1 olds college

Today is the first day of my education/vacation.

After church this morning, I loaded the van
with way too much stuff.
Seriously, you would think I was moving away forever.

A weeks worth of clothes,
with some spare undies,

all my spinning supplies:
wheel, bobbins, lazy kate, niddy noddy,
hook. scissors, flick brush, hand carders,
dye pots, dust mask, stir sticks, marking tags and masking tape,
notebooks, onion skins..and more I am sure I have forgotten here,
but did not forget to pack.

Gym clothes, bathing suit, books to read, Bible study and
of course knitting....two projects!

I have unpacked my suitcases, loaded up the dresser,
hung the clothes, unloaded all the bath supplies,
eaten dinner of a  reuban sandwich and onion rings.
(greasy and unhealthy and definitely not on my diet!)
I have showered and sent out Care ministry messages.

I'm tired from the drive of 3 hours. 
I am in Howell Michigan, an hour outside of Detroit.
Classes are from 9-4 starting tomorrow and ending Friday.
It's 8:30 and I am calling it a night.

So the adventure begins!
The antibiotics have finally kicked in
and I am hoping the sinus infection will not rear it's ugly head again!

I am truly blessed!
Thanks honey for this wonderful opportunity and all your support!

Poodles with an Oiy

I miss my poo today.
The blog title is what I call her
or PWAO
This comes from the Gilmore Girls tv show.
We swore that the writers were recording us somehow,
as we could see our lives portrayed here.

She calls me Llama.
When we went to visit colleges,
Grand Valley State University actually,
we spent the evening there in the dorms.
I believe we were the only ones who stayed this weekend.
We watched That 80's Show in the common room.
It was an all night marathon!
At some point we were walking on campus,
V said something to me,
and I  heard "the llamas are vacuuming."
We laughed and laughed!
Now I am llama or LAV.

Silly things and nicknames and a lifetime of memories.
Guess I am a little homesick for my oldest today.
She went to Austin TX yesterday for a week.
She is scoping out the city as a new place to live come January.

I already miss not being able to all her up and meet for coffee,
or reading magazines together at Barnes and Noble.
She has been moving forward with her life, and I am so very proud of her.
Breaking those apron strings is always harder on the mom,
but I think I am doing really well.

Both girls have their own ideas tho, how I am moping, pouting or judging.
Most of this is in their own heads though,
because I really don't want to be in charge of their lives any more.

We used to text good morning every morning.
Good night or I'm home when they finally got safely home.
I worried for a while.
Now I know that if I hear something, then I should worry.
I do miss the texts too.
Life moves forward.

Went through the empty nest when both girls moved in together a few years ago.
They decided to break me in one swift blow.
I am so very glad that they have their relationship too.
Things are always changing.
I am loving my own time, friends, plans, adventures.
I just really love spending time with my two favorite people too.

Here is to knowing that God has a plan for my girls.
V will thrive or not, in a new city.
If so, I will visit.
If not, I will always be around for hugs and a shoulder.
I know she knows that.
I also know that being independent is the most important thing to her right now.
Hopefully she will realize that family is as important as independence too.

I also know that she is flower frog shopping for me now in TX too!

Have fun poo!

five of eight, and summer fiber

For the past five weeks
I have been on a very strict diet.
No fruits, milk, breads, pastas, carbs.
The diet is called the Diabetic Miracle.
It actually was the first book Terry bought me for the Nook.
Nook on computer........still a die hard paper book fan.
This diet is supposed to restart my pancreas, and calm my liver.

I am so sick of meat and veggies
I have NO taste or appetite for them at all!
BUT...
the goal of this diet is to cut back/get off of my Type 2 diabetic meds
and to lose weight.
Both goals are being met!!!!
Because my sugars were consistently in the low 80's
and one day 64
(Normal is between 90/120)
my doc cut out one of the evening pills!
YIPPEEEEE!
And I have lost ten pounds.....
all of it in the first three weeks.
I have started going to a trainer at the gym once a week
and continuing and stepping up my workouts throughout the week.

I feel better and stronger.
I can do these last three weeks!
After the initial 8 weeks, I can have carbs, bruits, milks etc again,
but only so many.
SOOOOOO looking forward to that!

It has been so bloody hot here the past few weeks,
that Chuck and I have only walked in the late evening if at all.
I am really missing my walks.
I have been getting alot of spinning done tho.
                                                                 Some core spun,

Some multi color plied,

and some really soft silky blends I bought at the fiber festival.
I am going to ply this with the indigo I dyed earlier this summer.

I have been knitting with my online group a Knit A Long scarf.
I haven't done much lace, but this is pretty,
and easy to work on at night.

I bought an angora sweater at Goodwill this winter,
ripped it apart, and am now using it for this scarf!
I may or may not dye it after it is done.
A twenty row repeat is a pain in the neck tho.....
Lace patterns take a lot of concentration to follow.
No watching tv or playing with chuck in between,
and I'm not very good at marking which rows I have completed.
I am supposed to be working until the scarf measures 60".
I will be working on this all summer.

Yes, I know you are keeping track....
only 16 more days until I spend the week learning to be a master spinner!!!
And this will also be the week I can break the diet, and go to phase two!
What a way to celebrate!
Stay cool!

daily walks

Taking daily walks around the neighborhood,
(Chuck and I are mostly up to two walks a day)
have more benefits than exercise for us.

At the first corner, across the street,
three little boys always catch sight of us,
and hollar over..."can we pet your dog?"
Chuck is getting used to these little boys.
Actually I think he looks forward to their admiration!
They informed me that they are not having a good summer,
but could not say why.
One boy asked if I wanted him to tell me anyway.
I told him no, that I didn't want him to tell a secret if he wasn't supposed to.

Around the other corner I am getting to know more of my neighbors.
Doug, who has heart and diabetic problems,
is always sitting on his front step.
John, who was the first neighbor I met,
his wife Pat.
I recently discovered that they are aunt and uncle of
Kay, a friend from church.
Sweet people.
John used to drive stock cars and still
has a shiney, red corvette he likes to drive too fast.
Then there is Brett.
The youngest neighbor, by far.
He takes great pride in his yard/lawn.
He is schooling me on my pitiful grass.
I am off to get nitrogen fertilaizer tomorrow to spread next week.
I may have to tear out my front lawn, as it is half Bermuda grass.

John and Doug were both out tonight watering their lawn.
I told them it was hard to keep up with Brett.
They threatened to turn the hoses on me!
They laugh because Chuck is afraid of sprinklers.
I joked that I thought Brett was skipping showers
because he was watering his lawn so much.
Brett overheard me and informed me that that was not the case!
John and Doug, again were laughing at me!

Two doors down from Brett is Dolly, or Marilyn for real.
She says to remember Dolly Parton...
which is as far from reality as you can get.
She had roter cuff surgery last month
and is struggling with therapy.

I am enjoying these evening walks.
I always plan on taking my time, not rushing,
so there is time for conversation.
Maybe I'll bake some cookies to be neighborly....

I am blessed :)

Whaaaa....?

After nearly six years of spinning yarn,
I am overwhelmed at the lack of knowledge people have of it.
If you know me at all, you know I spin yarn.
If you know me better, you understand some of the terminology.
If you are my family,
you are bored and quite knowledgeable of  every aspect of my passion.

I took a weekend-long, how to spin class,
and came home with a Kromski Sonata spinning wheel six years ago.
Spinning had been a curiosity for me for twenty years.
My mom owned a yarn shop in Pittsburgh when I was young,
so I suppose it's in my blood.
The first time I went to a fiber festival....
where one buys all kinds of fiber for spinning into yarn,
I came home with three raw  Romney sheep fleeces.
I took a sample to show my girly girls, in a sandwich baggie.
We were at Red Lobster for lunch.
Probably not the best place to take raw, lanolin wool :)
I love the earthy farm animal smells of it!
And lanolin is a great moisturizer!
Whenever I post that I am going to a fiber festival,
I always get one response....
"for bran and flax seed? They have festivals for that?"

I'm sure they do somewhere, but not that kind of fiber!
Whenever I say that I am going to spin today,
I always get at least one person
who thinks I am spinning on a bike, in a gym, for fitness.
No.
Seriously.
Do I look like I SPIN?

This past weekend, I attended a fiber festival above Chicago.
I took a few classes there last year, but this year was strictly buying.
(I will be attending the first of a six year class from Olds College
this July to earn a master spinners degree tho....
so excited!)
On my way home, trying not to dread the drive through Friday 6pm traffic jams,
I received a call from someone who I have never met, but we talk pretty often.
He was tired from his week, as I was weary, driving tired.
I mentioned where I had been.

Totally floored and confused him.
I spent the next 45 minutes answering questions from him.
After the icky factor (for him) of where yarn comes from,
he wanted to know all about my wheel,
how I dye fiber,
where I get fiber, etc.
He was really stoked.

He couldn't get the image of the old Revolutionary War's
huge spinning wheels out of his mind's eye.
What did they spin with?.....most probably wool, cotton or flax.

How lucky my husband must be to get warm socks
that came from the sheep to begin with.
(Do you feel lucky honey?)

Before hanging up, I could tell he was excited.
He told me he was going to go home and tell his wife what he learned.
Unfathomable!
He was even going to look online about spinning
and see if there were any festivals near Santa Monica.
(Yes, I would die to live in California...the supply is staggering for product and classes!)

Since I have begun spinning, it seems as if this age old hobby has boomed.
Every state in the country has some sort of fiber event,
and the internet is full of supply for any kind of fiber!
My ride home, was exhilarating!
I bought a venti breve latte with an extra shot,
turned the GPS to no tolls,
tuned the radio to oldies.....which now days is 80's music!
Perfect for me to sing along to!
I seemed to glide through traffic,
I was conscious of other drivers and allowed plenty of room between
me and the car in front of me, for easy access.

So, if you are curious, skim through some of my older posts
for references to spinning or dyeing or vocabulary.
Type in to Google Spinning Fiber and see what you get.
I will happily show you how to spin wool, cotton, silk, milk or soy
into yarn, and then teach you how to knit or crochet.

My friends call me mother earth.
I don't mind, I am a throw back I suppose.

I am truly blessed my hubby finds joy in his socks,
and am able to continue with my passions.

Peter

As I was studying this week,
I discovered a few things.
When you grow up in a Christian home, like I have,
maybe some of the stories you hear all of the time,
get lost in the context.
I learned the whole story this week.
This is just my interpretation tho...

When I think of the disciple Simon Peter
I think of big, gruff, mouthy, opinionated, fisherman.
I read a book years ago....Joshua by Joseph Girzone
... and there was a beautiful description of Peter
that I have treasured ever since.

The story of Peter walking on water, is one story I never tire of.
My friends and I did a study called,
If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat.
by John Ortberg

Peter had a great faith, no fear to step out, and a great love for his friend Jesus.
Peter also denied Christ three times
which I believe he felt such shame and remorse for, that it crippled him.
Most Christians know this story.

What I learned this week was, after Jesus rose again,
He not only visited the upper room and ate with His friends,
He ate with them a second time, and dispelled the doubt of Thomas.
Not only did He appear to many people,
but He was hopping around town so much, that if the stories were all written down,
they would fill another Bible sized book.

The one story I found surprising and thought provoking was in John 21.
I had heard this story many times, but never knew it happened after Jesus rose.

It had been a few weeks,
and the disciples were to meet up with Jesus on a mountain in Galilee.
However, Peter decides to go fishing.
He still has not forgiven himself.

What do we do when we are working something out...
something bad about ourselves that we don't even really want to think about?
We check out.
We distract ourselves.
We drop off the grid.
Peter went fishing,
something we don't read about him doing
since he began to follow Jesus two years earlier.
Peter's good friends decide to go with him.
Maybe they see that he has been struggling with something.
He hasn't seemed his old self,
especially since their Lord is back from the dead.
They decided he needed some shoulders.
Off they go into the boat.

They don't catch any fish though.

Some wise guy calls out to them from the shore
and asks if they caught anything.
Must have made an already tense mood even more so.
Can you imagine the response they had when this guy
tells them to throw the net over to the other side of the boat.
Yea right!
OK buddy.... we'll try it your way...har de har har.

Lo and behold, they catch 153 fish!
Why we know that it was 153, I don't get...but apparently that was quite the haul.

Then it hits them.
John says, hey look guys, it's Jesus!  Of course it is!
Peter gets so overwhelmed that he grabs his coat
and jumps in the lake, swimming for Jesus.
Why did he grab his coat?
Usually we strip of heavy clothing before swimming.
But in he goes!
Again, following after Jesus without thoughts of himself...
just wants to get to his friend as fast as he can.
Can you just see Jesus on the shore, laughing at his big friend?
What a sight!
But how it must have swelled Jesus' heart.

From the story, Peter hops in the boat when it gets to shore
and pulls out the net and fish.
Possibly hauls it by himself, but the net doesn't rip from the load.

I imagine a kid pulling the mesh bag full of beach toys out of the car toward the ocean.
So excited to just get there and play.
It would go much faster and with less spillage if his parents were to help,
but he is ready to build that sand castle!

After they have their breakfast of fish and bread cooked on the fire made by Jesus,
on this third visit from their risen friend,
Jesus and Peter take a walk.
Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him more than these friends.
Of course I do Lord!
Jesus says feed my lambs.
Jesus asks again, do you truly love me?
Peter's response is the same.
Then take care of my sheep.
A third time Jesus asks if Peter loves him.
At this, Peter is hurt.
His answer is more sharp.
"You know all things, you know I  love you."
Is he hurt because maybe Jesus doesn't believe him?
Maybe Peter is thinking of the other three times when he should have loved Christ,
but his love was overcome by fear.
Was Jesus making a point by asking him three times?
If He was, it was in a forgiving way,
as He was asking Peter to take are of His loved ones.
Love the people He died for.
Feed my sheep.

Then He tells his friend that he will have a death that he doesn't want.
I believe He told him this because He was comforting His friend,
and letting Him know that He was forgiven, was loved, and was trusted.
As you would tell a good friend of an upcoming bad thing about to happen.
There is nothing to do to stop it,
but you can lift your friend
and let him know that you will be there with him.

Peter would do great things for the Lord after this, and never again back away.

Thank you again Kristen for leading me to this study by Max Lucado.
Experienceing the Heart of Jesus
I am getting oh so much out of it!