It's snow wonder...

Last week the squirrels were busy gathering acorns and even whole apples!  I was not quick enough to capture a photo of a large squirrel climbing the pine tree with an apple bigger than his head, but I managed to see him sitting up in the tree enjoying a snack.  Today MiniD and Jojo just could not resist going outside to make snow angels.  I want the snow to get a bit deeper before I make one.

You have to look closely to find Mr. Squirrel.

MiniD and Jojo making snow angels. 

Two little angels.

Knitting...I am making progress on Eala Bhan.  I made it past row 21 and once I am on the second chart, the knitting will be smoother.  A baby cardigan is in progress.  I bought another skein of the Bernat Mosaic.  The color-way will be nice for  a boy.
Ben is presenting and defending his senior thesis tomorrow.  Naturally he is a bit nervous, but he will survive this busy week filled with classes, more papers, swim practices, student government, and leading study sessions...and I think I am busy?  He will be home in two weeks, which makes us very happy.  This last year of college is speeding along.
Time to get back to work re-organizing my office.

Indian Summer

This has been quite an unusual week with temperatures in the 70s and now 80s!  The breeze is nice and the skies are clear blue, which makes for a nice background for the fall colors.

Yesterday we had a lovely day of "museuming."  My brother and sister-in-law are visiting from Texas, and we loaded Mom and her wheelchair into the car and visited two museums--theMuseum of Russian Art and the MIA.  I'd not taken the time to go to the MORA and it was wonderful to see such a gem!  The current exhibit features paintings by Vasili Nechitailo.  He's a master of capturing light and his expressive brushwork add dimension to his paintings.  Downstairs there was a textile room and on display were beautiful distaffs and peasant clothing and lovely embroidered linens.  A visual feast!  The shop was very nice and I bought a few pins to brighten up my sweaters. 

Today (Saturday) I spent the day spinning at the shop.  It was just like the old days in Texas.  It was fun to sit outside, spin, visit, and laugh!  I finished a small skein of pencil roving and it will be a perfect addition of color to a plain cap.  I have lots of plain wool spun into yarn and it's always nice to have some color added.  MiniD and Jojo kept us company.  Earlier in the week, I got a call that Jody would not be able to teach the beginning spinning class.  I will now be the teacher and I am so excited for the opportunity to teach spinning in addition to knitting. 

Spin class--and this one wasn't on a bicycle!

While gathering all my supplies for the drop spindle class today, I thought MiniD and Jojo would like to tag along.  It's not spinning unless Joanne's along!  The girls were playing hide and seek (although I knew where MiniD was--she must have been "it".  JoJo was hiding and Sock Monkey, Shawn, and Hershey weren't talking.  Little Sheep was hiding in the top drawer of the antique dresser.  After some looking I found JoJo in the big basket with Jack Glo, Seamus, Coco, McLamb, Skippy (he's an instigator), Humpty Dumpty, and Gingerbread Boy.  Such a time!

Now the girls are in the basket ready to go.  Little Sheep is on the dresser keeping an eye on Sock Monkey and his buddies.  Spunny will be going to class with us.  The gals at the shop wanted me to bring along my wheel, so my go-to guy Louie Louet will be my buddy today.  I brought along various spindles, too.  I'm excited to see who's in the class.  
17.01.10  Oh, it was a fun class and I took a photo of some of the baby skeins before the students left.  Carol made us a delicious lunch of chicken wild rice soup, rolls, carrots with dip, and oatmeal raisin cookies.  The Louet spinning kits worked out great and the students were quick to learn the technique.  

Big storm ahead

I had fun at the retreat. Frogged too much, ate too much, finished spinning some gray roving (153 +- yds.) and 2 oz. of freebie batt from a shop in Hinkley. We watched Mama Mia--I have to say I don't think it was that great. Pierce Brosnan ruined it!! We had more fun laughing at the bad singing. (Sorry if anyone out there liked it.) MiniD and Jojo kept me company at the table. The knitting in the bag is what got frogged.

Anyway, I'm working on a scarf for a friend that needs comforting. It's the Gossamer Shell Scarf from 101 One Skein Wonders. using Twinkle Kid Mohair. The only problem is I have the old one, which has lots of errors. I've made a document and have to print it out and keep it with the book. I want to make quite a bit of progress tonight, and will take a break and finish the bunny made from the batt. I stopped at Half Price Books today and found a book--Simply Shetland. Many goodies in it--even Fair Isle bears.
Looking out the window, the snow is wet and heavy, but pretty like Charlie Brown snow.

Dizzy

My second drop spindling class was yesterday. We had a blast. I'm amazed how quickly my students picked up the technique within three hours (and that included lunch!). I took a three-day class when I learned how to spin. The first day was the drop spindle, and then the next two days were on the wheel. MiniD and Jojo helped out and were huddled together by my coffee cup and basket of handspun samples.