A little sidetracked on the way to remodeling the bedroom

Ok, so the Past Kitchen that's going to become the Future Master Bedroom has been effectively gutted.  So can you guess the next step in the process? 
I bet you won't guess that it's to take the shower out of the Future Master Bath and move it upstairs to the Current 2nd floor Bath. 
How do we get into these messes?  Just keep telling yourself that "It's all going to be worth it when it's finished."
Just like the New Kitchen that we did last summer.  I love it every time I cook in there.  I love it when we're hanging out together and DH is just relaxing or we're cooking together.  I absolutely LOVE the window that let's me see out into the front yard.
I love my Hubby.....

Embarking on the Next Renovation Project

OK, it's time again.  We're remodeling another room in our 100 year old farm house.  At one room per year, we should be done in 2020.  And I bet someone will think that it's time to remodel something then.  The never ending home construction project.
This time, the room that was originally a back porch, and became a kitchen in the 1930's and was remodeled into a modern kitchen in 1977 will now become the Master Bedroom. 
Within the scope of this project, there's also a tiny 3/4 bath that will magically become a Master Bath, complete with (His) zero entry shower and Handicapped Prepared fixtures.  Maybe the (Hers) big Whirlpool tub I got at a Habitat Restore a couple years ago too????  The Laundry gets some new hookups and relocated.  And the (His) Master Closet will merged with the Laundry some how, some way.  The Master Closet has to have enough room to have a (His) bench in it to sit on while getting dressed.
At one time, up to the 1977 re muddling, there were three really large double hung windows in this space.  1977 brought those to their knees, and replaced them with little 2' x 2' double hungs that have those springs in the sides...  Hard to operate and noisy when you can get them to move.  So, they've been on my hit list for a long time.  Oh, and there's always been a window between this porch cum kitchen and the dining room.  Interesting for a kitchen, not so much for a Master Bedroom.

Wish us luck, and put the marriage counselor on retainer.

DH still doesn't get it....

He still doesn't get that handling yarn, knitting, winding, moving around doesn't mean that I'm not listening to him. 
Really, I do listen.  It's a no-win.  If I freeze and quit moving while listening, I obviously seem too "struck" or "deer in the headlights".  Looking directly in the eyes is confrontational.  Not looking in the eyes is ignoring.  Talking; I say things that come out in ways or are heard in ways that I didn't mean.  Not Talking; not good either.  Walking away - really not good.
"Is knitting really more important than this?"  What?  No, haven't you been paying attention?  Knitting helps me listen to "this", whatever "this" may be.  Just because I pick up the knitting laying on the table does not mean that I'm going to stop listening.  This is one difference between men and women that I will freely embrace and champion.  It has finally become obvious to me that a male working on a project is totally focused and cannot be bothered by anything in his surroundings.  Women do it all the time!
Knitting is my focussing, centering behavior.  Like kneeling can focus prayer.  Like standing can focus attention. Like facing the speaker shows respect.  Like stop, look and listen.......
In a class, lecture or sermon, is knitting any different than doodling?  Doodling can be misrepresented as taking notes, and is therefore more acceptable.  In A Tale of Two Cities, Madame Defarge was believed to keep a record of wrong-doers in her knitting.  Why can't I?
Yes, I will admit that I have met women that get so absorbed in their knitting or needle-craft that they tune out all other activity.  I think it's frequently called "being in the zone".  And there are some crafty activities that do require total concentration.  But plain knitting isn't one of those times. 
So, if you really want me to listen to you, hand me that baby hat project.  Or the dishcloth project.  Or maybe even the socks.

Gave the sheep away, KEEPING the HUSBAND !

After many months of my DH telling me I need to "do something with those sheep and all that wool or give them away," I did it.  I gave them away.
Not too long ago, my DD#2 mentioned that a boy at school had parents "just like You and Daddy". 
Always a scarry thing for your offspring to say.
What she meant was, they live on a smallish farm, but aren't "real" farmers.
They have more than the average number of kids.
They have animals that are not typical:  specifically Jacob Sheep, Alpaca, Goats, and some other interesting things, but she had my attention there.
So, it took me several weeks to work up the courage, but I did finally pick up a phone book, and they were in there.  Of course they were! It's a small town!
Dial the phone and talk to the Mom.  It's like she's me in a parallel universe.  Given a few changed decisions or circumstances, and I could have been her.  You know what I mean!  Don't give me that look....
Sure, she knows DD#2 goes to school with her DS#1.  Yes, they do indeed have Jacob Sheep.  About 40 of them not incuding the lambs, more being born every day.  And, yes they do shear them, or at least as many as she has time to, but there's a guy that comes to finish what she can't get to.
But they shear in the Fall, not the Spring, and she even knows Why it's a good idea to do that.  She gets lots of brownie points for knowing more about it than I do.  But she's not so fussy that she puts coats on the sheep or anything like that.  Cool:  smart, but not snooty.
Yes, she does spin, on her mother's antique wheel, but not as much as she would like because she doesn't have time.  She's even got a fancy-schmancy drum carder.  (Man, she's got good toys too!)  And, she just lives a little ways away....
Would she TAKE the sheep off our hands?  For Free?  The only way this could be better would be if one of them was a Ram, but no, they aren't.
Well, we could bring the sheep over anytime.  But her DH is going to have to drive clear over to another county to go get Hay on Saturday, Wait, what?  We have Hay!  I can give you Hay!
So, her DH picks up the sheep and the two big round bales of hay and takes them home.  Our kids and her kids get to help load them up.  The DHs get to know each other.  The DHs work out that I'll get two bales $ worth of wool.  Yeah!
One less sore spot between the DH and I.  Except that I didn't really know what hay is worth, and probably should have negotiated for cash.  But, I'll take it as a sign of his love for me that he traded for wool....
Whoo!
(Sorry about the stick-tights and cockle-burrs)

Not Looking forward to Shearing Season

I know that as an addicted knitter and committed spinner, I should be really looking forward to the time of sheep shearing.  Even if we do only have two (yes, just 2) sheep.
But, last year, honestly, it was almost a marriage counseling disaster.  DH does not see sheep as his responsibility at all.  He didn't want them, but he gets stuck with way too much of their upkeep.
And, in reality, I haven't actually spun yarn from them in the three years and 2 shearings that we've had them.

Yep, I admit it, I own sheep, and I can't even successfully spin wool into yarn.

Our (MY) sheep aren't tame little pets that hold still and appreciate shearing the way the sheep in the books do.  Have you ever noticed that the sheep in books don't move?  It's those photographs, not nearly as much information in them as in a good video.
Our (MY) sheep aren't clean, pampered little princesses.  They must really work at it all year to collect all the dirt, sticktights and cockleburrs that they can find.
Our (MY) sheep must have seen the G-Force movie where the Mice? yell:  Poop in his hand!  They seem to have good timing as well as good aim.

So, last year's shearing in the back yard of two sheep took 4 people and two evenings after work to accomplish.  Feet were stomped on, sometimes by the sheep.  One, maybe two, sons got dragged around the orchard and ruined jeans.  It was dirty, messy, and hot.  The borrowed shears kept overheating.  There's more short or second cuts in those bags than usable lengths.  Right after the shearing, my determination to get it all spun up was strong.  But the spinning wheel was not cooperating.
So, the "fleeces" still sit in black plastic trash bags in the garage...........

If it comes down to it, "Yes, I do want to stay married more than I want to have sheep".

Unspinning Yarn: or Separating into Plies

There's been a discussion going at the Spin Tech group on Ravelry that I would like to expand on.  It started with the premise that a Raveler's friend had mentioned unplying commercial yarn to end up with lace weight.  The questions this brings up include How? and Why?  Most of the first-responders seemed to believe that there was no earthly reason that could induce a person to want to unspin or deply yarn, especially not commercial yarn.  Extenuating circumstances might allow for running out of yarn before running out of project directions, a very precious fiber content that doesn't come in the right weight, a particular color way or variegation that must be matched exactly.....  Other wise, life is too short to sweat it over yarn that isn't the right weight.  Just find another yarn, already! 

But, then there started a slow rash of postings about Spinners' unhappy with their results with a fiber and "respinning" it into something more fitting or useful.

I finally found the person I could relate to that just wasn't willing to give up on a slightly imperfect yarn; be it stubbornness or thriftiness.  I can understand both of those qualities. 
First:  this fiber will not defeat me, I will bend it to my will!
Second:  My DH calls it a "German" quality, I call it "Scotts".

The How to do it can be found scattered among several classic sources:  Elizabeth Zimmerman describes "splitting wool" in Knitting Without Tears.
Alden Amos in Big Book of Handspinning describes disassembling yarn on pages 206-207.  And several Ravlers mention an artile on unspinning in Spin Off Summer 1994.

Which brings us to my "unspinning" experiences.  I’ve done it several times over the last 30+ years. The first time, I didn’t know any better and only had access to 1970’s commercial acrylic RedHeart (I didn’t know any spinners then). The afghan I wanted to crochet needed two colors that I just could not find in worsted. So, one of the colors was avalable in a three ply “Rug Yarn” and the other in sport weight. Two of the three plies of the rug yarn came out right and the sport weight doubled worked pretty well. As a college student, I had a lot more creativity and time than money or sense. One of my extra-curricular/volunteer activities involved a lot of bus travel. And, there was a very attentive young man that was more than willing to sit by me on the bus for hours holding the ball of that third ply while I crocheted. He thought it was very charming that I did all kinds of crafty stuff.


We got married in 1982. Last night, I just kept smilling to myself as he sat by me on the couch helping me separate out the plies of the first yarn that I spun a couple of years ago. It was his idea! As one of those projects that languishes at the bottom of the closet, he innocently asked why I was keeping it if I didn't intend to use it.

Because it is my first spuin yarn.  The first class that I took was great, and the fiber fantastic colors and feel, but my first yarn was pretty pitiful and I never found a use for it. So, we sat on the couch with him balling up one of the plies (that was overspun and thin) while I used the spinnin wheel to backwards spin the other ply onto a bobbin. He kept saying “never again” but had completely forgotten how many times we’ve done this before.

Thirty years of being married, and the pleasure of my company is still enough …..

Floral Overload

Out there in the blogosphere, there's a BOHEMIAN SAN FRANCISCO GIRL that has caused quite a sensation with her over-the-top floral inspired decor.
In the interest of giving sound advise to the single women out there, let me just tell you that this indulgent pinkness is not the way to attract or keep a male cohabitating with you.
Read up on the Feng Shui ladies.  This decor style will kill your love life.
On the other hand, if you're a mother of a 20 year old college coed, this is what you want to see in her room.
And, I'm sure many middle-school girls would love to replicate this look in their rooms.

I made a deal early on with my DH that the floral prints would be severly limited in our home.  On the other side of the coin, so are the mounted hunting trophies and motor parts.

Just Sayin, ...

I've got to start a Diet Plan,
or maybe a Nutrional Plan is a better term.
A couple of weeks ago, I hit that point         (danged scales, that was the magic number)

where I knew something had to change.      (I refuse to buy another size bigger)

My DH is so wonderful about this.                  (depending on how you look at it)
He saw the moment that I was receptive.         (vulnerable, guard down)
I had really had a rough time lately,                  (sleepy, grouchy, and mean)
and was expressing that I just wasn't up to par.  (whining, not enough chocolate in the house)
And so, he planted the seed                              (dropped the hint, (bomb))
that one of our dear long lost friends               (a past coworker of his)
is now in town,                                               (why here?)
with a Metabolic Management Clinic              (Here's the Diet part)

Wow ! What an eye-opener.                          (OMG!)
My problem might not be as bad as all that,      (look around this waiting room!)
but this is not the road that I want to go down.  (life flashing before my eyes)
These body types look so familiar                   (are these my relatives?)
I used to see them at family reunions.              (and so many of them have passed on now)

I think he may have saved my life.                  (Again)

We're Still Together

For anyone that's wondering,
we're still together.
And we're still learning to work together.
And sometimes, I appreciate my husband more than I ever thought possible.
I think we're becoming "felted" together.
Maybe even what the British call "Fulled".
That word definately merits more exploration.

For Better, For Worse...

Wow, I started this back in December 2008. Some truely amazing things have happened in our lives since then. That For Better, for Worse vow has taken on new meaning. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. But, where do they go?

A few evenings ago, I was sitting with the DH, Love of My Life in the snuggly chair. I was knitting away and we were watching a movie, I think it was The Rock. Anyway, the point is, it was absolute bliss. We were both home together. We were sitting together. I'm making a sincere concerted effort to document that memory into my brain where I won't loose it. At some point during the evening, my sweet DH said something about us being ComKnitted to each other. It just struck such a chord in my heart that I had to catch my breath. We are. We really are. We've been married a long time. We've been through a lot together. He's my best friend. I'm not only sure that we are Knitted together, I think we might even be Felted, or at least Fulled together. Frogging us apart would be akin to frogging out a very intricately patterned mohair. It might be possible to get it apart, but the yarn would never be the same.

What is knitting anyway?

Main Entry:	knit
Part of Speech:	verb
Definition:	intertwine
Synonyms:	affiliate, affix, ally, bind, cable, connect, contract, crochet, fasten, heal, interlace, intermingle, join, link, loop, mend, net, purl, repair, secure, sew, spin, tie, unite, weave, web
Antonyms:	unknit

Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition
Copyright © 2008 by the Philip Lief Group.
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Chicago Manual Style (CMS):

knit. Thesaurus.com. Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition. Philip Lief Group 2008. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/knit (accessed: November 26, 2008).