Ten Things Thursday: Some Do It..I have no Idea who started it.

1.  Sometimes these topics help me think of stuff to say.  It is funny. I have two other blogs that I never write on.  On of them I REALLY should because it is for the shop.  I would much rather post here.  Why is that you think?

2.  I have stuff to do but I am too tired.  I did NOT have a coffee today.  I think I need one?  What do you think?

3.  I still have a cedar garland hanging in the front of my house with lights!  Do you think February is the new Jan?  Below is a photo from last week:  It was Coooollllddd.

4.  I love photos in blogs but never seem to do a good job of uploading any for you. Should I try harder?

5.  I got a haircut yesterday.  My nail lady expanded and hired a hairdresser He left and now a new one has come in.  I really liked the old guy (John).  He did great color and man o man the massages that man could give.  He left to go somewhere else.  I am rather sad.  His replacement seems nice enough.  She knits and says she will come visit me here at the shop.  She works part time at another shop near here.  Is your hair dresser a man or a woman?  Which do you prefer and why?

6. The Gray is back!  We have had a really cold couple of weeks and I was beginning to freeze into a solid block of ice. On the up side we had sunshine with that cold.  Now we are back to gray skies and at least a little warmer temps.  Which do you prefer? Below is a photo of a project we are doing in the shop. It is a sky scarf.  You go out each day at noon and look up at the sky.  You then match one of 15 colors to that sky color and knit or crochet a row.

7.  I just plugged in my 'happy light'  The cat and I are now enjoying a little light therapy.  Do you suffer from SAD? Have you done anything for it?

8.  On Saturday one the teachers from the shop came in and we did some yarn dying with koolaid.  It was cool!  Have you ever dyed anything?

 The instructor Dorie

 You can see the Koolaid packets.  My yarn took two.

Dipping the yarn in warm water to get it ready to go into the Koolaid.

 These two squirted their Koolaid onto the yarn

 I dipped mine into the two colors I chose (Black Cherry and Orange).  The two containers and yarn went into a microwave and cooked, cooled and then rinsed in warm water.

The koolaid was really great.  When we rinsed it no color came out at all.

The finished blue and purple yarn

 Dore dyed a blank (yarn that has been knit onto a machine.  You then reknit it into whatever you want to make.

 Our finished yarns mingled on the table.

9.  Saturday night my grandson had a sleepover.  We decided to make a felted ladybug.  He is only four but with supervision/help and only one bandaid he made a great ladybug.

 punching the blob of red wool into a ladybug shape

 He wanted the ladybug to be round and smooth so we took the started ball into the bathroom added soap and rolled it around, rinsed and then went back into the shop for more needle poking.

 Next we poked on the black head, stripe and dots.  This part required some help.  He told me where to start the shapes and then he took over to make them smooth.

 10.  I Spin sheep fleece into yarn.  Up until now I purchased my already cleaned and dyed fleeces but this summer I received two fleeces in the mail.  One from a friend in the Faroe Islands and another from the Gulf Coast (LA).  I have been a little afraid to do anything with them because I didn't want to screw anything up.  The dying session helped me gain confidence.  Saturday night I got warm water, squirted in Dawn dishwashing liquid and went to town prepping it.  All this week I have added more fleece and rinsed the other.  I am hoping by Saturday to have an entire sheep's fleece cleaned and ready to card into something spinnable.  One of my customers has a drum carder and she said she will bring it over for me to try out. I cannot wait!!  Do you do fun crafty things?  What kinds?

The fleece came in the email in this bag.  It is dirty and smells of sheep (yum)..I like the smell of sheep.

The first wash shows just how dirty those little guys get running around the fields.  Yup..dirt, poop and grease.

 Close up but this is wash two.

 Every day I change the water and soap.  the cleanest half is now in rinse stages. You have to be careful with wool. You can heat it up but if you agitate it too much or cool it down to fast it will felt.

 It is still a bit yellow but I think this is just what color the fleece is.  It will be interesting to see if it takes dye well and spins well.