Off to Retreat

I will be off to Retreat down in Park City Utah. The car is mostly packed.... I am taking on a new venture. I purchased some Dancing Goddess Soap to sell at my table. If I don't sell much, there is always the next show or online too. Plus its great soap so I won't mind keeping some for myself.

I think I have packed enough fiber and knitting projects to last a month. That is normal for retreat though. You never know what you would like to spin until you are there. I like to have a lot of options.

I have a therapy appointment at 130 and then I can hit the road. I am looking forward to a nice leisurely drive.

Sarah leaves for Japan the next day. I think we got her all squared away with the gifts that she needs and so forth. Packing will be up to her. She is old enough to be responsible for herself. Now is her chance to prove it. I am sure she will have a good time.

Now I am sore

Now I am feeling the effect of the physical therapy I had yesterday. I could not sleep at all last night. I finally got up at 3 am and sat and weighed all the fiber I have packaged so far. I went back to bed at 5 and at least I could sleep then. Its hard when everytime you move you are in pain. This is not any fun at all.

Now I am waiting on FedEx, all I know is my package left there last Wednesday. I hope it comes to day but I have a feeling it might not be till tomorrow or Thursday. I hate when things take so long to get here. I can't do any more dyeing until I get the package.

I did get the fiber all packaged , now I am down to the naming of the colors. Life would be easier if I skipped the naming part. I like them to have names, it almost gives them a little personality. Its just when I am stumped about it that it is difficult. One year I named them all rock n roll songs. I need to put my thinking cap on this time. I seem to have single names so far, Sunset, Jade, Garnet, Mahogany. Other names I am toying with don't follow that theme so I guess it won't be very themed based this year.

Back from the Torture Chamber

I had an appointment with a Physical Therapist this morning and I survived. It actually was not too bad. Sure, she manipulated me and it hurt but I survived. I got electrodes and heat on my lower back and a lower back massage so that was nice. I also have a set of exercises to do 3 x a day. I also found out this is all related to my sprained ankle. The muscles in my left leg have atrophied and all though I think I am walking straight I am not. What I am experienceing is nerve pain and that is pretty awful stuff. I am going there 2 more times this week. With exercise I should be able to correct my posture and free myself from this pain and strengthen that ankle.

Dyeing:

The new dyeing area seems to be working out fairly well. The garage floor is now a lovely shade of Cyan. I spilled a cup a dye and what a mess that was. It is amazing how far dye can splatter, it got the floor, table. my feet, my clothes, my spinning wheel. In fact I did not notice the wheel got hit till later so it did not all come out. I may have to sand it off and restain the wheel. It is not real noticeable so I won't do anything right away. I have 9 lbs dyed and I really love some of the colors. I don't know if they will all make it to retreat. he he I always think oh I can repeat that color for myself but I never do so I may be keeping just a little back for myself.

Here is my roaster in action, there is lots of color in there. The fun thing is that the 1/2 of the fiber at the bottom looks totally different.













Spinning

I have been spinning this striped top my friend Deb gave me when she was here for the Fiber Fair. It is one of those wool tops that are lots of fun to spin. It is not really one color like the picture seems to show. There are 2 shades of blue, green and purple in there.

Celestine Prophecy

Just saw the Celestine Prophecy It turns out our art council was showing the Celestine Prophecy for free so I got to go tonight. The producer Barnet Bain and one of the financiers Dave Kingston gave a talk and took questions after the film. It turns out Kingston is from Idaho Falls and put up the money or some of the money at least for the film. He said the book had changed his life so he wanted to finance the movie. He and Bain have been friends for years. They did not know if the film would ever get to Idaho Falls and since they were both in town they gave a free showing. I think that is pretty awesome. I thought they did a great job with the material. It makes me want to re-read the book. It had a very notable cast that did an awesome job. See it if you get the chance. If it does not come to your area I do know that they are in negotiations with Sony on a DVD and it will probably be out around christmas time.

Dyeing Update:

I have 5lbs of wool dyed, gee only 15 to go. So far I have 1 lb that I really do not like at all, I did dye an orange /yellow color way that I really like. 2 of the blue/purple ones I did are almost identical and then one came out dark navy with a little too much undyed for my liking. It always like that in the beginning before I am really comfotable dyeing again. I want to do some greens next.

Dave set the stove up in the garage so I have moved my dye studio in there. I really had to clean the place up, it was a disaster so I spent most of the day hauling stuff up from the basement. My calves are really feeling it now. It should be easier dyeing out there. I won't have to climb up and down all those steps a trillion times. I hope to get most of the dyeing done in the next few days. Sometime it is the packaging done that takes forever. I need to allow time for that and time for other things I need to do before retreat. I need a new ink cartridge for the printer and a new battery for my calculator, new sales books. The list of things I need to do keeps growing on and on.

Heading off into the Abyss

Well I have gone and done it. It came to me in the middle of the night if I went and bought some fiber, I could dye it and sell it at retreat which is exactly 16 days from now. I figure what I do not sell I can give to Kristine to sell in her shop. It will also get me in good dyeing shape for the classes I am teaching in September.
So now I have 20 lbs of fiber on its way to me and a slew of dye too. I figure I have a couple days before it all gets here. Then pandemonium will rain. I am insane, this will be crazy to do but what the hell.

Spinning

I have been plying a lot of yarns. This group is from a set I bought at the Fiber Fair.













Here are just some balls I found in my stash that needed plying. I have no clue what I will use these for. Probably throw them in to a blanket.














I am discovering that I just love this book
Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher. Its for people who have more than one interest in life and can't decide on one thing to stick with. That is right up my alley. I discovered I am a scanner a cyclical one other wise knows as a Sybil. I stick with things for awhile and then move on but I come back to them again. I guess dyeing is the perfect example for that. The book is excellent on explaining it all and has great ideas on how to organize your life, choose a career that fits you and so forth. It is very empowering. I can't wait to put some of the ideas into practice.

Weaving....Finally

Finally some weaving content, I know you are shocked. I got the baby wold warped for a set of towels. These are going to be colorful. The really strange thing was the loom is acting weird. If I have the tension cranked as high as a I like it, it lifts the harnesses. I had to open and close it and take the raddle out in order for it to work. I used really fine thread for the purple and as a result I have lots of broken threads. I think I have 4 or 5 film canisters hanging off the back. Hopefully it won't impede the weaving too much.

 












These are the new socks I am working on it is some kind of cotton blend yarn that I don't remember the name of. I bought it from Kristine at the Fiber fair. The is from Fiber Trends called Peak Experience and I am doing the sock called Angels Rest. Its a really easy lace pattern. I am enjoying working on them. I am still working on the purple shawl and its coming along nicely, it still doesn't look like much. It takes awhile to make it through one row but I am liking how it looks. i think this is one I will really finish.

 










I spent yesterday trying to rid my house of dust. Not an easy task. The weaving studio needs some work yet. I need to clean up the dye area downstairs. I want to finish painting that silk warp that I started last summer. I don't even remember what colors I used. Its good that they don't need to match at all. I also need to inventory my dyes and see how much more dye I need to buy for upcoming classes and start doing the planning for that.