Spinning...2nd yarn.

alpaca, merino, bamboo
Here's is my final 2nd yarn product. The brown is 100% alpaca, and the variegated roving of yellow, red, purple, brown is from Hanks in the Hood and is called Pike Place Market. Both were a bit difficult for me to spin and that's due to me being a beginner.

I found the alpaca was very soft and smooth to spin. The merino/bamboo was very slippery to spin. I am pleased with the result even though I have two ply worsted yarn. I have two skeins with a total approximate yardage of 276 yards (138 each).

Such fun. And very interesting playing with the settings on my wheel. Hopefully, someday I'll be able to make sock yarn but man-o-man do you have to get the roving very thin. I may be stuck with making "art" yarns for the rest of my life as I can't seem to get my roving that thin and stay together. Need help, must go to spinning group next month to see, feel and hear.

Good day.

Adventures of the Garden Goddess 2011... Aug 28,2011..

GGG Aug 28 2011
Hello,
here's a lovely picture of all the items I am currently harvesting from my garden. I just love the word, harvest, don't you??? I must say the yellow squash is from the neighbor as mine got a horrible mold on it and I actually had to tear out the plant before it contaminated the other plants. The zucchini seems to have the same problem but I hope to get at least 4 more zucchini from it before having to tear it out. The purple bell pepper is yummy and I finally, finally got some ripe tomatoes.

Want to know how I got ripe tomatoes??? Here's what you do if you tomatoes are not going red, in this case yellow, you place a ripe tomato on the ground under the green ones and it sets off a gas that tells the others to turn color, and they do!!!

The yellow pear tomatoes are yummy. My habanero pepper is quite spicy.

It is getting down to the nitty gritty of end of season gardening. I only have about 17 more days before possible first-frost. Keeping watch for that and a blanket handy.

Happy end-of 2011 season Gardening.

Spinning...2nd ply.

Here's my second attempt at plying my singles together. This is very fun and interesting. The yellow, red/brown, purple roving is 50/50m wool/bamboo, 4 oz in the Pike Place Market colorway purchased from KnitPicks and they are doing "last chance" on it. Love the colorway. Its from Hanks in the Hood and not something I would recommend a noob like me starting out with as its very slippery with little or no memory.

The brown is 100% alpaca, 2 oz, a beautiful natural chocolate brown. Purchased from a local alpaca farm, and also not a recommendation for a noob, it was a bit slippery and different while drafting. The alpaca is very soft but I found it difficult to spin but not as much as the 50/50. the 50/50 was very difficult for me to spin. I stuck with it and am pleased with my results.

Have a great weekend everyone and Happy Spinning.
good day.

Moving picture...

Dog mourns

This is a moving story. Thank you to the members of the military and to their family's for your service to our country.

Thank you Today for the link.

Inexcusable...

The shameful representatives we send to Washington with “our” good intentions in mind. Makes you wonder where our country is truly headed.

Inexcusable

No one has been able to explain to me why young men and women serve in the U.S. Military for 20 years, risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get 50% of their pay. While Politicians hold their political positions in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men and women, and receive full pay retirement after serving one term. It just does not make any sense.

Monday on Fox news they learned that the staffers of Congress family members are exempt from having to pay back student loans. This will get national attention if other news networks will broadcast it. When you add this to the below, just where will all of it stop?

35 States file lawsuit against the Federal Government

Governors of 35 states have filed suit against the Federal Government for imposing unlawful burdens upon them. It only takes 38 (of the 50) States to convene a Constitutional Convention.

This is an idea that we should address.

For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform... in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop.

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States ."

This is one proposal that really should be passed. Contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators to get it done --just don't hold your breath.

And the World Goes Crazy...

Gadhafi - I never thought I would see Gadhafi lose power in my lifetime. I hope the country can recover in a positive manner. Unfortunately, dishonesty is rampant in every country, including mine.

East Coast quake

Colorado quake

thank you for the links.

Interesting times isn't it???
Good day.

Bible in a Year...Job.

I have sadly moved on from Esther and am now starting Job (pronounced jobe). I will miss Esther. She was a brave heroic soul. As I read Job, I always envision a puppeteer and the puppet being a voodoo doll, with Our Lord Your God engaging Satan to take a stab at Job, over and over again. Or another vision is two little kids fighting over the same toy and it gets ripped apart instead.

Ah well, I guess life at times does feel as though its being ripped apart. I had a run of bad luck a while ago and it was so bad that even DD noticed. It was tough to get through but I made it without cursing (much).

So I suppose I can encourage you all to help those who cannot help themselves and encourage those who need encouragement and don't be a downer like Job's friends.

good day.

Financially Fit...from Yahoo.com.

tips on being more financially fit. Remember living within your means is always key. Good luck.

Thank you Yahoo.com for the link.
Good day.

The Plan...

Be More with Less posted some good suggestions yesterday about plans. I enjoyed it today. Check it out. You will have to click the link to the side as my link here is not taking correctly---I'm already making alternative plans. :)

Plan to make your life count making adjustments when necessary and plan to enjoy.

Good day.

USA Pro Cycling Challenge...

Since riding my bicycle to work almost everyday now I have a temporary affinity towards the cycling sport (I know 6 miles is nothing compared to the 600 that they will be attempting during this race---I did state it the feeling is temporary) and I am proud to say that USA now will host one of the world's highest altitude cycling races. August 22nd through August 28th. Plus it's in my home state too and the Prologue (time trials) race is held in my city. I am going to sneak down on my bicycle for a quick look.

There should be lots of crashes in the Prologue because the course set up is totally all down hill. There should be lots of really fast times too. I wonder if the organizers did it that way because of the altitude?? and it will give the racers an ego boost because the rest of the course is going to KICK THEIR BUTT!!!

I hope they remember to drink lots of water. In fact more than a gallon a day won't be enough. Can you say....Where's the privvy??? Use a tree man, use a tree.

Here's the link to the home page.

and here's another link to a commentary that I liked about the race.

Good day and have a good weekend and while your at it have a heart and watch out for my fellow riders out there. We are hard to see and its nice to share the road.

Respect...

Hello,

Respect is such a tricky little word. There is even a song sung about it. The most popular version being sung by Aretha Franklin in 1967. Here's an interesting fact that I didn't know about the lyrics of same song.

Respect has come up a lot lately in my life (I won't go into those details); I thought I would take a closer look at the word itself and possibly an opine.

Merriam-Webster has these definitions for it:
1: a relation or reference to a particular thing or situation
2: an act of giving particular attention : consideration
3a : high or special regard : esteem b : the quality or state of being esteemed c plural : expressions of high or special regard or deference

For me today, I am looking at 'high esteem' as the definition of respect. What does this really mean? What I am looking at is this, can you still have high esteem for someone and not like a decision or action that they may have done? Can you get mad at them and still respect them? I think so. Do we tend to forget that we can do this? Again, I think so. And when we forget that we can do this how do we react? Sometimes not the best way, and sometimes we need a reminder that you can still respect someone and appreciate them without having to respect their decisions or actions.

I hope that all of us can do a little TCB (see link above) today and remember to respect those around us and treat them the way they need to be treated and not the way you think or feel they need to be treated.

Good day.

Thank you M-W for the definition.
Thank you Wikipedia for the link.

Tunisian Crochet...

Lynne's Tokyo Vest
My vest is finished. The pattern is the Tokyo Vest by Doris Chan.

I must admit, crochet will never be a favorite. I prefer two sticks to one. In this case more is better for me. I did like how quick is was to put together. I am not certain how I feel about the finished product. Back to knitting.

good day.

Spinning... books.

Spinners Companion
Respect the Spindle
Start Spinning
Greetings and Salutations!

Now don't you feel better with such a happy introduction. Just trying to communicate better with all those different social styles out there.

Wanted to share the books I recently purchased regarding spinning. They are all terrific and a must have for your personal library. I purchased two of them at a discount as one of my LYS (local yarn store) is going out of business. The owner wishes to retire and no one has the money to purchase the business in this economy.

Here are my recent purchases:

Start Spinning - by Maggie Casey
Respect the Spindle - by Abby Franqumont
Spinners Companion - by Bobby Irwin - I purchased this from Knit Picks before I got my wheel.

I like Spinners Companion and Start Spinning the best. The Spinners Companion is very handy and is set up as a quick reference book. It's one of the first books I grab to have a quick question answered and stays in my spinning bag.

Start Spinning is very informative and has some great colour photos from several different wheels. I must confess that scotch tension looks really complicated and I am very glad that I have a double drive upright vintage spinning wheel. I can see myself getting all tangled up in that scotch tension very easily. My only issue will be parts since what I have is a vintage wheel and the maker was bought out by Ashford long ago.

Respect the Spindle is all about drop spindles with a little bit about spinning wheels thrown in. It contains lots of great information and wonderful photo examples of the different types of spindles.

All three of these books have been very helpful with understanding making yarn from sheep to setting twist and plying. Although the boards on Ravelry is where I first heard about setting twist and the "thwacking" method seems to be the preference there. I'm thinking people like the violence of it (helps with anger management), although they prefer not to admit such things.(shhhh, don't tell).

Thanks to Amazon.com for the pictures.
thank you KnitPicks for the picture of Spinners Companion

Good day and happy spinning everyone.

Golden Rule about Social Styles...

Hi, remember this post of mine? take a look and be sure to read the .pdf link.

The main thing I want to emphasize to myself, and others today, is this:

TREAT OTHERS THE WAY THAT THEY WANT TO BE TREATED.
--not the way you want to be.

...that's the Golden Rule of Social Styles.

Good day.

Bible in a Year...Nehemiah, 1Corinthians

I am now in Nehemiah. Nehemiah is a Levite priest and has gone back to Jerusalem to rebuild the House of God. God's House certainly has been destroyed and rebuilt quite a bit, which means the Israelites are really bad about being faithful to Our Lord Your God. Good thing there's a lot of forgiveness going on.

1 Corinthians currently speaks about NOT getting married and NOT committing adultery. Stay single and do not commit sexual immorality is Paul's recommendations to everyone.

Feel free to link to both through BibleGateway.com and read for yourself.

Good day.

EQ and Social Styles...

Know anything about EQ??? EQ stands for emotional quotient. It is also called emotional intelligence or EI. I've been learning about it and social styles. Both subjects are very interesting.

Here's a link for a test on EQ for you to take. and here's the link for you to read more about the subject of EQ.

For me after reading a bit, EQ is how much common sense do you have and also how good are you at reading other people regards to their emotional state and body language. The better you are at it the more successful person you may be.

Social Styles are patterns and characteristics regarding how we react to certain situations. These are not set in stone as we can all react with some part of each social style. I believe this is one factor in why it is sometimes so difficult to understand each other. Here's a link to an interesting .pdf document that describes the 4 social styles. They are driver, expressive, analyzer, and amiable. Be careful with the belief that just because a person may be expressive or amiable means that they may be weak, they are not. They are just possibly able to get the point across in a more pleasant manner, is all.

It has been helpful to learn about social styles as it hopefully will help with communicating with others in a manner that enables our understanding each other better.

Thanks to the Institute for Health and Human Potential website for the links on EQ.
Thanks to Trigon Systems consultants for the .pdf link on social styles.

Good day and good luck with your communication and emotional skills.

Bible in a Year... Ezra 8, Psalm 30, Proverbs 21

I am currently in Ezra chapter 8, 1 Corinthians, Psalm 30 and Proverbs 21. Use the link below to read on your own and come to your own conclusions.

The beginning of Ezra chronicles that the Isralites have been carried off to other nations and Cyrus the King of Persia has ordered that The House of the God of Heaven is to be rebuilt by Jews only and if anyone interferes with the rebuilding he has ordered that they be put to death. This edict also applies to future kings of Persia. In doing this, Our Lord Your God has blessed the kingdom of Persia. The edict also includes that any Isralite wanting to return to Judah and Jerusalem, they may do so with the kings blessing. Persia, at this time in history, covers most or a lot of the known traveled world.

In my understanding, 1 Corinthians speaks a lot about making judgements and to be careful when you make them.

Psalm is always a pleasant read and I have inserted verses from Proverbs for your immediate pleasure.

Proverbs 21:1-5
1 In the LORD’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water
that he channels toward all who please him.

2 A person may think their own ways are right,
but the LORD weighs the heart.

3 To do what is right and just
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart—
the unplowed field of the wicked—produce sin.

5 The plans of the diligent lead to profit
as surely as haste leads to poverty.

Thank you BibleGatway.com for the verses and the link.

Good day.

depression era trends...vs now.

Here's one article that I read regarding depression era trends, which I found interesting.

I enjoy reading about the trends on what people spent their money on during the Great Depression and these trends popped up that people still spent their money on:

1. alcohol - I guess they needed to be numb with 25% of the work force out of work

2. gambling - people are always wanting that 'get rich quick' scheme to invest

3. tobacco - people are bored and depressed so what better thing to do than ruin your health.

4. food - people will always have to eat

5. entertainment - movies--people like to escape their present circumstances by escaping from reality into something else

6. transportation - although things got so bad lots of people got rid of their cars, but it is the last thing to go, as they turned to living in them

In my opinion you can add the following to the present times:

7. illegal drugs--I think marijuana will be the most popular for present day as its easy to grow--at least that's my understanding.

8. bartering - I believe we will be going back to the bartering system

9. second hand shopping - will increase

10. making your own_____ (fill in the blank)

I also look around and see more people co-habituating--(they should blog about it). :)

Of note: fashion and luxuries took a hard hit during the Great Depression. I know for myself, I certainly don't shop like I used to, and the only shopping I do now is for food and that has been reduced significantly for this summer since I am growing my own vegetables. I also ride my bicycle to work which has greatly reduced my transportation costs.

I bet your habits are changing these days too, have you noticed?? These observations lead to my next question...Where do you or What should you invest your money in??

Answer: alcohol

good day.

Personally, I wonder what took them so long...

Finally someone has some decent ethics and are criticized for having it. Please read about the backlash S&P is taking for downgrading USA. What were they supposed to do? Wait until we're bankrupt...oh, wait...we are bankrupt, what took them so long???? Shouldn't we be at an A? Wonder what it takes to get an A rating??? I don't believe we really want to know the answer to that question, do you???

Relationships...

This past weekend I attended a wedding that DD played her cello. It was a lovely service and DD played well. The pastor did not use Corinthians at all as part of the service which can be the usual for weddings. Instead he used Ephesians.

His encouragement was about the love we give not receive. He said these exact words, "we are not in a relationship to be loved, we are in a relationship to love."

His statement really made me stop and think about how much better I feel when I 'do' for others not receive. Think about it.

Good day.

Bible in a Year...Ezra, 1Corinthians, Psalm, Proverbs.

I am currently in Ezra, who was a Levite priest. Sadly Romans ended and I am now in 1 Corinthians, and as always the lovely Psalm and Proverbs.

a visit to Psalms 28 is a nice quick read.

Thank you BibleGateway.com for the link.

Adventures of the Garden Goddess 2011... Aug 8, 2011.

yellow squash
bush beans
Hello, I harvested my first bush beans yesterday. They taste so good and sweet you can eat them straight from the vine, sans vine of course--I noticed the deer does. I have tons more beans on the vine too that are not quite ready. I don't mind sharing a little bit of these with the deer.

I was also able to finally get a yellow squash without it being eaten by the deer. Can't wait to cook it up, yum, yum.

I also received a great compliment by some people walking by stating that they liked to see how things are coming with my garden, thinking to do the same for next year themselves. Quite the compliment. I have enjoyed this so much I can't wait for next summer too.

Miss you G...

Best Advice...

I am still not much on anything to say, so my best advice comes from Proverbs:

Proverbs 20:5 & 6

5 The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters,
but one who has insight draws them out.

6 Many claim to have unfailing love,
but a faithful person who can find?

Thank you BibleGateway.com for the verse.

good luck with your weekend. Personally, I'll be looking for a working lawn mower (the backyard is looking like a jungle) and weeding the garden. good day.

NOW THIS IS JUST WRONG!!!!

I say no more protection if you're such a jerk to do this!! Are you offended as I am? I certainly hope so!!

I am certain there is a whole lot of C-R-A-P like this going on in all the political parties. It just creams my corn! I think we should lower his pay by this amount!!! or how about no pay? or better yet, let's charge him what it costs us for the service. I bet he would owe us money!! He's just useless! and so is Congress for raising the debt ceiling. Talk about ruining our economy and placing us further into a recession--borderline depression. Freeze the budget now! and if Congress can't budget then Congress should not be paid. I say a class action law suit for failing in their fiduciary duties!!

Thank you Yahoo.com for the link.

Bible in a Year...2Chronicles, Romans, Psalm, Proverbs.

I'm still not much for blogging. It's been trying times for me. The dog got sprayed by a skunk at 3am the other day and I had to bring her in as she kept barking. I couldn't handle taking care of her so my house smells like a skunk. Now everything smells like a skunk. I can't get the skunk smell out of my nose no matter where I am.

The lawnmower decided not to work after I mowed the front lawn. Thank goodness it worked for the front lawn as it was borderline for a neighborhood revolt.

Other personal stuff I won't go into, and mom decided to cheer me up by making me cry. She tried, it backfired on her. Oh, well.

DD stated there was no reason for her to obtain regular employment, so I guess that means she's ok with being a lush, which is totally embarrassing and makes me very angry. It's ok for other people to work their ass off and pay their bills and hers. And since her dad hasn't worked for 15 years and lives off of other people's hard work and has them pay his bills, why not her, right?? Geez, its people like that no wonder our country is going quickly down the tubes since they won't make the effort to find a job. They just want to do what they want all the time. Instead of having the thought of being responsible and obtaining employment to pay their bills and then do the things they want. I'd like to play all the time too, but I don't. ok, sorry--done now.

I am currently in:
2Chronicles chapter 39. which is a rehash of King Hezakiah. and all the good he did in the eyes of Our Lord Your God.
Romans 14 - my favorite book and chapter in the whole bible. love it! please read it. Its a quick read.
Psalm - forgot which chapter.
Proverbs 20

I leave you with several quotes:

Proverbs 20:4
Sluggards do not plow in season;
so at harvest time they look but find nothing.

Proverbs 20:13
Do not love sleep or you will grow poor;
stay awake and you will have food to spare.

Please click the link and read Romans 14. It will only take a moment as its pretty short. Thank you BibleGateway.com for the link and quotes.

good day. (I smell a skunk--wonder when that stops)

health...

Here are some interesting health tips you can use.
Thank you Yahoo.com for the link.

good day.