Mostly pictures...

Still no word on whether I got into the program but I promise I'll post about it when it happens.

In knitting/spinning related news here are the things I've been working on recently...

I finished the branching out scarf I was working on. It's on the floor drying at this very moment. I tell you, blocking makes a world of difference with lace...


Here are the things I've been spinning. The green is pretty true to color but the red on looks more like this...


I started a simple project because I was tired of following a lace pattern while talking or watching tv only to find out I messed up and had to rip back (I tell you this happened about ten times) So I started this..

which will eventually look like this...

though it obviously won't be pink (I've already made one of these in that pink color and loved it so much that I bought more to make another one.)

Unfortunately that's about all at this point. At least there were lots of pictures right?

Wha???

As I was perusing the events calendar for the program I applied for something came to my attention...

Sheep Management and Shearing Workshop
In Class
May 5, 2005

Ummm, did I read that right? Will I actually be learning, IN CLASS, how to shear a sheep???

SWEET!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

I know I haven't posted in a little bit. I can tell you it seems like a lifetime since I've posted only because I have made a huge decision in the past week.

I had a conversation with an old friend which open my eyes a bit. I realized that I have no goals. And by goals I mean something I'm working for at this particular time. Not life goals like having kids some day (though that is a goal, it's not one I'm pursuing at the moment). I've just be idling allowing life to take me where it will without me having any say in the matter.

After many hours of soul-searching and introspection I realized I need a change. A change that will better myself and take me one step closer to following a dream I was always too scared to persue. That's my problem you know. I think about doing something and then scare myself out of it by the "what if's." No more of that.

I have decided to go back to school. In fact, just yesterday I sent in my application and transcript requests. I did a bit of research into becoming a zoo keeper/zoologist and come to find out a community college an hour away has an Animal Management program that will give me the experience and education I need to do this. It's an A.A.S. degree which basically prepares the student for working right after getting the degree. But if at the end of the program I want more education there is a tranfer program to another school about 45 minutes away for a full four-year degree.

It seems like a funny time to do this (I did just buy a car after all) but actually, it's the perfect time. I'm not tied down by a mortgage, kids, marriage. I bought a very fuel efficient car which will save me with the commuting. I have very supportive parents. It all fits. And if I don't do it now, I'll never do it.

True, it means a lot of hard work and I'll probably have to get a couple of part time jobs to accommodate the schedule, but really, this is one of the most exciting things I've ever done for myself.

Wish me luck! If I don't get into the program this fall, I'm going to have to wait another year!

A shocking crime...

A crime has been committed on Skein Street.

*Note: These pictures are very graphic. If you don't have a strong stomach or you have an extreme affinity towards teddy bears, please don't continue...

This is what we found at the scene of the crime.

The perpetrator was unmerciful. It's really quite grusome. After a thorough search of the area we found evidence on the floor

and a nearby carpet...


After questioning witnesses, we had the extreme luck of one such witness stepping forward (who will remain nameless for their own protection) with evidence documenting the crime.



If you know the whereabouts of a cinnamon colored, spotted cat who possibly goes by the name of Pippin, please contact us. This criminal must be brought to justice. Teddy bears everywhere will breath a sigh of relief when he is caught.

Hello, my name is Erin and I'm a fiberholic...

This weekend Beth , my mom and I went to a spin-in at a winery about an hour away. What's that you say? Fiber and wine, together? Why yes. I know...it's too good to be true.

I tell you it was like a mini Rhinebeck (and when I say mini Rhinebeck I mean mini) Here are some of the vendors...

Actually, aside from the two people inside the winery selling fiber, these were the only vendors! But what they had was lovely.

This is where everyone sat under a tent and spun for as long as they could stand the heat.

Notice the lack of spinner. I must have taken this when everyone was up for a cold drink break. I was particularly impressed by the sheer variety of wheels there. Plus, someone was kind enough to let me try out their wheel. It was huge compared to my little kiwi and it was custom made (selling for around $1500-1700...yikes!), but it was definitely a treat to try and spin with it.

When the heat finally got to me (read: When I finally felt so disgusting by the lack of evaporation my sweat was doing) we decided to take off. But don't think I left empty handed....

The red is a half pound of wool that is the most gorgeous color. The camera didn't pick up the orange throughout it. The green on the left is a pound of merino and mohair and the green on the right is merino and tussah silk (*drool*) Then the white is a few ounces of bleached tussah silk to mix with other fibers.

I'd say I made out pretty well. In fact, I started spinning up some of the red when I was there. And as predicted, the minute I got home I plopped right in front of my wheel and spun some more.

You can see a little bit of the orange in this picture.

I tell you, I am such an addict when it comes to this fiber stuff. Are their classes or support groups I can go to for this disease?

Here's the rundown...

So why have I come into having such a wonderful, beautiful, eco-friendly, dream-come-true car? Well, the story goes a little something like this.

Last Monday morning I was driving to work in the (uh-hem, never to be mentioned again) Jeep. As always, I was about to pull into the driveway of work when the engine cut out. That's right, cut out right in the middle of a four-lane highway. I knew at that point it was bad. Worse-than-it's-ever-been bad. By some stroke of luck the road wasn't very busy and I was able to coast the hunk of junk Jeep into the driveway. At that point I was thinking S*%#! That's right, S*%# with a capital 'S'.

By some other stroke of luck (perhaps the god of old, rusty, broken down cars was smiling upon me) I was able to start it up again. I immediately called up everyone who could help me with the problem (read: I called D and asked him to go car shopping with me).

By Tuesday I was signing the papers, leaving a deposit and having my baby Honda Certified. Oh, and I was still driving the Jeep at that point. Apparently, as hard as you try, you can't kill them. And believe me, it sure seemed like I was killing it on the drive home on Wednesday. I was stuck in construction for a hour while it and myself were baking in the 90 degree weather.

I (again) managed to get it to where I needed to go, namely home. But this time I was only able to get it to the top of the driveway before it konked out. There I was at the top of the driveway, did I mention my driveway is a quarter mile long? Only this time when it konked out there were noticeable problems. Say steam pouring out of the hood and radiator fluid pouring out of the engine. I decided it was a gorgeous day to walk home.

Miraculously the Jeep made it to the dealer's on Friday where I traded her in. How she made it that far I'll never know. I have a surprising sense of loss for that old car, she treated me well for the time that I had her. She got me out of some bad situations and put me into a couple as well. It seems strange to feel loss for something like that car. I was nervous driving it. I never felt all that safe in it, why should I feel like it died or something? Who knows?

I can tell you one thing... It felt so good driving my new baby off the lot and taking her home...

She's So Purdy...

I present to you..... my new baby....

Isn't she gorgeous? Ok, I know I'm biased, but I just feel in love with her. I couldn't help myself. It might have been her shiny green exterior, or maybe her 35mpg. All I know is, I was a goner the moment I laid eyes on her.

I'd say my face says it all. There's no denying I love this car. She's so gorgeous. So purdy...

But really, true love is not about what's on the outside. It's the inside that counts....

And the big surprise is....

So everyone wanted to know what the exciting news is huh? Well, let's just say it was completely unexpected because I wasn't planning on it this soon.

What wasn't I planning on???? (I know, I'm keeping you in suspense and you're just dying to know) Well....

This will be mine, officially, on Friday at noon.

I was going to wait and take a picture of me with it, but I was too excited to let everyone know that I just had to post about it. I'll give you the whole story as to why this is so unexpected and a bit sooner than planned later. Hope you can wait that long!

Another great weekend...

I thought I'd be rundown from two weekends spent traveling, but I wasn't. I suppose there's something about seeing family and spending time with them that just makes the time spent traveling worth it.

So we arrived in Annapolis at about 1am. It'd be such an understatement to say I was just tired. At that point, all I was looking for was a horizontal surface. The floor would have been fine. Trying to find a comfortable position to sleep while in the back seat of a Blazer, without one or both of your legs falling asleep was a real challenge!

Saturday we all went out to breakfast, then Mom, Tricia (my sister) and I drove to the yarn shop and the bead shop. It was so awesome. The place was covered with yarn from floor to ceiling. Pure paradise! And the haul? Well.... it was good...


Most of it is for scarves for Christmas. The ones on top are Miracle by Classic Elite. It's alpaca and tencel so it's soft and shiny. There are also a coulple of sale skeins of Jo Sharp for more mittens. And we all know that alpaca silk is heavenly. These are all scarves for my aunts, grandmom and sister for Chirstmas. In fact, I started one of the scarves already....

It's Branching Out from the newest Knitty. I'm hoping it'll look a lot better once it's blocked because right now it looks kind of frumpy.

After all the fun at the yarn and bead shop we came home to this...

That's all of the boys watching my brother play Worlds of Warcraft and my dad just hanging out on the couch. What's funny about it is that on a typical day we would have come home to a lot of noise and inevitably a big mess. Technology and young attention spans sometimes mix with excellent results.

That night we went to dinner at the best crab place in town. I haven't had Chesapeake crabs steamed with Old Bay seasoning in a very long time! I'd say I was in heaven, that is until I cut my finger on some crab shell and the Old Bay started to make it sting. You know you can't be in heaven if you're feeling pain. However, even that didn't deter me from eating quite a few crabs. It's making my mouth water just thinking about it!

The next day we went to downtown Annapolis to go to Buddy's because my sister claims they have the best Sunday brunch. She was so right. All you can eat, loads of choices. It was great. I'm starting to feel like this weekend centered around food... Or maybe that's just my perception because I'm always hungry and I always appreciate a good meal!

My mom and brother seemed to enjoy it. As did one of my nephews, after all, what's better than eating all you can eat pancakes and waffles and being able to color at the same time?

It was a great weekend and I loved spending time with everyone even if it was only for a couple days.

It's only Tuesday and this week has already been exciting and when I say exciting, I mean extremely exciting... as curious as I'm sure you are, you're just going to have to wait until the next post...

What a weekend!

So let me just tell you, I had the best weekend in the world! D and I flew down to VA Friday night and met up with two of my roommates from college. It actually was a surprise that I got to see them both because one of them lives about three hours away from the other.

Huge news, my roommate Sam is engaged! It is and isn't a shock if that makes any sense. The wedding is going to be next summer. How sweet is that?

Saturday we spent the day hanging out...

We even did a little wine touring (very minor compared to our last time wine touring... think my 21st birthday... yeah... good times). We also went to the movies and saw The Longest Yard. I almost just wrote the Longest Yarn! Looks like my fingers are used to writing yarn a lot.

Anyway, Sunday we went to Kings Dominion. Oh man it was so much fun! Here we are driving there. Of course I had to get the "on the way there" shots.



And the "in the parking lot" shot...

We had such a great time. I haven't been on a roller coaster in what seems like forever. I just don't remember them throwing you around nearly as much as they did. Of course, we went on all of the old wooden roller coasters and by the end of the day it felt like my head was going to explode! The only disappointing thing was the newest roller coaster was closed. Boooo. To be honest, I don't think we could have handled another ride!

The funniest thing that happened was the last ride we went on. It's called the Bezerker. Basically it's the boat thing that goes back and forth and eventually flips over. Well, when the ride was over and they were about to let the harnesses off, something happened with the stupid thing and we were all stuck in the ride! D was the smart one, he didn't want to go on that ride... Once they finally got maintenance out to fix it we had been sitting in there for a good ten minutes, maybe more. After they "set us free" we took it as a sign that it was time to go!

Monday was laid back and wonderfully un-busy. We went to lunch, went to another movie (Kicking and Screaming, surprisingly funny, of course, I didn't have high expectations) then D & I got back on a plane to come home.

It was a great weekend. I loved it.

This week has been so busy at work, it's not even funny. Hence the reason why I haven't blogged about the weekend until today. I did a little spinning Tuesday night. Apparently Pippin wanted to help me out.

I kept telling him no and to get out of the box, but he knew I wasn't serious. I'm telling you, when they're cute like that, I just can't resist. There's a fine line between how much I love my fiber, and how much I love my cats. Apparently the cats won this round.

This weekend my family and I are driving down to Maryland to visit my sister. I should have just taken the week off and stayed in VA because my roommate is only about an hour or two away from my sister! It's going to be a long drive there and back and only a short visit, but it has to be done. Her husband is stationed in Japan so they're all moving out there until next February! They're leaving at the end of June and this was the only weekend they could see us.

Hopefully it won't take me until next Thursday to tell you all about it!