The WoolWytch

ahhh what a crazy week for me.

Tuesday I ventured the farthest from home I’ve been all summer since getting sick, and did the most walking since then too.  My daughter’s godfather (my friend Sunnys husband who is a local Police Officer and works the third shift) planned on taking his little boy to the Mystic Aquarium and did the kids and I want to come along.

It just so happened that he texted me this after 1am, and thanks the the wonders of a little boy working on growing in some molars, I caught it and responded with a rousting Yessssss!

It was just awesome to be honest, while a cooler and misty/drizzley day, the air was still fantastic for my asthma (Zoiks! I could breathe without difficulty) and the Mystic Aquarium was a perfect add on to what the Diva has had added to her home school curriculum for first grade science lessons, and we had a grand time looking at the bull frogs and discussing amphibians – a particular lesson she has loved.

The beluga whales, penguins, jellyfish, sharks, and of course the Cow-nosed Rays were a big hit and she had to make sure she could try to pet the Rays… they were a bit tired by end of day however and didn’t seem to be as social as they were earlier in the day.  This didn’t stop the Diva from reaching into the petting tank as far as she could and then telling me “Mommy they are slippery!”

Yep  Science lessons in action.  Gotta love Homeschooling – field trips on the second day of the school year.  Depending on what my work schedule looks like next week we may be either heading back to the shore to the beach or north towards the Berkshire Mountains.  Its nice not being restricted from travel after all this time.

Speaking of homeschooling – we did start Calvin this week too.  He’s become a bit of a junkie for his Time4Learning PreK1 and I love that he begs to do his schoolwork.  He will play the learning games with as much enthusiasm as he shows when he’s playing at the park. And this little boy loves his time at the park.

Wednesday I started my prep for a colonoscopy and my youngest sister in law magically appeared out of the blue, just hours before I was about to start my sit in at my bathroom, and asked to take the kids overnight.  While it was a schoolnight, I wasn’t going to argue on this one, as it allowed me to prep for this test that would either clear me to return to work, or show that I needed the resection my Colorectal specialist had threatened me with in July.  I have played down my concern both here and everywhere else in my life over it, but my late father was facing this, and I’ve had at least one uncle who had a resection, plus there is a history of ugly diverticulitis on both sides of my family. It’s really not been something I’ve been happy about.

This morning after getting maybe an hours sleep in my bed, vs the couch and being less than 10 feet from the bathroom all night, I had that colonoscopy and am glad to say it’s all good and I don’t have to go through that again for another decade.  None of my worst case scenarios were presented to me today, and I am greatly relieved.

Aside from sleeping away most of today I got my last  test submitted for my Doula Certification, and I am hoping tomorrow morning I will get an email back telling me “Congratulations, you are a certified Doula!”

Tomorrow I’ll be back to working on spinning, getting business cards made up for my Doula Services,  and working on my home office organization. I have to get my trade name registration filed as well with the city and see what other business licensing I need to get within the town… I am going to be putting things together and need to see what office supplies I have and what I need, and there is this desk at Office Depot that I’ve so been jonesing for… *sigh*  I’ll have to look and see where I am before I go spending any more money there but I do need the desk space.  Not sharing it with the homeschooling station is greatly appealing.

This weekend is the Terryville Faire, I’ve not been there with the kids for a couple of years, and I am hoping to make it for Saturday Afternoon.  I’m contemplating contacting Sunny and seeing if she wants to come with us with the little man as her man in blue is going to be working.

and on that note – it’s time to go back to sleep, as I think if I lay my head back down for a nap I’ll wake up by 10am tomorrow… the meds from the procedure seem to be slow to leave the system.

Some people think that life is owed to them… whether it’s a house they’ve never paid a dime on and someone else worked their whole life for, to a place on a stage, where they have the spotlight, no matter what their performance is or how terribly they phone it in.

This last few months I’ve dealt with both.

From another little girl who told the Diva that dancing wasn’t it wasn’t about having fun but about personally showing the Diva up – when the girl attended not as many classes as she should and really didn’t seem interested in performing, to a cousin who’s been taking advantage of a situation that has the rest of the family/cousins spitting mad. continue reading…

The Diva’s dance intensive workshop is done, and now it’s just M-F with one to two classes a day vs M-F with two to three classes a day… less driving and it’s giving me time to work on more spinning.  I still haven’t figured out the espinner for reverse, but am going to hold off on doing plying for a bit anyhow.  I have a nibble on the HitchHiker, and if it works out and I can figure out what I’m selling it for then I’ll have the expense of the espinner covered at least.  In the mean time I’m spinning like a fool and putting the new spinner through it’s paces.  I’ve gotten about a mile of yarn spun and will need to get another swift soon to be able to put it into skeins properly so it can be measured and dyed. continue reading…

Friday after the Diva’s multitude of Dance classes, we had a girls night out.

Have you ever had a girls night out with a five year old? You never know what you are going to do or eat …  in this case she wanted Sushi, and I was thankful that it wasn’t McDonalds that she had requested as she’s on a growth spurt and I really would rather she get protein without garbage and carbs without preservatives, not to mention that her vegetables be green and not coated in oil and salt.

So with that in mind we went to a place called Tokyo Sushi in Southington CT, and got a couple of Salmon Nigiri for her, and an Alaska roll for me.  They started us out with a lovely salad with crab and cucumbers and we enjoyed our sushi and salad and made it out with time to spare to pick up flowers for her teacher who was in a performance of Chicago that night.  While the content is a bit mature, she really loved the show and was just absorbed and entranced with the singing and dancing.

… it helps that she adores her teacher Miss Marissa and listens to her as if she was the deepest authority on subjects most important in life, which I suppose to the Diva, her dance teachers may just be that.

She had a relatively quiet weekend, and we’re back to the grind today…

• 

  a blur of motion, or how I see the Diva during the week

  Monday – Ballet here in our town, and then Ballet and Tap in the next town over

• Tuesday – Tap, Ballet Solo – both in our town, and then Jazz and Hip Hop dance in the next town over
• Wednesday – See Monday’s Schedule
• Thursday – See Tuesday’s Schedule
• Friday – Ballet here in town, and then Acro and Musical Theater in the next town over.

Next week we cut out the classes in the next town over and I can start seriously working on her costume for the dance recital.  We purchased a chiffon fabric that has crystals embedded in it… and a matching darker chiffon – still translucent like the first fabric and some beaded trim to make her costume out of.  The teacher has cut a special version of her song for the recital making it only a minute and fifteen seconds long, but those will be the proudest 75 seconds in the world for those who love her you know…

I look forward to September when she will return to Home school four days a week and Dance only one day a week.  This running around is exhausting and I’m presently running on low to begin with.

I did find something interesting to introduce her to though – online math flash cards!
Cool eh?  It keeps the whole theme we have going on – she is convinced, as is Calvin, that they really aren’t going to school, that they are playing computer games, which they can not get enough of and their father and I have to pry them off the computer.  I can see this interactive math program being used for a long while in our family, and I’m tickled pink that my Cousin Dee has decided that she will be introducing her little man to Time4Learning in the near future as well.  She also will be doing some guest posts here soon and I’ll do some in her blog too – something we’ve both toyed with for a while and it’s a chance to get some of my readers exposed to her work and vice versa… all two of you

I’ve been working hard at spinning when I am not knocked out by my antibiotics or driving miss Diva… I have over 1000 yards of Ramboullet spun up right now, and will be working on learning plying on my e-spinner next, and then going on to dye this.  I may exchange this fiber for the one I was going to use for the custom order as it’s spinning easier and will be a guaranteed volume to meet the order.  It’s really coming along nice, and I am happy with the results I’m seeing.  Once it’s done it will go into the dyepot en masse to guarantee a uniform dye job.

During classes I have been reading.  I have a Nook from Barnes and Noble that I love to pieces.

Originally purchased with the intent of using it for my Doula studies as it has highlight and note features, it also has a functioning MP3 player and with it’s beta web browser and built in 3g access, I have net (albeit basic with no flash and in black and white only) anywhere I go to.  I love my little Nook and have read so much in the past three weeks of owning it that I have managed to get the Diva interested in reading at a level that she needs to be, vs just trying to read whatever Mom is typing at the time.  I grew up with a love of books, and it was troubling me that she wasn’t getting to see that outside of me sitting on the laptop, but in no short time she has adopted my fervor for reading, and we’ve got kids ebooks on my nook too.  I read so fast that I’ve been reading a lot of the public domain books and online fiction as my book habit can be pretty pricey!

I considered the Kindle, but I have really fallen for my Nook, and would be very upset if it were damaged, stolen, etc…  Barnes and Nobles did a great job, and I’ve already got the memory card I bought for it as auxiliary memory filled with my favorite authors, and books on herbalism etc.  I will probably be scanning and converting some of my notes from classes I’ve taken into PDF format so I can reference them here as well.  It’s darn useful I tell you.

To that effect I have to say I’ve been reading Diana Gabaldon‘s Outlander series.  It’s darn addictive I tell you… I woke up in the middle of the night the other night and hadn’t realized it but my bathroom trip had me carrying my Nook.  Between ease of reading and my choice of reading material, I’ve just not put the thing down.

Well this week is rehearsals, spinning, dyeing, spinning, dyeing, and more dance classes than you can shake a stick at.  Once it’s over we’ll just be down to the three classes until her Recital on Aug 10, and then I get a blissful few weeks of not driving her hither and yon, and may try to get the little man out to the train that runs down the Naugatuck River as a treat for not getting as much Mama time as his sister has gotten.  His time will come too, and I expect that he will be dancing as much as his sister….

This week is a crazy one, I’m on formal Short term Disability from my full time job due to severe Diverticulitis (until the end of August,) which really really hurts, and the medication is strong and puts me to sleep… and I have to get some forms in so my disability is processed right.  In the midst of this I am also the head of Mom’s Taxi co…  the Diva has 4 different dance classes… Ballet, Tap, Solo Ballet for recital, and the Petite Team 10 day Workshop she is taking in the next town over.  Three of those classes happen TODAY, two of them yesterday, Add a playdate or two, a visit to Grandma’s and Homeschooling into the mix and it’s enough to drive a person batty.  Wednesday I repeat the cycle all over again with two classes and thurs three classes, and homeschooling mushed into the works.  I manage the medicine when I know I can pass out and not drive and then am good to go later.  Who thought that Antibiotics could be so rough on a person’s body?

Speaking of homeschooling, Calvin is trying hard to learn to read, which is where  Time4Learning is coming in handy.  Finding a preschool reading program for us was easy as the Diva already was working with Time4Learning and loves their curriculum.  He’s just following along and loving every minute as she does her studies, so I really have to get him enrolled formally too.  For her this week we’re going to try something new;  Contraction games.  She’s a little advanced for your average five year old and we’re going to try to keep her engaged.  Using these resources to teach contractions I’m hoping she’ll latch on to the notion quick.  She’s a smartie…

I spun up a couple ounces of Alpaca and Corriedale wool this weekend, I need to do more but am still learning that E-spinner.  I don’t have the hang of the darn thing for reverse, and that’s gonna drive me batty.  It will happen, because I have a buildup of plying to do soon.  I also am starting to think that I can pull out some of the fiber dyed for the custom order and continue in that.  I may have all the singles done up before I get the plying done.

alright – time to go get more spinning done and send an email to the tooth fairy on behalf of the Diva… seems someone was playing with it and it fell out, and she now she is unhappy that her summer recital will be with one less tooth in her head.  Poor Diva… while she’s getting in her 6 year old molar she is not satisfied with that as compensation.  Can’t say as I blame her – her Tap number has her smiling widely and showing off her teeth… whoops!

This is the forecast for today’s weather from Weather.com – it is much more conservative than the local station would say…

At 9am the Diva will be in Tap class.  At 2:30 she will be in her one on one ballet class preparing for her solo.  I get to sit in the hot building, or the van while she’s in both.  She is not getting to wear what she thinks she’s getting to wear for dance tomorrow, as I’d like to not have her parboil herself… her favorite outfit consists of the bubble wrap, extra fluffy tutu over a body suit, tights, and legwarmers.  That to me is a recipe for overheating if I ever saw it.

I think we will be bringing her bottled ice water for both classes, and when we get home, I’ll plop her down for homeschooling via  Time4Learning on the desktop in front of the air conditioner, or I might introduce her to “Hangmouse” at Spellingcity.com – provided of course she’s not feeling “Icky” still as she was yesterday. Ceiling fans will be on, and the air conditioners will be at full roar… obviously if I am doing laundry – it’s happening at night, nor during the day or we might  blow a fuse, not to mention contribute to a brown out.

Me – I will be spinning as much as I can and breaking out some Alpaca I have before I get into that custom order – and maybe drive up to In Sheeps Clothing in Torrington for a new drive band for my Kiwi (although that could wait for Thursday and being medically cleared to drive the distance, I’m paying for driving up to Northampton Mass on Saturday still, and my body is very upset with me.)
I don’t want to screw up the custom order when working with the new spinner, and am having fun with it.  I already have one bobbin full with Ramboullet.  That will get taken off and set in cake form to rest tomorrow, before I try to figure out how to reverse the spin on that sucker so I can ply.

When all else fails I still have this site and the dance school website to do some tweaks to or of course the Netbook restore to install…

Keep watching for updates, and hey – share your ways you stay cool with me!  I look forward to reading your notes on how you beat the heat!

So on Saturday while the family was out, the mailman left me a lovely box on our front porch. I thought the mail had already run when we left for our afternoon out, so you can imagine my surprise to find my husband bringing in a box from Heavenly Handspinning late that night… “Honey, would you run down stairs if I brought in a box from Georgia?” Of course I would!!!

Gingerly removing it from the box, I examined each part of my new electric spinning wheel and admired the craftsmanship.  It was raw red oak, just waiting for me to choose something to finish it with, and my mind immediately leapt to the the idea of giving it a nice coating of it when the humidity died back down and it was warm and dry out.

• All three bobbins?  Check.
• Motor attached to base unit? Check.
• Drive Band? Check.
• Pedal to operate it with? Check.
• Orifice hook?  Check.
• Other doodads and supplies that were with it?  Check.

and with it also came some roving that I really should have used to break it in with.

I gently put everything back in the box and then went to bed, as it had been a long day and I was tired.

Sunday morning came along and I was awoken by a pair of Moppets. “MOM! There’s a big box in the living room!”

Yep – it was the spinner they discovered.  So I took it to the back of the room, set it up on a craft table and asked the Diva to grab me a bag of Roving.

She of course brought the white as snow and fluffy white Ramboullet.  Beautiful stuff.  Don’t know that I’d recommend it for use for breaking in a new spinner… not when I tend to spin as finely as I do.

I spun on it for a little but with two little helpers who were just as excited as I was to have the new wheel here, I didn’t get much done.  Fortunately little hands know to stay away from the mechanism, but they do like to try to scale Mommy to see what’s going on or help get the roving out of the bag.

I waited until Sunday night, and after bed time and the cherubs were out like a light I came back down stairs and for two hours got to spin in peace, just the pleasant company of my husband as he watched TV and we talked a little.  I had a hardtime at first as I think the drive band is a bit loose, but once I got the hang of it, I was whirring along, sitting in front of the air conditioner and just enjoying the lovely little electric spinner in front of me.

I have decided I will be selling my Hitchhiker Roadbug, it’s been converted to dual treadle, with Jumbo Flyer assembly and is a sweet little wheel, just it and I never really meshed.  I will clean it up, give it a fresh coat of Watco and then post it here or on Ravelry, as I am sure someone will want to buy it.  I would not reccomend it for a short round person with knees that might knock the orifice assembly while spinning.  That’s been mostly my problem – my own body dimensions, but it really has been a lovely little wheel.

But now – back to the electric spinner.   It’s taken a little getting used to but it’s been well worth it.  I have a few pics to share:

Spinning 40 WPI

After two hours of learning what to do and what not to do

After a couple more hours of spinning this afternoon, and mastering my spit joins LOL!

I have to say that so far, I love my little Vespera.  It’s a sweet little spinner, and for the money spent I think I have gotten a decent value.  I will revisit with a review after owning it a bit longer, but for now I have to say we are thumbs up!

Much to my husband’s amusement last night I looked at him straight in the face and said “I think that with this I will need to pick up more fleece to go to the processors by the New York Fiber Festival…  ” That’s in October… but if I keep on top of things, I might just need more before then.

My poor husband.

G doesn’t take as well to spur of the moment trips as I do and as such shocked me today when after lunch I suggested a trip to Webs and he thought it was a great idea.

My drive band for my Ashford Kiwi is AWOL, I needed to pick up some Cushings Dyes for a project I have to have completed by early August, and I knew he was in need of felting needles.

So we hopped in the van, and headed north with the kids happily reading and singing.

Somehow ‘Row Your Boat’ got turned into the Nine Lives Chorus – with all Meow’s, but they were well behaved for the trip and at Webs.

Of course the Diva headed straight back to the Schacht Ladybug and tried to set herself up to spin on it immediately, but she gave one of the salespeople a heart attack as they don’t want small children touching spinning wheels, never mind that she’s shown a degree of proficiency and was being ever so respectful to the wheel. This is the wheel she truly desires, and after I finally got a chance to spin it myself, I can see why.  The wheel spins smoothly, quietly, and in no time flat I had a laceweight yarn that was soft, strong, and pretty.

I want one now like you wouldn’t believe.

Calvin was bored, wanted to spin and then discovered the toys.  G sat with them while I tried out the Ladybug my self, and then looked for the dyes.  Much to my chagrin, they did not have a replacement drive band.

We then drove around Northampton Mass, and fell in love with the community.  I foresee trips back there later in the summer, especially as I have to replace my swift (you wind yarn on it) and I will undoubtedly need more dyes.  I am getting in my e-spinner this coming week, a Vespera (see right) by Heavenly Handspinners, and I promise to have a review on it as soon as I can.  I need to get my Etsy shop re-stocked and with breaking and rebreaking my ankle I’ve not gotten through a couple of custom orders that I need to… so I am hoping that the Vespera will fit the bill and that I don’t burn out the motor from use.

It’s a lovely July Fourth weekend, and we’re taking a little time off homeschooling this week – I need to do a reinstall of the kids ASUS Netbook Operating System and figure out what’s wrong with their Dell, all while I’m supposed to be taking it easy from Diverticulitis.  While Mama recovers the kids get a break from Time4Learning, but the Diva still has dance school as she’s signed up for a Solo in August, hence the need to pick up the dye as I am making her costume for the recital.  I’m finding that the drive today was a bit much on me and I am now going to head off to bed, listening to fireworks outside the window, and enjoying the lovely summer night.

We all slept in today, and went out to our favorite diner for a late brunch. We’ve started ordering one order to split between the kids when we do go out with them – as otherwise the food goes to waste because they only eat a small part of the meal.

Afterwards we dropped off the hubby and then went out to a new park to us – “Rockwell Park” and while it was lightly raining the kids still got time to play while Dad rested at home.

Rockwell Park is a historical fixture in our town and they have several different playscapes, a skate park, water park, town pool, and a lagoon that has been drained that used to be the place where everyone went to and hung out all summer – until evidently they all started getting some sort of a rash.

hrm.  Yeah – probably a good idea they drained the lagoon and are plowing out etc…

it is a beautiful park however, and someplace I really enjoy going to.  I’ve driven through the back roads there but we’ve not checked out the playground before.  I have to say and the kids really had a blast.

This will be a place I see us spending many a day at this summer.  it’s so peaceful and I look forward to getting my own pictures of there.

While there I sat in the center of the two larger playscapes and as I had brought my Hitchhiker spinning wheel.  I’ve been feeling better so I figured I’d give it a try and see how lugging the wheel (not a huge wheel) and worked on some yarn that is a special order for a lovely Canadian woman.

I have to say, spinning is certainly theraputic.

My big task this week is to excavate the work room and organize it so we can get it set up for production work again.  I have a local shop that has been interested in my work.  After I get this custom order finished I will start working on restocking so I can bring something into the local shop, as well as get my Etsy shop stocked again.

Hope all reading me are in a good place and have had a good weekend.

Night!

I am not ever doing that again if I can at all avoid it.

this road warrior thing – no go.

The job could have been a perfect one but the distance from my kids, and the manager I had were just not things I wanted to deal with.

I am still on the payroll of the company I work for – waiting for the next assignment.

in the mean time – I do have some photos of DC to share.

,me – waiting for the train, and missing my kids….
Capitol Hill… although to me it was a revelation – it’s not really a hill.

The Lincoln Memorial

Somehow I thought Fords Theatre would be bigger… the sense of history was kinda awe inspiring though, and if I closed my eyes and listened with my mind I could still feel the grief and hear the cacaphony after President Lincoln was shot.

I did some sightseeing the last day I was there – but to be honest, I wanted to be with my kiddos more than anything.  We all missed eachother so much there aren’t words for it.