My beautiful Granddaughter was married this weekend, and she was gorgeous in her gown. The wedding all went as planned and it was a fun and happy party.  Best wishes to the Bride and Groom for many years of happiness. My daughter the brides mother was beautiful and her dress was gorgeous.

I painted my Lazy Kate so it would match my spinning wheel. It came out good now I need to varnish it so the paint will be sealed.  Needed a bobbin holder for my Spinolution 32oz bobbins and nothing on the market would work, so I made it myself, and it came out good and will hold small bobbins up to my 32 oz ones.

Was busy cleaning my craft area because it was a mess, now it's redone and I can move around and have a spot for my spinning wheel and will not have to move it to spin.  Finished spinning my first skein of yarn on my new wheel and it works like a dream. Working on the second one and almost done spinning so I can ply into a 3 ply yarn.  

I have been feeling so good Thank you Lord that I have been cleaning and hardly sitting down.  Now comes the  next best thing to spinning and that is knitting. I have 4 pairs of socks to start with and then see where I will go from there. Jim cleaned up my lazy kate and rounded the edges, so it looks much better.

Wishing all Mother's a Happy Mother's Day. Have a wonderful day.

I finally finished carding my wool and started spinning. Finished the wool  and then it was time to ply but I had nothing to hold my bobbins. So I went to the hardware store and bought some wood and a brass rod and made my own Lazy Kate.  I can now start spinning my other wool and  ply with no problems. Also my first spun yarn it's messy, I have taken it apart to show everyone, so I need to set the twist.

I have been busy carding wool to spin, my son-in law made me a new spinning wheel. I printed the instructions from Spin-Olution for their Gypsy wheel but it did not give him much to go on and the directions were so badly written that he had to design a whole new wheel.

The first two pictures are where I am putting it together after I hand painted front and back of the wheel and the pedals too.  The other pictures are of the wheel all assembled and ready for spinning.  I am so proud of my son in-law who did an awesome job and worked on it for 4 months.
I am carding the wool and preparing it for spinning yarn for socks.  I love wool hand knit socks, so I am adding nylon to my wool which helps it keep it's shape when knitted into socks.
I am feeling real good again and getting ready for my Granddaughter Jamie's wedding June 17th. Bridal shower is next Saturday, so it's getting close. Purchased my gown for the wedding and received it Thursday and what a beautiful job they did, I am real happy with the results.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, and the very best New Year.  May 2017 be a great year for everyone.  I have taken out my spinning wheels and fine tuned them, oiled and waxed them. I have also bought 2 oz of many different sheep wool to try and find which I like better.  I want to spin some natural colored wool for socks.  I would also love to buy a new spinning wheel but they are so expensive.  I have had 2 of them over twenty years and the other one probably about 12 years.  I need lots of practice because it has been a long time since I have spun wool.  I also purchased some silk and tencel to add to my wool to make the socks hold up with wear and not stretch out.  Have great family time during the holidays.

Feeling so much better, 2 steroid shots and back on prednisone, but the pain is almost all gone and I feel great. Lots of shaking but the meds. do that to me.
My son came to give me a hand and he took me to go see Tarzan and it was a great movie, the story line was really good.

We are at 104 today so the heat wave is still with us, and tomorrow it's supposed to drop to 98 so that will be better.

Hands working better so it is time to start that baby sweater.
Love to all

Summer is here and thank goodness it has not been very hot.  We will be in the 100's for the weekend but a nice summer so far.
I still have not been well, my Polymyalgia continues and have had a lot of pain, tapered off of Prednisone and for 6 weeks the pain has been awful.  Today they started me on Prednisone again at 10mg hopefully I will get some pain relief.

I am going to be a Great Grandmother again and it's a Girl.  My daughter asked me if I could make a sweater, hat and blanket and of course I said yes.

This is the pattern that she picked out and I will be making. I  started the sweater but my hands have been hurting really bad so it's been hard to continue knitting.  I hope it will be done by December, that is when the baby is due.

Knitting Socks

It has been 6 months since I last posted but have been busy making socks.  I finally took the plunge and made my first pair, I was so intimidated by socks that I never thought I would make any. But then I found Knit Freedom and they had a toe up pattern for worsted weight and so, I began my sock making, the pattern was easy to follow and since I have made 8 pairs and working on number 9. I love to wear them they feel so good compared to store bought, so that is why I keep making them. Now I can have a pair done in 2-3 days so they knit up quickly.  I am also knitting a mohair throw with 5 colors of yarn and knit with 5 colors at once on size 35 needles so it should go quickly.  Our weather has been cool in the high 50s and mid 40s at night so not too bad.  They keep saying El Nino is coming but we have not seen much of it but are hoping the rains starts soon. I have been so busy knitting and crocheting I have made no time at all for embroidery, but I do miss it so will have to start a project soon. My Yorkies are all doing good and keeping me laughing, love having them around.  When I do not feel good I tell them let's go nite, nite and the 3 run to the bed and we all take a nap. They love to cuddle in bed and I love having them.  Hopefully I will post much sooner than I did last time.

July

I cannot believe that we are in the month of July, it was just Xmas and now we are  1/2 way through the year.
I have always had canaries but for the last 6 or so years have had none, so I ordered a cage and yesterday I went and bought 5 male canaries. I have a red one, yellow with gray, yellow with pale orange and two others.  They are chirping but have not broken into song yet, so I am anxiously waiting for them to break out in song.
I have been knitting and have made 5 pairs of socks, I finally learnt how to make a sock and now I am making 2 at a time from the toe up.  I feel like I climbed a mountain learning to make socks, and I enjoy making them.
Right now I am crocheting a large pineapple doily, and about 3/4 of the way through, it has been a challenge the directions were not written well and at times were very confusing.
I have not worked on embroidery for quite a while, since I have been so consumed with learning how, and knitting socks.
Our weather was real hot and very humid for a few weeks, and today we were about 79 deg. so it was very comfortable, we have had a marine layer from the ocean keeping our temps down.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone, I hope Santa was good to everyone, and may you have a Joyous and blessed New Year.

I have crocheted quite a bit and here is a pink shawl, and some pot holders I made for all my family, and I also crocheted around a tea towel and made it into an apron.

A Hussif I made with my favorite color, yellow.  Holds needles and pins and sewing tools.

This is a Jacobean piece I am working on, here are a couple of pictures.

So many months have passed since posting my last post.  Have been feeling really bad with Poly Myalgia Rheumatica, Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia, I have been on large doses of Prednisone and hopefully I will be off of it all together very soon.  I have done a lot of knitting, crocheting and a piece of Jacobean embroidery and taking care of my Yorkies.  The family is gathering at my daughter's home for Thanksgiving, there will be about 25 people and cannot wait for that turkey.  Everyone is taking a dish or two, so everyone will be cooking.  Our weather has been very nice 70-80 degrees but no cold weather yet hopefully it will be a nice day for Thanksgiving.  My son and his family will be down from Oakhurst (14 miles before Yosemite) it has been 1 year since I have seen my granddaughters 8 & 6 years old so it will be real nice to visit with them.  Wishing every one a Happy Thanksgiving.

3 crochet flowers, top one is a 10 petal flower with picots, the middle and bottom ones are the same one done in a multi color thread and a beige color.  Very easy to do, found them on you tube and the instructor is great.

Sewing Husif made with embroidery thread and silk ribbon.

Porcelain Doll pincushion

Two Silk Ribbon pincushions