Four Day Weekend!

This has been a great
Thanksgiving holiday. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner so we have stayed near home the last three days. This has made it easy to clean, put away summer clothes, run and knit!
Really what more could one want from a Holiday break?

Here are the boys with their Lancaster cousins. Cousin pictures are hard at this age.

I told Kelly all I wanted for my birthday was for him to put up the Christmas lights. So if I don't get anything tomorrow I can't really be all that sad about it! He did hang the lights and we put up all the Christmas decorations inside.

Yesterday, I also mailed out our Christmas card! I can't wait for everyone to get it! With the decorations up, the Christmas card out and half of the Christmas presents bought, I think I am ahead of the game this year. Still working on the last knit gift but it's not even December yet!

Last night I saw the Christmas lights and I do believe they leave something to be desired. We used to have an inflatable santa but it got a hole. Then we had stars that twinkled in the picture window, Kelly said they were tacky. So I think we need something for the yard. I will probably have to live with this for this year because Christmas decorations are so cheap after Christmas. But believe me next year our decorations will border on Griswold!!  I will show Kelly tacky!!

My new yarn and a Guest Blogger!

I was pretty much gone all this week. I've had a busy month with work and I couldn't do the job I love without Kelly holding it down at The Manor! Thank you Kelly!

While away I did get a good start on my last knitted Christmas gift. I plan to not be hastily knitting on Christmas Eve this year, so I did my best at knitting all year on gifts. I think it is going to work out.
So far this project is going smoothly but I don't want to jinx myself.

I've finished my n-ply yarn! It is ready for a bath and to be knit into something fabulous! This was a practice spin more than anything else and I do think I'm getting better at this plying technique. I now want to try this technique with my "wickerwork" Hello Yarn fiber.

And another running update. The weather was so mild yesterday I got to run outside with my friend Kjrsten while at Rock Springs 4-H Camp. We were talking while running and I was wearing out, I asked if we had gone three miles. She laughed and said in my dreams! We ran until we hit 2.8 miles and I had had enough. The road was hilly and we were talking but I figured out why I was so tired when she told me our average pace was 8:40 miles. Uh, what? I normally run ten minute miles, so that is why I was tired! I really enjoyed talking on my run so I need to find some Topeka running buddies. I think I will get faster that way!

When I got home today from my 4-H conference Daryl said he wanted to write a blog. I said what do you want to write about? He said pretty yarn like you do mom. So of course I said I would type for him whatever he wanted to blog. Turns out he did not want to talk about yarn at all!

I want to write about one time there was a big man named Agaga. A fire went on and the big man shouted out ya  ya as long as the fire went. Here comes a little man holding cheeseburgers and they said num num that’s good.  Then here came the hair lady and she brushed everyone’s hair. And then they were like “I don’t like my hair it looks like a girl.” And then the best person was in love with each other and then they finally found out that the evil man was Agaga.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

All Things Yarn

I've dug to the bottom of the stash and found some Hello Yarn Wensleydale fiber that I acquired in January of 2013. I have 8 oz and decided to split the colors apart into three different piles and try to get better at my N ply skills. 
N ply is when you use one single and make it a three ply. That way you can preserve the color of a multi color fiber. I wanted to use this particular fiber because it is a very long fiber and so it shouldn't want to break on me as much as a shorter fiber. 
I love the look of an N ply but so far I've not been very good at it. So I will keep practicing! 
Here is what I have so far.
Original braids of Smells of the Sea:

 Here are the three colors I seperated. The blue is already N plied, the yellow is a single and I just started spinning the brown.
















My N ply is still a little un even but I have two more colors to make it better!

One Crazy Week!

Sorry for the lack of posts but lately all I've been doing when I come home is falling into bed! Or laundry, pretty much all of Saturday was laundry.
Last Monday didn't really have anything planned but I did decide to skip my morning run. Good thing I did because my friend Jaime called at 6am and needed me to pick up her son. She was having her baby! So I hung out with Neil all day and he also got to spend the night.
Tuesday morning I took him home so he could meet his new baby sister! It was a great way to start the week. :-)
Thursday, I was honored at the Topeka 20 under 40 banquet. It was a very cool experience. I am so humbled that people selected me to be a part of this group. Here is a link to the video they showed that night. Kayla one of my 4-H'ers did a great job. I didn't know she did this for me and she didn't tell me either. Little stinker!
http://vimeo.com/channels/20under40/111444818

Then Saturday was the big event. Shawnee County 4-H Achievement Night. I might grumble just a bit when our office works on this event for well over a month. All the work proves to be totally worth it when we have a crowd of 4-H'ers and volunteers having such a good time. I even got my annual whip cream facial! LOL

I will leave you with a little WWE video. Next post will be about my new spin I'm working on. I think it is going to be some epic yarn. Only one run update, it's cold, that is all.

I never thought this day would come!

Last night....right before dinner.....Daryl finally said it! He said, "Mom will you help me knit something?"
My jaw dropped, I just looked at him for a minute to see if he was joking with me. Then I asked him, "What do you want to knit?"
Daryl-"Something for my wrestlers, like a mask or something."
Me-"What about a cape?"
Daryl-"That would work! Christian doesn't wear a shirt so he might get cold without one."

So we found some needles and yarn and I sat down with him not sure what to expect. He took the needles and actually held them correctly ,(I guess he has been watching me for the past six years). I put my hands on top of his and he knit a whole six rows that way! He got tired and we only had a couple more rows to go so he asked if I would finish it.

We then put it around Christian's neck and Daryl was very proud of himself. I am so happy he wanted to do this. I hope he decides he wants to make something else, although I'm not sure how we would knit masks that small. hmmmmmm

This morning after Daryl was brushing his teeth he looked at the box holding his front tooth that fell out on Saturday.
Daryl-"Mom can you please remember to call the tooth fairy today, PLEASE!"
Me-"Ok bud, I promise I will call her after lunch and try to get you on her schedule tonight."
Daryl-"Ok mom, Thanks!"

Grrrrr, that means I need to go to the bank and get some cash. The tooth fairy is the only time it stinks we never have cash around. Kelly and I both get paid by direct deposit and use our debit cards for everything. Too bad the Tooth Fairy can't pay with a PayPal account! LOL