Cheryl's Garden

So I didn’t get much done tonight because I HAD to watch Chuck on Hulu but I did get something very nice in the mail.

Two mini bon bons from Natchwoolie’s monthly fiber club that hubby signed me up for for my birthday. He can’t remember how many months he bought so it’s REALLY a surprise every month. Spinning on my wheel is on a back burner but these are sooo soft that I might dig out my drop spindle or kick wheel. We shall see what tomorrow holds!

I’ve been meaning to post all last week but that didn’t happen. Didn’t get enough sleep or something because nothing got done except a bit more progress on my scarf.

When I mean nothing I really mean nothing, no house work, nothing. This week started off really well with the hubby switching me over to Wordpress which has me ecstatic! wow, even my own chat window. Our main blog over on masongarden.com has had a chat window forever but the old site just didn’t have much AT ALL! Ok, so enough about the update.

Ok, so maybe just one sneak preview but that’s ALL I’m going to say!

The promised yummy/test baking project is a little on hold till tomorrow. There just isn’t enough time in my day to finish up everything I want to do

and the things I have to do before hubby goes crazy with the down stair in an upheaval

because it looks like this

On to happy notes. Last week I had this lovely sock yarn show up in the mail from joining a Sock of the Month knitting club, if you’re interested you’ll have to check it out yourself because it’s a secret

MasonCJ is also getting some new inventory. These glass Ball jars I’ve turned into oil lamps.

Random other projects that are sitting around

This is my first crocheted scarf that I never finished. It’s a shell pattern in a lime green mercerized cotton. Might be Patrons but not sure.

Here is another shell scarf. The photo is terrible. The color is really a forest green more like this picture

Well, that isn’t really a good image either but closer.

I’m off to get some sleep so I’ll leave you with a kitty picture

There might be some crazy updating for a while. My husband moved me over to Wordpress which is sooo much nicer and what we use for our main blog at masongarden so I’m more familiar with it. So far there have been a few weird things happening with the RSS feed so I apologize if you your feed showed 99 new posts or something just as crazy. Some time in the future there will be a theme update which is very exciting!
A side note. Yesterday I started something yummy (cross fingers) so there should be an update tonight or tomorrow, WITH PICTURES!!! I’m very excited if you couldn’t tell

Ok, so maybe not completely unmotivated tonight but don’t really feel like cleaning house for a late Christmas celebration which is weird because I’m the one who suggested celebrating this weekend. All week I was really chipper until today when I decided I didn’t get enough sleep yesterday or something. grr.

Most of my day was looking into prices for ingredients for solid balms that I read about and LOVE from Amber’s Ambry. I have about 5 different sents from her in these cute little tins and I’m sooo excited that she’s sharing because my feet absolutely LOVE!!! this balm.

Anyway, off to more cleaning before I get too tired to do anything. I’ll leave you with a pic of my new Le Crueuset dutch oven.

Grrr, so today I figured out what I did wrong with the scarf I started yesterday….after about 15 rows. I was one stitch short, oops. Here is the fixed scarf.

I saw this scarf being sold several places on Etsy and figured I could do that pretty easily so I found the pattern on Ravelry. I’m really loving this Lion’s Brand Natures Choice Organic Cotton in Espresso on size 9 needles.

So here is my yarn ball winding progress.

Here is that baby blue wood I mentioned yesterday. Purchased from Purewool.

Three hanks of beautiful Manos Silk. I was very peeved that it took longer to remove the ties that aren’t waste yarn than it took to ball the yarn.

Ok, so I’m trying to get to bed here quick so I’ll leave you with a few quick pictures from today.

new ball winder with

The yarn is Squoosh Fiberarts merino silk lace in cranberry approx 130 yards. Also planned to post some baby blue wool stuff not can’t find the pic.

and a bonus pic’s of the jewelry collection I made for my friend Candice for Christmas.

So a friend of mine is having a baby in June which gives me just about enough time to find a pattern and knit it before the baby arrives. I’m not a very quick knitter yet. It takes me about 3-4 months to finish an easy scarf. Here is my question. Should I choose something more difficult like a sweater that the baby will out grow quickly or should I make a blanket that would take a lot of time to complete due to the size or should I go for a ton of wash clothes and small things like hats and booties. I’ve been unsuccessful knitting a sock yet but a bootie would probably be easier since it’s smaller. A hat would be simple. Wash clothes are easy but unexceptional. Blankets just about anyone could do a blanket given enough time and it’s almost better to buy something since the baby will probably loose it once they start wiggling around more. My mother had to keep a supply of small pillows because “they were my favorite” and I would ALWAYS loose them at the grocery store. My brother was just as bad with his favorite blanky. I’ll probably do a few wash clothes first and hope for enough time to finish a hat or booties or something. Summer really isn’t the right time to have a bunch of winter clothes anyway.

Once I get the hang of this I’m hoping to be more organized and add more pictures. Wish me luck!

Ok, so I’m trying to blog more. Two things I’m learning about lately, baking/cooking and spinning.

Today I was reading a about spinning in a new book I bought, Start Spinning by Maggie Casey. With only one spinning class behind me I have a lot to learn. Back in October I bought a spinning wheel that isn’t one of the big brands so help manuals are sparse. Tension was a bit of a problem so I’m going to read this book first and maybe start with a drop spindle again.

Cooking is also going slow. Friday I had a burst of energy after work and “attempted” soup that turned into more of a flavored rice. Oh well. At least the pre-packaged oat meal cookies with chocolate chips turned out well.

This year was full of learning about all the things you can do with fiber….well…most of them that relate to the creation of yarn. With only one experience when I was younger to do with knitting I never would have thought it would become such a big part of my life. Time will tell if the interest continues into a true obsession but for now I dabble in little projects here and there.

My aunt actually sparked my interest last Thanksgiving when she gave my mother one of her Fun Fur combo scarves that she makes for people at her hospital. Per my usual “I could make it better” attitude, that had already sucked me into jewelry making, I dove into a fun filled year of yarn hording. Here is how it went.

In January I picked up some yarn and knitting needles and went to work on my first scarf.

About half way through I got excited about scarves, blankets and socks when I started searching the internet for knitting blogs so it was back to the store for more needles and yarn.

Jarrods Hemlock blanket, pictures 2 and 3 above, was just so pretty that I had to find the pattern and those lovely blogs led me to Ravelry.com. Depending on how you look at it this is a fiber freaks heaven or hell. There is a whole communittee dedicated to crazy knitters and crocheters.  By the end of February my yarn stash had grown from a few balls of yarn to bags boxes and bags that were taking over the dinning room and desperatedly needed a more organized storage system. So I bought a three drawer rolling storage bin thinking that would hold me but my yarn packed the three drawers and I still had a box of supplies. Then came the crazed spring months when I discovered the wonders of Etsy.com and joined a knitting group from work.

By the time I went to my first knitters meeting I had 2 scarves, socks, and 3 blankets started. Our group leader was surprised at how many projects I had going but to be fair I had a lot of happy energy fueling my efforts and no kids at home….except the husband. I think he enjoyed the free time to play more video games on his new ipod. All spring I horded fancy hand made yarns and then discovered another facet of this fiber world, felting AND spinning. Now I was collecting roving too! and lusting after fiber fairs with spinning classes. Shortly after this another fiber craft surfaced in the form of weaving. Unfortunately, I have to work for a living and don’t have near enough time in my day to do all the fiber and jewelry crafting I would like. Instead I sit at work and day dream about projects that I MUST do TODAY! and that leads to more yarn purchases that are relatively easy with that Oh So Helpful internet. Ravelry was not helpful with a zillion fun swaps that I had to mail all over the country. In May my obsession was de-railed with 8 wonderful days in Hawaii where I just couldn’t bring myself to knit even though I was crazy and signed up for Sock Wars III even though I had never completed even one sock. Back at home I completed my last swap for the year with a hand knit dish cloth that proved to me that small projects were probably a better idea at this early stage. All three of my above blankets ended up on hold and my sock

was frogged. I did start a new sock but that didn’t turn out well either

so for now I’ll wait for more skills before attempting another sock. In July two wonderful aspects of my life changed. The office that was used for studying and wasn’t being used now that both James and I were finished with classes so we decided to turn it into

a craft room. We removed all the carpet, painted the walls blue, yes blue, and added wood flooring. The room is still a work in progress but I am looking forward to spending time there. The second was the discovery of how much I enjoy crocheting.

To date I’ve started about 9 shell pattern crocheted scarves/wraps three of which I’ve finished and two were gifts to friends. I also discovered that I love to start things but have trouble finishing things.

In September James and I headed to an Alpaca Farm Fair

where we enjoyed seeing the animals and I got to watch someone spin in person.

and they had pretty yarn that I had to take home.

The next weekend I got up nice to attend my very first spinning class. It was horribly unorganized and at someones home but I learned a little. Around that time I also wraped my own table loom after much grumbling and a lot of help from James. It’s really fun to weave but I now understand why people hate to warp a loom. IT IS A PAIN!!! My first project turned into a mouse pad for my dad and I’m sure he will never use it. Oh well. The second warp I did by myself with a lot of cursing and an emergency run for more yarn. It took about 6 hours while watching movies and I still haven’t started weaving.

Instead I’m working on another shell pattern wrap and a hemp pattern dish cloth both of which are so easy and I recommend to new knitters and crocheters.

So there is my year of fiber but I also started two other projects. The first is my own online stores at http://masoncj.etsy.com and http://indenturedmason.etsy.com for kitchen goods and jewelry.

The other was sewing, specifically for Halloween costumes but also for quilting. The craft room is really expanding!

Thankfully this year has been deemed The Year of Junk Removal and Organization.

My craft room is coming together nicely (pictures soon) with the exception of a few missing items the room is on its way to being my favorite room in the house. A trip to Ikea got me two craft tables, a lazy susan that I’m altering with dowels to store my wrapping paper on, and a nifty craft paper roll dispenser that will help protect my tables when doing messy projects. Next month we’ll pick up James table/storage desk system and some wall shelves for the cats to climb all over. The 19″ tv I bought last month now has a wall mount that will be installed soon and I’m looking into a speaker system to play music from radio and ipods and maybe hook into the tv.

“Trouble” started last night when I wasn’t able to find my sewing machine power cord. To be fair I haven’t used my “new” machine since James bought it for me about 3 years ago but I’ve been very careful about keeping everything together. Well obviously it wasn’t enough effort because the cord and the english manual are missing (found the spanish manual but can’t read spanish).

Ok, just started might be stretching it. Budget is tight right now so it’s taking longer than expected to put the room together, which is fine, but now that autumn is here and we have wood floors in the office ANTS are invading my office for NO REASON!!! (not really true, there were some cookie crumbs in the trash can) and now they don’t stick to the single trail around the baseboards. They are crawling over everything, including my photo tent WHILE I’m taking pictures!!!!!! I hate ants with an obsessive need to keep them OUT OF MY HOUSE. A little back story (not that you need it, nasty ants). When I moved from Paradise, CA to the Sacramento area with my parents about 13 years ago ants were taking over everything! The area really is an ant hill so it wasn’t uncommon to have then crawling out of sockets, cracks between the wood and lenolium floors, cracks in the ceiling, everywhere. We had a bug man come out frequently with little change so one day when ants were taking over my clothes closet I freaked. Raide was used liberally (whole can) and everything had to be washed afterward. Ever since then I go a little crazy when I see ants (all over my bathroom counter last Tuesday at 6am, ug). Of course, when I got married and moved out, tmy parents got a new bug man that actually USED THE GOOD STUFF (aka termite spray 4ft up the outside of the house and 20 ft out on the ground).

Over all not a disaster but an annoying week of ants and stuff I can’t find.

On the up side I’ve got a lot of wire-wrap rings for IndenturedMason just waiting for me to work on the pictures. Who knew the hard part of selling online would be the photos and not keeping up with inventory? Also, several of my shell scarves are almost finished and will be ready for the Christmas season. MasonCJ is also close to having more inventory for the holidays. I’m working on hand embroidered Thanksgiving aprons and dish towels, knit dish towels, and pink sea salt.