The chair is finally done

Okay, so like 6+ years ago I started taking an upholstery class. Found a really nice chair at a rummage sale that was old and ratty looking. In other words, perfect :-). Then Wendy's (place of work at the time) decided that they had to make me close the nights I had the class. :-/. Here's some more background info on this poor chair

Then life intervened and here we are 6 years later. Well, last night DH helped me put the last of the nails on it and this a.m. I put the finishing stain on it. It's DONE!

Aaannnd, it's gonna go in my new office. Did I tell ya that this was an "office chair". What is cool about it is that it was sold at business office supply store in Duluth, Minn. It has a solid oak frame on it. It's really a nice chair and now that I'm finished with it, it's *perfect*

So, one more thing to cross off of my 101 in 1001 list.

Tour de Fleece

I had been spinning each day that I was supposed. I guess I didn't really "get" the rules of TDF. I didn't know I had to set goals, just that I had to spin each day. Well I did that. I've managed to get better at my spinning. I need to work on my plying. I tried plying yarn I spun during TDF and it was horrible. I didn't even do the whole thing. ...

But I'm going to end TDF early so I can focus on home and stuff. But it was fun while I was doing it. I can't wait to do it again next year. Hopefully I will be able to ply and spin even faster than I did this year.

taking a breather

I've decided to take a breather from everything that is not work and home.

So for the next few weeks I will not be on plurk that much or on ravelry. Probably won't be doing any spinning or knitting or posting as much. Everything else that is fiber-related that I wanted to do will have to be put on hold too. There are a couple things that I'm involved in online and I will continue to be involved in those -- just not as intensely.

Guess what I did today?

We went picking strawberries at a farm about 30 miles away. I don't know if $8 for 5 quarts is a good deal or not but we had a blast all the same. DS proclaimed to everyone that walked past us that he could eat all he wanted. Just slightly embarrassing, but he did eventually stop saying it.

DS gorged himself on berries and let out a few little belches and was "mmmmmming" almost the whole time. It was kind of like the bunny on the 7 UP commercial.

When we got home we almost immediately made strawberry shakes. There is something so yummy about making shakes with fresh, ripe berries. YUM!

Then the inner farmgirl in me decided to come out and play. I canned 4 pints of strawberry jam.

Aren't they pretty?

4 pints called for 5 cups of strawberries and 7 cups of sugar! Wow, that's a lot of sugar. I am curious why freezer jam doesn't seem to call for as much strawberries and sugar. The only thing I didn't do was skim the foam. But MIL told me that was purely for aesthetic reasons.



This is the first time I've ever canned anything or made jam or jelly. Was much easier than I thought it would be. I would definitely do this again next year though. We have about 2.5 quarts of strawberries left. I don't imagine we will have any leftovers though. This is usually time time of year we go gung ho on the strawberry shakes.

Seascape update

I have finished chart A of Seascape. It's all clicked and I seem to be cruising pretty quickly now.

Not sure how much I will accomplish this weekend. Got a new project to get started. One of my friends asked me to knit her up bellatrix socks. (ravelry link) Which I am happy to do. :-) I need to swatch a bit since it seems it's a bit tricky to get guage on this pattern. Plus I will be doing it on DPN's instead of two circs. Oh and it's gonna be this colorway or something similar if I decided to dye my own yarn.

Work news

Well, I got a shock this afternoon. I'm still kind of mulling it over. I'm getting my own office. For the last 5 years I've shared an office with the staff writer. However, I no longer have an office on the main level. It will be down in the basement.

I've never had my own office before and to be moved to an office that doesn't have windows is a bit much for me at the moment. What a way to end the week huh?

Meanwhile I keep trying to come up with positives to having my own office. And, of course, being moved is much better than losing my job. It's just that I'm not up for this particular change. I'm not gonna have an office mate anymore and that's gonna take some getting used to. In a way, this reminds me of the seinfield episode where George had to keep showing up to work because of his contract and his work kept making things more difficult for him and they ultimately moved him to an office supply closet. ... But we aren't the only office that's gonna be moved. ... but I don't know of anyone else who is being moved to the basement.

A quick check in

Well, I have no pictures but felt I should do a quick check in.

I'm currently working on Seascape from knitty.com. I have been working on this since last weekend and I gotta say I haven't progressed very far. It finally clicked this weekend and I finished the first part of the pattern. I am enjoying the pattern and discovered a Knit-a-long over on ravelry. Cool! I'm learning a couple of new stitches for it. Thank goodness for knittinghelp.com.

And I'm using some of my new options needles for this project. Oh, OH OOOOH, I love these needles. It is *so* nice to not have to fight with my needles. I bought the steel tip options rather than the harmony's. But I did get the harmony DPNs. Still haven't had a chance to try those out though.

I've also been spinning a little bit each night for Tour de Fleece. I still haven't finished a bobbins worth of my bluebell colonial top though. But that's okay cause I'm still working on making a more even yarn. I'm getting better at drafting though. It's nice not to have to draft a bunch before hand. Practice, practice, practice.