O.k. these are silk hankies.  The ones in the bag look really crumpled but they are just folded.  The one that is unfolded is what I'm working on.  You can see why it's called a "hankie."   It's actually a pile of really thin (really thin) layers of silk fibers.  The second picture shows the pile of fiber and the third picture shows some of it spun up. I should have put something in the picture for scale but I didn't think of it.  Basically you start in the middle and pull it farther and farther out so you can draft.  I'm kind of not "drafting" much it's more of a lot of pre-drafting.  I don't know how much of that is normal and how much is just me.  The fibers are really long so you can pull it far apart but it feels so weird and sounds like it's ripping.  I'm not enjoying it a ton so it may take me a wile.  I'll finish it eventually.

On Saturday we took my daughter half way to my sister-in-law's house.  She will be staying there this week and going to a day camp.  She loves going to her aunt's house every year.  It was fun to sit at IHOP and catch up with them.  It's not that my sister-in-law won't take Mooky for a week it's that he has some behavior issues that I think would make it hard for them to deal with him.  He is getting better so maybe in a year or so but not this one.    

For crafting, besides the spinning I have a lot of socks on the needles.  I have been working on my blue socks and actually finished one and am just past the heel on the other one. It fits better than any other sock I have made.  I made them parallel to to each other (toe, toe, foot, foot, heel, heel etc.).  One sock from the outside of the cake and one from the inside.  The coloring will be opposite but I was more concerned with making sure the numbers were the same from sock to sock.  After the heel I added stitches and went from a US size 1 to a size 2.  I am using the numbers to adjust the next socks I make so they fit even better.  I started another pair of socks for my son.  He has small feet so I thought I could get him a pair out of one small ball but now I'm not so sure.  I will make him a short cuff and maybe that will make me able to get two socks out of the ball.  I have one sock just past the heel.  For some reason I even started another pair.  This one is a stripy pair for me.  I'm only a few inches past the toe on the first sock.  I have heard people say they enjoy stripy socks because they just want to get to the next stripe.  I would like that, but in this yarn some of the stripes are a little thick.  I took pictures of all these projects and show you them over the next few days. The last thing is that I am working on is another sleep sack for donation.  I did finish the last one but I'm not sure I really like it. I may get around to showing you that eventually.

As far as watching goes I haven't done anything new.  I tried to show It's Okay. That's Love to my husband. He didn't seem to enjoy it as much as I do. It was late so that played a part but I guess I'll just watch it by myself.  We have been keeping up on most of our anime.  We are watching Baby Steps (tennis), Haikyu! (volleyball) and Free! Eternal Summer (swimming).   I generally don't like sports anime but I like these.  We saw the first episode of Sailor Moon Crystal but we have fallen behind.  I really enjoy Haikyu!  I also recently finished Sword Art Online.  I had started it when it came out but got distracted and stopped watching.  It was o.k. in the first half but I kind of liked the plot better in the second half till right at the end (half is the wrong word but I'm not sure how to explain it without spoiling).  The last few episodes get really creepy and "triggery." I was surprised when the rest of the anime was kind of fighting with some romance but that was really adult.  The only other thing I have been watching is old episodes of Kitchen Nightmares.

I guess that's it for the weekend recap.  Lots of crafts and some TV.  It's kind of weird having my daughter gone.  It feels like we are off balance.  Right after she gets back we have to get ready for school.  Nothing else is going on.  Have a great day.

This is the finished Tour de Fleece yarn.  It measured to be 600 yds.  That seem really high compared to what I usually do.  Now that TDF is over I think I will avoid spinning for a wile.  I will show a picture of the finished shawl next time.  I did a double crochet edge to bind off.  I ended up with less than five yards left so I think I did well.  I'm stuck on the cupcake because I ran out of the chocolate color yarn.  I worked on the socks and turned the heel on one of them.  It seems to fit but it's also pulling so I think I will need to add stitches.  And lastly I worked on my charity knitting. I finished the project but now it's time to weave in the ends. bla.  Now that this is all written out I see I have worked on a lot of thing even if it doesn't seem like it. I even entered the shawl and they yarn in a bunch of "finished object" threads and Geek Noosphere.  Until I get more brown yarn I'll work on my socks and pull out the Totoros.

I listened to a lot of podcasts and I got caught up on In a Sknit and joined their group.  It wasn't hard to catch up because they only have 22 episodes.  The new podcast is Yarnivore. I can see why so many people like Sadie, she is so funny.  I think I'm going to really enjoy listening to all her episodes.   She also has a music theme so I think I may hear some new bands since she is Canadian.

I think the last thing is that I found a dyer that lives in the same town as my mom.  I think I'm going to have to buy from her since she is "local."  I think that's it.  I always fell like I have more to say but then I go to type and it gets shortened.  I'll see you next time.

Last night I finished plying the yarn.  I don't have a picture because it's hanging outside drying.  The picture is a polwarth fiber I got when I was in The Painted Tiger fiber club back in April 2011.  It looks a little felty (it's a word) because I didn't treat it well, it was much nicer when I got it originally.  I finished the shawl as well but I didn't block it yet.  I'm going to spin a little then I'll work on the cupcake.  So many projects. lol

I've just been watching a lot of In A Sknit.  Last night we had a movie party as well.  We watched Puss in Boots and Oz the Great and Powerful.  Puss in Boots was o.k. but not my thing.  You could tell they had fun with Oz... but if you have read/watched The Wizard of OZ you knew in the end of that story is that he is an old, lonely man so that makes it harder for me to enjoy it.

My biggest frustration right now is that my son chews on wood.  He has ruined more than one spindle so I wanted to buy a new one but it seems the company that I bought my favorite ones from has gone out of business.  I have more spindles but they aren't as nice or well made.  That's it for today.  I don't mean to leave it on a sad note but it's o.k., really.  I'll see you next time.

Here is the shawl I've been working on.  The yarn is undyed but looks yellow on the white background. You can see the beads in the ball but not really in the shawl. It's just a garter stitch with three stitches for a border. I started plying yesterday but I thought I should break up the spinning pictures.  I really need to get this plying done but it feels like it will take forever.  It may get a little faster now that the singles are a little thicker.

I listened to and caught up on all the podcasts that had a new episode out.  I also finished all the episodes of the Knit 1 Heart Too so today I started In a Sknit.  I joined the Knit 1 Heart Too group so now they will added to my list to check every week. Tomorrow all the kdrama shows I watch should be translated so I'll try to catch up.

We have been doing o.k. with our home work and chores but not so much on the exercise. Today we made duct tape bags following a pattern we found in a free ebook on amazon.  The pattern wasn't hard or anything but it was time consuming and a little tedious at times.  My son's turned out the size of a purse and my daughter's turned out long and shallow. Tomorrow I think we may try sewing again.  I'm still trying to get some swimming, the park and more Letter Boxing in before the end of the summer.  School starts in one month.  

My sister, K, is actually in Sipan right now (it's a little island near Guam).  She got a job at a hotel there for six moths with an option to stay if they like her work after that. She has asked for letters and has sent postcards out.  We wrote her some postcards but haven't had a chance to mail them because I don't have any stamps.  Amey and I got postcards but Mooky didn't.  I think his is just lost in the mail but he ran to his bedroom crying that Aunt K didn't love him.

Writing postcards made me miss when we used to do Postcrossing.  We got and sent postcards all over the world and I have a photo album full of the postcards.  I would love to do it again but I stopped because of the price.  We used to be able to send a post card anywhere with a first class stamp (about .45 at the time) but there was a rate change and even though it was only a postcard if it was going overseas it was 1.10.  That was a big difference and just too much of an expense.

I guess that's it after all my rambling.  I'll see you next time.    

I finished the singles.  The last few inches were terrible because my hands were sweating and the wool was felting.  The job today is to wind off all the singles onto a a ball winder.  It's a very slow process because I don't have a lazy kate so I have to do it by hand.  I can't unwind it too much or it will get tangled.  Once I finish that I will take an end from the outside of the cake and one from the inside and make a plying ball.  My hand spun that I have made recently I my yarn has come out kind of stiff and hard. I have two theories as to why this is.  The first is that there is too much tension on  the yarn when I ply and I think making a plying ball will fix this.  The other problem I think my be my finishing.  I usually just let time take care of setting the twist but I think washing and/or soaking will help as well.  I'll let you know how it works.  I haven't worked on the socks or the cupcake but I really wanted to cast on something new that was mindless.  About two years ago I made a yarn that was beaded and I wanted to use it.  I found a patter I thought it would work but because the beads are actually in the yarn they sometimes fall to the back of the shawl.  I'm trying to decide if I should keep going and just not care if the beads are on the back or look for another patter.  I'll let you know what I decide.

I have just been watching tons of Knit 1 Heart Too right now.  After Tour de Fleece (France) I think I may have a WOW marathon.  I'll try to go back to kdrama next week.  We went to a birthday party for a little three year old and even though I just sat and watched the kids play I got really tired.  I feel better a now that I'm home.  I'm sure I'm o.k. but it was really weird.  I guess that's about it.  I'll talk to you next week.  

This is the day 11 spin.  There was an interesting peach color that got covered up.  I feel like I'm finally getting to the end of fiber.  I really haven't been doing anything more than the spinning.  I was kind of wondering why and I figured out that with the kids home I'm doing less in general but also I've been reading before bed instead of knitting or crochet.  I'm reading Kalahari Typing School for Men which is the fourth book in the #1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. I think you aren't going to see much besides the spinning for a wile.

I forgot to talk about Running Man.  I did watch it and it was o.k. but not great.  There was some funny bits at the beginning but it was fairly predictable.  They used the Little Prince/ French Village that always makes me think of Joong Ki.  I kind of haven't been in the mood for kdrama.  I was going to watch High School King of Savvy but everyone was saying that it's very emotional so I think I'll weight till next week.  I wanted to watch Absolute Boyfriend but there is something with the adds that makes it hard to try to watch.  An add for some weird game shows up directly over the play button and I haven't been able to figure out how to get it to close (but I haven't tried very hard).  Yesterday I caught up on all my podcasts that had new episodes.

The weather is still nice but school is coming soon.  The stores are starting to put out school supplies and registration is at the end of the month.  There isn't really anything else to say so I'll see you next time.

Yesterday was a rest day for Tour de France (and Fleece) but since I have taken a few days off already I spun this yesterday.  I think I said I was starting on a new spindle but I don't think I showed it before.  I finally feel like I am making some progress and will be done with the singles soon.  When I finish them I will wind the singles off the spindle with a skein winder, then I will make a two ply starting with each end.  I really haven't been doing anything else besides spinning.  I haven't even been working on my socks.  Maybe I'll work on it some tonight.

We really haven't been doing anything else around here.  My husband turned 40 but we didn't really do anything for him.  He doesn't like cake (well frosting) and on top of that last year for Christmas he got himself a PS4 and that is kind of his present for all gift giving holidays till next Christmas.  We are supposed to be going out for steak on Sunday for his birthday.  His friend is taking him out for steak on Saturday as well so he is happy about having steak two days in a row.  I don't think I have anything else to say.  I'll see you next time.

Look how full this spindle is.  It's over 400 yds of a two play, all together I have over 1300 yds.  At the end of this I'll post a picture of all three skeins together.  I can't remember when I spun it but it's done now.  I started doing my pink for TDF on that spindle.  I worked on the socks a lot.  I did the heel and it was way to small.  The heel wasn't hard ( a little fiddly at first) but the foot of the sock was too short so even with the heel it barely went to the end of my heel.  The pattern suggested putting in a life line and I did so it was easy to rip back to the start of the heel.  I'm making the foot about an inch longer then I will try the heel again.  Next time I make socks I want to try another toe.  I did block and take pictures of the Trillian so I can put a picture of that next time.  It's a little frustrating to have to rip out so much knitting.

I just watched a lot of Knit 1 Heat Too yesterday. We haven't done anything else interesting this week.  The golf tournament ends tomorrow so we should do more things next week.  I've been watching a bunch of make up videos just for fun.  I finished Morality For Beautiful Girls, that is the third book int the #1 Ladies Detective Agency books.  I think that's it.  Maybe I'll be more interesting nest time.  See you then.

Here is the day 3 picture (I didn't spin on day 2).  I doesn't look any different to me.  I also had to spend fifteen minutes untangling it because my son played with it.  I don't think he even knew he was playing with it just rolling something around that was in his reach.  I'll have to keep better care of it.  I started the border in the Trillian.  I left out the increase stitch so it would be an odd number.  Maybe I can finish that up tonight so I can concentrate on the cupcake.  I think I missed a row on the cupcake but I don't think that will hurt it anything.  I'm kind of a "fly by the seat of your pants" crafter.

Yesterday I played WOW.  The biggest development was that I got to level 300 with my fishing.  Not terrible exciting.  Today is not going quite as well as yesterday but it's not bad.  Yesterday my daughter got her expander out so this week, till they put more metal in her mouth, she can have all the food she wasn't allowed to have.  She is excited to have sticky candy and we are having corn on the cob with dinner tonight. Isn't it such an exciting life I lead?  I'll see you later.  

This is what I did on Saturday for the first day of Tour de Fleece.  It was something I had already started so I didn't do it all on Saturday just a bunch.  I'll spin more today.  I'm almost done with the Trillian.  The problem I'm having is that it says to end on an odd number of stitches and I must have done something wrong because I have an even number on that side.  Since you add one stitch per row there will always be even stitches on that side so I'll have to fudge it.  I did charity knitting yesterday and I kind of didn't enjoy it.  It's not that it's not a good project, it's more that dealing with a nice wool blend then switching to acrylic isn't much fun.

On Saturday I switched between WOW and watching old episodes of Knit 1 Hear 2.  I'm exactly a year behind now.  I plan to watch In a Snit next since they are from Illinois like me.  For WOW I finished Darkshore for my Loremaster title and can move on to the next area.  It was hard to find those last two quests.  Yesterday I caught up on Running Man and High School King of Savvy just in time for the new episodes to come out.  The first half of the Running Man episode was fun but the second half was a quiz game and not as much fun. They need to go back to name tag ripping, I miss it.  The next episode looks like it could be fun.  High School King of Savvy is fun and cute kind of in the same way as Protect the Boss was.  I need to finish Absolute Boyfriend as well.  Today I think I'll play WOW again but I'm not sure how much spinning that will get me.

It's really nice today so I need to make my son go outside.  If I don't force him out he will watch TV the rest of the day.  We did really well getting back on track with school work and house work.  I did some exercises.  I haven't done that in almost a month so I just walked in place for fifteen minutes and I could feel it a a little.  Today is the start of the big golf tournament so it's really inconvenient trying to get anything done.    I know it helps the local economy but it is a bit of a pain in the but with all the extra traffic and people.  I guess that's it for now.  See you next time.

It's rainy today so the color is off but here is the red shawl. It's The age of Brass and Steam by Orange Flower Yarn and it's free on Ravelry.  A few years ago I bought 6 oz of bamboo from Butterfly Girl Designs on Etsy and I have had it spun up for a wile but I just got around to knitting it.  It's 64" x 21" so it's not as deep as I would have liked but it's o.k.  I didn't weave the ends in either.  For some reason one side seems longer than the other but I'm not sure if it really is or it just got blocked bigger.  Today starts Tour de Fleece (and France) so I've been spinning today.  I feel like I'm not getting much done but we'll see how much I can get done.  I'll take pictures of it the day after because I want good light for the picture.  I still plan to do charity knitting tomorrow but will spin again on Monday.  I worked a bit on Trillian and it will be my waiting room / before bed knitting.  I really need to work on the cup cake but it may be a wile before I get to it.  

I played WOW yesterday and had fun talking on WOW with someone from the kdrama group on Ravelry.  Other than that there isn't anything I have going on right now.  Sorry this is a short post.  I'll try to remember to post on Monday.  See you then.   

Spinning!  I haven't been doing much lately.  On the last Homespun House that I watched she got a spindle and she said "This is heavy, so for plying or making worsted weight."  I don't know how heavy her spindle is but the spindle in the picture is about 2 oz.  This is often considered heavy for a spindle and I think my singles are very thin.  For me I prefer the heaver spindles, all my favorites are around the 2 oz mark.  The fiber is The Painted Tiger.  She's local (about 45 minutes form me) and she likes rainbows so she gets my money.  lol

I ended up just listening to podcasts yesterday so I'll play WOW today.  Listening to Knitting in Circles is making me want to spin more but I have so many project. I did get the repeat done on my daughter's sock.  I figure I will increase after the seventh repeat since it's only two stitches.  I don't think that will matter in the grand scheme of things.  I can see how if I had been doing the yarn overs correctly the hearts would have shown up better.  My husbands sweater has been cast on an ripped out three times now.  I'm going to try it one more time.  If I can't get it I'll put it away for a couple of days.  That's all I'm working on right now.

Yesterday we went to get spacers put in Amey's teeth.  The first step to braces.  If the braces were just for straightening teeth I would wait for her adult teeth but apparently her jaw doesn't sit right or something so she is going to have a ton of stuff in her mouth for the next three years.  When we got to the waiting room there was a lady knitting.  Amey wanted to pile her stuff in the corner and I said, “You know I can’t sit there”  When she wanted to know why I said, “Because she’s knitting. I have to sit by her.” The lady was startled for a second but then asked if I knit.  I said "Yes I don't go to a waiting room without it."  She was working with some purple and silver (where the silver was wrapped around the purple like Christmas yarn) that looked acrylic.  She said she was making a poncho for her sister. She said she would also add some crochet flowers with pretty button centers. Wile that is not my style I hope her sister really likes it.  She said she works with home care and one of her clients was teaching her.  She had never heard about Ravelry so I told her.  I always try to sell people on the free patterns and once they get there I think they will be hoked.  I had to go pay so I didn't get to talk to her for long but I hope she joins Ravelry and has fun.  It would also be fun if her sister lived in the area and I saw the poncho in the wild.

It's snowing again/still.  It was a work out to get to the bus stop when the snow was up to my knees.  My son was a little freaked out how far he was sinking in the snow.  It's still snowing a little and the roads are bad.  I secretly think they didn't cancel school today because there were so many days off for weather already.  It's definetly a hot coco day.

I spun this yarn in July of 2012.  Tomorrow I'll show you the Shawl I made from it. 

Yesterday I went to get the tire fixed.  I took my husband's sock to knit wile I waited.  The people came to inspect our apartment.  Technically we failed.  It was because the utility closet wasn't clear around the water heater.  The reason it was a mess in there was because every thing got thrown in since they were coming.  I will straighten it out tomorrow and they will inspect it again on Monday.  I know I'm weird but that stressed me out.  I ended up doing more or less nothing from then till today.  I did watch kdram and frog a sweater I have been meaning to frog for a wile.  The pieces are soaking and hanging in an attempt to get the wrinkles out. 

The drama I've been watching is called Secret.  It's different and I would call it a melodrama .  I would love to say all my feeling on it but I really don't want to spoil.  I started it yesterday and I'm on episode 9 now.  Basically it is the story of a woman in love and the bad choice she makes for that love and the fall out around it. The other girls in the Ravelrey group (I call them the "naughty girls" because some of them are about their biases) were call her a doormat and in need of a spine.  I disagree.  She is naive and made one critical bad choice but other than that she is doing the best she can in the situation she is in.  As a supplement to this story is the decent of a man from idealistic and noble to power hungry and malicious.  There is a scene that is very interesting where he is watching something unfold and his look of anger and madness as he is laughing and crying at the same time.  It was kind of creepy.  I cried so you might too.  If you are looking for this be careful because there is another show with the same name (I think it's Taiwanese) about music school or something. 

A wile back I made a purple sweater from a plus size crochet book I got for .25 at the library.  I had interesting bell sleeves but other than that it didn't have shaping as it had one button at the bust.  Because it was a cotton linen blend I threw it in the wash on cold and laid it flat to dry.  There was a mesh section on the sleeves and it stretched so the sleeves where very weird and big.  I've been meaning to frog it for a wile now but hadn't gotten around to it.  I signed up to test a shrug an it calls for the yarn that is in the sweater (well dk weight) and so I had motivation to frog it.  The designer has made a new stitch so this should be interesting.

As a side note to be clear, most of the pictures I am showing are older unless other wise noted.  I didn't know if that was clear.  Once I run out of old pictures I will put more in progress ones of what I'm working on right now.  I think that's it.  I'm writing so late I may not really have much to say tomorrow.  Sorry. 

These are the fingerless gloves that I test crochet for.  The pattern is available now.  It's the Easy Textured Fingerless Gloves by Titti Sigillo, I think it's around $3.  It's really easy and quick if you need some last minute  Christmas gifts.  My only thing is that I would like the cuff a row or two longer but that's an easy fix.

My husband had to work yesterday from 5pm till 2am then again today from 11am till 8pm. (I will not get on my soap box about how Black Friday should start on Friday not Thursday).  I purposely kept the children up till midnight last night so they would sleep in and be quiet for him.  It worked but it made the day get started late.  On the plus side even with the weird schedule I did get my exercises done.  Yesterday was just a quiet lazy day. My daughter  made me a purple wool shop with a herd of colorful sheep in the back using Mincraft creative mode.  I thought it was really sweet.

On Wednesday I listened to a lot of podcasts.  Mostly old episodes of Knitting Pipeline.  I'm up to episode 101 in that.  Yesterday I watched Running Man.  I liked the grasshopper hunting episode.  I'm only on episode 70 of that.  I'm watching more Running Man today also, I just don't feel like playing WOW right now.

Wile I listened to podcasts I worked on my husband's socks.  I got one done and turned the heel on the second but didn't get them done in time for this round of NerdWars.  I did submit them for half points.  I'll post a picture in the next few days.  I've been spinning wile watching Running Man because even thought the sock pattern is simple it's too complicated to read at the same time especially when they talk fast.  I feel like I'm finally making some progress on that.  I also almost finished a shepherds costume yesterday too, it just needs to be hemmed.  We got the names for name draw and they aren't getting hand knits/ crochet so that's off the list. I feel like I'm making good progress even if I am running late today. 

I feel like I had something else to say but I don't remember right now so it must not be important right?  I hope everyone had a great day yesterday. :)

Here is some beautiful yarn I spun.  I didn't wind it well but it's really pretty.  I'm not sure what the yardage is. 

I'm a little sad with WOW.  I realized that my level 90 is pretty much done for now.  My computer is not able to run raids or anything else.  She's just has to wait till I get a new computer.  Of course I could do dailies and farming (I mean in Half Hill) but that is kind of boring.  I may start a new toon to make up for it.  I still have my lower toons to work on but it was still a little sad.

Yesterday I had an anime day.  My husband and I sat down and watched a bunch of anime to see what we liked and what we didn't.  There is still a bit more we want to see but it's a start.  Next time I have a kdrama day I'll go back to Running Man and pick a new drama to watch.  It's not that I don't like anime anymore but nothing has grabbed me. 

Today I doing a podcast day.  I got an invitation to a new podcast (they only have one episode) but I am having a terrible time getting it to load.  It looks like it will be a good one.  I'm looking forward to working on my sweater.  I'm still not sure how much to increase the sleeves.  I guess as long as it's too big and not to small.  On my Hitchhiker I have 32 "teeth."  I'm really hoping to get to 35 but the ball is getting small.  I need to make more things otherwise I'll run out of pictures.

I did do exercises today.  I marched and plan to add the jogging back on Wednesday.  I got warm almost sweaty but I think that is because my husband put the heat up to high.  It's our little battle as he gets cold easy.  Nothing exciting going on here. :)

Here is the scarf that eventually got made from yesterday's yarn.  My daughter likes pink, what can I say.

Yesterday I listened to old episodes of "Knitting Pipeline." I when I listen to a "new to me" podcast I start from the beginning.  I'm in the 30's somewhere and she has over a 140 episodes so that is what I'm listening to if my regular shows aren't updated.  It's an audio only podcast but I like her soothing voice.  I like that she has kind of "been there, done that" with knitting.  She lives only about two hours (at the most) from me so if I ever go to a fiber event (I haven't been to any in a wile) I might actually run into her.  It's fun (for me) to listen to her talk about nature.  Living in Illinois all my life I can relate to some of the birds and weather she talks about. 

As far as crafts I finished plying the yarn I was making, it took longer than I hoped it would.  Many people finish their yarn but soaking and waking (hitting it against something hard to felt it a bit to set the twist).  I don't do this because I let time set the twist.  I don't think I have ever used my yarn less than a month after it's made.  Usually it's at least 6 months to a year.  I'm not sure if this is what I'm "supposed" to do but it seems ok so far.  One thing I didn't say about NerWars is that October is just one round and there are three rounds.  You can enter a project that is called a "dissertation" that at your skill level you think will take you all three months.  I plan on making my first knit sweater.  To make a dissertation you first have to submit a proposal with a swatch so I made some swatches for that.  The sweater I plan to make doesn't have my size listed so I made two swatches, one with the needles called for and one on needles the next size up.  Since the swatches are acrylic I'm going to throw them in with the next load of laundry I do.  I'm also going to talk to my team mates (who are more experienced knitters than I am) about the results of the swatch to see what the easiest way to size up the sweater.

Today is Kdrama day.  I'm actually not watching and dramas right not, I'm watching what is called a "variety show" called Running Man.  It is similar to what in the U.S. might be called a "reality show."  There are regulars and every week they have a celebrity guest (or guests).   They go to a land mark and play different games like trying to sing right lyrics to a song (if they fail they get a blast of air in the face), or quiz games (have to act out the word to get the others to guess it).  Some of the games are rigged and some are not (the audience knows what games are rigged but not always the contestants).  It usually ends with a hide and seek game where the hiding team has a mission to accomplish and the seeking team wears bells on their shoes.  There are some "in jokes" and some things are a little lost in translation but some things they do are so funny I almost fall off my chair laughing.  It's not the kind of show that everyone will enjoy and trying to explain to my husband or children why I'm laughing so hard is difficult.  Right now I don't recognize most of the celebrities but I think that will change as I get to more recent episodes.  (Yes I started from episode 1 and there are 160)

For crafting I am making spider bookmarks.  I made them for my daughter a few years ago to give to her class instead of candy for Halloween now it's my son's turn.  His birthday is the week before Halloween so they may go to school for that and give out pencils for Halloween but we will see.  I need to ask the teacher how many students she has but I figure if I plan on making 24 that should be about right.  I waited till today so that I could fit it in a NerdWars challenge and there is a perfect one.  One of the challenges is to be inspired by the zoo.  I went to the zoo in St. Paul (Minnesota) this summer and they had a whole tropical rain forest set up (it didn't have many fences) and they had one display with a big tarantula in it.  The other thing I want to do is work with some yarn I got from a club.  It's going to take lots of swatching.  It is variegated with very short color repeats.  Someone showed me a computer program that you can input how many stitches of each color so you can make it pool on purpose. I want to try this but I need to make some decisions on needle size and things like that first.  When I started getting into crochet and knitting I didn't realize there would be so much math. :)

Ah exercise. Eventually Tuesday and Thursday will be my strength days (push ups, sit ups etc.) but for now  I'm trying to concentrate on my walking.  The boxer type dog was very well behaved but I really would not like to meet any more dogs when walking alone.  There is a little field behind the apartment complex I live in and one of my sisters suggested, as boring as it may be, to just walk around and around it.  Not thrilling but it would solve my dog problem till I can figure out something else.  That's it for today, it was much longer than I thought it would be I hope that's ok.

Here is some crochet jewelry I tried to do.  It's made from wire and beads.  I like the look but it's stiff so not fun to wear.

So today's topic is: What I do all day.  I'm a stay at home mom right now but both my kids are in school.  I wasn't always a SAHM and I will have to work out side the home again at some point.  I know I'm lucky and I probably take advantage of it too much but since I have the time I'm going to use it.  What I do is rotate between WOW, podcasts and Kdrama.  I'll have a day for each and split my time between one of those and house work.  For example if I listen to/ watch a podcast for an hour I spend the next hour working on housework.  I could probably do a better on the house but the built in timers (of a show ending) help me not sit on my butt all day (I am also very careful to play WOW for only an hour).  If I didn't break up the tasks I'd either be overwhelmed by what I need to do with the house or I would sit in front of the TV all day and get nothing done.  It feels like a good compromise for me.  What this blog will probably end up being is something along the lines of "this is what I watched/played yesterday." Wile I do these activities I also craft.  When I play WOW I don't craft much.  If I have a long flight or have to scan the auction house I do something but being a mage I don't have very long flights most of the time.  If I do craft it's  something really simple that can be picked up and put down easily like spinning or an easy crochet project (granny square).  If it's my podcast day I usually do something more complicated unless I need something finished on a deadline.   Since I can just listen I can concentrate on something that is harder for me which at this time is usually knitting.  If it's my Kdrama day I usually spin because I don't really have to look at my hands and can read the subtitles.  So in addition to "this is what I did," I will also be saying "this is what I'm working on." Partially to keep me on track and to see my progress and partially because it's fun to show off.  I need to craft faster because I want to make all the things. :) I want to post pictures of finished object but in progress too sometimes.  If any of you are out there are better at the crafts (or the nerdery) than I am you can help me perfect it.  I have a couple of thing that I that I still want to say but once those are out of my system then the posts should get shorter. 

Here is a baby blanket I made.  It's just a giant granny square.  I think my sister got this one.  I've been working on my photography skills since then. 

Ok now for the fun stuff, my craftiness.  I feel like I was always a crafty person.  I like to take stringy or flat things and make them into something useful.  My dad's mom was a craft instructor in the Chicago park district and knew how to do so many thing.  Knitting, crochet, painting, millinery and more.  My other grandma took apart my grandpa's pea coat to make coats for her daughters.  Between the two I think it may be a bit genetic. :) When I was about 10 I visited my paternal grandma and she gave me some cheap plastic needles and a hook and taught me knit and crochet.    I broke the needles in the car on the way home but tried to keep the crochet up. Sadly my mom, as smart as she is (she does calculus for fun) is not crafty and couldn't really help me.  I remember making friendship bracelets with embroidery floss and selling them to the kids in the neighborhood for .25. I remember getting some fabric samples from somewhere and trying to sew them together to make a Barbie blanket.  I tried to make a baby doll dress too, by tracing around the doll but forgot to account for the width of the doll.  When I was in fifth grade or so we got some sewing lessons from a lady at church who used to be a home ec. teacher.  I like sewing but the prep and the ironing weren't fun.  I didn't do many crafts in high school but when I went to college a couple of the girls were learning to crochet so I picked it up again.  The internet was still new then so I learned mostly from books I got from the library and a couple of people saying "why don't you try it this way?"  I took to it like a duck to water.  Well sort of.  Now when I look back at pictures of how I was holding the hook or the projects and cringe.  The first craft book I purchased was "Vanna's Afghans A to Z".  For a wile in college and our first few years being married I worked at Jo-Ann's.  I enjoyed being around so many creative people and things (also the discount and knowing about the sales).  When I got married I made my flower girls' dresses and did a lot of the decorations myself.  I started making tons of baby blankets in the one big granny square style (I hate joining so it worked).  I had a hard time finding garment crochet patterns that didn't look stiff and dated so I made more blankets.  I tried to pick up knitting again but I just couldn't figure out how to make it work and figured I would just be a crocheter. We (my husband and I) joined a reenactment group (more on that in nerdery) and since you can't prove crochet for that time period I decided to start spinning (I sewed for that too).  I bought a kit from Ebay and started to see what I could do.  The yarn was blue and poorly dyed because it came off all over my hands and the spindle.  The spindle was a heaver bottom whorl and I pre drafted. It turned out chunky and even thought I pre drafted I found myself fixing it even thinner.  I never learned park and draft as is usually suggested and it still turns out ok.  I eventually figured out how to use a top whorl but I find it "more fiddly" than the bottom whorl. About three years ago I discovered Ravelry (I'm Galdriel on there) and  my world opened up.  There were so many patterns and they didn't all look old.  There were people who didn't look down on crochet and groups of people who like the things I do.  I tried to pick up knitting again and I got the knit stitch but I couldn't for the life of me figure out purl. Someone on Rav., when I complained about it, suggested continental knitting.  It worked!  I'm not a good knitter by any means (yet) but I can actually do it.  I still do some sewing but I don't like all the prep work (washing fabric, ironing, etc.).  I also own a small triangle loom but I don't use it much.   So now my house is full of yarn and some fabric and I enjoy it.  This was a long explanation of my crafting but it was fun to reminisce.  If you have any questions let me know.  :)