Pioneer Woman... Book review?? lol

I hadn't been a fan of Pioneer Woman-Ree Drummond, only because I didn't know that much about her.  My wonderful sister gave me a copy of "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels" for Mother's Day. This book is the story of how she met the infamous Marlboro Man and how their relationship developed.  I had heard a little bit about her husband "Marlboro Man"  and was curious to know the rest of the story.

For those of you who might not be familiar with The Pioneer Woman (yeah right), she is a blogger who has been entertaining readers since 2006 with her stories of  transition from city life to a rancher's life and all the recipes that go along with it. 

I began reading this book and could not put it down.  My eyes blurred and teared (from weariness and laughter).  I read every available moment.  I seldom devour books like this anymore. I think it has something to do with the 3 children my husband and I are raising...At any rate, I finished my book shortly after receiving it. I loved it.  Every word. I even spent a few days in a mini-funk because I was done living in Ree and Marlboro Man world. We actually had quite a bit in common.

If ever I could recommend a book that would make a person feel good-even though there are a few parts that aren't happy, this would be the one.  As I would read into the night next to my snoring husband, I could even overlook the 100 decibel snores emanating from his head.  I could do this because Ree's book made me remember the reasons why I fell in love with him in the first place. 

I even made her Chicken Spaghetti recipe (from the back of the book).  It's comfort food and I really needed some last week.  It was yummy.  Thanks Ree.


If you have the chance, I highly recommend "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels".  It's one I know I will go back and read again and again. :)

It's done, it's done, it's done! :)

After several months of knitting in seed stitch, my Great Niece's coat is finished!  This sweet little coat was to be one of her Christmas presents.  But it took this semi-experienced knitter, nearly 7 months to complete!  I didn't knit my every waking moment on it's completion.  There were several stops along the way attempting to decipher the instructions for button holes and the collar.  Both were ambiguous...to say the very least.  Fortunately, with the help of the experienced knitters around me, I finally finished it.  In the photo, the coat is  hanging on an adult size hanger and makes it appear disproportionate.  The coat is really a 24 month size and will hopefully fit my adorable little Great Niece for a very long time!

 

 I cannot wait to see "E" in her new coat! :)

I love these beautiful little buttons purchased at Enchanted Yarn and Fiber. At the time, they were in Russellville, Kentucky and have since moved and opened a lovely store in Sango (Clarksville), Tennessee.  The yarn is a Merino, Alpaca and Donegal Tweed blend in "Lemon Curd". (Mmm...the yarn was' purchased' and not spun by me, as I wanted a specific color and fiber blend).  I used ivory buttons and velvet ribbon.  I'm so pleased with this little coat.  I stepped outside my normal range of garments; mittens, hats, socks, scarves, etc., when I began this project.  Some parts were difficult, because of the poorly written pattern.  But overall, I'm very glad I trudged through it all.  Step outside your fiber or other comfort zone once in a while and see where it takes you.  You might be pleasantly surprised! 

Break-

I took a break on Friday afternoon, from all things fiber and otherwise to keep track of the impending weather doom.  I am very grateful the doom was not meant to be for us.  I managed to capture more beautiful clouds.  The sky was so angry, yet beautiful. When I'm able to put my fear aside, I see beauty. 

Isn't he adorable?

 "Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from."
Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

I think this is where I missed the boat...

I did not get this memo.  In the book from which this was taken, (shhh), I read where the author writes...not to be tempted to comb the warp.  @@  My guess is her warp doesn't contain 32 ends per inch (e.p.i.) Oh yes, and this weaver has a friend.  Maybe the cats will lend a hand/paw to help expedite matters! 

A demain mes amies!

Warping Tea Towels Alone without Tears.

I know there has got to a book out there by this name or-something similar...  There will always be snags in the whole weaving process.  It just goes with the territory.  However, this is one lesson, I seem destined to repeat over and over again. 

This is my lovely tea towel warp hanging in front of my loom-waiting for me to untangle it.  Sigh. Somewhere around here, I have really great wide toothed pick. It was part of an Estee Lauder gift.  What a great item for combing through tangled warps. Since it's currently missing,  I will use my fingers to comb and untangle.  Mind you, this happens to all weavers to some degree while transferring a warp from their mill or board.  This particular yarn has an affinity for sticking and in general making a mess of itself.  I remember winding this same material on my loom several years ago.  I was weaving  2 overshot (Orange Peel-pictured on the right side of my blog) table runners for my sister.  At that time however, my good friend Debra was here to help me.  It's ever so good to have 2 sets of hands (and such a good friend) when attempting this process!   I am cognizant of the fact that, one day, soon,  I will prevail...

The above is what I've already untangled and wound. For the time being, this will be my lesson in patience.  Heaven knows I need it.   Once I have it wound around the warp beam, it will be smooth sailing... I think.

Tea Towels

Well, after a weaving respite, I've finally begun the process of weaving 6 tea towels.  I've wound the warp, chained it off and transported it to my loom.  I'm always surprised when I begin this process.  While winding, any warp, there will be some variation in length on any given end.  Mine however always seem to be quite long on the end that was wound first. I suspect the problem is the pegs begin to push inward from the pressure of the warp thereby making subsequent windings shorter!.  So, I've tried to correct this by not winding the warp so tightly.  It never works.

At any rate,  I'm on my way to enjoying all the processes/steps of weaving.  Each one is quite distinct.  You can't go on to step B without fully completing step A.  This erases any confusion as to what comes next! It's just a small part of why I love weaving.  If you follow my drift, you're a weaver.  If you don't follow, I apologize.

With my next blog entry, I'll include some photos and maybe it will be clearer as to what I'm doing! :)

Happy weaving! (to me)

Sunsets and Ethereal Clouds

I am absolutely enamored with clouds.  This is two in a series I took the 2/15/11.  The shape and color of a cloud at sunset changes with such rapid speed.  Unless each photo is taken very quickly, what you get is an ever changing array of glorious colors and shapes-all painted by God.  I'm just the lucky girl capturing tiny little fragments of such masterful art.

:)

Energy?

What is this stuff.  The hubby, was not feeling well this morning, so he took the day off.  I got the little people ready for school and dropped them off.  I came back to the house and had my coffee/Frasier/knitting ritual. I don't like to miss that and it appears that I may be doing exactly that soon!  -More about that later though.  I proceeded to get up and start cleaning my kitchen. This job was long overdue.  I worked on laundry, installed a new ink cartridge in the printer, folded laundry... bla bla bla.  It's odd for me to have this much energy lately.  It's all part of the no/low motivation to do things creative or otherwise.  As I was in my cleaning frenzy, I remembered my outing to the YMCA yesterday. I took a friend's 'yoga stretch' class and afterward, walked about 3/4 mil on a treadmill. I wonder if the small amount of exercise I had is contributing to my slightly higher than normal, energy level... This is something with which I can ponder and experiment.

As the miles and miles I have to go pass by me ever so slowly, it's occurring to me that I will need to go find some type of employment.  Then I will have an even better excuse to not be creative.  Unless someone can come up with a way for me to earn a regular paycheck and be creative as well....  ;)

At least my house will be cleaner than normal today-and on any day, that is a good thing.

Happy Jumpin' Lambie. :)

Happy Thursday. I haven't made any diabolical plans yet for my loom. I'm not amused either.  I have frittered away yet another morning.   I've begun to wind a warp for tea towels.. But whole idea isn't really very exciting.   I think I need to use my little Happy Jumpin' Lambie as my mascot and muse.  Maybe she will help provide me with some direction. 

In the Spring, there will be a number of Fiber Festivals taking place.  I'm usually a vendor at two of them.  With the economy tanking, the festivals I attended last year were so unfruitful.  I'm considering dropping away from both of them.  If I manage to weave some interesting things and price them unreasonably low, I might have a little more profit.  Weaving is incredibly labor intensive.  There is no real overhead for me since I have so much fiber stored away.  So, I would be losing out on labor in the end.   :::shrug:::  Taking a negative view of all this so incredibly  counterproductive.  So, I need to get up from the computer, walk over to my warping board and get busy, right??!!  Yes!  So, it looks like some beautiful, reasonably priced, handwoven tea towels for me....!

A Winter's day

It's snowing again.  I really love that 'snowed in'  feeling on a Winter's day. (even though I know we're really not)   Each time we've had the opportunity to be 'snowed in' this Winter, I have thought of the song. "I am a Rock".   I'm not nearly as jaded as the person in the song.   It's not December and I'm certainly not shielded in my armor..@@  But some parts of the song resonate with me for some unknown reason. I do love this season.  There's not much snow here in the Mid-South, so I have to treasure what I get.  These days fill me with a longing to start and complete projects having artistic value.  So, as my children play a video game together and laugh wildly, I will sit with my glass of wine and computer and plan my artistic escape for tomorrow- when they're all home again-snowbound, stir crazy for the 13th time this school year....  So tune in tomorrow to see what diabolical plan I have devised for my own amusement...

 

 

A Winter's day

In a deep and dark December;

I am alone,

Gazing from my window to the streets below

On a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.

I am a rock,

I am an island.

I've built walls,
A fortress deep and mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain.
It's laughter and it's loving I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

Don't talk of love,
But I've heard the words before;
It's sleeping in my memory.
I won't disturb the slumber of feelings that have died.
If I never loved I never would have cried.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

I have my books
And my poetry to protect me;
I am shielded in my armor,
Hiding in my room, safe within my womb.
I touch no one and no one touches me.
I am a rock,
I am an island.

And a rock feels no pain;
And an island never cries.

 

-Simon and Garfunkel

My friend Diana found a photo of a sheep in a garter belt, stockings and stilettos.  So naturally she sent it to me. I wrote the first line of this poem as a status update the other day when it was raining so hard, I thought I should be building a moat.  Diana in her creativeness wrote the rest..

There's a moat around my house - I didn't put it there....
I need a boat - so I can motor my way outta here ....

If sheep could fly, I'd have it easy - wouldn't have a care ...
But they wear heels and they're lazy -- so I'll shave them bare!

Diana's a funny girl...  :)