Ornaments...

I put some ornaments on the other tree this morning. I love seeing all the old ones I have had for years.

On the left here is an ornament my oldest daughter Heather made from an egg carton. It used to have a few more and some little bells. But it's only about 30 years old, so some things have fallen off. But I always put it on the tree.

The round ball in the middle is Heather's 1st ornament, from 1979. It goes on every year too.

And the little red box is an ornament our good friend Libby made for one of her Sunday school classes that Abby was in. 1983. I miss Libby so much. She died this past March, from a long battle with cancer. Still can't believe the Lord took her so soon.

And this is a little card a friend of Heather's gave her in school way back in 1987. I still put this on the tree every year too. Funny how certain things just mean so much this time of year.

This is my oldest grand daughter, Chloe. I made one of these for all 3 of my grand daughters for 2003. And I try to get them each their own ornament that has something to do with what they like, so they can have them when they get their own trees.

The little mice in the stocking is one of many ceramic ornaments I made a few years after my husband and I were married back in '78. A friend's sister had a ceramic studio and I'd go make some ornaments there. I made several of these little mouse ornaments.

 This is Coryn's, the middle child. She loves shoes.



And of course Kansas, the youngest.

I do wish each of you the merriest of Christmas' and the best new year ever!

Merry Christmas y'all!

                             Just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a very merry Christmas!

Lots of spinning going on in the studio.

 I've been spinning. A lot. And I love it.

It's funny how some things are meant for certain times of your life. Like I've had turkeys, ducks, goats, cows, pigs. I've worked different jobs. Had 2 kids when I was 20 and 22. I could handle things at different stages of my life. Some things I've tried and will probably never do again. Just wasn't for me. Or it's just too much to handle. Then some things come back around and I start all over again. Like pigs. Which I will be getting 2 of in March. But I think I'll be ready for them by then.

But this spinning thing, I guess it's the right time for me now. It wasn't last year, when I bought the spinning wheel. Things just didn't work out. And I got too frustrated. And I had way too many sheep and goats. And life was just crazy.

Now I am ready. I knida sorta know what I'm doing now. Thanks to the class I took last month. And my nice pretty calm clean happy studio too. I can go over there now and spin all I want. I have everything I need there. And a good radio where I can listen to good music. It depends on the weather what stations I can get. But the past few days, it's been classical. Which is great to listen to while spinning. Country is good too. But the classical is calming.

So I went over to my studio yesterday and started spinning the beautiful Romney-Mohair rovings I got from the fiber show a few months ago. It's so pretty and soft. It's called Sea Turtle. I finished it today. Set the twist in the 3 skeins along with 2 skeins of the brown Romney I had done last week. And tonight spun some gray-silver roving I got from Polly at All Books in Chatt. plus some roving Sandra sent along with some fleece I had gotten from her. It was perfect to go with that little bit of roving. Made a whole bobbin full. I had some white Merino wool I had spun a few weeks back when I was practicing. It was pretty thick in some places. I spun the grays real thin. So when I plied them together, it turned out so pretty. They are all hanging on the drying rack in the studio to dry.

These are the 2 bobbins of single ply, ready to ply.

This is one of the balls of roving. I just love it. And my home made Lazy Kate, for holding the bobbins while plying. It works!

This is one bobbin full of the plied yarn. It turned out so pretty. Now to figure out what to make with it. It will go with my brown felted jacket, so maybe a scarf.

Isn't it beautiful? I am rather pleased with myself for being able to even do this. It is so fun! It's on the niddy-knoddy here.

Then off, ready to go in the wash water, to set the twist. I watched a video today and did it her way. It's so soft and smells good now.

On the left is the 2 skeins of the Romney. I still have about 5 more pounds to wash and card. On the right is the 1st skein of the  Sea Turtle.

This is the gray-silver I started later tonight.  It's all plied and washed and hanging too. I love this yarn. I'm going to use it to make something for Mrs. T's oldest daughter for Christmas.

And this is a little cowel I crocheted for one of my kids. I don't even know if it's really a cowel or not. I just started making it up as I went along. I did the popcorn stitch around the outside.  I like it. And it's fast and easy to make too. I need fast and easy right now.

So I am just happy to be spinning right now. I think I need to be able to do this. I hope to start spinning some of my own sheep's wool soon after Christmas. I want to take my time and do it right. Then in March, I'll have 12 more fleeces from my sheep to work with. I love my sheep. And the alpacas are growing on me. Poor Sugar King had some barbed wire caught on his tail yesterday. Of all the animals to have that happen to, it had to be the one who will not let me get near him. I had to go get feed and heavy duty gloves on. The grabbed the wire and pulled. It was wound around his wool, but not the skin. I got it out and he was just fine. He didn't struggle or freak out. He knew I was helping him.

Another long day tomorrow. Spending it with my mom. Then to the middle school to watch my youngest in her fist band concert. Then one more market and I am officially done til spring. I thought I would have a soap sale. Then I might start a Shopify account. See how that goes for me.

Happy week before Christmas, y'all!