Fast Lane

I can't believe almost three months has gone by and I haven't been spinning. Until this weekend at OFFF (Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival), I picked up my Turkish drop spindle and started spinning on it. Thanks to my friend, Carol, who helped me get it started.

And I have been spinning on it every day since then. Some days it's 15 minutes. Some days it's an hour. It's much slower than spinning on the wheel yard-wise (for me as a beginner on drop spindle). But it's amazingly relaxing.

Slowness, I miss you. My life has been on a fast lane these past few months. Spinning on drop spindle reminds me that it's time to slow things down every once in a while.

Life is moving oh so fast
I think we should take it slow
rest our heads upon the grass
and listen to it grow
~ Pink Martini

Happy July 1

After my post yesterday, I remember that I had my shares of some ups and downs. I lost some hours of working at the library. I was disappointed and was lost on what to do with my free time. Luckily I have Etsy to keep me busy and I enjoyed every minutes of it. It’s like playing while working. The job at the library was fun too and I love my colleagues. From time to time the disappointment made me considered quitting the library forever and dreaming of turning the hobby into a full-time job. However, I know that being a successful entrepreneur is a very hard work. It takes a lot of creativity, energy, and discipline. The latter is my weakest. My husband is doing well with his job so far. And I consider myself to be very fortunate in that both of us are not going down at the same time. But future is an unpredictable thing. And so I am doing the best I could.

I have been thinking about sharing my personal life on this blog for sometime now. I have fear of posting anything non-spinning, non-knitting related on my blog. Originally I set up this blog to write about my knitting and to keep it as a journal so that I can look back at the later day and remember what I did during that period of time. I also used the blog space to share photos of my projects with friends. It was pre-ravelry.

And then I entered the hand-spinning world, learning how to spin yarn, carding batts, dyeing wool tops. My fiber craft/hobby has gone haywire. Fiber Monster turned semi-small business. So I thought I shouldn't post anything about my personal life that would or could have a potential to compromise my little business. But it's getting harder and harder. I feel like I am leaving out part of my life. Hence there were times that I didn't post anything at all simply because I was too busy working and there wasn't any knitting or spinning related going on. I am not a good writer and am not very articulate about my thoughts. English isn't even my first language. And I don't even know if anybody read my blog!

Well, it doesn't matter. I'm a real person with real life. I am a very passionate knitter/spinner and have real flaws. I want to keep this blog alive and to post more often even though I am not sure if I will have enough guts to do it.

Half way through 2010

Today is June 30. We have reach the half-way point of 2010. I have short term memory. But I am pretty sure that the first half of my 2010 was mostly good, excellent actually. But today is very strange.
1. I am a tennis fan and a big Fed phan. He lost his match this morning.
2. I drove all the way to the mall and forgot a list of what I needed to get. This is the list of things I am buying for gifts. It has sizes, brands, color preferences, etc. I had to have it so I drove back home to get it.
3. I got to the mall again (2nd time) and absolutely didn't buy things I supposed to get on the list. Instead, I got two summer cardigans for me. Both of them are in black.
4. I had to return a tent to a friend today so we arranged to meet for coffee as well. I met her after the shopping and found out that I forgot to put her tent in my car.
5. I came home and went out to play with the dog. I fell off the steps on the deck. My knee hit the rock (dinner plate size) h.a.r.d. It hurts.

So here goes my June 30. I hope July 1 is going to be different :)

States I have been to

Something new for a change. This post is not about fiber, yarn, spinning, knitting.  You might have seen this somewhere else. I thought it would be kind of fun to share it with you.
PS: Airports don't count.

27 states as of June 28, 2010.
Alabama -
Alaska - X
Arizona -
Arkansas - X
California - X
Colorado - X
Connecticut -
Delaware
Florida - X
Georgia - X
Hawaii - X
Idaho - X
Illinois - X
Indiana -
Iowa - X
Kansas - X
Kentucky -
Louisiana -
Maine
Maryland -
Massachusetts - X
Michigan - X
Minnesota - X
Mississippi
Missouri - X
Montana - X
Nebraska - X
Nevada - X
New Hampshire -
New Jersey -
New Mexico
New York - X
North Carolina
North Dakota - X
Ohio - X
Oklahoma -
Oregon - X
Pennsylvania - X
Rhode Island
South Carolina-
South Dakota - X
Tennessee - X
Texas -
Utah -
Vermont -
Virginia -
West Virginia -
Wisconsin -
Wyoming - X
Washington -X

Oh boy. I am a stranger to my own blog. Sorry blog. There's not much I can do to make it better. I am not a good story teller. Anyway, the weekend is coming and I am really looking forward to it.

I finished a couple of knitting projects and spun some more yarns. It's on Ravelry now. My stash is so unorganized that it is driving me crazy when thinking about new project. I am curious how others manage yarn inventory. I guess I am where I am now because I usually buy or spun yarn with no specific project in mind. Then what I have is 4 oz of this and another 4 oz of that. But they are not enough for a big project like sweater or cardigan. I have been trying to put various skeins together. But I found out that the yarn doesn't have the same weight.

Does anyone has any suggestions?

I will end this post with this photo.


This is my dog. Lucky is sleeping next to a box of my handspun yarns. Can't you see that his eyes don't completely close? He does that all the time. Sometime he snores too :)

Attaboy!

Happy Friday

I don't have much to report today except to show you this one.


Zoom Handspun 2-Ply Merino Yarn
I am going to a local alpaca farm tomorrow. I am not sure if I will spin or knit. May be I will do both :) There'll be fleece sales, meeting baby alpaca, and local spinners and knitters. So it should be fun.

Drive safe and have a great weekend!

Baking

Yesterday we went to Powell's and came home with these books. Knittings books are mine. My husband picked out the baking books. The guy just want to bake! What can I say :)


With baking book in his hand, we went to Whole Foods next door to get some ingredients. And the fun began.



He did all the work. I was mostly being supportive while playing/cleaning shetland fleece I got at this year sheep shearing from my friend's local farm. The baking took longer than what he had anticipated. The first rise took about 3 hours, second rise 2 hours or may be longer. I lost track of time. All I know is that he turned the oven off at about midnight. He started baking at about 2:30 PM. So it took him that long. But at the end, we got these and the house smelled so good.


Before I go, the new batt this weekend is Olive Dotty.

Lotte Biscuit

Lotte Biscuit, originally uploaded by Fiber Monster.

My all time favorite snack "Lotte chocolate biscuit." The Koala is holding sweet potato. Yum. By the way, it goes really nice with Peach Parfait at my etsy shop.

Featured Shop on Daily Chum

Featured Shop on Daily Chum, originally uploaded by Fiber Monster.

Fiber Monster feels so tickling today :) Visit the Lime & Violet - The Daily Chum here.

Thank you, Peachy.

Friday New Addition

Introducing Banshee...


So so soft. It's at my etsy shop now.

This week we both take a week off. We were planning to go for xc skiing but my husband woke up with stiff neck the other day. So we have been home a lot, which is nice, just hanging around baking, cooking, reading, watching some movies. Each day I knit a little bit of x-mas 2007 project I mentioned earlier. It's going slow at the moment since I had to "frog" a few rows. It was frustrated when I thought I was making some progress. But it turned out that I was back to where I started at the beginning of the night.

Oh, well. Keep on knitting.

Reveal

A couple of weeks ago (or months?) I mentioned that I got something special for myself. It's time to reveal what it is because today is my birthday.

Happy birthday to me... Ta...da...



It's an early birthday plus x-mas present for me. Since I got it, I have been taking tons of pictures. Every so often, I had to consult its manual. It's my first SLR camera and I am VERY happy with it. I did a lot of research before getting it. The Nikon is very nice too. But the major reason I decided to get Canon is because I already have two lens from Canon EOS-5 film camera. Here're some practice shots I did.





I am recovering from being sick of coughing and loosing my voice the whole week. Tonight we just went out for a nice quiet dinner. Of course we had Thai at a resturant on Alberta street. Yummy.

Being sick means staying home. Staying home means fiber is within reach. So I present you this very colorful batt called "Bold Bright." It's at my etsy store here.

Came up for air

Finally, I found some free time today to do this.



They are now at Fiber Monster etsy shop.

Since Lucky the dog and Kitty the cat are not allowed in my studio, Kitty was perfectly find in her now "resting" spot. Old clementines box. She is very easy to please.

Take my breath away

We are alive and well in Anchorage, Alaska. We took a lot of photos and will upload them in flickr soon. But now I want to show you some hightlights, which is very difficult to pick because they are all stunningly beautiful.

We spent the first day out on 26 glacier cruise and had a beautiful dinner reception on Sapphire Princess cruise ship. The cruise began with a scenic ride along Turnagain Arm (what a name). We saw Dall sheep along the mountainside. I got only one crappy photo because we went by it so quickly. We passed through Girdwood and saw the skeletal remains of trees. These trees were once part of a thriving coastal grove. However, during the 1964 earthquake the ground sank and the roots of these trees were submerged in salt water. The local told us that what we saw now are the ghosts of the 1964 Good Friday Quake.

Along the way, we stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, a non-profit wildlife refuge located on a scenic 200 acre preserve dedicated to wildlife conservation and education.

They have 8 Alaskan bears. But we were able to meet 4 of them. The rest are too shy :) We met Hugo, Sadie & Haines, and Uli, who always stays up high on the tree until 6 pm.

Here are Sadie & Haines playing in water. They are very playful and funny.


We passed through the Whittier Tunnel, hopped on board the M/V Klondike Express and start the 135 mile cruise through waters of Prince William Sound.

This is Surprise glacier. When we get closer, we can see that it is blue. We also witnessed many "carving". This is the term they called the glacier melting and falling into water. It is stunning to see it before your eyes and very sad at the same time.


Look at the water line toward the right. You can see the water splash.


Of course, I took my Trekking Sock with me on the cruise.


I am going to Mat-Su Valley tomorrow. It's an all day trip starting at 7:30 am. Stay tune!

Friday Eye Candy

This was taken when we went camping at Silver Falls State Park in April.

Last night we got lightning, loud booms of thunder, and spurts of heavy rain in our area. We are back to 80s F instead of 100F. Much better...

Thursday is my Friday

Dog's day, originally uploaded by Fiber Monster.

Yeah! And Lucky thinks so too 'cause everyday is Friday for him.

It's too hot around here to knit anything. I am hoping to do some serious spinning this weekend. If that doesn't work, I will do some more carding and play with fleece.

Stay cool.........

070707

Today is July 7, 2007. What's up with that? I don't recall people were excited about 06/06/06, 05/05/05, 04/04/04, 03/03/03, 02/02/02 or 01/01/01. Am I missing something here?

This morning I washed some more Romney, just a handful, and then dyed it in the crockpot. This time I chose "Chartreuse." I am planning to card it with "Sky Blue" I dyed two days ago.

Kitty's Day Out. She is an indoor cat most of the time. We never leave her out alone too long.



Of course, Lucky the dog thinks he has a better post for photo.