The Beebas' Bottoms

Mixing Family and Business the Mommy Way.

Archive for April, 2010

New Yarns; Busy days

Apr 28

Posted by Theresa in CCFibers, Family | No Comments

So, once again, I have managed to build up a little stash of handspun yarns that need listing.  But, I’ve been very busy around the house too… that nesting thing, I think…   Hmmm… I think thats what you call it when the 8 month pregnant chick runs around the house cleaning everything in sight despite knowing that it will be a mess 2 minutes later, does a marathon of laundry that leaves the whole house with approxiamately 3 loads of laundry unwashed (and beleive me, we have a lot more than that usually), and started cooking big monster sized meals from scratch to save away in the freezer for after baby.

All that has left me with very little time to do things like MAKING things, or taking pictures of the things I have made.  and I keep telling myself that for now, at least, I need to stick to my schedule… but its hard.

I spent several days this week going through my fabric drawers… all that diaper fabric that I have not looked at in over a year?  well, now, a large chunk of it is in my paypal account… as in, gone, goodbye, syonara… I don’t miss it.  destashing that stuff gives me 2 things.  1, space for the things I DO use, and 2, MONEY.  Money that is MINE.  well, ok, so I am debating what to spend it on, and the head-runners right now are either a new camera, or full size wool combs.  Either one would be nice to have.  Either one would in its own way make life easier for me.  (ok, maybe the wool combs would not do more than give me another way to prep my fibers… and I do already have minicombs made by a freind… which do work well)

So, I guess the camera is winning out… and that is ok.  I have been wanting a new camera for a long time… the one I have now is over 4 years old, and while it works, it is not as product image friendly as I would like, aside from having essentially no video capability.

So, the one I think I want is this: Olympus Stylus 7040 Pink 14MP Digital Camera, 7x Optical Zoom, 3.0 LCD, HD Movie/HDMI Control, AF Tracking

It costs more than I Actually have for now, so I will have to hold off a bit till either 1, the rest of my destash stuff sells (over at DSD for any Divas who might read this blog and not have seen it) or till I sell some more stuff in the shop, as I DO see this as an acceptable use of business moneys, being that it will be used very very often to photograph products.

I would also love to have it before the new babe is born, both so that I can get some videos done for the website (how to spin from a batt mostly) and so that when the new baby is born, we don’t have to miss a second of his or her life on camera.  Ok, so really, that is more so that the long distance family can see baby too.. but still.

Meantime, between all this STUFF I have done. I HAVE managed to get spinnign done.  which is why I have a pile of yarns sitting in front of me, waiting to be shown to you, and listed in the shop.  This is mostly only because I have been getting tired so quickly, and have had to take frequent breaks from all the other stuff.  what better to do than spin?

So, without further Ado, some yarns:

Jacob wool, spun from a batt, in my original attempt to create that video- which failed horribly due to me and the batt being a sillouhette in the camera's eye.

SW BFL, lovely stuff, though this one broke once in the winding... and I somehow have a sneaky suspicion that I showed it off already... did I??

Merino Yarn, soft as soft can be, perfect for baby somethings... pretty pastel colors. I know I showe dthis, but on the bobbin... isn't it nicer now?

Polwarth- Yumberry... mmm...

and with that, hopefully not too redundant photo session, I am off to get some of this scrumptious yarn listed in the shop!

Oh!  and if you have not done so already, jump on over to my ravelry group and enter the baby guessing game!  only a few more days before the game closes to guesses and the waiting begins!

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What’s on the wheel; Whats happeing around here

Apr 21

Posted by Theresa in business, CCFibers, Crafting, Family, Personal | No Comments

Well, this week, I have been working hard, AND hardly working.

I have gotten a fair bit of spinning done, and have no less than 5 skeins of yarn all spun up and in some stage of the process of being skeined, washed, and ready for photos.  I’ll show off a few-

This one is Polwarth wool, and it is scrumptious soft. this one is only a bit over 2 ounces, but it is over 150 yards, and very pretty.

Merino wool in pastel colors... this was at least 4 ounces, and there is a fair bit of length here... its probably somewhere between sport and DK weight...

This one is a finer yarn, about a light fingering weight, 2 plied with a lower plying twist than usual. It is superwash BFL and was meant to be lace, but I feel like it is thicker than a typical lace, though I have not measured the WPI yet. There is over 400 yards here, but there IS one knot in the yarn where there was apparently a weakness in both plies that I did not account for. Boy, that hasn't happened in a LONG time. It will go in the shop, but as a slight second because of the knot.

One of the yarns I spun up in the last few days is a Jacob wool batt that I had dyed pink while it was still locks.  I took video of the spinning, meaning to create a series of videos on spinning batts using different methods, but sadly, the video camera did not want to pic up the images (too low light) and just shows a big (fat from pregnancy) sillohette.  bah humbug on that.  I guess I need a better camera… but how to afford that?

On another note, whats going on here is a bit of chaos.  We spent a chunk of money a few weekends ago on 2 new appliances, a stand up freezer that we meant to put in our pantry, and a water softener.

We realized right away AFTER it arrived, that the freezer was no way no how getting into that pantry.  the room was plenty large (its a huge pantry) but the door?  far to small.  by inches.  even with the doors off both the pantry AND the freezer.

Oh well.  the freezer is now running in the cellar (up on cinder blocks) and is being steadily filled with good things.  I have been cooking giant batches of food and stockpiling for after baby is born.  so far, there is a meal of stuffed peppers down there, 2 sheperd’s pies, and 2 pans of baked mac and cheese.  Yum.  next will be baked ziti, and after that possibly lasagna.  we’ll see how industrius I am feeling.

The water softener, we needed so badly.  Our water is a 14 on the hardness scale.  If you don’t know what that means… well, my understanding is that 7 is considered hard.  10 is VERY hard, and 14?  we might as well be just eating sand.

Sadly, the water softener, while it DID get hooked up last weekend, is still not running and softening our hard water.  My wonderful husband was trying to save us some money and him some work, and figured that he would just let the water softener recharge itelf into a big tub… since we have no drainage down there.  well.  the tub was too small, and we wound up with an inch deep of water across the whole cellar floor.  thank goodness that freezer is on cinder blocks.

SO, this weekend, he will be installing a utility sink down there, and connecting the water softener directly to the sewage pipe.  (for the drainage).  He figures, if he is gonna have to cut into the pipe to connect for drainage, he might as well get a sink out of the process too.  he is working very hard to turn the cellar into a usable work space, and this will also allow the de-humidifier to drain directly into the sink too, eliminating his every few days trip to empty the basin for that.

We are getting closer to baby time too.  As of this coming sunday, I will be 36 weeks along… further if you go by the date my dear husband is using (somehow he keeps marking wednesday as the week turner) but I will happily keep thinking it will be May 23 for a due date.  I know, you see, that the baby is more likely to be late than early, and I would rather not be thinking that baby is late before I have to.

Now, after having typed far too long, I am sure I have lost the interest of all but the staunchest readers, so I will end for today, and say, may you have happy spinning, knitting, or just browsing the web time, until you join me again!

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Photo Friday

Apr 16

Posted by Theresa in Crafting, Family, Photo Friday | No Comments

Hello Photo lovers!

Straight to the photos-

My newest WIP- A pair of footed Longies for the new baby. Obviously not finished yet, but I figure it will only take another couple days to finish, if I get some good knitting time in.

And my Newest FO- The baby blanket I spent the last many months working on. Boy, am I glad it is done!

This is a "Magic Fiber Ball" for a swap on facebook. The Idea comes form magic yarn balls- where you take a ball of yarn and wrap it around a bunch of small surprises for your swap partner. It is fun. In this case, this is Australian Merino dizzed off my drum carder in "Easter Parade".

And just because she is cute (although this is right after a session of Painting herself, and I'm not sure I got all the paint off her)... my little Beeba 2, who will turn 2 in a few weeks.

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What a week!

Apr 14

Posted by Theresa in CCFibers, Crafting, Family, Personal | No Comments

Well, folks, I missed a week, you may have noticed.  It has been a monster of a week.

Last Monday, my dad came out for a well awaited visit.  All was going fine, until, Dun dun dun… Wednesday morning, he wound up in the hospital, due to a complication from his surgery weeks prior.  So instead of blogging last Wednesday as I usually do, I spent the afternoon trying to find out what was going on with him at the hospital… I could not bring the kids there, and I had nobody to watch them that day.  Thursday, I spent the entire day there with him, and Friday, he came home, and we were all a little distracted…

Leave it to say, I am behind on my production stuff by several days.  BUT, on the positive side, while he was here, with him in the hospital, I was finally able to finish the baby blanket I was knitting for the newest Beeba.  And yesterday I started on a pair of footed wool pants for the new beeba too.  They are over half done already, being such a small and simple knit, and I will be posting pics on Friday if not sooner.  if I can get my craft room cleaned up this afternoon a bit, then I will be taking pics of several items, including the blanket and the in-progress woolies to update my projects queue, and also some things to get ready for sale.  I have several skeins of yarn that need photos taken and WPIs measured so I can list them too.  I did get a fair bit of spinning done this past week as well.

Also, no new pics of the CPW yet this week… but I finally got the flyer and bobbin sent in for repair.  The hooks are to be replaced, and the bobbin replicated.  Then, I’ll be putting the original bobbin away to be kept safe, and my wheel will be much nicer to spin on… I hope.  no more weird places where the fiber has huge valleys from missing hooks, no more fighting with the rough, rusted hooks to get good uptake, and no more fighting with hooks that have, simply from itting in a pile for ages, somehow wound up bent too far closed… all the hooks should be nice and even when it comes back to me.

Of course, the bobbin will make a difference too.  The original bobbin has a large split in on part of it, and chips out of the pulley (that’s the bobbin’s whorl, for those who don’t know).  It also had one bearing that had come out, but I was able to pressure fit back in. Of course, the origianl bearings, I am pretty sure, were lead.  I am not sure what Mr. Hatton (the gentleman doing the work) will use in the new bobbin… but since lead is not that easy to find anymore, I would bet it won’t be that, and I am kind of glad, since lead is not something I am fond of finding in my already old and lead-ridden house.

On a separate note- I have been asked to make a video of how to spin from a batt.  That having been said, there are so many different ways to spin from a batt, I thought maybe it would better to be a series of short videos. If anyone has a particular batt-spinning method you’d like to see covered, please feel free to leave a comment.  I know I will be covering at least these: 1, stripping the batt; 2, pulling off chunks to spin from the fold; and 3, pulling the batt into thick roving.  Any other things you would particularly like to see?  Just let me know.  the videos may take some time to come, as I need to wait till the kids are quiet, but I have no problem making as many as needed.

Now I just wish I had a better video camera, though, since my cheapy one does not make the best quality films.  But, I will make due for now, as I simply do not have the funds to buy anything new right now.

Oh!  And don’t forget, I am now 34.5 weeks pregnant.  During the month of April, Join my ravelry group and make a guess when you think my baby will be born and will the baby be a boy or girl for your chance to win a surprise gift custom made for you!

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Photo Friday

Apr 2

Posted by Theresa in Photo Friday | No Comments

Here we are again, Photo Friday, and the first in April.  With that in mind, lets get on. :)

Here is April's PhatFiber contribution- It is "Ladybug Tweed" in honor of the theme "all creatures great and small", and includes merino, bamboo, and silk noil. These are all hand-dizzed rovings from the drum carder, and each sample comes with its own little mascot Ladybug Stitch marker.

Falklands wool Dyed by a friend, I am calling this one "Riverbed" because of the lovely greens and blues and even a bit of browns it contains. a soft, lofty yarn, somewhere around worsted weight.

Super pretty, Shiny, 3 ply Sock yarn, From a SW Merino/Tencel blend... "Just Roses"

Happy Friday, and Happy Easter!

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