I love your blog!

Susan, over at KitKatKnits, gave me this award! WooHoo! I'm tickled to pieces to receive this award. It makes my day!

So thrilled am I that I am passing this along to some other lucky bloggers:

Needles of Iron. This dedicated blogger has pledged to blog every day through Blogtoberfest, and what a great job she's done! November is nearly here and she'll be able to give her fingers a rest from typing!

Sheep At The Beach. Kary donates a percentage of her Etsy earnings to various dog rescues each year. Wow! And she also creates the gorgeous "Kitchen Sink Battz", that spin "like buttah".

Rani Knits. Randi illustrates her life and knitting with gorgeous pictures and the best sense of humor! Check her out and give Leo lots of kisses (even when he's chewing on her yarn).

Spindles and Spices. The Wild Tomato shares her recipes and embarrasses her dog, Mingus, in the best way - with good humor and a sense of fun that will keep you coming back...for cat hat patterns and excellent photos!

Boulderneigh Shetland Sheep. I have learned so much about Shetland sheep since I discovered this blog, and in the best way - the fun way! Michelle introduces her polled sheep with great photos and shares farm life with humor and caring. Don't miss this blog!

Maggie's Farm. Maggie writes what she feels and what she lives there on the farm in New York. She shares her life with LOTS and LOTS of sheep and goats, and her husband, Matt. Not one to hold back, Maggie tells it in a straightforward but sensitive manner, and is a great fiber friend!

Here are the rules for the award recipients if you want to play along (not required):

1. Please mention of the award on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. You must nominate at least 4 fellow bloggers for this award.
4. Add links to the recipients.
5. Leave a comment so the recipients know they have received an award.

Besides all this, I have been plying She Sells Sea Shells, which is soaking in the bath right now. So far, about 3.5 oz has given me 125 yards of worsted weight yarn. I'm planning a beret and fingerless mitts, if I get enough yardage. After that, I plan to take on a set of the famous "Kitchen Sink Battz" from Kary. Romney in a gorgeous pale teal with tussah silk accents. I'm aiming for double knit weight with this one.

Socks Socks Socks

Yeah! My second ever sock book has arrived!

I think the last sock book I may look for is Folk Socks. I don't think I need tons of sock books. I'm terrible at following patterns. I use them for inspiration, but always have my own modifications that I do to them, so I think this will do me for now.

Folk Socks is so tempting, though...

Eat your heart out Harry Potter!

Build a mutt

Find your dream dog!

Not as odd as last time, but...

I should carry my camera with me all the time. On Saturday, a man got on the bus to "work". First, he withdrew a tablespoon from his shirt pocket and inserted the handle into his nose, although not very far. He apologised for not having a second one to insert into the other side to make a balanced appearance. This was not too impressive for the bus passengers, after all, we'd already seen something similar one time before. It must have been obvious to this man, because he announced that he would begin the difficult task of singing with a spoon up his nose. Which he did. The money collection for this man was scant...I can't help but think if he'd just had the second spoon...

Following this a blind man got on the bus and quietly asked for money. Change purses opened up and this one got off the bus about $10 richer.

At the next corner, two women got on. One had a guitar and the other had a pair of spoons, not to push up her nose, fortunately. They did sing a rousing medley of Huayno classics. The crowd went wild and sang along and applauded, and then coughed up additional pocket change for these two.

Below is an example of typical Huayno dance and music:



On Sunday, Celeste and I went walking about 7 am. We passed from the middle class neighborhood of Jesus Maria into the more affluent San Isidro. In front of a posh apartment building, we saw 4 young men, impeccably dressed and obviously completely soused. I noticed two neighborhood security guards (Serenazgo) watching them quietly. They were hailing taxis. Each time a taxi drew near, they would turn their backs to the taxi and drop their finely sewn drawers around their ankles, giving the taxi driver a close-up view of four rich bums. Inevitably the driver would shift gears and continue on, while the 4 drunks cursed and laughed. Finally, after the third episode of this, the Serenazgos waited till the pants were around the ankles again and then moved in. They snagged these four fools and flung them into the back of their pick-up trunk, none too gently. After I went home, I told O about what I'd seen, and asked if the drunks would be taken to jail or what. He said they would most likely be driven home by the Serenazgos if they were able to identify themselves and give an address. If not, they would probably spend their morning riding around, hand-cuffed in the back of the truck with their pants around their ankles, till they sobered up enough to say where they lived.

Other than that, here's what I've been doing:


This is a sock that I've been making for my daughter. So far, there's only one. It's made of superwash merino in the colorway "Squidge" that I got from Black Ethel Cash. I like the look of it and I think that my girl will too. For Christmas!

And more spinning:


This is Bundaflicka Tweed in "Earth".

And finally, the avocado tree outgrew her spot in the apartment and needed a break from the Celeste love, so here is Annie Avocado with her best friend, Celeste, in the hall, where Annie now lives:

Yeay! It's here!

My first book about hand spinning has arrived! It tok an incredibly long time to come through the mail, but at last,I have a reference for spinning. Several people have told me that this is a coffee table book with great pictures but no real written content of value. Well, I haven't read the whole thing, but I do like the first portion, where the author gives illustrated instructions on various techniques and explains terms. She explains basics of fiber prep, gives explanations through the spinning process and plying methods. The rest of the book is devoted to "homework", project to try with a particular yarn style to achieve. Personally, I like this book. Yes, it has lots of photos of different fibers and examples of finished yarns that are the objects of the project lessons, and it gives me the feel of being free to experiment, and if my yarn turns out different than the picture of the target yarn, then it's no big deal. I like that.

Work stuff and a Celeste pic

Every month for a year, new teachers at the ICPNA are taped while teaching a class. We can choose which session we want to be recorded teaching, but afterwards, we have to write a critique, in which we identify the strengths and weaknesses of our own teaching techniques. It is for our use only, so no one watches us during this time. At first, I thought I might want to post part of my recorded sessions here on the blog, but luckily I haven't figured out how to do so. I say "luckily" because every month I am increasingly more critical of myself. It's a very humbling thing to see myself in the midst of a session that doesn't go as expected.

Every month, we are also evaluated by some member of the staff, each month a different person, so we never know exactly what to expect. It's a little bit of a stressor for me until the evaluation is over. After the eval, we have a feed back session, which is good for me. Because I'm very critical of myself, I always think of something that I could have done better, and these feedbacks give me ideas about how. While I don't enjoy being evaluated every single month (personally, I think that monthly evaluations are overkill), they do have value.

And, because it's October and Halloween is approaching, Celeste has been wearing her devil dog look:

Louhi Coat

While goofing off on Ravelry, I found this pattern and OMG, is it gorgeous! I wanna knit it! But, I doubt I will ever make it happen. I think it will involve too much yarn for me to realistically spin, and I don't know that I have that much fiber anyway. Three thousand three hundred yards, and in worsted weight yarn! Wow. Hmmm. It might take me a year to knit.

I saved the pattern and put a link to it on the sidebar, maybe just for inspiration, and maybe I can use elements of the patteern in other projects.

Waiting for Inspiration...

The week is over, finally. I have classes six days a week, and at the end of the day on Saturday, I'm whupped. My apartment is dirty and the dog in the middle of my unmade bed (thank God she's not shedding at the moment). Tomorrow I have a student at 2 pm, and then I think I may take myself off to the movies. I have no idea what is playing these days, but I need a little break. I've been spinning some this week, trying to get my yarn done for the Mystery shawl knit along, which ended this week (and NO, I haven't even started yet.) I guess there's no big hurry now, since it's all done, so I'll just spin along until I manage to get 1100 yards spun up. My Ranch socks are finished and I'm fumbling around right now, looking for a new project to start in place of the socks. I tried some fingerless mitts this afternoon, but ended up ripping them out. I tried Le Slouch, but it was a no-go. I need a fun little project to carry along to work with me. Ideas?

Remember the camera that O lent to his friend? Well...NO it's not back yet, so we are picture-less yet another week. I may need to go buy my own camera and not let O touch it. If he does, he will surely lend it out to the next "friend" that asks. Maybe tomorrow I'll go camera shopping, instead of to the movies. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm going back to spinning. I think I have about 100 yards done now. Only 1000 more to go...........

hmmmm....

Movie Reviews

I wonder if this means that the reader has to be a genius to figure out what I'm trying to say here...

The Painted Pig

A posting about books and libraries by Needles of Iron has me thinking about books...kid's books, but books all the same.

When I was a kid, I remember reading a beautiful book called "The Painted Pig". It was about a ceramic pig in Mexico that came to life one night. Along with the pig, I believe a painted rooster also came to life. A little girl owned both the pig and the rooster, I think. The story is about the hi jinx of this pair. Does anyone remember it? I've been thinking about this story for months...that one, and a wonderful children's story called "Pussy Willows". I think now "Pussy Willows" is available as one of those Little Golden Books, but ours was a giant picture book with those big kitty eyes and amazing pictures that capture a child's imagination and draw her right into the story. The picture below is not what was on the original story book, but it is painted in a similar style.



Here in Peru, the average person doesn't read much, usually for business or education, but rarely for pleasure. As I think about these children's stories, I feel so bad for those children whose parents don't read stories to them! I did find some wonderful Peruvian folktales for children in the Metro supermarket, however, so someone is reading them.

a new project

I've decided to spin up some yarn for a stole. I've joined the Mystery Stole 4 group and they are knitting away, and I'm here spinning the yarn for it. I need about 1100 yards to complete it. I'm way behind because of the spinning. Hmmmm...

Anyway, it's a beaded lace stole. I've decided to use this wool:



It's a little hard to tell, but this is a light brown wool with noils of color scattered throughout. Maggie sent it to me, and I think it's about time I get cracking on spinning it! I also have beads for it - various shades of green and yellow seed beads - it's springtime here, and I have the urge to sow this new light brown garden.

Hopefully, the camera will return tomorrow. O lent it to a friend two weeks ago and they've been very slow about returning it. In fact, if I hadn't grumbled about it today, I doubt the camera would ever find it's way home. People here have a habit of just keeping things, and when the owner asks for it's return, somehow it was lent to another friend, who lent it to another friend, who thought it was a gift, etc etc etc. You get the idea. So, hopefully, tomorrow I'll have a camera and be able to put up some new photos of what I've been doing lately.

New Projects on the spindle

I've begun spinning She Sells Sea Shells. The target projects are socks and "Le Slouch", a beret by Wendy Bernard. I'm looking forward to these projects. They should be quick and relaxing, once the yarn is spun up. I hope to have enough yarn to complete both projects.

"She Sells Sea Shells" is a colorway from Enchanted Knoll Farm. According to Josette, proprietress of Enchanted Knoll Farm, it's a "blend of rose/shell pink, light gold undulating to dark brown and cream mixture of a decidedly feminine but very earthy color array. When spun, the colors mingle, lighten, deepen, and blend into varying shades of themselves, which reminds me of the rainbow of colors inside a sea shell. There's some dark corriedale/merino as well as a healthy dollup of rose targhee and some gorgeous tussah silk."

I know virtually nothing about sheep and their wool. What I do know is that the blend of the different wools makes a fun and interesting spinning experience for me. I've spent most of my spinning this year with superwash merino, blue-faced leichester, and Romney blends, but all in their separate batts. The combination in these "Sea Shells" batts is everything wrapped into one batt, but not so totally blended that everything fades into everything else. If you are spinner and you enjoy interesting and beautiful colorways and fiber blends, think about this one.

I'll post pictures as I progress through the spinning.

Hair styles among the masses

I love going to work. It gives me an opportunity to observe people. This month, I had to observe a Basic 1 class - the class for adults who are just beginning to learn English. Most of them were teenagers and they take their fashion statements more seriously than their studies.

One young man came to class every day with his longish black hair carefully blow-dried forward to cover his eyes. I'm not sure exactly how he managed to read or navigate through the hallways, because I could never see anything of his face above the upper lip. He was a tall, very thin person who seemed to be wearing his big brother's pants. His nails were quite long and he always wore black. To complete his look, he topped his black outfits with a hooded black sweatshirt, always worn with the hood up, even in class.

A very popular hair style among the young men is a pseudo mohawk. The sides are not shaved, but the long hair on the top of the head is pasted up into a tall ridge with a lot of stiff hair goop. When I see this style, I immediately think "pin-head", but have yet to meet a real pinhead. Most are very nice, only experimenting with styles.

Still another young man wore his hair carefully "tousled" in kind of a swirl around his head. The hair rebelled and escaped the swirl in places, sticking out straight and sometimes hitting the person sitting next to him as he turned his head.

One of my own tall, thin students arrived with his shaggy ringlets pushed up into a curly mushroom on the top of his head, using a girl's plastic circular headband like my daughter used to use when she was a teenager. The curly mushroom settled between two heavier, shorter pinheads.

I thought the girls were fashionistas, but it's really the guys who are into their "look", especially when it comes to hair.

24 Tips For a Better Life

I saw this while surfing other blogs and liked it, so I posted it here:

24 TIPS FOR A BETTER LIFE

1. Take a 10-30 minute walk every day. And while you walk, smile. It is the ultimate anti-depressant.

2. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day. Buy a lock if you have to.

3. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement,
'My purpose is to__________ today.'

4. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

5. Drink green tea and plenty of water. Eat blueberries, wild Alaskan salmon, broccoli, almonds & walnuts.

6. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

7. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

8. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a
college kid with a maxed out charge card.

9. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

10. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

11. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

12. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

13. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

14. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

15. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

16. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

17. Forgive everyone for everything.

18. What other people think of you is none of your business.

19. God heals almost everything.

20. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

21. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends
will. Stay in touch.

22. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

23. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I
am thankful for__________. Today I accomplished _________.

24. Remember that you are too blessed to be stressed.

still tired...

Gads, I'm tired

I don't know who this little guy is, but I've felt almost the same recently!

Tales From the Fiber Stash and a Little Hand Spinning

More spinning fluff and stuff, people...that means I have to work for my required daily allowance of being a lap dog. I've found a spot on the bed and settled in for a long afternoon...there's more fuzz in baggies than I have on my whole body!


Bundlaflicka Tweed in purple.


Something Red, from Carolina Homespun (a gift from the Wild Tomato!), on a Zebisis Designs spindle.


Old Country Roses, from Butterfly Girl Designs.

She Sells Sea Shells, from Enchanted Knoll Farm


Romney Blend "Hold You in My Dreams", from The Knotty Sheep

Socks and news from Wooly Works!

Take a look at what's new over at the Wooly Works! They've got new babies! They've also got alpaca fleeces of all colors and mohair fleeces in white, rose gray, and black, and do custom processing and blends, so get yerself over there and ask about your favorite alpaca fiber!


These are my Odyssey Rock Ranch socks, done in the knit-a-long. Aren't they pretty? everything is 100% alpaca, except for the heels, toes, and cuff decorations. Soooo comfy and soft! You need this yarn! Get it here!

This is "The Ranch Sock", modified a little from the Odyssey Rock Ranch pattern. This sock is done in handpainted alpaca from Odyssey Rock Ranch, but with toes, heels, and cuff decorations done in my handspun with BFL fiber from Maggie's Farm, Inc. I only have one finished, with the second one on the needles.

Book on the way

Yesterday I got notice that my first ever spinning book has been shipped. Yeay! I've been spinning and spinning, but I'm mostly self-taught. Now maybe I'll get a few pointers and instructions on new techniques to try. I've read the reviews on this book, both pro and con, and if nothing else, nearly all say that this book is great for inspiration. Some say there is great instruction and info in the front of the book; others say that it's a coffee table book with great pictures. Whatever it is, I'll be sure to get something out of it. I'm a visual learner and love lots of pictures.