There’s a real corker of a storm snapping, pounding and snarling outside the studio, so I am somewhat distracted by the thunder, lightning and rain pounding down.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Rain. Sigh.

This is soooooo much the wrong time for rain…. my beloved husband has been watching the sky like a hawk, and finally took an educated chance on cutting the hay in the big field.

The weather folks ~promised~ 2 weeks of no rain.

So, he cut the big field, and now,

the hay is laying down, getting ‘washed’.

Sigh.  This is ~not~ a good thing.

That’s part of the ’squishie-ness’ of today in the studio

(oh wait…. now it’s hailing! eep!)

I  spent about 14 or 15 hours today, working away on finishing up a new book proposal.

I also took a break from the left brain/right brain juggling act of proposal writing and finally gave in and joined facebook.

(I have resisted facebook for ages, but finally gave in- ah, yes, another thing to figure out! LOL)

Needing a stretch and a treat, I stood up.  I was hankering after one of the completely awesome apples on the tree just outside the studio door. I ambled across the studio.  Oh gross gross gross gross gross!

One of the cats had thrown up all over my knitting machine!

Bless my husband’s heart, he heard me gagging, and came and cleared  up the feline souvenirs.

The man is a saint.

While he was cleaning up the kittywhoops , I went outside  and picked an apple.

Just before taking a big bite, I turned over the apple, and went…. ‘hmmm… that looks odd’…..

and a very startled little worm poked his head out of the apple, as if to say:

“What is going on? Why did my house just turn upside down?”

He then reared back and glared at me!

He stood up for at least an inch and put his little metaphoric hands  on his invisible little hips and I swear he was about to cuss me out!

I let out a resounding yelp, and hauled off and flung that apple into the middle of next week!

If there was an Olympic event for apple chucking, I swear, I would have won the gold medal for the squealing apple launch.

I am the world’s worst thrower, so when I toss something, I never know where it will end up.

Well, for the first time in my life, I threw a straight, fierce, and looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong pitch.

I am quite impressed, to tell the truth.That apple flew in a mighty arc right out of the yard, and I have no idea where it landed.

Poor little worm. I think he thought he had turned into a butterfly. I suspect he may have moved onto his next incarnation when the apple touched down. Oops. Sorry, worm….

Ah, yes, it was indeed a squishie day in my studio. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

A couple of months ago, I was ecstatic to have won a Flip camera in a blogging contest on b5.

Well…. it’s taken almost 2 months for the camera to get here… but….

Ding Dong!

The doorbell rang today….. and

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Look what was sitting between the doors!

Open the box….

The batteries go in WHERE? and HOW?!

ahhhhhhhhhhhh…. okay…..

get set up and start shooting…..

Oh…. duh….. I have it set up so it’s shooting upside down. phoo……..

alrighty…. learning curve…..

:O)   Happy Dancing!  and no no no…. no videos of happy dancing!

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay Copyright

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

 Yesterday was Canada Day…. which was a holiday for lots of people, but not for me.

It   was one of ~those~ days. The weather was glorious. It wasn’t the weather that made the day challenging.

It was that my computer and I were locked in mortal combat.

Oi vey!

I needed to update my website: My website

I wanted to add the new crocheted belts book, and to add this crochet hook to the Crochet page

But….the computer kept hanging. erg.

AND THEN! I thought… okay, I obviously need a cuppa tea.

Wrong choice. The cat leapt up at me just as I was about to put the cup down and I dumped the whole cup of tea into my brand new keyboard. WAILIE WAILIE….

So… I flapped out as much as possible and put the keyboard out in the sun to dry out.

Things kind of went from bad to worse, BUT eventually, after many hours of struggling and wrestling with it, a sort of cyber-truce has ensued. And my fingers are crossed.

I can get pretty freaked out when my computer acts up – so much of my life is stored in there! eegads, what a thing to say!Anyhow, the day did turn out well after all the computer fuss. I DID get some tatting in, and my keyboard seems to have survived it’s dousing.

AND Jim did find a way to get things working again, so even though, a job that I thought would take a couple of hours took 12….. I still feel like I am living a very blessed life.

To live in a time and place where peace prevails is no small blessing! And, to have family and friends and work that I adore – well, what can I say? I am so grateful!

Even so, some days just don’t go the way you think they should.

And, oh yes, belated Happy Canada Day to the rest of my fellow Canadians, and an early Happy 4th of July to all my friends south of the border!

Keep your teacups away from your computers and enjoy the parts of your lives that bring you delight!

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

A new little video  camera is on it’s way to our house.

So! I’ll be able to shoot video tutorials.

I have posted a new poll, because I’d like to know which topics you’d like video tutorials of.

You can vote in the poll, or just post me a comment or send me a note.

To see the poll, you need to move your cursor over to the right and scroll down a little.

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I am doing a H U G E happy dance right now!

b5 media, the wunnerful folks that I blog for, had a contest for their bloggers.

And I won one of the prizes!

(Aiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee -Noreen runs screaming from the room in total delight and jubilation) 

It’s a little  ‘Flip’ video camera!  Aiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee  I am so excited!

D’ya know what this means? Aiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee

VIDEO TUTORIALS!!!!!! 

LOts and lots and loTS of

VIDEO TUTORIALS!!!!!!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

So, as soon as it arrives…. I’ll start working on those

VIDEO TUTORIALS!!!!!!

I’ve had all kinds of requests for tutorials for Lily Speed o Weave instructions, and for tatting….. and spool knitting and weaving and and….

What would you like me to make VIDEO TUTORIALS!!!!!!  of?

Excuse me while I run around the studio a few more times, doing the happy dance!

wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

and don’t forget to let me know what tutes you want!

heeheeheehehehe

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

This evening, our son’s close friend and his beloved came out to the farm to pick up some stuff for a film they are shooting.

They were weary from racing around the city, finding props and costumes.  I asked them what they still needed, and they reeled off a list of things they needed for the Gypsy fortune teller in the film.

Piece of cake! We rummaged around the studio, and in just a few minutes, I had set them up with the costume and props for the Gypsy.  (I wonder why that was so easy? ahem).

Here’s darling Kat, modelling the Gypsy costume:

She’s Roumanian, and is completely enchanting, so it’s not a stretch for her to become a very compelling Gypsy.  (She’s writing and directing it, not acting in the film, but she certainly looks the part!)

You never know what is going to unfold in my studio.

I love my life.  What can I say?

Image Source: Noreen Crone-Findlay 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

We’re in the thick of an evil cold spell.  We have just come through one of the worst blizzards we remember.  (and that’s saying a lot!)

The wind chill is -50

Yes….

-50

that’s almost incomprehensible. 

Here’s what the windows of the studio look like:

The snowdrifts have filled the yard and swept right up to the top of the studio windows.

Luckily, the blizzard pushed warm weather ahead of it on Saturday, so we spent the day cutting wood and hauling it into the studio.

This is what the inside of the windows look like:

That’s one of the windows…. The snow reaches the very top of the window.  Whew!

Last week, I ordered a new chair for my computer desk. I was astonished that the delivery guy actually braved the weather to deliver it this morning…..

He tried valiantly to get the truck up the driveway, but it wasn’t possible.

It sounded like he hit the fence, as he was trying to get up the driveway. I grabbed a coat and boots and ran out to see if he was okay – and if the fence was okay, too!  I foolishly forgot to put on mittens- not a good idea!

The driver was floundering up the drive, dragging the box – noble soul! I figured that I was dressed more warmly than he was, so I took over the box shuffle.

The news said that if you have exposed skin you will get frostbite in under 5 minutes.  They’re right.

Yep. I froze my hands in the few minutes I was struggling up the driveway with the box.

My index finger and thumb feel like someone pounded them with a hammer.   Cold hurts.

Hope the weather is better where you are!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I knew from the first moment that I started sketching the doll, that I wanted to use spoolknitting for the hair. Patty was born with curly red hair, so I wanted to celebrate that.

I wanted lots of spoolknitted cord, so I decided to use my Embellish knit spoolknitting machine.

I did a test swatch and decided that it was too stiff. I really wanted to use Caron’s Simply Soft in Mango, so I figured, what the heck…. I’d just split it and zip it up………

I am lucky enough to have 2 yarn winders. I bought the first one when I was 15 years old. I bought the other one second hand. It’s really handy having 2 of them!

I clamped them both to a little table, rolled the yarn and test swatch of spoolknitting into a ball:

When splitting yarn, I have found that it’s best to work in short lengths, with the ball secured with a darning needle.

That way, the ball can spin freely.

After I split the yarn (picky picky! when you have 3 dogs and a cat and indulge in a very fiberlicious lifestyle, the yarn picks up all kinds of little blubbitses that make the splitting process quite ~questionable~ as in what the heck was I thinking?)

Um……. it’s not a speedy process, but, I am pleased with the results:

It’s quite gratifying to whir up a heap of cord right off the yarn winder:

And the Patty Memory Comfort doll has her hair….

Her heart and wings will be spoolknitted, too….

On a larger spoolie………

later………

Image source: Noreen Crone-Findlay (copyright)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn