I haven't been here in awhile.

Whoa, I'm one of those people who starts a blog with good intentions then just sort of leaves it hanging in limbo. I do enjoy reading the posts of other bloggers and find their activities and talents interesting. Maybe now that it's almost winter and life has slowed down I will find more time to post.

My Great Neice, Emily

I have the most wonderful family. My sister hosts a huge Easter party every year. Because Northern Michigan weather is so unpredictable she rents a gymnasium and we have an awesome potluck then there is an Easter egg scramble. It is seperated into age groups.....even one for us old folks.

This picture is of my great neice. I wanted to point out how she is gathering several eggs, even tucking them under her chin before she heads back for the bag that her father is holding open for her. She is female and was born knowing how to multitask! lol

~Bagels~

Ok, it was storming out (that's snow folks). I wanted to bake something for the heat of it all. I've never tried making bagels and I used my bread machine to do the dough so they really weren't hard to make. Problem is my DH loved them and said I could make more. What? Did he give me permission to bake? Lol. Translated that means please, please, please would you consider making more?

~Spring~

Spring must be getting closer. I just got back from the vets office with Murphy, he had his annual heart worm test so he could start on monthly preventative tabs. He looks about wore out from his adventurous day. He even got to stop off at the office where I work and got lots of attention from the ladies. I think he is going to rest this afternoon.

Another reason I know spring has to be getting closer is I have an urge to buy and hoard fleeces. You just can't get them anywhere you know! Not something you can just go pick up at Walmart.

What if I run out! (Yeah right.....not with the stash I have washed, stored & hidden).

Whats on the bobbin?

I am actually caught up on my knitting projects, uh.... oh yeah, other than those socks that are hiding in my knitting basket that need to be mended.

I was going through my very large stash of fibers and trying to re-organize by repacking the bins with similar types of fiber and I ran across some batts of "trash" wool that I had stuck in a box. Trash wool is the bits of fiber that come of my carder when I am cleaning it so I can change colors. Sometimes small pieces of dyed fiber that didn't get used up gets put in the "trash" wool bag and it all gets carded into a batt when there is enough collected to make one up. Trash batts are fun, you never know quite what you are going to get but they usually turn out some pretty colorful yarn.

~Felted Slippers for Me~

Another project off the needles! Yeah!!! Now I can start another one. These are a pair of felted slippers I made for myself. I had a pair I finished last fall but I wore them so much that I wore them out. Darn, an excuse to make another pair! I love these, they are sooooo warm. The handspun yarn is a combination of dyed columbia, with bits of natural and dyed wool that was blended into the spinning batt, you can't see it in the photo but there are alot of flecks of color throughout.

My latest Project Bumble Bee Mittens

My latest FINISHED project are these felted bumble bee mittens. They are made from handspun yarn of merino/targhee, alpaca & kid mohair. I had made two similar pair last year for my neices and one of their friends saw them and fell in love and asked if they thought I would make some for her. I had way too many projects to finish so I kind of ignored the request but this winter while they were at school she asked my son if I might make her a pair of mittens. I figure if she has wanted them for an entire year and had not forgotten about them then she must REALLY want them. She didn't care what color so I asked my son what color her coat was and he said black and yellow and instantly I thought of bumble bees!

They are knit HUGE with tufts of dyed kid mohair sticking out and then felted.

I found the basic pattern here: http://www.allfiberarts.com/library/bl/blfeltedmitts.htm