More Spindle Bowls

I had previously posted about Tangled Dragon Designs spindle bowls.  Also, I received a present from Jude with another cool spindle bowl which I posted about here. 

I'm sad to say that the superglue did not hold and the fins came off again.  I decided to check Cindy's Etsy store to see what she had in the shop and saw a cool sheep.  I asked her to make me one with a green bowl and after a few attempts, I got one.

She was nice enough to make me a new turtle with a bit more heft.

Baby Cows

In my travels in Nebraska, I came across some baby cows.

They had a great view from their real estate.

There were also these geese.

Before I left home, I had seen a news story about the huge migration of cranes through Nebraska that you can see here.  I didn't see any cranes but the geese were plentiful.

Another Nebraska Field Trip

Had another opportunity to visit Lincoln Nebraska for some additional field work.  Southwest Airlines no longer has a direct flight from San Diego to Omaha so it took more time to route through other cities to get there.

For the trip out, I had a layover in Phoenix.  While waiting to board my second leg, I noticed the ground crew had a barbecue up and running and the burgers looked pretty good.

A view out the same window showed that the airport was busy.

It was pretty chilly after landing in Omaha and after picking up a rental car, we headed out to Lincoln.

This is a church in the middle of nowhere but it seems cool with the floor to ceiling windows.

Dinner was at Misty's for prime rib with their special mashed potatoes which had a whole lot of garlic.  The meal also came with a seafood bisque which was pretty good.  The prime rib was suppose to be medium, but it was pretty red and not very tender.

On the flight out, I was surprised to see these charging stations all over the waiting area at the gates.

New Potholders

Judy made and sent me a couple more potholders.  They are bright and happy.

Pups

Here are some pictures of the pups hanging around the house.

4 Ply Sock Yarn

Back in October 2008, I purchased 4 ounces of super wash merino from Frog Hair fine fibers.

I really loved this color way and it hung around for a bit before I started spinning it.  I spun a bunch of singles which sat around for more time.

After spin group, I needed some more bobbins so I had to ply this up and I ended up with a 2 ply of 28 wraps per inch.  I spun the singles clockwise and plied counter-clockwise.

Since the yarn was so fine, I decided to re-ply the yarn again on itself to end up with a 4-ply yarn.  I used my andean player to prepare for the next stage of plying.

I ended up with a 4-ply yarn with 20 wraps per inch which makes a pretty good sock yarn.  I plied the 2-ply clockwise and the yarn seems pretty sturdy.

A wash is required and the yarn will go into my queue for a pair of socks when I make some serious headway on my works in progress.

March Spin Group

We met at Juli's for spin group this month and it was cool to see everyone with their wheels spinning.  I finally finished spinning the singles for the CMV/Romeldale and now all I need to do is ply three strands together for my knitted vest project.

We had great food as usual and the day started a bit cool, but the sun did come out after all.  Juli had to tell us that Matilda crossed the rainbow bridge.  She always wanted to lay right on your foot and be petted.  Juli also stated that she lost one of her bunnies, Speck.

I brought this pasta dish - orzo salad with radish and fennel.  Most of the vegetables came from my CSA farm box.

Jan brought her rhubarb dessert and the toffee blondies rounded out the sweets.

Toffee Blondies

For Christmas, my brother and Dave made baking mixes for gifts.  I got three of them and one was for toffee blondies.

All I had to do was add a quarter cup of butter and 2 eggs.  When mixed up, it all went into a greased pan.

And then into the oven for 30 minutes.

A bit sweet but very tasty.  I took these to spin group and it was a big success.

It is All About Short Rows

I am making progress on my sweater backlog so I picked up another sweater to work on.  The Pecan Crush has been pretty easy knitting so far.  I stopped at the bottom hem shaping and had to do some research on how to proceed next.

The entire bottom section uses short rows for shaping.  I was lucky to find that Carol Feller, the designer of the sweater, has a free mini-class on Craftsy on short rows.

The sweater construction is pretty ingenious and after watching the class, I was able to work the first section of the hem.  I placed a lifeline in red from the start of the process to the part where it finishes and it is a cool wedge.

You can see that the bottom is starting to take shape on the sweater.

Another Pair of Mitts Finished

I was able to finish the pair of Jelly Beans Mitts for my aunt and sent that off in the mail.  Since I still had more than half of the yarn left, I decided to make another pair.  This pair was also finished.

I think this pair is going to someone as well.

Jenkins Batty Challenge

I made it to March before I succumbed to a fiber challenge.  I was surfing Ravelry and someone posted that the Jenkins spindle group was starting up a batt challenge.

It was kind of cool so I decided to join the fun.  The "rules" stated that everyone in the challenge would go to Nunoco's Etsy page and pick 5 favorite batts out of their inventory.  We would then be paired with someone else and have to go to their top 5 pick list and choose one from there.

The Nunoco people would then send that chosen batt to your person and one to you.  The next person would have chosen one from my list and have that sent to me.  I would end up with two batts, one I chose for my partner and another from my top 5 list that would be chosen for me.

I had so many favorites that I bought a few extras to justify the shipping from overseas.  There are over 30 people in the challenge and we will be getting our batts to start the challenge by April 1.

I dug out my Ed Jenkins spindle which I got on a destash that I never spun on so it will all be an adventure.  It is a swan in the zebra wood.

I also have a wrist distaff that is very cool from this shop.

I can't wait for the fiber to appear so I can start spinning using these new tools.

Kitchen 4140

Mini Supper Club meet up at Kitchen 4140 after a scheduling boo boo by me last weekend.  I totally got the days wrong and poor Janet though I had probably died since I didn't show up.  The time change to daylight savings didn't help either.

We rescheduled and I arrived at Kitchen 4140 10 minutes early just in case.  I snapped this picture while waiting at the front.  It is in an unlikely place with a rug store next door.

We sat inside since was getting cool but they have a nice outdoor patio dining area.

We started with the brussels sprout appetizer with lamb bacon.

We both decided on the specials of this night.  Janet had surloin wrapped in bacon and I had the crusted salmon.  Both of our dishes came with asparagus while I had mashed potatoes and she had mac and cheese.

Good meal with quite a bit of food.  I had enough for a doggie bag.

Tucson Arizona

I had to go the Arizona for some work and the weather was simply beautiful.  Warm and a bit overcast is the best!  The drive there and back were long and thank you cruise control.  I like it when there aren't too many cars on the road and you can go for long stretches without much trouble.

I was able to try out a tamale place which rates 4 stars.  Tucson Tamales was close to my hotel and it was a campy little place with great tamales.

I ordered a two tamale plate with a side of chips and guacamole which was delicious.

It came with your choice of mild/medium/hot salsa, but I ate mine with the green stuff.  I ordered the Santa Fe and the Sonora and both were great.

I resisted ordering some frozen ones to take home.