Three Days of Disney Fun!

We survived our second annual "Mike's birthday weekend at Disney!" We had a really good time, as usual. And we made it through 3 days at Disney with just one blister each. We were a bit worried about the weather forecasts, but we really got lucky and although 3-4 thunderstorms hit Epcot on Sunday, we managed to avoid getting wet.

Mike suggested we get some photos taken on Monday, so we did. We had two sets done on Main Street, by two different Disney photographers, in two different locations. They actually aren't bad, and I think we might order some. We really will have to get them to take photos with one of our cameras some time. I know we never seem to have many/any photos of the two of us together.

We had a great dinner on Sunday night at Teppan Edo, one of the restaurants in Japan. The food was wonderful, just as it was the last time we ate there. It is a good show and very enjoyable! We had a good dinner on Monday night at Tony's Town Square too, for Mike's birthday. Yummy food, and an ice cream sundae for Mike's birthday.

On the fiber front, I plied most of the rest of my two bobbins of singles today. Well, I spun till the one bobbin ran out of singles, that is. Despite carefully dividing the fiber into two equal sections and spinning each on a bobbin, it wasn't so even after all. Oh well. I still have a pretty good amount of plied yarn on the new bobbin, and I might have close to 300 yards of yarn by the time it is all done?

I still haven't remembered to take a photo of the skein of finished yarn...that will have to wait for a different day and then I will get it up on the blog.

It is Yarn!

We are fine, keeping busy. The weather has been nicer this week, not as many thunderstorms. Which has been nice. It is nice seeing more blue sky. One of the trade-offs has been hotter temperatures. Oh well. We did have a thunderstorm last night, and I think we got rain here, although I am not positive. It didn't sound like they had anything at all in Orlando.

We head off to Orlando tomorrow for our celebration weekend at Disney. I made reservations for dinner at Teppan Edo on Sunday evening and Tony's on Monday, for Mike's birthday. The food at both places is really good--can't go wrong with either place. I am not sure if we are taking the computer or not, but even if we do, I imagine I will not be writing--although I would be sure to check email. I will have my cell phone, be sure to call if you need to get hold of us!

The kitties are doing fine. They still have kitty wars pretty often, so still seem to have plenty of energy, despite their elderly kitty status. You would think they could/would just lie around and be lazy, but not so.

I finished spinning the amethyst merino. On Tuesday I started plying the two bobbins of singles. That was eye opening and disheartening, as I saw just how irregular my singles were. It was strange, as I had thought that my singles were much more even than past efforts, and I thought this yarn would be really good. HA!


I found that once plied, the yarn filled the bobbin with plenty left on the singles bobbins. I filled the bobbin almost totally full after hours of plying (see photo), and decided since there was no way to get the rest of the singles plied and onto that bobbin, I had best stop. It took a good bit of time to wind all that yarn onto my niddy noddy. I gave the yarn a good bath and went ahead and shocked it with hot and cold water, whacked it and snapped it. I had been a little worried that the yarn would be totally unbalanced, as some parts of the singles really had a lot of twist in them. But, amazingly, once the twist was set, the yarn hung straight and there was no sign of little twisty pigtails.

And best of all, the yarn looked so much nicer than it did when I was plying. Go figure. I have 148 yards so far, and there is still the rest to ply. I did start plying the rest yesterday but didn't have much time to devote to it.

The Week in Review

Space Shuttle Endeavor got safely launched. When Mike came home from work (on launch day--Wednesday?) we talked about it and then forgot all about it. Although, we were not sure what the launch time was either. Oh well. Mike heard it going up and called to me. The shuttle was already into the clouds, so we couldn't see it, but could see the trail below.

I am almost done spinning up the second half of the amethyst merino. I feel like I am learning a lot. It also seems to be going faster--not sure if it really is or I have just been spinning more often. I did up 7 hunks of the top yesterday, a real record. I took breaks now and then--dealing with laundry, getting coffee, etc--and it made a difference. I was comfortably able to spin longer.

We are at home today instead of at Disney. A 50% chance of rain is just too high--our experience is that it is almost a guarantee that it will rain at some point. Oh well. It is nice and sunny outside right now, but they are predicting thunderstorms this afternoon.

Well, not much of interest going on.....

Shuttle Launch Scrubbed Again

The weather sure hasn't been cooperating with NASA. We had our "daily thunderstorm" earlier in the afternoon/evening yesterday so things were looking good, but Cape Canaveral had another storm to the north that was moving away but not fast enough. I always feel sorry for people who come from all around the country to see a launch.

I finished up the first 2 ounce bobbin of the amethyst merino yesterday! Today I hope to get it off the wheel, clean and oil the wheel, and start the second 2 ounces. I have been enjoying spinning this wool, but will also be glad to be done with it, as other fibers are calling to me to be spun too--lol.

Things continue much as usual in our little part of Florida. I will be glad when we move past this late afternoon storm session--I know it isn't just a given for this area, at least not as an every day thing.

A New Week

The summer is zipping by, not sure where it goes.

I ended up spinning 4 times this past week. I am almost done with the first half of this merino wool. It will be a two ply yarn and I think it will come out pretty good.

Mike and I swam at the Brady's pool and spa both Saturday and Sunday. We went early enough to miss the summer thunderstorms. We had a nice chat with the folks yesterday, Mom and Dad came and sat out on the patio.

The space shuttle launch has suffered from the storms though, and was delayed once again yesterday. I hope it goes off tonight? If the storms would come through earlier, all would be well....

I am going through Disney withdrawal. We haven't been since Michelle's birthday. Yikes, that is almost a month ago. Between being out of town and bad weather, there hasn't been much choice. I guess we could go despite the rain chances, but we hate to have our time shortened by a thunderstorm. Oh well....

I will have to get back to washing Anne's wool, and wash up some more alpaca too...

Spinning Fun

Don't faint, I am back to posting more regularly!

I am finally getting back into my routines, after having Brian and Co here for two weeks, then being out of town for a week. The washer and dryer are getting work outs and the nordic track got used for the first time in more than a month.



I have now used my spinning wheel 3 times since we have been back. I actually have spun two days in a row--I am sure that is a first for me. I am spinning up some merino wool in the colorway Amethyst, from Woodland Woolworks. It is spinning up nice and easy and my singles look pretty even.



I finished knitting a baby hat. It was my knitting group knitting--mostly mindless knitting that I don't have to concentrate on too hard. It is really cute! I had plenty of the ball of yarn left (Bernat Baby Jacquards in Easter Basket), so have started another hat in the 1 year size. The recently finished hat is in the 6 month size.

It looks like a thunderstorm is descending on us---black clouds moving in fast and some thunder in the distance. The wind has really picked up too. We could use the rain, since the actual rain fall we have had recently is less than it seemed. Yep, a good old thunderstorm, lots of lightning and thunder but not very much rain....oh well.

Busy Summer

June flew by in no time at all, that is what being busy will do for you. Brian, Christine and Michelle flew in for a visit, and we had a great two weeks with them. They got the Disney military salute tickets, good for 5 days of Disney fun. We made full use, and used every day of those tickets. I imagine they have had enough Disney to last them a good long time.... On the down side, it was hot and more crowded than I remember the parks being last summer. But, I remembered that the weather kept us from going as much last summer as we did the rest of the year, so I can't really judge.

We finally got to take the kids to Epcot and that was a lot of fun. Michelle did just fine there---we weren't sure if there was enough there to keep her interested and happy, but it worked out okay. She did sleep for a while, but that was good, since we stayed till closing and saw the fireworks, which she absolutely loved. She liked it so much, we then stayed at Magic Kingdom long enough to see the evening light parade and the fireworks. They really put on a great display.

We also went to the Animal Kingdom, and Michelle enjoyed that too. I quickly remembered why we think we will enjoy that park more in cooler weather--lol.

On most of the non-Disney days, we went next door and swam at Mom and Dad's. Michelle loves the water and doesn't mind getting her face wet, water up her nose, etc. I wonder where she gets that from? She had a grand time and enjoyed jumping off the side of the pool to us.

They flew home on Friday the 19th and Mike and I flew to Denver on the Monday the 22nd, for Mike's TDY to Boulder. We had a great time there, tried out some new restaurants, and enjoyed the cooler weather. I got to shop at Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins again, and bought some great fiber to spin.

We are home again, and I am back to meeting with my knitting buddies on Wednesdays. Hurrah!