Wow how time flies!

The last 2 months seemed to have flown by!! We have had two good events and one bad. The first thing that was a good event was that we brought out house guest to the Airport Nov. 5 and said good bye to her and Rusty. They are now back in Ca and settling nicely. The the other good is tht this year my hubby went with me to the Kid-n-Ewe Festibal in Boerne, TX. We stayed in San Anotoni at the Candlewood Suites and oh my gosh it was awesome, each room hae a kitchenette with a cooktop,fullsized refrig, micro wave utensils and dish and glassware. It was just great to stay there.

My spinners workshop was at 9 in the morning and that was just great. I learned what I was doing wrong when it came to the Long draw and I corrected it and then I learned who to spin flax. No that was something them I was shown after class how to Navaho ply using the wheel and that I must practice. But it wa great fun. Then I had my space dyeing class and that was totally awesome!! This type of dyeing is so cool and easy too. I think I might even teach a space dyeing class after the first of the year. By then I should have all my dyes in by then and it will be fun. Then I got some fiber too. Not as much as last year because I knew what types of fiber I was looking for this time. I have some awesome fibers to spin too. I also got some fiber goodies for my friend Suzanne. Then Michael had put my name down for the silent auction which I didn't know and I had put my name down for 2 auctions for hand dyed fiber. Guess what I walked away (had to pay for them lol) with 3 items.

I also made some new friends they had a booth in the Alpaca ranchers barn and looks like we could possible be doing business togehter in the future regarding my stitch markers. So that is exciting and I got lots of complements on my felted [urse as well. We got home on Sunday night around 9:30 after we picked up our little dogs and around 11:45-midnight the phone rang and we got some very bad heart breaking news. Our cousin Ada at the age of 35 had died from a massive heart attack. We were just stunned, we had talked with her on the 5th and she emailed us a beautiful email at 2 p.m. that have a beautiful picture of flowers with a prayer. We drove up to Calwell on Thursday and I met some of the family. We went to the funeral palor and then we got our room and went to have dinner. We were back to aunt Tina's in the morning for Ada's home going service. I like the words Home Going or Going Home service better than funeral because after all the person is going home to the Lord.

Ada was a wonderful, giving and thoughtful person. The type that would give you the shirt off her back if she felt it would help you. Through this whole ordeal I have meet Toni, LaNee and Terry and Ify Ada's boyfriend all of whom I believe will be dear friends for life. Ify is a wonderful man that Michael and I met. He is very bright, articulite and loving. He speaks from his heart and his speaking is very eloquent. He shared a letter he wrote to Ada, she was his big girl, the love of his life. They were both going to school Ada was gettingher degree here in TX and Iff was getting his PhD at university in Louisiana. They were both made for each other, and they were to be with Michael and I this weekend. I was going to prepare a feast and we were gonna just sit and enjoy each other's company. We told Ify that he is family and is always welcome in our home and we will keep in contact with him. Well I will stop for now I need to get some (more) sleep I an just feeling totaly drained of energy so I am going to get some much needed rest. Once I down Load the pictures I will post them.

Enjoy the weekend,
CW

Wow how time flys

October was a crazy month with things wizzing and sipping around. I am glad that we are now into November. The weekend of the Nov. 7-9 we were in San Antonio and Boerne, TX for the kid-n-ewe fiber festival. We had a wonderful time. Itwas different than last year. Not as many venders. But it made it a little easier to move around the boths of those that came. There seemed to be a lot of mohair vendors this year. Boy the dyed colors that they had to offer wwere great. I even got a funky pair of hand combs for my wool that I bet I can make for a lower price and sell them at a fair price. Anyway, we got home on the 9th at around 9:30 after picking up the dogs and around 11:45 -midnight our phone rang and it was cousin Tony calling to let us know that cousin Ada had died from a massive heart attack. She was 35 years old and had finally met an fell in love with the man of her dreams. Michael and I are taking things one day at a time.

We left Thursday and there was a small wake and then Friday we had the Home going service for Ada.. We met her boyfriend named Ify and he is a wonderful person full of light and a bright spirit like Ada. Our Pastor drove up from Katy to attend the dervice. That ment a lot to mom Cora and Aunt Tina. We are back home know and I am just plain oh exhausted and I am going to go an lay down now. I will have kid-n-ewe pictures to post later.

Cya,
CW

PS: I won 3 silen autions and that was fun. Next year I will enter the skein competition.

Spinning Wheel Fairy Godmother has blessed me!!

Ok,
so I am trying to make up for not posting in a great while. Any way some of you may know that I had been bidding on a unique spinning wheel but lost the bid to someone else. Well one of the groups I belong to had a woman who had to sell someof her wheels and I went to her web and "BAM" there it was the Moswolt Hammer wheel. Talk about over joyed and spinning freinzy mind flip! I contacted her and the wheel is mine now!! happy dance oh yeah! Well I received an wonderful surprise the other day. Kathy emailed me with some incredible news, she contacted her wheel dealer in the Netherlands to ask about the hammer wheel since she had some others who were interested in one. Well she found a better one for me. This one comes with a lazy kate and a skein winder. I think I will call my new wheel Boudica who was a femal British warrior or I could name her MayaLou after Maya Angelo a strong, power and successful Black woman. So what do you think? Here is some pictures of the "Hammer". My hubby is supposed to be getting me a Majacraft Rose wheel for Christmas. I am really excited about that one too because I will have so many different ratio's to spin fiber with. Anyway it is 2:15 Monday morning and I need to get to bed.
I have to call a roofing and structural contractors to inspect the damage from Ike. It could have been worse, but I am thankful that no one in our family got hurt. So many people are dealing with utter devastation and loss. A friend of lost two family memebers who died from carn dioxide posing. They had the generator in the garage when it was running. Well I will have more pictures to post during this week, of the new skeins of yarn that I have spun up.

Below is the wheel I am getting now, this is at Henri's house in the Nehterlands. It is being shipped to me this week!!


This wheel was the one I was getting originally. This is just way to cool, look at how unique it is!!

& Good mornin' ,

CW

Pictures from RI Trip

Finally I have time to post some pictures from our RI trip this past June. We had a lovely time, though way too short lol. Michael was just tickled to death once he met everyone. He really had a great time talking with the guys and with dad especially about army stuff and old movies. He said to me the other day I know where you get all the facial looks you give me now. You get them from mom. Anyway enjoy the photos!


This is Daja in a tree grove on the grounds of the Breaker's Mansion in Newport, RI We had a great day with her. She walked the heck out of her Nana, but Papa Mike enjoyed walking with someone who could keep stride with him.

These are the front gates leading to the mansion. It was a great day as we were there the fog was rolling back out to the ocean.


This one shows the ornate carvings in stone as you enter the mansion. The doors are huge !! They weigh a lot also. As usual no pictures were allowed to be taken inside the mansion :( This is the surprise we pulled off on our daughter Tanya at her job. It was her 29th B'day and Michael got her good too. Now she knows just what a character her step-father is.I tell you if you ever get to RI you have to go to OV's diner on Allens Ave. The food is great!!
This is the Ferry landing, where we were waiting for the office to open up so we could get our tickets to go to Newport. This ferry was fast and as usual it put me to sleep. But coming back we sat below inside, in nice comfy seats and I had a nice snooze cause I was just exhausted from a day of sightseeing and walking. Next trip up will be longer and we'll probably spend one night in Newport and then go up to Maine to visit friends as well.

Finally ~ Sign-in problem fixed!!

Hi y'all,
Boy did I have a time trying to log into this here blog. I have ton's of pictures and such to share. First, some exciting breaking news at the Watkins residence!!We have 2 new kids coming next month!! !! I have rearranged my office and I can accommodate 2 24x24 stacking cages and these will be our newest kids come next month! Everyone meet:

This is Mandino he is a Fawn Colored EA Buck and he is just beautiful!!

Then comes MS. Evening Star. She is just adorable, she will be showing at a OK rabbit show then she'll come to us. I think she'll do great!

That is the latest news now, I know you are waiting to hear about the vacation to RI. We had a lovely time but it was way to short. Next time we'll go up in the fall and stay a little longer and be able to visit a lot more place at our leisure. Michael just loves his in-laws and he had a blast talking about the army and watching old movies with dad. He really enjoyed the blueberry muffins that mom made and now I have to make him blueberry muffins every weekend lol. He was overwhelmed by the way that Tanya and the grand babies greeted him. Now you should hear him boast about them. He got to see how mom and dad react to each other and he said that will be us in 20 yrs. His biggest thing was "all" the food we had, I said look when this family gets together be prepared to eat, food is always involved one way or another!! Well my next post will have some pictures of our trip and the rest will be on flirk.com. Have a great week everyone!!

,

CW

Fiber fun ~ Spin-in 7/12/2008 ~ 1st Swap arrived!!

This is my 1st Swap fiber I received from the Ravelry group. Beautiful Merino

This what a Fiber addict looks like after a Fiber Fix!
This is one of Tracy's finished projects. Does she do an awesome job with weaving!!
This is Lynn ( of Lynn's Texas Fibers) letting Ms. Peggy draw the first door prize name. I won!!
Notice that all the spinners, spin in their bare feet.

Ok what happens when you save rainy day money for 2.5 months? I'll tell you what happens you end up with a severe case of the need for a "Fibre Fix". Let me tell you my friend Suzanne came down from Magnolia and had a blast! She won a dye day work shop as her door prize. I won 8 oz. of Mohair, now I am itching to dye it. Plus I also received my first fiber package from the Ravelry group called Fiber Club Swap Group. Hope sent this awesome 4 ounces of dyed merino. I will use it to make our cousin MJ something special. Well here are a few pictures from the swap and spin-in all of them will be placed in my flikr.com album shortly.



I tell you fiber ,

CW

We had a awesome time in RI

Gianni wearinf Papa Mike's hat ~ She was just as cute as can be an so smart. Come on you tell me what 4 yr. old will say "So you two are married right?" I thought Michael was gonn fall off the edge of the couch. When we responded yes, she replied "oh, that 's very good."

These are our girls~ Daja Tanya and Miss Gianni. Michael said I am proud of my little family and the girls are just beautiful. I think we'll need several Bradley's and a Sherman tank to keep the hounds away lol. He is just too funny at times.
This is me showing Daja how to flick the spindle while spinning yarn. She was spinning in 10 minutes and likes it so I am going to make her a special drop spindle.

y'all,

What a beautiful time we had on our trip!. Not much to see driving up everything was green trees. No interesting rock formations or anything. But what a blast we had!! Michael was just beside himself. He thought he was going to feel odd you know the "new family member" thing. Not with my family, he did more laughing and talking than I've seen him ever do. He enjoyed speaking to dad about his experience in Korea and dad asked if some of the things that he had seen during the Korean war were still there so that was nice and they both enjoyed watching the old movies and comparing notes and so forth. He meet his new daughter and granddaughters and at times they left him misty eyed. Especially little Ms. Gianni and her little voice, every time she said Papa Mike he melted. I do have some pictures for this post and I am getting ready to put a RI Road Trip album together on flikr.com

We spent one day in Newport with our oldest granddaughter Daja and what fun we had. We took the high speed ferry down. We went to one of mine and her's favorite mansion the Breakers used to be the summer "cottage" of the Vanderbilt's and this time we also went to the children's play cottage. Let me tell you with a little paint and slight remodel of one small area that would make a awesome Fibre studio!! Yes always thinking of fibre. Not to mention the fact that I taught Daja how to use the drop spindle and in 10 minutes she took to it like a duck to water and was just spinning her first fibre . So I am going to make her a special drop spindle just so she can spin. I told her you spin the yarn then send it to nana and I will set the twist and save it and the next time we come up I will show you how to crochet with your yarn!

Well I need to get a package ready and print the postage for it. So we can have Enid our mail person pick it up when she delivers the mail.

,

CW

Happy Birthday Mova ~ Knitting projects

This is Angus wqith his buddy PK. Every night they get to play in papa's office fr a half our. He's giving his little buddy some love lol.

This is the Rona Lace Shawl I am knitting I had nicknamed it S. O. B. because it was real tricky getting it started lol. This is one the project that I will work on when not in the car, because it has some intricxate repeats.

This is the newest color combo I have spun up. I call it Caribbean Sunset. It was fun to spin and ply. I am getting better at plying. Practice makes perfect.
Another view of the shawl.

Hi y'all,

Today my grandmother is 89 and we're all going to see her at the end of this month. It is sad when a loved one gets hit with Alzheimers. But at least she seems to be happy and can be fiesty at times when she wants to be lol. Anyway I do hope that this time I can post the pictures I promised before. I have several projects I am knitting and I am spinning up a storm both on the wheel and drop spindles.

Yeah a real entry today!!

Finally,
A quiet moment to get some much needed blogging done. Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was a little crazy but fun. We did the usual flea market thing and let me tell you my hubby who can spend 2+ hours there, was done and ready to go back home in 90 minutes!! He called me on the cell and said “where are you, I am at the back gate ready to go.” So Bev and I told him we had to go back and get the new cage for the arrival of the newest family member and we’d meet him at the car. We got back to the car before he did lol. Last week I ended up with severe heat exhaustion and the sheriff ended up taking me back to the first aid office. I mean it hit me like a bullet train, the weather was hot but there was a nice breeze blowing and I was drinking water and all but I did not have my base ball cap on. This past Saturday I was armed with a small cooler that had ice and water and that was in the bottom of our flea market cart and I had a cap on.

But after going to see the doctor he basically told me that the DJD is getting worse and that I will more than likely be walking using a can by the middle of the fall (not if I can help it). He is glad that I am losing weight still; I just hope that after I lose this last 27 lbs. that they will do my surgery!! I now do water walking in the pool 3 days a week. I went to the VA doctor today and he is just slightly concerned about my BP it was 150/80 so when we get back from our trip to RI he wants to see me again. I was off the med’s for 6 days waiting for it to be mailed to me. So I should be back to normal by then. But he is still worried about my lack of sleep so he is giving me another med to try and see if that will help. I average about 4 hours sleep. He said it is a good thing that I take an afternoon nap. He said “everybody should be doing that.” She said on the who the fact that I do my spinning is great at relaxing and calming the mind and body and also mentioned that Ghandi also did spinning to relax and calm his mind and body.

We are so excited about leaving for our trip even though it is so that we all can meet and see Mova before she has total memory lose. I know that if she still had a sharp memory she would love my hubby and have a blast joking with him. I have the new camera so I will have 2 camera’s that I will be using to take pictures and down load onto the lap top. Michael found one for $30 it is old but since we just use it mainly transfer pictures from camera and read books it is just fine. We’ll also pick up Prince Falaroy from Niheeta and then stop in AR to get a beautiful Blue Angora doe from Mallory of Millennial Way Farm. The pictures are of just some of the things I have been working on. I have 3 knitting projects plus my spinning of some more yarn for my mom’s project. Which I will take the wheel with me so I can spin when not visiting with family. Well I need to stop for now, have some housework to get done and also feed PK. I know when it is 6 p.m. because he starts to thump if I am not putting food in his dishes lol. What a nutty little guy he is. Well have a great week all, and enjoy the warm/hot days of summer!!
,
CW

PS: I've tried 4 times to upload some pictures but they won't upload so I will post the pictures of my latest knittnig project tomorrow.

Short Post

y'all,
Just a quick shout and yes I know I have fallen badly behind in my blogging. Can we say busy and crazy? LOL. Here are some new pictures of the animals to look at and will post later this weekend. Right now I need to skein more yarn and then knit for 1 hr. on my latest project.
,
CW

Can you hear me now?


This is Iggy shedding again look at his awesome color and markings!


Help let me out of here!!

Playing chase with ping pong ball in papa's office.

The lovely couple sunning themselves.

Pictures for you to see!!

Ok,
So now you know I had an Ooops and forgot to post the pictures in the last entry lol. Yep time to go to sleep land lol. Enjoy the pictures!!
CW

Here I am with our new "son" Polunu Kemeah (PK for short) He is such a lovely Rabbit and oh so soft!!


This is one of Suzanne's dulcimers this is a McSpadden dulcimer. Check out that ebony wood fret !! This is my Mother's Day present from the family I just love it!! There is a women in church that makes them.
These are the stitch markers that I finished today and mailed so they should arrive at their new homes next week. This is a sample of what kind of things I will have on Etsy!!
Look at PK, he is in the "MAN" cave with his papa. The floor is the rubber safty blocks and PK has a ball in there.