I like Ravelry.com

http://badges.ravelry.com/rectangle_32.png I am a member of an online group called Ravelry. It is all about knitting and spinning and crochet a little. There are thousands of people in the group that all love fiber related projects. I find it a great resource and compliment to my addiction to knitting and spinning. You will find patters galore and lots of them are free, my favorite kind. when you pick a pattern you will find pictures of other people's project made from that pattern and yarn suggestions and technique help and so many people to answer your questions. It is a wonderful place and.... the best thing is it is free. Go check it out and join.

OK, I may have some new people coming in to see my blog; so I thought I would share some photos of what I do. Such as spinning fiber into yarn with a spinning wheel. I also use drop spindles to make yarn.

I then knit the yarn I make or purchase into items for myself or family.

I have been known to crochet, but haven't done any lately. In this blog I also talk about fiber festivals and State and County fairs, and I also talk about my family. I am married for 37 years, I have 3 Kids and 4 Grand Kids. We currently have 2 roosters, some cats and a dog. We used to have sheep and chickens. I was raised on a Dairy Farm so having animals around is normal for me. Animals need care but they make great companions and are good listeners. 

Well if some one new does show up, Welcome, if not, that is a short summary of me.

Wow! I did not realize how long it has been since my last post. So many things have happened. The biggest change in my life is the death of my Dad on Aug 22nd. I have been caring for him since January, staying with him for a few weeks after he had heart surgery and then once he was able to live by himself again, I was his wheels and we had lots of Dr appts and trips to the pharmacy. My sisters took care of his grocery shopping and visiting him on Sundays, helping him with things around the house on weekends. So he has been having health problems but he was getting better. Then that Wednesday night one of the firemen called us to say Dad did not show up for the fire meeting and they wanted us to come to his house with a key so we could check on him. Well, he had fallen asleep in his chair watching his favorite western channel on the tv and never woke up. He is with Mom again and I am sure they are very happy to be back together. I miss them so much.

I did a lot of knitting while staying with my Dad both in and out of the hospital. I haven't been doing much knitting since Dad died but I am getting back into it. I need to finish my Bigger on the inside shawl, I only have 6 rows at most to finish the tardis bank and then will do the ribbing band and it will be done. I have started some of my Christmas knitting. An infinity scarf for an Aunt and I have plans to make new mittens for the Grand Babies, older grandson some fingerless gloves and older grand daughter maybe a new hat or fingerless gloves just so all the Grand kids get similar things.

The last time I did any spinning was in July for the Tour de Fleece. I made at least 3 different kinds of yarn. A merino/silk blend, one that is 100% silk and another that is romney and BFL blend. I entered the romney blend or a skein of it in the Polk County fair and got a blue ribbon on it.  I also entered a poncho for Lucy and a shawl for me in the fair and got red ribbons on them. I got a white ribbon on a pair of fingerless mitts I had knitted. If I had looked at them really well before I entered them I would not have entered them as the thumb gusset was kind of messed up a little. It still got third place though.

Things are still kind of weighting on me, but it is getting better. My sisters and I will get Dad's estate settled soon and then I will be moving into Dad's house. Moving is never fun, but this should be the last time ever or for a long time at least. So some time next year I may find my new normal. In the mean time knitting, spinning and family will keep me going.

Till next time, you all need to stay well.