Fiber Fun Day

I had the good fortune yesterday of having a homeschooling family over to my house to learn about making yarn. (Although I took pictures, I don't post pictures of other people's children without their express permission.) I believe the oldest was about fourteen, and the youngest was about eight years old.
When my son was younger, I homeschooled him, so my family has a lot in common with this family. Her four children, like my son, were amazingly well behaved and polite. When they were awaiting their turns at the spinning wheel, they didn't quarrel or tear around my house. So nice.
We started with an overview of the process, and getting to know each other's names. Then we
* washed some raw sheep wool
* carded washed wool with hand cards
* carded washed wool with a drum carder
* spun yarn with drop spindles
* spun yarn with a spinning wheel
* dyed yarn with food colors
All of the children got to do every activity, and we did it all in a single day. Wow.
The best spinner was the youngest, a boy about eight years old. Within a minute he was spinning a perfect, beautiful, fine single yarn. His eldest sister, on the other hand, struggled to make yarn as much as I did when I learned ten years ago. All four of them were genuinely interested in the fiber arts, and genuinely grateful and thankful for the opportunity to learn.
Wow.

Finished my yarn room!

I have a room for my yarn and fiber arts projects. Yes, a whole room. For the past three years I have struggled to keep it tidy and somewhat organized. Since I've been unemployed the past four months, I have finally succeeded.
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the famous Yarn Harlot, has commented frequently that a stash like mine cannot be believed by the non-knitting public. Those who don't knit or crochet will simply not believe that anyone would want to own this much yarn.

I've been putting the stuff into bins over the years, and stacking them in the closet of my yarn room. I'm not sure how long I've had a yarn room, but it's been at least 5 years. It helps somewhat; I still have project bags all over the house, but at least I had a place to throw them when company came over.

In the picture below, you see the North wall of my yarn room. Well, you see most of it. You can't see the bottom shelf of the racks. There is another row of these big bins below what you can see here. Each bin is labeled with masking tape (easy to change) and the contents. Contents are general, like "Sock Yarns" or "Wool/Alpaca Blend Yarns"

In the next picture, you can see the NE corner of the room. The black rack contains more bins, but it also contains my prized tools. I have a good collection of knitting needles, crochet hooks, drop spindles, and spinning paraphenalia.

In the picture at the top of the blog, I've placed the sock yarn bin on the table. It contains enough yarn for me to knit nothing but socks for about five years. And it's just ONE of the bins on these shelves.

I have:

one small bin of variegated sock yarns

one big bin of solid color sock yarns

two large bins full of superwash worsted wool yarns

two large bins of alpaca/wool blend yarns

two large bins full of alpaca yarns

two large bins of wool/mohair blend yarns

two large bins of cotton and cotton blend yarns

one small bin of silk blend yarns

ten large bins of spinnable fiber: wool, superwash wool, alpaca, mohair, and angora.

Also, two of the shelves are covered with Works In Progress (WIP) and I have a HUGE bin of Un Finished Objects (UFO) in the closet. The closet also contains my go-box for teaching spinning and dyeing classes, and a big pile of bins containing washed fleeces and more spinning fibers.

Obsessed? Maybe.

Big Boy

My son Gregory is a big guy. To look at him, you'd never know he's just 16.

A week ago, we needed to order football gear for upcoming camps and tryouts. (I have a secret hope that he will get a full football scholarship.) None of the local sporting goods stores have ANY football equipment yet! They said they will start getting it in August. Not too helpful when Greg has football camps in June and July. So, my intrepid husband did some online shopping. He found Football America and we ordered the stuff.

It arrived Thursday night, and the picture shows him trying on the pads. I am so happy it all fits him.

Well, football gear needs to fit the person. I have complained a lot to Greg's school that they need to order stuff big enough for him. They assured me they would, but I had to tailor his practice jersey so he could wear it without it choking him! We were a little leery about ordering stuff online without him trying it on. Fortunately, this site had sizing charts and measurement information. So, I dug out the trusty measuring tape and learned:

Head size: 23 3/4 inches. (Yes, he DOES need an XL helmet.)

Chest size: 51 1/2 inches. XXXL jersey.

Waist: 43 1/2 inches. (At least, where he wears his jeans. His true waist is probably smaller.)

Hips: 47 inches.

Now, lest you think he's a candidate for "The Biggest Loser," let me add: he's 6'4" tall and weighs 290 pounds. Think "meat wall" not "Pillsbury doughboy."

When my husband and I got a new bed recently, we gave our old King size bed to our son. He fills it up all by himself. If he gets any taller he will need a California King. Sheesh.

Oh, and if you are wondering, he wears a size 15 EEEE shoe. He's worn that size over a year now, so we are hoping he won't grow any more. It's hard enough to find shoes and clothes to fit him now.

I still introduce him as "my little boy." He seems to get a kick out of that. I'm 5'2" so he towers over me. As you can see in the picture.