Springtime in Ontario

(I wrote this in the spring of 2017. I think I forgot to add the pics, so here it is now July and I published it and now it is out of order.)

It's hard to believe I haven't made an entry since last October 2016.

Winter has come and gone. I can't say it was a very cold winter, it wasn't really and we managed to save money on natural gas for heating. We still have the snow tires on and I guess they can come off now until next year.

I have kept spinning and knitting right along. I've made a couple of sweaters this past winter-one for hubby and an Icelandic for myself, both of them a dark green. I bought some worsted in pink for a change and made a pullover in an Elizabeth Zimmerman design.

I entered the Alpaca Ontario fibre art competition - hasn't happened yet, but later in April. I spun two skeins for the competition: one is 100% alpaca; the other 70% alpaca.

A few pairs of socks were made with more yet to do in both purchased pretty yarns and my own dyed skeins.

I've combed alpaca for a singles in a three ply yarn I'm making with one singles of Genopalette wool and one singles of N.Z.  merino wool.
I used a fibre reactive dye to dye a skein yesterday using a 2% dye stock solution at 1%DOS.
It was first dyed fuchsia and then brick. The spun yarn was twisted into a skein for dyeing, though for the first dye it undid itself.

It's a very warm pink.

Closer to Moving

I have six days left to pack some things. The goal tomorrow morning before I have any visitors is to finish up my studio. At that point I will have all the easy stuff packed up and all of the oddities will be left for the movers to pack. Things like large paintings, lights, strange weaving tools, long skinny tools.

Then I can pack a few more things like in the kitchen.

Finally the things that will come in the car with us. First on this list is everything needed for the doggies. Then the suitcase stuff. (I) Have to remember sheets, towels, jackets, etc. for all weather.
Maybe an umbrella. Snacks. Drinks. Doggie cookies.

I will be so glad when we are finally on the road.

But I have a little knitting project on the go to keep me on track-a farewell gift from a friend.

You can't see the colour very well-it's a blue green and it is so very soft. It's a mix of superwash merino wool and nylon.

A little knitting and some sleep.

An Update on Move Preparations

I have arrived at a point in time that is five weeks away from our move to Prince Edward Island (PE).

When looking at the large picture of moving, it's easy right?

After all, all that needs to be done is put everything in a box or few, put in in a truck, drive, unload and that's it-or is it?

When you're a Virgo and your age is sixty three, that's not all there is to it. Oh no!! No! No! No!

To a Virgo that packing part is literally a pain in the derriere or neck!! It amounts to:

1. Sorting, finding out what is really important to me and can't live without.

2. Washing, dusting and generally getting things the way I want to see them at the new house when I place things again which includes a lot of laundry first.

3. Trips to the Goodwill type of stores in the areas to pass things on that are no longer being used and have a lot of life in them.

4. Calls to deal with disposal of other things, like paint, etc. and washers and dryers since the new house comes with the appliances.

5. Then finally real packing and boxing.

6. Questions frequently arise like how do you pack woodworking clamps that are large and heavy?

7. How to pack a lamp and lampshade?

8. How do seven spinning wheels get packed?

I think this is enough to drive any fibre loving spinning girl ccc...spinny.

So I put every event in my calendar and step by step, like everyday that passes us by, they each get dealt with and pass by until moving day arrives and is over and we are packed up in the car with our doggies and we are on our way.

That part can't happen soon enough. Believe me.

The other part of this-the unloading and moving in...well it should be a little easier-don't you think?