Wisconsin Sheep and Wool is history for another year. We saw old friends. Made new ones.
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We were lucky enough to meet Mike of Mad City Mike's Blog. Mike is a weaver and a craker of antique circular sock machines. At first, I thought he was a member of the RV family, but after talking, I realized that we met through a cranking blog.
I did not see one sock machine this week end. It was at Wisconsin that I found mine last year. And what a year of learning it has been! I am now comfortable with my ole machine. I wanted to bring it this trip, but decided we had enough planned to fill all our free time.
I had a great group of students for the felting class. They all listened to the instructions and made some lovely felted slippers.
I had a mishap right before the class started. I was burned by boiling water. Luckily, the burn was only on my index finger and a small place on my thumb. The index finger burn is a third degree burn and hurts a tad...just a tad.
I was wearing a brace on my hand and I am sure that the brace saved me from much more injury.
I have photos from the class and hope to learn to post them for all to see. I love techy things, but often don't know how to operate the little buzzards completely.
We are now on our way to Elkart, Indiana. We have a cross wind that is really rough. We are passing a construction site and the dust is blowing from the site enough to look like smoke from a wildfire.
In Elkart, we will be visiting Duncan RV to have the windshield replaced. Last winter, we were attacked by a huge sheet of ice that sent me ducking for cover. The ice blew from the top of an eighteen wheeler. What a shock.
While at Duncan, we will be doing some looking at neew motor homes. We hope to move to a newer rig and we need to see what we like and don't like in order to make a wise decision. We went into the purchase of this one with no education at all.....not a wise idea.
'Nuf said for now. be careful out there! And God bless your day!
.
Showing posts with label Wisconsin Sheep and Wool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wisconsin Sheep and Wool. Show all posts
Monday, September 12, 2011
Thursday, September 8, 2011
RUN OVER BY A MACK TRUCK!
That is exactly how I feel this evening. The last three days have been, what can I say......excruciating?......busy?......hard?......tiring?......really, I have no word to describe them.
Tuesday: pack the motor home. Run errands, Pack the motor home more. Pack, load, pack, load....bed.
Wednesday: Stock refrigerator. In other words, .... Pack food and load refrigerator and freezer. Finish getting clothes into motorhome closets and drawers. Since the temperatures went from ninety eight degrees to fifty in a twenty four hour period, we had to pack for cool and hot temperatures.
We pulled out of the drive about three hours later than we wanted. We need to get fuel. Pull up to the pump and I discover that my business debit card is not in my purse. Can you spell getting testy?
Exit BP station, drive back home, up the drive, go to green barn to look for the card that I think is in the Miata...not there....walk to house to look for missing card...oops! It's in my book bag from my trip to the library and Tuesday's errands.
Back to motor home that John has turned around and is poised, maybe a bit impatiently, waiting for take off. Back to BP...fill up with gas and we are off and two hundred dollars porer. (we did not fill up)
Now, to make things interesting, we are now entering the rush hour madness. We cannot take Interstate 74 west since there is a major road construction effort underway, including a HUGE detour. So we decide to take the south loop of I 465 to I 70 then cut up on state highways to 74, thus missing the detour. Right..sure...have you heard of Murphy????
Traffic is not toooo bad......UNTIL.....we get around Interstate 70 and I 465, out by Indianapolis Municipal Airport. Just as we commit to that and voila, a traffic jam. Not an ordinary traffic jam, but for over 2 hours there was no need to use the accelerator. Just take foot off brake and let the rig creep up five or six inches, hit the brake and wait for about ten minutes and repeat! That does wonders for our m.p.g!
We finally reach the state highway that will take us up north to I 74 and we are off!....., Not so fast, buddy. THAT road had a detour!...just a small one though. But..... we decide to take another road that actually takes us through the town that NASCAR drive, Jeff Gordon is from.
Pittsboro is the name of the town and it has a restaurant that serves great catfish. We love young catfish, so we stopped at Frank and Mary's for our first F & M's catfish in fifteen years our so. We had our dinner, which did not live up to our memories and off we went on our trek to Wisconsin.
The drive from our driveway to Frank & Mary's would normally take us a little over an hour. Then our meal would last an hour - maximum. Our driveway to the Indiana / Illinois state line takes about two hours. So that would mean that if all conditions were good, we would arrive at the state line in three hours. That would be seven o'clock.
We arrived at the state line at nine! You get that? NINE O'CLOCK!
Mapquest said this entire trip would take six hours and fifteen minutes and we were at the state line in five hours. Can you say, we...are...running....late?
Well, we drove until about midnight, stopped at a new Sam's and Wally world complex at the intersection of I 39/I90 and WI 26.... (nice) and fell into bed to wake up at nine this morning. Are we having fun yet?
We awake bleary eyed...I wonder why??? After a drive through at Micky D's, we drove a short, short distance to Jefferson Wisconsin for the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. Ahhhh, finally achieve our driving goal.
We were fortunate enough to be able to drive the motor home right into the building and unload. I think that is our first good break in over a week! God is good!
The booth is set up and if I must say so myself, looks great. I have an antique Canadian Production spinning wheel for sale and a gently used Schact Matchless spinning wheel in our booth to sell. There are the knitting / plying / warping bowls thrown by our friend and potter John Todd, aka PawPaw Pottery. Then we can add our fiber, knitting lights, needle felting and wet felting supplies.
I am looking forward to meeting fellow blogger, Mad City Mike. Hopefully, Karen in the Woods will also show up and introduce herself. If there are others in Wisconsin or traveling through the area, please come to the Country Market - West building, north west wall, come buy and introduce yourselves!
But right now, It's 8:06 and I am going to bed! Night all!
God bless and hold you in the palm of his hand.
Tuesday: pack the motor home. Run errands, Pack the motor home more. Pack, load, pack, load....bed.
Wednesday: Stock refrigerator. In other words, .... Pack food and load refrigerator and freezer. Finish getting clothes into motorhome closets and drawers. Since the temperatures went from ninety eight degrees to fifty in a twenty four hour period, we had to pack for cool and hot temperatures.
We pulled out of the drive about three hours later than we wanted. We need to get fuel. Pull up to the pump and I discover that my business debit card is not in my purse. Can you spell getting testy?
Exit BP station, drive back home, up the drive, go to green barn to look for the card that I think is in the Miata...not there....walk to house to look for missing card...oops! It's in my book bag from my trip to the library and Tuesday's errands.
Back to motor home that John has turned around and is poised, maybe a bit impatiently, waiting for take off. Back to BP...fill up with gas and we are off and two hundred dollars porer. (we did not fill up)
Now, to make things interesting, we are now entering the rush hour madness. We cannot take Interstate 74 west since there is a major road construction effort underway, including a HUGE detour. So we decide to take the south loop of I 465 to I 70 then cut up on state highways to 74, thus missing the detour. Right..sure...have you heard of Murphy????
Traffic is not toooo bad......UNTIL.....we get around Interstate 70 and I 465, out by Indianapolis Municipal Airport. Just as we commit to that and voila, a traffic jam. Not an ordinary traffic jam, but for over 2 hours there was no need to use the accelerator. Just take foot off brake and let the rig creep up five or six inches, hit the brake and wait for about ten minutes and repeat! That does wonders for our m.p.g!
We finally reach the state highway that will take us up north to I 74 and we are off!....., Not so fast, buddy. THAT road had a detour!...just a small one though. But..... we decide to take another road that actually takes us through the town that NASCAR drive, Jeff Gordon is from.
Pittsboro is the name of the town and it has a restaurant that serves great catfish. We love young catfish, so we stopped at Frank and Mary's for our first F & M's catfish in fifteen years our so. We had our dinner, which did not live up to our memories and off we went on our trek to Wisconsin.
The drive from our driveway to Frank & Mary's would normally take us a little over an hour. Then our meal would last an hour - maximum. Our driveway to the Indiana / Illinois state line takes about two hours. So that would mean that if all conditions were good, we would arrive at the state line in three hours. That would be seven o'clock.
We arrived at the state line at nine! You get that? NINE O'CLOCK!
Mapquest said this entire trip would take six hours and fifteen minutes and we were at the state line in five hours. Can you say, we...are...running....late?
Well, we drove until about midnight, stopped at a new Sam's and Wally world complex at the intersection of I 39/I90 and WI 26.... (nice) and fell into bed to wake up at nine this morning. Are we having fun yet?
We awake bleary eyed...I wonder why??? After a drive through at Micky D's, we drove a short, short distance to Jefferson Wisconsin for the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. Ahhhh, finally achieve our driving goal.
We were fortunate enough to be able to drive the motor home right into the building and unload. I think that is our first good break in over a week! God is good!
The booth is set up and if I must say so myself, looks great. I have an antique Canadian Production spinning wheel for sale and a gently used Schact Matchless spinning wheel in our booth to sell. There are the knitting / plying / warping bowls thrown by our friend and potter John Todd, aka PawPaw Pottery. Then we can add our fiber, knitting lights, needle felting and wet felting supplies.
I am looking forward to meeting fellow blogger, Mad City Mike. Hopefully, Karen in the Woods will also show up and introduce herself. If there are others in Wisconsin or traveling through the area, please come to the Country Market - West building, north west wall, come buy and introduce yourselves!
But right now, It's 8:06 and I am going to bed! Night all!
God bless and hold you in the palm of his hand.
Monday, September 5, 2011
T MINUS TWO DAYS!
In just two short days we will leave for Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival is this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday. September 9, 10 and 11. I will be vending there and Sunday, will be teaching a felting class.
John has been working on the motor home and there is one leveling jack that is acting up. It will not retract thus when he wants to level the passenger side, the jack just hits it's "toe" on the ground. Grrrr. He has tried to pound it back in with a rubber mallet, sprayed tons of W-D 40 on it, begged, pleaded, offered me as a sacrifice, all to no avail.
On the brighter side, he has found a wonderful cleaner/wax that is doing wonders on the motor home. I wonder how long it will take to do all thirty five feet of this wheelestate.
Did you catch that last word? We want to eliminate our real estate and have only our wheelestate. Seems like a good trade to me!
I am really pleased with some of the fiber that I have dyed. I finally put on my dare devil hat and started mixing my own colors. I love how they have turned out. The fiber I have dyed is mainly for the felting class that I will be teaching, but there will be some left to sell at the Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs Ohio the following weekend.
If we have room in the motor home, I will take my circular sock machine on this trip. We will be gone for two weeks and I hope I can spend a few evenings knitting socks.
As we look to winter travels, I have decided to take my sock machine, possibly my Schact Matchless spinning wheel and supplies to do more fiber "paintings".
Since we will be leaving in December rather than February, we will have more time to do our artsy activities.
As I finish each step of preparation for the fiber festivals, I move the completed items to the motor home and am totally impressed at how much better my studio is looking. What makes it even more pleasing is that I am not in the cleaning mode, but it looks like it! I kinda am impressing myself.
Wisconsin Sheep and Wool is only in it's 10th year and is a huge success! It is full of classes, competitions, an auction, style show, youth activities, stock dog trials and more events.
John has been working on the motor home and there is one leveling jack that is acting up. It will not retract thus when he wants to level the passenger side, the jack just hits it's "toe" on the ground. Grrrr. He has tried to pound it back in with a rubber mallet, sprayed tons of W-D 40 on it, begged, pleaded, offered me as a sacrifice, all to no avail.
On the brighter side, he has found a wonderful cleaner/wax that is doing wonders on the motor home. I wonder how long it will take to do all thirty five feet of this wheelestate.
Did you catch that last word? We want to eliminate our real estate and have only our wheelestate. Seems like a good trade to me!
I am really pleased with some of the fiber that I have dyed. I finally put on my dare devil hat and started mixing my own colors. I love how they have turned out. The fiber I have dyed is mainly for the felting class that I will be teaching, but there will be some left to sell at the Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs Ohio the following weekend.
 | Jeb Mac (Jeff McKinley) and his wife, Carolina Pearl, will be back this year entertaining the kids playing a farmhouse fiddle, banjo, lap dulcimer and other instruments. The children young and old enjoy singing along, playing instruments and dancing. |
If we have room in the motor home, I will take my circular sock machine on this trip. We will be gone for two weeks and I hope I can spend a few evenings knitting socks.
As we look to winter travels, I have decided to take my sock machine, possibly my Schact Matchless spinning wheel and supplies to do more fiber "paintings".
Since we will be leaving in December rather than February, we will have more time to do our artsy activities.
As I finish each step of preparation for the fiber festivals, I move the completed items to the motor home and am totally impressed at how much better my studio is looking. What makes it even more pleasing is that I am not in the cleaning mode, but it looks like it! I kinda am impressing myself.
Wisconsin Sheep and Wool is only in it's 10th year and is a huge success! It is full of classes, competitions, an auction, style show, youth activities, stock dog trials and more events.
 |
|
There are tons of vendors! (Ahem....I'm one! - in the west building of the country store.)
People come and shop till they drop.
If you are in driving distance, come visit us.
It looks as if the weather is going to be great this year now that it has cooled down. Blogger has started creating a problem, so I will sign off since I cannot control it from this end. Hopefully, someone will have an answer for me in the comments!
Be Safe all - And God Bless and keep you....
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
HOW QUIET CAN IT GET?
Late summer. The birds are not around as much. Father Mockingbird no longer sings his chorus. The chatter of the Wrens and the Sparrows is gone. The Cardinals and Bluejays are not around much. Even the Robins no longer talk to their young. All is quiet..... and brown from the lack of rain.
If Snowbirds are northerners that go south in the winter, what are those that go from the south to the north in the summer? Just wondering.
Ah, there is a song. A Cicada is singing or would you call that squalking?
I'm feeling a bit down today. There is a chance that we may not be able to make the trip to the southwest this winter. We are trying to ready the house to put it up for sale and there is still much to do. I am concerned that there is too much for the limited time we have left.
The art shows and fiber festivals on our schedule are fast approaching. We have had a few weeks to be home and do things around the house. I also have been felting to build the inventory. Time, need more time.
Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival is only a month from now. I will be teaching as well as vending. We are looking forward to seeing friends that we only see there. The next weekend we need to be in Yellow Springs, Ohio for the Wool Gathering. Then it just goes on from there.
Sooo, you know what, maybe the quiet is good! Once we are on the road, things will not be so quiet!
Update on the silkworms. All but five cocoons have "hatched". I have enough eggs for next year and beyond since a female will lay between one and four hundred eggs.
Update on the rug. It is, as I write, on the rolling machine. I have been rolling it for just less than a week. The timer is for only thirty minutes at a time and I will forget to keep my mind on it and have large lapses of time between rolling sessions. Tonight, it will be completed. I have also finished another hat. Now or the embellishments on the hats.
I am looking forward to having my circular sock machine home. I want to have socks knitted for the shows.
Do you think I have enough to do? I think so,......till next time....
God Bless
If Snowbirds are northerners that go south in the winter, what are those that go from the south to the north in the summer? Just wondering.
Ah, there is a song. A Cicada is singing or would you call that squalking?
I'm feeling a bit down today. There is a chance that we may not be able to make the trip to the southwest this winter. We are trying to ready the house to put it up for sale and there is still much to do. I am concerned that there is too much for the limited time we have left.
The art shows and fiber festivals on our schedule are fast approaching. We have had a few weeks to be home and do things around the house. I also have been felting to build the inventory. Time, need more time.
Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival is only a month from now. I will be teaching as well as vending. We are looking forward to seeing friends that we only see there. The next weekend we need to be in Yellow Springs, Ohio for the Wool Gathering. Then it just goes on from there.
Sooo, you know what, maybe the quiet is good! Once we are on the road, things will not be so quiet!
Update on the silkworms. All but five cocoons have "hatched". I have enough eggs for next year and beyond since a female will lay between one and four hundred eggs.
Update on the rug. It is, as I write, on the rolling machine. I have been rolling it for just less than a week. The timer is for only thirty minutes at a time and I will forget to keep my mind on it and have large lapses of time between rolling sessions. Tonight, it will be completed. I have also finished another hat. Now or the embellishments on the hats.
I am looking forward to having my circular sock machine home. I want to have socks knitted for the shows.
Do you think I have enough to do? I think so,......till next time....
God Bless
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Flood Warnings and Crank In
Right at this minute it is not raining. We came to the Brown County State Park in Nashville, IN for the annual Brown County crank in. We arrived in the rain and are supposed to return home in the rain. Thank goodness for the motor home to keep us dry and comfy. We have even stayed a day longer than planned in hopes of no rain and the ability to hike through the park. I wanted to get photos of the beautiful Dogwood in bloom. That is not to happen this year.
I did get pictures of the crank in that was held Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Nashville library.
I was surprised to see 'crankers' from Canada, Minnesota, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois as well as those of us from Indiana. The crank in is for fellowship and for learning new techniques or like me, just learning how to use my antique circular sock machine.
Friday was extremely frustrating for me. I had problem after problem. Jenny Deters worked with the machine and found that I had 5 0r 6 rusty needles that were making stitches drop. One problem solved. I got so excited, I forgot to follow the pattern and had to rip the sock out. Back to the beginning # 1. I started again and forgot the second step....dang, I was sooo excited and wanted to crank that sock out quickly!....Rip it out again and on to beginning #2. Now, I thought, I would remember the steps! On I knit, ...... oops, I dropped another bunch of stitches. Beginning #3, #4, #5...by now, I had a raging headache! I kept going though, this silly machine was not going to get the best of me, no siree, not, no way! Let's see now, I start again and again dropped stitches. By now it was 6:30, I had not had lunch, had a raging headache, was so frustrated that I thought I could just scream.
Instead of making a spectacle of myself, I chose to head back to the park and the safety and comfort of the motor home. I was greeted at the door by John....all smiles! "Well, how did it go?" I held back the tears and grouched at him instead. I grabbed a ham sandwich and was in bed before darkness fell.
Saturday morning, I woke up ready to tackle that machine. I walked to that dratted machine and thought, buddy, I'm BACK.....we ARE going to make socks today, so no more dropping stitches today, ya hear? That machine didn't hear! I kept dropping stitches until an angel from Illinois came over and asked if she could have a try at my CSM. Even she dropped stitches!
She went over the CSM just like Inspector Gadget and found another problem. When using the CSM and you are knitting socks, weights are supposed to create tension. If the tension is too tight or to loose, the CSM will not knit properly. Usually to drop stitches. Barb Woodard, my angel from Illinois, gave me tips on placing the weights so that the entire sock is at the same tension. Voila! I was off and knitting. When the sock was almost finished, yep, I did it again, I dropped 3 stitches. I had not moved the weights up as the sock was knitting. Lesson learned and another rip out. BUT this time I was not discouraged. I started the sock, stopped for the evening and went back to the motorhome for a delish dinner, thanks to dear John! I didn't go hide in bed and we even played a game! I took Oliver for a walk and we sat by the campfire that would not start. What a nice evening...until more rain came!
Sunday morning came and I was off to my last day at the crank in. I cranked a bit, talked to a lot of crankers then came "home". I set up the CSM in the motorhome and was off! I'm to the toe now. I have never come this far. I dropped a stitch! Guess why! HA! I left it be and went to bed. When I got up yesterday, I decided to take the day off and now, today, I am gonna pick up that stitch and finish that sock....hopefully, it's mate.
When I purchased the CSM at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in September, I was warned that there was a huge learning curve. I underestimated just how huge it is. I feel that I'm over the hump, but will still run into road blocks. It's just like when I learned to spin my own yarn and now I am a good spinner.
Now, what did John do all week end? He re-couped from a cold and tied flies in hopes that someday, it will quit raining and he can go fly fishing.
What a memorable week end!
Blessings to all! This IS the day the Lord has made....Let's rejoice and be glad!
I was surprised to see 'crankers' from Canada, Minnesota, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois as well as those of us from Indiana. The crank in is for fellowship and for learning new techniques or like me, just learning how to use my antique circular sock machine.
Friday was extremely frustrating for me. I had problem after problem. Jenny Deters worked with the machine and found that I had 5 0r 6 rusty needles that were making stitches drop. One problem solved. I got so excited, I forgot to follow the pattern and had to rip the sock out. Back to the beginning # 1. I started again and forgot the second step....dang, I was sooo excited and wanted to crank that sock out quickly!....Rip it out again and on to beginning #2. Now, I thought, I would remember the steps! On I knit, ...... oops, I dropped another bunch of stitches. Beginning #3, #4, #5...by now, I had a raging headache! I kept going though, this silly machine was not going to get the best of me, no siree, not, no way! Let's see now, I start again and again dropped stitches. By now it was 6:30, I had not had lunch, had a raging headache, was so frustrated that I thought I could just scream.
Instead of making a spectacle of myself, I chose to head back to the park and the safety and comfort of the motor home. I was greeted at the door by John....all smiles! "Well, how did it go?" I held back the tears and grouched at him instead. I grabbed a ham sandwich and was in bed before darkness fell.
Saturday morning, I woke up ready to tackle that machine. I walked to that dratted machine and thought, buddy, I'm BACK.....we ARE going to make socks today, so no more dropping stitches today, ya hear? That machine didn't hear! I kept dropping stitches until an angel from Illinois came over and asked if she could have a try at my CSM. Even she dropped stitches!
She went over the CSM just like Inspector Gadget and found another problem. When using the CSM and you are knitting socks, weights are supposed to create tension. If the tension is too tight or to loose, the CSM will not knit properly. Usually to drop stitches. Barb Woodard, my angel from Illinois, gave me tips on placing the weights so that the entire sock is at the same tension. Voila! I was off and knitting. When the sock was almost finished, yep, I did it again, I dropped 3 stitches. I had not moved the weights up as the sock was knitting. Lesson learned and another rip out. BUT this time I was not discouraged. I started the sock, stopped for the evening and went back to the motorhome for a delish dinner, thanks to dear John! I didn't go hide in bed and we even played a game! I took Oliver for a walk and we sat by the campfire that would not start. What a nice evening...until more rain came!
Sunday morning came and I was off to my last day at the crank in. I cranked a bit, talked to a lot of crankers then came "home". I set up the CSM in the motorhome and was off! I'm to the toe now. I have never come this far. I dropped a stitch! Guess why! HA! I left it be and went to bed. When I got up yesterday, I decided to take the day off and now, today, I am gonna pick up that stitch and finish that sock....hopefully, it's mate.
When I purchased the CSM at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in September, I was warned that there was a huge learning curve. I underestimated just how huge it is. I feel that I'm over the hump, but will still run into road blocks. It's just like when I learned to spin my own yarn and now I am a good spinner.
Now, what did John do all week end? He re-couped from a cold and tied flies in hopes that someday, it will quit raining and he can go fly fishing.
What a memorable week end!
Blessings to all! This IS the day the Lord has made....Let's rejoice and be glad!
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