New addition to the family

August 14th, 2009

Here is the newest addition to join my wheel family of one.

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It’s a limited edition Schacht Cherry Matchless to celebrate Schacht’s 40th anniversary. Swoon.

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Way back in March or April Marcia started talking about this wheel, which in turn got me thinking about it and before you know it, I had one on order too. I bought mine from Lois at Bountiful and her service was just wonderful!

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I now understand why everyone always raves about the Matchless. I am still getting to know this wheel but I loved it on the first day.

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I always knew that someday I would have a second wheel, I just didn’t know which one it would be. Boy am I glad I waited for this one!

schacht-cherry-wheel10Sisters!

Have a great weekend!

Finished Spinning

August 11th, 2009

Hi there!

I have decided to enter my blog into a contest for the most boring blog ever. I am pretty confident it will win too. While I did decide to cut down on the time I spend on the blog and the computer in general this summer, I really didn’t mean to spend this little time. My excuse this time around is the game Mafia Wars on Facebook. If you have never tried it, don’t! I’m not kidding. I am not even a game person, so I have no idea why I like this game so much. I do enjoy a game of Solitaire or maybe Mahjong when I want to relax, but I have never liked fighting type games. And never have I played a game for hours on end like I did this one. I do seem to have a better handle on how much time I am playing it now that a few weeks have passed. So anyway, that is what I have been doing with my time the last few weeks in case you were wondering.

I am still in a knitting funk, but I have been spinning and have some finished yarn to show you.

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I picked up this fiber at the CT S&W this year and loved the blend of the red wool and the brown Alpaca. I did not love spinning this though. It had a ton of vm in it, and when I was spinning it I had to stop a LOT to try to pick it out. There is still a lot of vm left in it because I just couldn’t get it all out. The finished yarn didn’t turn out well at all either. I think the first yarn I ever spun came out better than this one and I don’t like it at all. I did decide when finishing this yarn up that I will never continue spinning fiber that I don’t enjoy again. Life is just too short and there is too much nice fiber out there to torture yourself spinning something you don’t like.

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Fiber: Alpaca 50/Wool 50
Source: CT S&W
Colorway: Red/Brown
Yardage: 430 yards
Weight: 7.95 oz.
Ply: 2
WPI: 11

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This is what I spun right after the previous fiber. Oh, what a difference!

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The fiber came from Julie and is a Cormo and Romney blend. The fiber spun like a dream and the resulting yarn is the softest, nicest yarn I have ever made. I’m not sure what I am going to make with it yet, but I do know I will be keeping whatever it is for myself. I am selfish like that.

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Fiber: Cormo/Romney blend
Source: Julie
Colorway: Natural
Yardage: 252 yards
Weight: 5.5 oz.
Ply: 2
WPI: 11

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And last but not least is some South African Fine from Spunky Eclectic in the “Monkey Farts” colorway that I picked up at this past MA S&W. I admit to being influenced by the colorway name when I bought this.

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Fiber: South African Fine
Source: Spunky Eclectic
Colorway: Monkey Farts
Yardage: 330 yards
Weight: 3.7 oz.
Ply: 2
WPI: 15

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I really like how this yarn came out too but as of right now have no plans for it.

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Well that mostly catches me up with spinning news. There is one other little thing but I think it deserves a post all its own, so I’ll save that for the next entry.

I hope everyone is well and enjoying their summer. I can’t believe we’re almost into mid August already. The summer has just flown by!

Ten on Tuesday

July 21st, 2009

This weeks topic for Ten on Tuesday is 10 Favorite Places to Eat. I really like to eat, so this will be easy.

1. Little Mark’s Big Barbecue, Vernon, CT - Best ribs in the area. I love ribs! Yum!

2. Harry’s Drive-in, Colchester, CT - a small road-side stand that has awesome hamburgers and chili dogs. Yum!

3. The Brown Derby, Uncasville, CT - little hole in the wall bar that has fabulous Mexican food. Yum!

4. Dairy Queen, Kensington, CT - A swirl cone with sprinkles, or maybe a vanilla cone with a cherry dip or perhaps a hot fudge sundae. Yum!

5. The Marlborough Tavern, Marlborough, CT  - To die for French onion soup. Yum!

6. The Steak Loft, Mystic, CT - My favorite place to go for Fish & Chips. Yum!

7. Outback Steakhouse, Everywhere, CT - I tried not to include any big chain restaurants but I enjoy the food at Outback and I really like their wings. Yum!

8. Mill on the River, Manchester, CT - I like almost everything on their menu. Yum!

9. Cheesecake Factory, Everywhere, CT - Have you seen their selection of cheesecake?? Yum!

10. Wood ‘N Tap, Southington, CT - My favorite place to get a Reuben. Yum!

These are my opinions according to my taste buds. YMMV. Now I’m hungry!

The GE 5K Road Race

July 20th, 2009

I ran my second 5K on Sunday, The GE 5K Road Race that supported the Petit Family Foundation. I was proud to be  part of this fundraiser. My goal for this race was to try to beat my last 5K time by one minute. I ended up finishing with a time of 31:15, 53 seconds faster than my last 5K. Close enough for me.

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You could get a free massage before the race if you wanted.

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Dr. Petit spoke briefly before the race started. He ran the race also.

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Ronald was there too and he was actually pretty funny. He started shouting, “You’re almost there!” to the runners as soon as the race began.

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There were so many runners. They were everywhere! I like to start at the back of the pack but while waiting for the race to start more and more people came, and I ended up starting in the middle this time.

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This guy won the race in a little over 15 minutes. Total! Crazy fast!

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Here I am just about to cross the finish line. I am this close to getting sick and I look it too. For some stupid reason I decided to eat a GU energy gel about 15 minutes before the race started even though I had never had one before and didn’t know how my stomach was going to react to it. I can safely say I will never have one again. I had a really hard time swallowing it and then around mile 2 I started feeling like I was going to be sick and really didn’t totally shake it until after dinner last night.

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This was taken after I consumed a good amount of water, some orange wedges and a yogurt. They had a ton of free food at this event.

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My stomach didn’t recover enough to eat a DQ cone but I felt well enough to take a picture with one instead. Despite the Gu incident, it was a good day and a good race.

Ten on Tuesday

July 14th, 2009

This weeks topic for Ten on Tuesday is 10 Favorite Songs of the 80’s. It’s so hard to pick just 10 because the 80’s had a lot of really good music, but here is what I came up with.

1. Walking on Sunshine - Katrina & The Waves - This one always reminds me of a particularly good experience in my life.

2. Lonesome Loser - Little River Band -  I loved The Little River Band!

3. Take it Easy On Me - Little River Band.

4. Footloose - Kenny Loggins for the movie with the same name -  I had such a HUGE crush on Kevin Bacon and this song always gives me happy feet!

5. While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Jeff Healy Band - I liked this version much better than the one by The Beatles.

6. Angel Eyes - Jeff Healy Band.

7. I’ll Be There For You - Bon Jovi - I might have had a little crush on Jon too.

8. The Longest Time - Billy Joel -  I love just about anything that Billy Joel sings.

9. When The Heart Rules The Mind - GTR -  Great song!

10. I Love You - Climax Blues Band -  How can you not love this song?!

I spent a good long time last night listening to oldies to come up with this list. It was awesome! Do you have a favorite 80’s song?