Saturday shopping fun

Saturday, we got up bright and early and headed off to Dayton. It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to get there in the bad weather. And about an half an hour after getting there, we headed off to Fiberworks to pick up my wheel. We spent an hour and a half there! Wow! We had such a great time, we didn't realize how much time we spent there. There was so much to look at. All the different types and colors of roving. I was in heaven. My SIL went with me, along with Annie and my niece F. All the older girls stayed at the house. I'll show you below in pics all the neat stuff that I got. And let me say, I did set a budget for myself and I stayed under it by $10 and some change.

When we got back, I started lunch, cheesy potato soup. And Angie (my SIL) made Italian grilled cheese sandwiches. Yum! And while we cooked, we whipped up a few cocktails, pineapple rum with orange-pineapple-strawberry juice. Again, Yum! Then, we let the kids go play in the snow. Don't worry, they had on multiple layers. And when they came in, we put them in jammies, and tossed all the wet stuff in the dryer. Here's a few pics:


Here's Katie and niece S trying to go down the hill in a box.

Here's Annie, after she hit the bottom of the hill.

But, on to the goodies.

Here's my wheel, still in the box.

Here is what it looked like when I opened the box. Inside of that folder is the assembly instructions, sand paper, a catalog of their other products and a little slip of paper that tells you who packed the box, with their picture on it.

Here is half of the parts, laid out on my bedroom floor.

Here is the other half of the parts.

And here it is, a couple of hours later, all put together. I am so proud of myself. Now for all the goodies that I got.

Arlene (the shop owner) gave me the white roving as a gift to practice on. The lovely dark mauve and rose roving I bought. I'm not touching those beauties until I get the hang of it.

I picked up the Handspinner's Handbook and WPI tool.

Here is some beautiful lace yarn that I fell in love with. It's Jojoland Harmony, colorway C05. And under it is a pattern for a Lace Flower shawl.

Here is some Jojoland Melody, fingering weight, in colorway Y45. These will become a lovely pair of socks.

Here is a lovely Lendrum Maple Niddy Noddy, that's adjustable to 1 or 2 yds. Now, I just need a Nostepinne. I have tried to use my wheel. I understand the basics, I just need to get the hang of it. I can get started, but it gets too twisty on my, really quick. But I am determined. I will learn to spin. And, finally I leave you with a pic of Mr. Vinny, sniffing my roving, which I have tied closed in a bag. Granted, he has great taste, but he would rather roll in it and make a mess.

Bad weather blues!

What a crazy, past couple of days. When I got up Tuesday, I was prepared for the snow. Got the kids off to mom's, and made it to work about an hour late. Then, during the day, it dropped around 4" of snow. The snow gave way to sleet. The sleet gave way to rain, that froze. Our office manager went out to her car and came back in and asked who wanted to go home. Both of my hands shot up. She said that she would let 3 of us go home. That was around 2, I normally leave at 5. I made somewhat-good time to mom's to get the girls, and I got stuck in the drive way. Since I am used to driving small cars in this weather, I started to rock the car out when mom's neighbor came over to help me. A couple of good rocks, and he helped push my little Kia right out. I got the girls loaded up, and we headed straight home, with a stop at Micky D's for Annie, as Amy was bring Chipotle home for Katie and me.

Wednesday morning dawned dark and ugly. I rolled over at 5am and turned on the local news, just to find out that they had cancelled school (for the 2nd day) and we were at a level 2 snow emergency. I called mom, and sure enough, the roads out her way were not cleared. And it looked like they weren't going to make it out that far till the afternoon. So, I was forced to call off. We sat around all day. I worked a little on cousin Becky's afghan and started my 2nd sock in my Lorna's Laces in Irving Park. I made it past the heel. For most of the evening, we watched Mythbusters. Let me tell you. That is a dream job. I would love to destroy things all day and get paid for it.

Today, it took my almost 45 minutes to clear my windshield of the 1" thick ice on it. I was about 30 minutes late for work because everyone wanted to do 10 mph on the highway. Then, I almost got stuck in the parking lot. But, I had retail therapy at lunch. Amy and I went to Knitter's Mercantile and I found 1 skein in Liberty and 2 skeings in Gray's Corner (which I didn't see on their web site, but it's pink & gray). And I got this. With the patterns in it, it was well worth the money.

Tomorrow, I am hopeing will be a normal day. Then on Saturday, I will be making a trip to Dayton. Why, you might ask? Well, let me tell you. I am going to purchase a lovely Ashford Traveler. Yes, I am taking the plunge. I am buying a wheel, and will learn how to spin. So, Saturday morning, the girls and I will be packing up and going to my SIL's house in Dayton. Then we are going to Fiberworks to get my wheel, and then back to my SIL's house for lunch and cocktails. I can't wait, I am so excited! I can't believe it's finally time to get my wheel.

Almost time to go home. Happy Knitting!

ETA: I just called the store to make sure they had my wheel in, and it wasn't on back order or anything. She said that she hoped that I would call, 'cause normally she's closed on Saturday's, but she would open just for me to get my wheel. So, we set it up to be there at 11 am. Yippee!