Livin' La Needle Loca

...catching up for the week..I hope to get back on schedule next week. This post is picture heavy and word light. :) First the eye candy. We have zinnias: a few dianthus:       and a double hibiscus:   I plied three yarns before my surgery. It felt good to get them done! Lupines and Poppies merino (the second skein):   and the close-up Specs: 100% Merino top, approx,2.2 oz  from the Yarn Wench; Started 9/17/12; Finished 9/23/12; 128.42 yds, 12 WPI (Second skein from this top) Black Alpaca-Silk:   and the close-up:   Specs: 80% Alpaca/20% Silk (4oz) by Ashland Bay; Started 7/14/12; Finished 9/23/12; 113.5 yards, 12 WPI And Peacock corriedale:   and the close-up:   Specs: Peacock Corriedale (4oz) by Spunky Eclectic; Started ?; Finished 9/23/12; 308.94 yds, 17 WPI Up this weekend: No specific plans. (I know, how unusual!)  I'm just happy to be able...

...I'm here. I have a hugely dilated pupil in my right eye, but I'm fine. The procedure went well. The Husband, bless him, was with me through all the prep until they took me away for the procedure. Love that man! Things went quickly, so there wasn't too much time to dwell on what what going to happen. The worst thing was not knowing whether I'd see an instrument coming towards me or what during the procedure. All I saw was bright lights, which made me relax a bit. I didn't feel anything except at one point and they quickly added another numbing drop. I have a metal eye shield that I have to wear at night. I feel a little Borg with it. LOL! Also have lots of eye drops to use for the next several weeks. I hope that my old glasses will allow me to drive until I can get a new pair. I won't know for sure until the dilation goes down, Right now, they are OK for watching TV, but don't work for the computer or iPad. That might be an issue for work since I c...

...yes, I missed Eye Candy Friday. I had a jam-packed day trying to get everything in place so I could be gone Monday through Wednesday, My surgery is scheduled for Monday morning and I'm just a little freaked. So much so that I'm not sleeping well. Since I can't sleep, I read...I've finished 3.5 books since Monday! This weekend I'm doing some housework and the laundry so things here are in decent shape.  It also keeps me occupied so I'm not thinking about what's going to happen. I have 3 yarns that are ready for plying so I'll do a little spinning "meditation" over the next couple of days. Maybe I need some retail therapy. LOL! Anyway, send good thoughts out to the Universe for me... .

....in which we find that I had more WIPs than I thought I had. In the process of organizing things in the studio and searching for fiber to spin for Tour de Fleece and the Ravellenic Games, I came across a few WIPs I'd forgotten about. I decided to finally finish up some of those stragglers. When I first started spinning, I found it difficult to get through 4 ounces of fiber. About halfway through, I wanted to see what the yarn would look like and then want to move on to another fiber type or color. One of those spinning projects was Lupines and Poppies dyed by the Yarn Wench. I spun and plied 2 ounces of it and put the rest away. This week, I spun the other 2 ounces, so it's ready to ply: I found a partial bobbin of singles and fiber in zip bag with no fiber tag. It's a pretty green and blue fiber that is either Tidal 2 by the Yarn Wench or Peacock by Spunky Eclectic. I am leaning towards Peacock as the dye is coming off on my hands and I had the same experience ...

...I have no idea how we got to you so fast. This week just flew by! So fast that I didn't get to take any new pictures this morning for Eye Candy Friday, However, I have a few pictures from last Saturday's wedding that qualify, so here we go. The wedding was in Aptos, CA in Santa Cruz county. If you're local, you know that the weather can surprise you. If you're smart, you go prepared for both hot and cold weather. I was a little worried because my dress was essentially sleeveless and even though I brought a sweater, I was concerned that I might be cold. Well, the weather was gorgeous--hot and sunny. So much so that we were all looking for shady places to sit or stand. They thoughtfully provided iced tea, lemonade, and cucumber water to drink, which was much appreciated. And the sweater? It did not go to waste because as soon as the sun set, it was cool and I appreciated the sweater! The bride recruited friends and family for the table settings, flowers, photogra...

...later than normal...oops! Finished: 8/2 Godric handspun [ Ravelry ] Falkland (4.0 oz) in Sunglow from The Yarn Wench 221.5 yds. 2-ply; 14 WPI  8/5/12 Eric Northman handspun [ Ravelry ] Falkland (3.8 oz) in Garnet 1 from The Yarn Wench 167.5 yds. chain-ply; 12 WPI  8/6 Adele Stackhouse handspun [ Ravelry ] Merino-Silk (3.9 oz) in Arcadia 1 from The Yarn Wench 124.7 yds. chain-ply; 11 WPI 8/9 Sam Merlote handspun [ Ravelry ] Falkland (3.8 oz) in Newly Minted 1 from The Yarn Wench; 124.7 yds. chain-ply; 11 WPI 8/11 Bill Compton handspun [ Ravelry ] Smoke and Mirrors Falkland (4 oz) from The Yarn Wench; 115.4 yds chain-ply, 10 WPI  8/12 Sookie handspun [ Ravelry ] Mother of Pearl (4 oz) SW Merino from The Dyeing Arts; 150.75 yds, chain-plied; 12 WPI; 8/26 Decoupage project - covering all of the boxes and containers with the same paper Books: Once Bitten, Kalayna Price Twice Dead, Kalayna Price The Care and Feeding of a Stray Vampire, Molly Harper...

...and it's going to be a busy weekend. For today's eye candy we have, Wendy's Wish salvia: some sunflowers: and Voodoo Star verbena I have been spending most evenings weaving the shawl. At this point, there is no way I'll finish it by the weekend, so I'm just going to take my time and enjoy the process. One thing I've noticed with this yarn is that it has a lot of stretch. There is one section of the warp that has stretched so much that I have to hang a weight on it to make it taut. I hope it tightens up a bit when I wash it. Up this weekend: The wedding is tomorrow! I'm a tiny-bit sad that I'm missing Spin-In, but it's one of my "kids" who is getting married—I wouldn't miss it for anything. It should be a great party! Of course that means that Sunday we have to do everything we normally spread out over the entire weekend...guess we'll be busy on Sunday! .

...I'm still coming down form the chocolate high of my birthday desserts! The Husband bought 4 mini-desserts as my birthday "cake" and it took us 2 days to eat them! They were super rich and super good! So I got a few things for my birthday. :) Here's the plant that the Daughter gave me: and the flowers my mother sent: The Husband went to the Kings Mountain Craft Fair on Saturday and he bought this fiber for me. It's from Schafenfreude Fibers. It's 4 ounces of  Polworth in the Preppy colorway: That was icing on the cake as he'd already given me this for my birthday: My new iPad! I spent part of Saturday setting it up. The retina display is amazing and I love watching movies on it! I was already a big fan of the iPad, but this is off the charts. Yes, I am spoiled! (...and your point is? Lol!) .

...and happy birthday to me! I've already been out to lunch with the Daughter and am looking forward to dinner with the Husband. I haven't accomplished much at work today, which means I need to play catch-up tomorrow. However, I got a lot accomplished over the weekend. I found a dress for the wedding. I'm OK with the dress...I just don't wear dresses that often any more. It's sleeveless, which could be an issue given that the wedding is in Aptos (Santa Cruz area) and it could be cold. I have a sweater I can wear with it, and if I finish it, the new wrap I'm weaving will go well with the dress. I'm making good progress on the wrap. The yarn color is called Blueberry, so I named the wrap project Blueberry Thrill. It's looking good so far: We turned the work table around in the studio and I like the orientation much better, The only disadvantage it that you can see what I'm storing under the table (the spinning wheel, the stitching stan...