reeeeeeeal wool

Well today I am working on making a nice shawl, possibly for a coverup with a strapless dress I have. I like the dress a lot, but as its getting colder, I would like something to throw over it so that I can still wear it and not freeze my shoulders off.

I went to a Scottish festival in Wyoming and lo and behold! they had a yard tent. I went a little crazy in there, looking at all the beautiful handspun yarn they had there! Alpaca, wool, merino, cashmere...I was in heaven! Of course I couldnt afford half of them, my main choice being alpaca, so I chose a nice 100% twill wool that was handdyed. They were 9 bucks a pop, for about 272 yards, and I bought one in a nice greeny-blue and one in a greyish-brown. The shawl I am currently making is whipped up in the greeny-blue, and man! I tell you what. After working with acrylic yarn since I have started crocheting, there is NOTHING like real wool! It's soft, its plaiable, and it looks GREAT. The funny thing is? I know its real, because there are still bits of hay stuck in the wool. Now that may bother some people, but as I have raised sheep before, I know how much of a PAIN IN THE ASS it is to pick the hay out of a fleece that has been shorn. As a matter of fact, I use to show my sheeps wool at the fair, and they actually won champion a few times. But man! You have to get all the shit out that accumlates in that wool for the entire winter season, and if you wash it too much it loses the lanolin that makes it so nice in the first place.

So now! I want to get a house with some land, and get sheep again. And I would like to try my hand at spinning my own wool. Maybe I could sell it on the side? I want to raise sheep again anyways, because I think its a great experience and when I have kids, I want them to get to have the 4-H experience also.

Anyways....I guess I'm turning my blog inot a craft blog, much like my Mom has turned hers into a recipe blog.

So keep checking back, I will post my crochet patterns, pictures, and anything else I can think of! :) :)

sincerely,
Kailey

idaho...no udaho!

Well I'm officially in Idaho now, have been for about a month now. Still getting settled into our apartment. It's larger than our first one, but it's spread out over one floor, which I actually think I prefer from a townhouse setting. We are on the third floor, which kind of sucks, considering there is a lot of stairs to climb. Especially in the elevation. Idaho Falls, the town we live in, is at an elevation of almost 5,000 feet, and let me tell you after living in Raleigh, where elevation is like 200 feet, its a hell of a difference. I could definently notice it when we first got here, and now I am noticing it when I cook things.

We've gotten a ton of new stuff since we've been here! Rick has a very good job, as I'm sure most of you know, and he got some very hefty sign-on bonuses. So far, we have purchased a new 32" lcd-flat screen TV, an entertainment center to hold it, a washer machine and a dryer!, and just the other day a brand new computer. We've also gotten other small furniture items such as end tables and things like that, but the main appliances were what I've listed.

The TV actually has a funny story, because originally we had picked out a regular 32" tube TV, you know, the big huge ones. Mainly, because of the cost. We had chosen to have it delivered the same day as our washer and dryer. Anyways, we went to good old walmart to pick out a nice entertainment center, and found one we liked for about 100 bucks. We loaded up the box in the cart and hauled it up to check out. Let me tell you, that thing weighed about 300 pounds. After getting it home, I'm looking at the picture on the box, and I tell Rick: "You know, this doesn't look like the one we picked out". Sure enough, its not. But, after Rick employed the help of one of his friends to haul it up to our third story apartment, he said: "Screw it. I'm not taking it back." And thus the monster entertainment center stayed. So, I begin to put it together, because, Rick does not put ANYTHING together, and I see that it only holds a 95 pound TV. As I'm thinking about this, I realize that a 32" tube TV probably does NOT weigh 95 pounds. After doing some research on the internet, I come to the conclusion that the minimum it weighs is about 120 pounds. We still have not received the TV yet, so I had no clue how much it would weigh. Rick once again says: "Screw it....I'm not taking that freaking stand back!" So he goes to Sears to see how much it weighs: 160 pounds. So this is how we ended up with a nice LCD flat panel TV. And let me tell you, I LOVE IT!!!!

I'm excited to get the apartment finished. We are turning the second bedroom into a sort of guest bedroom/craft room/second living room. It's going to be very nicely set up once we get done, but we still need to get a futon...and that will have to come a few months down the road.

I'm coming home in the beginning of September, which I am very excited about. I have not been in Oregon since last Christmas!!

Well, this is getting to be a pretty lengthy post. In other news, I recently signed up for an online diploma program and am completing courses to become a Medical Transcriptionist. I want to work as one, possibly from home if I can, while I'm going back to school to get my Bacehlor's degree. I also figured it would be a great option if I ever decide to have kids, since I can work from home with that particular degree.

Well, I am going to try to write more in this dang blog, seeing as before I never really wrote anything.

Sincerely,
Kailey Christine