Looking Forward to an Organized Life - Time-Wise Anyway

Today in the New York Times, I am mentioned and quoted in an article about spinning your pet's hair after they have crossed over the rainbow bridge.  https://www.instagram.com/p/B7hJZsOpq-0/
I am honored to have been included.  It is a way for me to help people cope with the loss of a beloved pet and create something they can have for a long time.


On another note, it is getting really cold!  I love winter, especially if it snows. It is time for sweaters, hot cocoa, and soups.  However, in Crossville, we don't get much snow.  When it does, it is certainly celebrated!  By me, anyway!  If there is a threat of snow, all of the bread and milk is quickly snatched up at the grocery.  I often wonder why that is.  I remember growing up, going to the grocery and all of the bread and milk being gone when it snowed.  Maybe people yearn to make bread pudding!  lol  Anyway, it still holds true today.  Is this a Southern thing?

I am working on making a schedule for spinning pet hair.  It is hard to treat it like a job, when I love to do it.  However, one can become burnt out.  Sometimes I really crave dyeing some wool, spinning it, and then knit something.  But, when I have 7 pounds of hair to spin with more hair coming, I feel like I can't spin anything else.  If I looked at it like a job, then I would only work certain hours and then I would be off for the day.  Then I can spin, knit, dye with no guilt!  It is tough to work from home.  I have a fabulous studio out back, but it is not insulated, so it takes a lot to heat it in the winter.  I generally move all of my spinning to the living room.  So, family life goes on all around me.  I see laundry to fold, dishes to wash, floors to sweep, etc. and I feel like I should be cleaning and being a good keeper of my home.  Today, it hit me!  Set a work schedule, then I can have time to clean, play and do the fun, fibery things I love to do.  Don't get me wrong.  I LOVE what I do.  I thank God that I can make money doing something I love doing.  I am grateful that I can work in the comfort of my home.  I just need to be more organized.  So, my son came up with an excellent schedule for me.  I had one set up and he reminded me of my nap time.  lol  I nap for about 15-20 minutes at 2.  Not everyday, but nearly.  I have my little power nap so I can carry on through the evening hours.  Now my naptime is built in.  Keeping it real!  I will let you know how this works.  Do any of you have these same issues?

Sunday is a great day for me to blog, so I will probably start doing this on a regular basis.  I will be a little more creative in my writing.  I love to write and used to do it all the time.  Now, I just teach writing to high schoolers.

I look forward to my new organized life!  Any suggestions or advice is welcome!  What has worked for you?

Take care and have a blessed week!

Kim

What's New?!

Good Morning!  I am sitting in the quiet of my living room looking out on a rainy morning with a cup of Earl Gray tea.  I love this time of quiet.  It is so unusual that both of my children would be asleep at 9:00am!  Usually we have already completed a class for school by now, but I couldn't bring myself to wake them up!  Actually, my daughter has been up, but cuddled up in my bed with the Kindle and is now drifting in and out of sleep.  My daughter, Grace, gets up, fixes her own breakfast, reads her Bible and prays, usually before my eyes open!  She is 8 years old and very indepedent!  She cleaned the kitchen last night for me.  I love that!  This morning, I was up before anyone, so I made pancakes with fresh peach syrup.  I have all of these peaches, so I grabbed a few, peeled them, put them in a pot, added a little bit of water, some honey, cinnamon and 2 glucomannan capsules to thicken it. Then I cooked it until bubbly.  Yummy!!  The Glucomannan is used to thicken sauces, puddings, etc.  This is a Trim Healthy Mama ingredient!

What is new in my shop?  LOTS!  I have added headbands made from my wire yarn, mostly.  These are so cute!  I love them.  My daughter, Grace, was my model and she kept saying, "Don't list this one.  I want it."  to about all of them!  It is a great use of the wire yarn.  I have a customer who said she was going to use the wire yarn she purchased for hat toppers instead of pom poms.  I had a gentleman buy some from me last year at a craft show I did.  I wondered what he was going to do with it!  Something creative, I bet.  Anyway, the headbands were listed with the hope of bringing a little fun into your hair!  

I also added a monthly Fiber Box Club.  You will get a box of mixed types of fiber each month for however long your subscription is - 1, 3, 6 or 12 months.  There is a minimum of 4 oz. in each box.  It will be a mix of wool and exotics and maybe a little bit of sparkle!  Gift wrapping is available!  I am trying to come up with some fresh ideas.  My shop is doing well, but just want to take it to the next level.  Any ideas are being accepted!  What would you like to see?

School is going great!  I think I have hit upon a winner for curriculum!  Finally!  Ben is enjoying school and so is Grace.  I am using Tapestry of Grace with Ben and Rod and Staff with Grace.  Ben is using Singapore Math and Apologia science.  It is great to see happy faces every day!  (well nearly every day! lol).  In the summer, we are finishing up right after lunch, then head to the lake for swimming and fun!  It is a great incentive to focus and get the lessons done.  

Take care and God bless you!

Kim

Reminiscing

Today is a rainy day!  I love rainy days - the smell, the cleansing (especially of all the pollen), the freshness!  I am one of those moms who let their kids play in the rain as long as it is not thundering or lightening.  They love it!  I, myself, like to sit on my back porch and just enjoy the peace of it

It is also a perfect day for all things fiber!  I have a sequined yarn that I am working on.  I finished one skein, but have enough left over for another skein.  Urg..  It is very pretty, but spinning with sequins is not a lot of fun.  It is also very time consuming.  I spun a single out of Ashland Bay's Concord colorway - Tussah Silk and Merino.  It is beautiful and soft!

Before

After

I had a dye day last week, so I will have lots more yarn to spin!  I went through my beads, buttons and ribbons stash and matched some fiber to them.  

So, those are my Finished Objects and some of my Works in Progress.  I am still working on my messenger bag and my quilt, but not much progress there.  I am going to start my dad's Irish Clan Sweater next week!  Trying to decide whether to spin the yarn or just buy it  The Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool is really calling to me.  lol  I did find out the yardage today - 2100 yards.  That is a lot of spinning!  

We are taking a break from school.  We finished up the year and did a trial run of the coming year.  There is a lot to schedule for this coming year with both children.  The trial week went fairly well.  Both Ben and Grace like their curriculum, praise the Lord!  They are ready to begin, so we will probably start next week.  Ben will be using Tapestry of Grace Year One.  It is themed around the Ancients and he loves it!  Grace is using Rod and Staff.  She loves that!  She is my workbook child. My challenge is to be able to juggle both with teaching one on one.  Ben has more independent work, but Grace is a lot of hands on teaching  I am using Homeschool Skedtrack  for scheduling, grading and tracking days off.  I really love this program and it is FREE!  

With the help of a good friend, I have been able to make yogurt a bit more easily.  (Easily - is that right?  It is an adverb describing make? )  lol  To begin with, you don't have to have raw milk to make delicious yogurt!  Great news since my source dried up  You put 1 gallon of milk (I used whole, but my friend just used 2% and it turned out fine) in a crock pot.  Add 2 cups of dried milk and stir to dissolve.  Then turn it on and wait for it to reach 180 degrees.  It takes hours, so you can walk away and live your life  I heated mine on the stove which is much quicker.  Either way works.  Once it hits 180 degrees, you remove it from the heat and cool to 120 degrees.  Then add a little thing of yogurt.  I actually added 2  individual servings of Okios Vanilla to mine  Stir it in really well.  At this point, you could add a sweetner - sugar or stevia or sweetener of choice.  I didn't add any sweetener to mine  I did add some vanilla - about a teaspoon  You could add any flavoring - lemon, caramel, citrus, etc.  Walmart has an excellent selection of flavorings  Then you pour it into jars, cap it, and put it in your oven with the light on (I think I forgot to turn my light off yesterday!)  and leave in 12 hours  If you go longer it's ok.  Mine was due to come out at 11:30 at night.  I dozed off and woke up a 1:00am and put it in the fridge then  It was yummy!  There was some whey liquid, but I stirred it into the yogurt.  Great flavor  Another friend told me she stirs peanut butter into her plain yogurt and it tastes like peanut butter cheese cake!  It is good!  

I am off to Muddy Pond to visit my sisters!  Until next time...

Kim

P.S.  I did forget to turn off the light in the oven!  Oh my!

Plans and Projects

“Spring is the time of plans and projects.” 
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Where to start!  The last freeze has ended and my yard is alive!  We have not lived here during spring, so I am waiting with anticipation as all the green wakes up in my flower beds.  I know there is one Iris and some lilies.  My maple tree is happily full of leaves.  The birds are singing.  But none have decided to make our birdhouse their home - yet!  I planted tomatoes and some Iris bulbs that I had forgotten about.  They had started sprouting in a bag on my porch.  So, I put them around the edge of the lake.  I have a box of heirloom seeds in the freezer.  My goal this next week is to plant them in pots and put them on the side of our home that gets sun.  Pots will allow me to move them around to the sunniest spot.  Not sure where that will be as we live in the woods!  But, our new neighbor has cut down a lot of trees, so hopefully that will help.  I will post pictures!  It is nighttime, or I would include some pics now!  Anyway...

We have been enjoying our meals on the screened in porch.  We have also had school out there.  The kids love it.  This afternoon, I was working on spinning my first sock yarn on the porch.  My plan is that it will be self-striping.  The trick will be to match up the colorways on the plys.

I have been watching a great knitting/craft  podcast - MandoCrafts.  She is into all kinds of crafts and her podcast is very organized.  She has different segments - What I Have Learned, Finished Projects, Works In Progress, Upcoming Events, etc.  And she has such a wonderful attitude.  She , Amanda Manus, has inspired me to work on projects for myself and family.  I have had such a hard time working on my projects.  I tend to spend that time on my ETSY shop.  Anyway, I have pulled out cross stitch, a quilting project, I finished my daughter's sweater, working on a messenger bag which has been on the needles awhile, and I have cast on a hat for my new niece, Viola, who will arrive in September.  I owe her a big thank you, so thank you, Amanda (MandoBug)!  Now to tackle my dad's Irish clan sweater!!  That will really be something.  Over 3 years!!  It is the monkey on my back!  I must restart it!  Here is MandoBug's Blog - http://mandobugcrafts.blogspot.com/.  Check it out.  You will love it!

Grace's Sweater
My niece's hat and a sweater will be in this same colorway.  I was about 10 yards short of enough yarn so I bought another skein.  I found the one I knew I had purchased with the original, so now I have plenty of this colorway!  What is this colorway?  It is Universal Yarns Classic Shades in Cool Blazes Colorway.

My Messenger Bag.  This was a free pattern from Craft Passion.  I goofed this up, but I think I can still make it work!  No way was I ripping out all of this work!

My Quilt Project - This is a set of 12 blocks called Butterfly Garden by Black Cat Creations.  I was in this block of the month club at a local quilting shop.  This was our first block.  The others are still neatly tucked in their packages, waiting to be colored!  You color each one with crayon.  Then set it with an iron.  Then you embroider around the pictures.  It will be beautiful when I finish.  I had intended to to this for my sister, Karen, who loved, loved loved flowers.  Unfortunately, she is with Jesus now and never even knew about this quilt.  It is hard to work on for that reason, but Amanda has inspired me to get it out again.

So, it is night and I have to help Ben finish a paper for composition.  Until next time, may God bless you richly!

Kim

Beautiful Day!!

It is absolutely beautiful outside.  The temp is around 70 and the sun is shining brightly. 

 I was sitting on my porch, working on my ETSY shop, thinking how blessed I am to have such a beautiful home.  My 8 year old little girl was asking me this morning if everyone had a shower.  I said, no, not everyone has a shower.  We are very blessed to have one.  We don't think about this often, if ever, but most of the world probably does not have an indoor shower with hot water and the turn of a knob.  We are very blessed here.  I told her that we should never take anything for granted. 

Now, on the eating front!  Several people at church this morning remarked about my weight loss.  It is all from the lack of sugar and wheat in my diet!  I am still trying to stick with the Trim Healthy Mama plan - mostly S plan - because of my sugars being so out of whack.  I baked the Chocolate Chip Cookies the other night and they were a big hit.  I believe I have posted the recipe in a previous blogpost.  If not, I will post it in the next one.  Last night, we had Big Mac's THM style.  It is called Big Mac In A Bowl!  It is a bowl of lettuce, hamburger with cheese, tomato, onion, pickle (I left this out) topped with Thousand Island Dressing!  It was really good.  Grace and I were the only ones who had it in a bowl.  Gene and Ben ate theirs on a bun. 

In shop news, I have a new goal of 211 views/day.  I did a numbers analysis on my shop, because, as I learned in sales, numbers never lie.  It is true, but you have to have accurate numbers!  So, after 4 years of my shop, I have some pretty accurate numbers to deal with.  Anyway, to reach my goal of $1500/month in sales, I need 211 views.  If you are interested in the formula, you can email me for the details.  So, on to the task of increasing views!  How?  More frequent social networking!  I am actually toying with the idea of a regular podcast. 

I have taken a few classes on spinning different types of yarns from Ashley @ Neauveau Fiber Arts.  She has a lot of YouTube videos, but she also has an ETSY shop where she sells various video courses.  I have bought just about all of them!   So, I have spun 3 different types of yarn as you can see below.  The blue one is a mohair wrapped wool yarn.  The red/green one is a supercoil, which I learned from Jace Boggs' book, Spin Art.  And the funky green/orange one is called Root Yarn Spinning.  It reminds me of Jamaican hair! 

My next yarn is going to be a fabric yarn spun out of this bunch of strips!

I can't wait to spin this.  I believe it will be something I love or hate the process of spinning it.  Hoping for love!  So many ways to spin yarn!  Love learning the new techniques.  I am so glad I invested in the Ashford Country Spinner.  It makes all of this possible! 

Until next time...
God Bless You!
Kim

 

Loving This Winter!!

The view from my back porch this morning was stunningly beautiful!  I praise the Lord for the winter wonderland He provided.  They sun is out now and the temp. is going up,  but I am thankful for the sight, if just for awhile

.

I have been busy spinning, dyeing, and carding fiber!  I am trying to get 200 items listed in my shop.  Apparently when you get 200 listings, you get more traffic directed to your shop.  Each time I get past 160, I have big sales and it goes back down.  I AM NOT COMPLAINING!!!  I rejoice in each and every sale.  I just need to up production to keep up!  My son, Ben, made a rolag last night on the Ashford Blending Board.  He loves fiber and I love that he loves fiber!

I believe this is the perfect morning for a Maple Steamer.  My daughter, Jessica, and I were in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan at exactly this time last year.  We were caught in a blizzard in the middle of nowhere - Chatham.  We were in a 4 room motel and there was a bar & grill, a general store (a real general store - they had everything) , an organic little restaurant, and a post office.  It was literally a stones throw away from the motel.  We went to the organic restaurant and I discovered the Maple Steamer!  It was great!  It is nothing more than maple syrup - about 2 tablespoons in a large mug and steamed milk.  I don't know if it is the taste or the bringing back of a close, shared time with my daughter, but I love this drink.  Definitely a comfort drink for me. 

Have a wonderful Saturday!!
Kim

Going Natural!

Hello everyone!  Well, it's been 5 months since I last posted.  That seems to be a recurrent theme!  Let's see...

We started our new homeschooling year using the Charlotte Mason method.  We began our new school year the first of June and my kids are loving it so far!  So do I.  It is so exciting to see them anxious to do school.  We are using living books for science, history, literature and grammar. Ben and Grace are remembering things much better using the living books.  Message me if you want details about what we are doing.  I'm happy to share but don't want to bore those who have no interest!  We also started French using a YouTube course with 72 lessons!  My children have taken Spanish for 3 years and I thought I would let them experience French for 2 or 3 years and see what they like.  We have school at the park, at home, outside under a tree - really nice to break it up.

My yarn shop, Simply Homespun, is doing great!  I am introducing mini skeins this month.  I didn't even know they were in demand!  People are using them to make "hexipuffs" that are then joined into a Beekeepers Quilt.


So, I decided to take the mini skeins and do a little twist (no pun intended) - I made them energized!  These should make quite a show in a quilt.  Look for more of these coming soon!

The Hines family has also gone all natural!  We haven't had sugar in the house in about 2 months - well, there is a little bit left in the canister, but it is about 3 months old.   We are using honey and stevia in place of sugar.  I still haven't mastered making a cake with stevia, but I'm working on it.  I did make some lemon lavendar muffins and they did rise, so that was a major victory!  I used yougart as a bulking agent in place of the sugar.  When you use stevia, you have to replace the bulk that the sugar would have given you as it only takes 1/4 t. Stevia to every 1 cup of sugar!  Sugar really contributes a lot to a recipe - sweetness as well as texture and bulkiness!  It is fun experimenting though.  I am using Stevita.  It doesn't have any after taste.  It is expensive, but using so little of it, it is probably going to wind up being less than sugar per serving.  I am trying really hard to use only food without chemicals or hormones.  It is really expensive - about double our $50.00/week grocery budget, but it is worth it.  My little 6 year old was starting to develop early thanks to the hormones added in meat and milk!  That was my motivation in switching our life style to an all natural one.  I made my own laundry detergent, am making our own bread from chemical free flour, and have gone back to raw milk from hormone free cows!  We are making our own butter from the milk so that has helped us save on butter as well as cutting down our usage of butter significantly.  All in all it has been fun, but I'm going to have to be more diligent in sticking to a budget and planning a detailed meal plan each week.  I will be posting our menus here so that anyone interested can take advantage.  Also, I will put the food cost up for you.  I wish I had this now from an experienced "naturalist"!

We are getting ready to go to our small group Bible study this evening!  So, until next time...

May God bless you and yours!
Kim

Oh my gosh, it's NOVEMBER!!!

Only 51 days til Christmas!!!  Where does the time go???  I declare every year time is faster and faster.   Why is that?  When you are a child and teenager, time creeps..then BAM!  What happened?  Kids, life, busyness?  Oh well, I don't care for the speeded up version of life very much.

I am in the process of spinning dog hair for a customer.  It is so beautiful.  It's from a Huskie and, while it is short, it is making beautiful yarn.  Unlike the matted mess I had been working on and am now expecting back from the fiber mill any day now. 

Homeschooling is going great...now.  Ben and I were having some attitude issues in math, but it's amazing what 2 superhero figures and a scrabble can do to boost enthusiasm!  I was the bad guy in one corner, and Iron Man was Ben's figure in the opposite corner.  The star square in the middle was the city I was trying to take over.  Iron Man had to beat me to it, or doom and gloom.  We are working on addition and subtraction with 3 digit numbers.  Everytime he answered a problem in his workbook correctly, he got to move the number of ones.  For instance, 100 + 209 = 309, so he got to move 9.  If he missed it, I got to move 9.  If he took longer than 1 minute to answer, I got to move a square.  It was great.  He made it to the city first and I had only advanced 4 squares!  Thank the good Lord for the inspiration!

We are doing pretty great on our budget.  I would still like to cut the food cost back some more.  I spent 64 last week and 46 this week.  I would like to make it to 25 or 30/week.  If I would sit down and do a plan, that would probably do the trick!  I need to get back into that. 

Next week, after I get my special orders done, is going to be dedicated to decluttering in a major way!  I'm going to document our progress.  We have wayyyyyyyy to much stuff!  Especially toys and kid's clothes.  Yikes!

Well, back to spinning!  Take care!

Kim

Hace Mucho Friooooooooooooooooooooooo!

We just had Spanish class, Can you tell?? 
It is very cold outside!!!  Yikes!  I opened the door to hand Ben and Grace the pig food and was smacked by Jack Frost!
Sitting inside with the heat cranked up and sipping on some Chai tea.  Yummy.  Ben, Gracie and I made Pumpkin Muffins this morning.  I had some leftover brown sugar and cinnamon topping.  So, I put it in my Chai Tea with some fresh cream.  Yummy!

Pumpkin Muffin recipe was very good and very easy!

God has sent me the sweetest gift in the form of a customer.  Her name is Kelli and she is an awesome photographer!  She happened upon my shop in ETSY and voila!   She is a source of encouragement for me right now.  Thank You, Lord, for sending her my way!

Speaking of my shop, I have created some great holiday yarns, and have sold most of them!  This one, will be a particular challenge for someone, but I can't wait to see something knitted from it!

I also had some really great customers come into my shop last weekend.  I am working on a baby bootie and hat set for a little boy.  I need to get started spinning this alpaca I have had for 3 months also!  She should have never told me she didn't need it until Christmas!  I also have some llama from this same customer that smelled like stinky socks, but with a few months of being left outside, I think it's much better now.  I'm considering rinsing it in a lavendar rinse, but then it may smell like stinky feet soaked in lavender!  I also want to delve into that box of Shetland that my mom sent to me and I have a box of Angora goat fiber that my cousin sent!  Wow!  I am so blessed!!!!!!!!!!

I am taking the Fall challenge present by Courtney at Women Living Well.  I have my candle lit to remind us, particularly me, to be peaceful in word and deed.  I have cleared off my clutter area - a countertop in the kitchen, and am working on a filling a big box for donation to Habitat for Humanity!  I hate clutter, but I have so much of it!  Clutter = Chaos and that produces stress and no peace!  So, check out the challenge.  This is a great blog, too.

Grace and Ben are doing great in homeschool.  Grace, in particular, really enjoys it and doesn't want to stop!  UI am using Rod and Staff with her - the ABC series.  She gets to start speech therapy in 4 more weeks!  She told me the other day when we were practicing saying a word, "I can hear it, but I can't say it!"  She is doing much better though.  
Ben is doing his final project in the Thomas Kincaid art class he's been taking.  He put together a still life that says something about him.  Here it is:

Well, I need to get back to homeschool and back to spinning!! 

May God rain down His incredible blessings on each of you!

Kim

We're Still Here!

A lot has happened since my last post.  We had my sister's funeral, which went very well.  Karen left a lot of people with a lot of good memories.  Her smile was such a blessing to so many.  She struggled with her RA with dignity and humor.  She was close to the Lord and I know she is with Him now.  I love you, Ka, and miss you terribly.  I'll see you soon!  (soon being a relative term - earthly time compared to eternity.  I don't want anyone jumping to any conclusions). 

Anyway, Gracie had her surgery.  She did great!  She sounds like Donald Duck, but the doctor assured me that would go away as the swelling goes down.  So, far, 1 week, 1 day later, she still sounds like Donald Duck.  As Karen would say, "greaaaat".  lol  Gracie is so precious.  She went to church last night and was just raising her hands during praise and worship and praising her Lord.  I thank God for such a blessing and the opportunity to be her mom.  God has blessed me with 4 wonderful children.  All successful and all pretty much well behaved - as far as I know anyway.  Ignorance is bliss in a lot of areas! 

I am back in my shop today!  Had a very good day!  Met lots of neat folks,  Gracie actually sold some of her artwork to some very kind ladies from Carthage.  I have finished spinning some Golden Retriever hair for a customer and started knitting it into a heart pillow today.  It's going to be very pretty.  Reminds me a lot of Angora hair.  Has a beautiful halo to it. 

Of course, my fun project of all time is the Enterlac scarf!  I love knitting it!  And people's reactions to it are so fun!  I should finish it up within the next week or two.  Can't decide whether to keep it, sell it, or gift it!

I received my "bling" to spin with my handspun!  Stay tuned for some beautiful sparkly yarns!!  I can't wait to get started!

I received a lot of Concord grapes in Tuesday.  Luckily, my mom told me I could just stick them in the freezer until I am ready to deal with them.  That was good news!!  So, they went from the box, to the Ziplock to the freezer.  Some are in the frige for munching.  I love them!  Also, canned 10 jars of peaches.  Yummy!    Added a bit of cinnamon to mine.

Enough for now! 

Take care and have a blessed day!

Kim

www.etsy.com/shop/kjhines6065
www.facebook.com/simplyhomespun

Life Is Not Settled Just Yet!

Getting back in the groove of homeschool after a couple of hetic weeks after the passing of my sister, Karen.  Her service was Sunday and was absolutely beautiful, thanks in no small part to Rhonda Treaster and Pastor Warren.  2 hours before service, none of the videos or slide show would work.  Pastor Warren to the rescue!!  He's my hero!!!  

I'm preparing to leave for Vanderbilt Children's hospital tomorrow morning for Gracie's surgery.  I am preparing the special orders I have received and tying up loose ends.  I'm taking my Joy wheel with me to make some new yarn for my shop and 3 knitting projects, perhaps 4.  So, I will be keeping busy.  Gracie and I will be by ourselves a lot of the time as Gene is going to be working and visiting along.  I will be stuck in the hospital with nothing to do but spin, knit, read and play with my precious daughter!  I am looking forward to it, I have to say.   That is provided, of course, all goes well with Grace's surgery.  I have no reason to think that it won't.   God has her in His hand, that is for certain.

I sold my Mardi Gras Madness yarn over the weekend!  That was the yarn from you know where that I spun with beads.  Am I going to do that again???  Probably, but not now.  It was pretty, when all was said and done.

                 
My sweet inlaws are going to be here taking care of Ben while I am gone and will be holding down Simply Homespun!  So, come on out and visit.  Sorghum season is in full swing in Muddy Pond - lots to do in addition to visiting our shop.

Keep prayers coming for Gracie!

Kim

Living in The Land of Denial

Ok, it's true.  I'm living in the land of either denial (stage one in the grief process) or depression (stage 4).  Hopefully the latter.  All I know is that everytime I think about my sister, Karen, I am having no problem taking those thoughts captive and casting them out!  It just hurts too bad.  I guess I'm afraid of the hurt I will feel if I let myself feel.  Does that make sense to anyone but me??  Probably not healthy, but very comfortable for me right now. 

Anyway, here is the yarn I had started in the last post.  I spun one bat and I called that yarn "the ugly 70's kitchen floor".  There were distinct colors present - brown and yellow especially.  UCK!  So, I ran my other bats through the carder a few more times and VOILA!  Here is the result:

I

Isn't it spectacular!?  I love it, love it, love it!  It's for sale for now, lol.  I don't know how long I can keep from  knitting it!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/80271048/sparkly-autumn-handspun-yarn

Back to my earlier paragraph.  You know, the Bible tells us to take every thought captive.  Why is it so easy to do with thoughts concerning Karen and not negative, complaining, mummering thoughts I have throughout the day?  Those really cause more damage that any thoughts of Karen I could come up with!  I guess it's because with Karen, it is a physical hurt and with these other thoughts, while not a physical hurt, those negative thoughts build up and cause a world of hurt down the road.  I am going to turn this over to the Lord to help me with.  I know He will sign me up for that class!  Remind me to tell you about the time I prayed for humility.  That class was NO FUN!  I can tell you.  Anyway, I always graduate a better person, but the lessons can be tough!

Be good and stay strong in the Lord! 

Kim