Don’t worry, I didn’t forget about Frog it or Finish it Friday.  This week’s project is a finisher, so I’ve just been working on trying to finish it.  This is a project that I started quite a while ago.  I would say it was probably in the summer of 2006 because Hoops and Yoyo are in my original picture:

The yarn is Steadfast Wonderful Wool  ($3.74/oz.) and Knitpicks Palette ($1.13/oz.). I was trying to design my own felted purse for Agent J. I had some notes so I was able to pick up where I left off which was here:

One side is complete and the other side about half way.  So far I have finished the second side and seamed them together.  This is not, however, the original plan.  I was going to knit a long strap to connect the two pieces together and my notes say something about using short rows, but you know what?  I just don’t remember what my intentions were so I’m making up a new version.  Tonight, I think I’m going to knit an applied I-cord along the top and then decide what I shall do for straps.  Really, the main reason this project is a finish and not a frog is because Agent J insists that I must finish it for her.  And it is not like I have really ever forgotten about this project because I’m sure she has been reminding me at least once a month for the last couple of years.  When I first started talking about Frog it or Finish it Fridays, she jumped at the idea and lobbied for her project to be at the beginning.

The above photo show a close up of the beads that are randomly inserted throughout the fabric.  I’m not sure what they are going to do during the felting process, but I think I’ll be able to get them to all poke through to the correct side in the finished product.  Of couse, the whole felting process is another matter as I did make felted swatches when designing this, but they were felted in my old washer and not my new one.  As a mater of fact, I haven’t even felted anything since getting my new washer.  I guess I have plenty of yarn to do another swatch, but wouldn’t it be more fun to just run it through and see what happens?

Camera Update:

Thanks to everyone for all the camera advice/opinions/support.  I haven’t been back out to look at them yet.  I hope that maybe they will have some left at Circuit City that I can go see this week before they close.  I went to Ritz Camera last week to look and the salesman was extremely helpful and I just can’t go back when I know I don’t intend to actually make the purchase there, but I think it would be ok to go and look at Circuit City as they are going out of business anyway.  I have been very busy with asking around to find out what kinds of people I know–Canon or Nikon.  Canon seems to inspire more passion and loyalty among its supporters.  At least so far,  we shall see…

Next Week’s Frog or Finish Project:

Stayed tuned for next Friday (ish)  when I will show you the results of Agent J’s Felted Bag and I will attempt to retrieve a project from the depths of a box filled mostly with random balls of yarn (if I can find that box, that is.)

Hoops and Yoyo and I received a lot of really cool presents this holiday season. We thought we would bring you a parade of sorts…

First up is our new yarn storage. This gift was from my mom and dad. It is a self – chosen item as I was given a few catalogs and allowed to pick what I would like. I really do like it, but I have to say that it is rather the miniature version of what I expected. In the photo in the catalog the bins are shown storing shoes — really, what appear to be full grown adult shoes. I tried and there is no way that a pair of IHA sneakers would fit in a cubby. I know, I know, I should have looked at the dimensions closer, but really – for the price I had expected each cubby to be a good 12 by 12 by 12!!!

Next we have Hoops and Yoyo riding our new Roomba — Rollie Pollie Ollie. They loved it though Yoyo had a much harder time staying on that Hoops. Rollie Pollie Ollie is from IHA and the Agents. It does make housework more entertaining. Hoops and Yoyo say “Rid’em cowboy!” Croppy, when we finally get to visit you in the Midwest, they will be ready for that bull riding!

Hoops and Yoyo really like this gift from Knitcole. It is a singing tavel mug. It says something like “Glug glug glug glug glug glug glug glug, I’m drinking my coffee out of my mug but it talks to me, It talks to me. I’ll drink a lot of coffee and then I’ll have to, I’ll have to pee.” Then there is a lot of giggling and one of them says “What? But it is true!!!”

Now this one, Hoops and Yoyo are really excited! They have been asking me all year when they were going to get a chance to learn something new and exotic so any day now (preferally when my hives are gone) we are going break out this dvd and learn to belly dance (I promise to spare you the photos of that.):

Then we are going to do some body art. Anyone want to join us? BTW, thanks for this gift go to LFG and LFB. Thanks!

Finally we have the one that really made Hoops and Yoyo pee. Yup, they had just each finished a huge mug of coffee when they saw this:

They crossed their little legs and giggled their brains out. When they were done laughing, Hoops said, “Look Yoyo, now we can put our wienies in the appropriate slots and when they are done they will pop up!” Yoyo said, “And Hoops, when our wienies are done our buns will also be nice and toasty!”

Just think, if you come to visit us, you too can enjoy hot, tasty hot dogs, ANYTIME!!!

Seriously, most of what Hoops and Yoyo said they read right off the box!!! They’d like to send Sarah a very big Hoops and Yoyo THANK YOU!!! Your NIIIIICEEEE!!!!!

Have a great day everyone!

I have a hard time naming pink and green fiber. First off, I think it should be called “Preppy,” but how unoriginal is that? Then, I want to name it “Hoops and Yoyo,” but IHA said that would not be such a good idea with Trademark Law and all… So what did I do? I asked Agent K and she said “Green Apple Bubblegum” so “Green Apple Bubblegum” it is. Trademark law does not preclude fiber frolicking, however!

They think llama clouds are heavenly.

April showers bring new colors to Project Spectrum. Goodbye to gray and blue and white and Hello to Pink and Green and Yellow! Whoo hooo!!! Spring is here (or so I have to keep telling myself)!

To get myself warmed up for the new colors, I took a few photos around my house. It wasn’t too hard to find some green and pink and yellow. I had a couple of assistants to help me out:

The first thing we found was the felted bag in progress for Agent J (and yes, you are correct; I have not worked on this project in weeks, you caught me! ):

Then we found some pink and green yarn balls from Shelridge Farms which I have to swatch for the shop sample for the Entrelac Socks:

Next we went upstairs and found this Quilt in Agent J’s room:

And right next door, the girl’s bathroom has a bit of pink and yellow and green:

After that we proceeded back downstairs to Hoops and Yoyo’s favorite area of all:

The coffee making area! My coffee cups are pink and yellow and green!

So, what is NOT pink and yellow and green?

The outdoors, because, of course, this is freaking Connecticut you know! (But I’m not really bitter about this weather, nope, not me!)

Wow – I think it has been a really long time since I’ve just written a chatty type of post that wasn’t really strange in any way. Well – I’m going to go for chatty in this one – the not being strange part – I can give no guarantees.

I have so many just random bits and pieces to tell – maybe a list is in order:

1.) I think I’m taking a spinning class on Sunday! I mailed in my membership to the Nutmeg Spinners and the fee for the Sunday workshop. I’m just waiting to hear back to see if everything got there on time. I going to have to cross my fingers that the postal system did its best job! I’ve been practicing my spinning by making yarn for Fetching so hopefully I will be able to keep up with the class. I’m venturing out alone for this too – no Llama Farm Girl, Knitcole, or Dara…

Oh yes, and here is a peek at the Fetching yarn:

2.) I also signed up for a Creating Web Pages continuing education class – it starts before Christmas so I hope I’m not getting myself in over-my-head. It is all online but I don’t think it has lectures and chats and anywhere near as much homework as IHA’s classes. It is just for fun – not graded or anything either. I hope that without the grade part, I can stay motivated to keep up with it.

3.) I have finished the back and 1/2 of the front of Agent B’s sweater. The Briar Rose yarn is knitting up quite lovely – no pooling yet!

4.) I joined the Spin To Knit Secret Pal Exchange. So far I think we are just waiting to get our pals. There doesn’t seem to be a blog for this exchange yet – just that one place on the Interweave site. It looks like it could be fun and I’ve seen the button around on different blogs. I still have my *secret* secret-pal-swap-partner e-mail all set up from the fiber roving swap I did in September. (The chances of having the same partner are slim to none, right???)

5.) I’m thinking of joining the Knit Blue KAL if I ever finally choose a pattern for IHA’s sweater and start knitting it. I’m not going to join yet though, just in case it is over before I’m ready to start. There was actually a sweater in the latest issue of Cast On that we liked! It is #26 by Scarlet Taylor on this webpage but you can’t really see it all that well. It is reverse stockinette with some cable motifs going up the front and back and it has a zipper front. Speaking of actually liking patterns in Cast On – I also liked #36 and #29 but will probably never make them.

6.) I encountered a really potentially cool thing yesterday while cruising the internet for nifty yarn stories. There is a website called The Yarn Museum. If I can remember about it, I will probably submit something once it opens. (I should probably add it to the links on my blog and that will help aid the ol’ memory.)

7.) Hold on to your hats! Something really odd happened in the IHA/Spincerely household this weekend! We put up our tree!!! I told the Little Agents that if they did a good job helping to clean the house that we could decorate for Christmas and they did and we did! I am really going to try harder than ever this year to pretend that I like Christmas!

8.) There was one minor glitch in the festivities, however. The girls discovered the Box of Fobidden Ormanments (insert the sound of doom here). The ornaments in this box are so scary that you must avert your eyes so you are not scared for life! Now usually I am able to manage to unpack and quickly repack this box so quickly that the girls were not even aware of its existence – but not this year. This year they practically decorated the tree all by themselves and they were on their game. Now this first photo is not so scary…

But you may want to cover your monitor for this one – and this is a mild one! As Knitcole would say – Egads and Gadzooks!

9.) There has been a little concern about Hoops and Yoyo going into the drum carder from my last post. I must assure you all – there were no little pink and green furry creatures harmed in the making of the last blog entry. It was all staged and their furry little feet never even touched the sharp spikes of the licker-in. It was all Llama Farm Girl’s idea – really!!!

10.) New blogs!!!! I have quickly become a fan of Mamascrapalota-Blogga. I love the look of her blog – the great colors and photos. I love how it is such a happy and cheerful place to be. I love how she is into the fiber arts AND scrapbooking. I also must admit that I’m enthralled with her move to Colorado. For some reason I am currently obsessed with Colorado. It really intrigues me as a potential place to live. Of course, I think the first step should be to vacation there and see if I even like it as much as I think I would. (Do you think she would mind if I asked her to count how many days per week they they have sunshine rather than cloud cover?)

Also – Dara JUST started her new blog! It is still a baby blog – but you can visit her here to say hi.

So that is 10 chatty things! I didn’t even get to the Mod Podge stuff yet. I guess I can leave that for tomorrow! Thanks for sticking around til the end! Hey and personally – I think I did a rather good job of not being too strange this time!

Once upon a time there were 2 dudes commonly referred to as Hoops and Yoyo. Hoops and Yoyo loved many things – like turkey, coffee and yarn. They took a trip with the IHA family to Vermont for Thanksgiving. Upon arrival in Vermont with rumbly tummies, they eagerly awaited Thanksgiving dinner.

They waited and waited and finally decided to go on a 24-pound luscious Putney School Free-Range Turkey hunt.

“Yum!” they said.
Finally, it was time for a real Vermont Thanksgiving!

Egads! Purple Food! Should they make a run for it?

“That’s it Hoops and Yoyo!” said Llama Farm Girl, “I’ve cooked all morning and you are my guests! It is off to the licker-in for you!”

Oh dear!

What will happen to our fearless heros next? What fate awaits our fair dudes?

Narrowly escaping the sharp and hungry spikes of the slicker-licker, they rush off in a fiber frenzy. Where to?

A Black Friday trip to the Green Mountain Spinnery of course!

Yarn is good.

And my Trickers

Hoops and Yoyo want to know – does anyone need braces? If you need braces, please let them know right away because they would like to refer you to Agent J’s orthodontist. Apparently if you refer someone to him (like this person), he will send you one of these:

This is enough chocolate to completely keep Hoops and Yoyo happy for the remainder of the evening (remember they are high maintenance). But what about tomorrow??? Please go to Dr. DePasquale in Torrington post haste, and let him know that Hoops and Yoyo sent you…

October 21, 2006: Edited to add…

This ginormous candy bar sure does make good cookies!  I’m getting a little drooly over here looking trying to upload the photos even! These provided a nice morning snack on our way to Rhincebeck today!  Thanks Dr. Dee!!!

10 quick and random things that I want to write about:

1. My dh, IHA, received his bar review material this week. He writes about it here. I have a suspicion that the next few months are going to feel really long.

2. Knitcole had a birthday this week! Hoops and Yoyo came to the yarn shop to help her celebrate:

3. I have ripped out my Simple Knitted Bodice and restarted. Again.

4. Enchanted Birthday socks are finished! (photos to follow soon!)

5. This weekend is the 150th anniversary of the Harwinton Fair and for some reason that is really exciting to me. There was a great article in the paper yesterday yesterday about the history of the fair. It gave me goosebumps reading it.

6. While we were away at the Fibre Fallout this weekend, While You Were Out came to my house and turned the office into my own fiber arts/scrapbooking studio!

7. The deer ate every single thing that deer would even consider eating in my vegetable garden. I have a row of Cinnamon Basil and a row of Nasturtium left.

8. 8, I forget what 8 was for and

9. I really want to do the 2 knitting memes going around right now. One is about sock knitting and the other is 10 knitterly things you didn’t know about me. I may do the sock one sometime this week – but I think it is going to take a while to come up with 10 unknown knitterly things. I really need to start jotting them down as I think of them.

10. I am especially looking forward to going to Rhinebeck this year! We are going as a family and we are taking Knitcole and Dara who are Sheep and Wool fesitival virgins!!! The girls love the sheep and the sheep dogs and even IHA really gets into the fiber festivals.

Always check references before contracting for outside services.

Hoops and Yoyo do Jose Cuervo.

Hoops and Yoyo do Washie Repair.

You do the math.
First:

Party Hardy.

Notice the felt balls. (Please note: no blue felt balls here.)
Second:

Hoops and Yoyo attempt to be Mr. Fix-its at Crops a Lots today:

Is there any wonder her washie died? I hope she learned her lesson. Always check references.