Happy and Spinning again!

And the part about being happy definitely has a lot to do with the part about spinning again. :) I have spun up two bobbins FULL to bursting with 100% alpaca single in rose and white. Most of it barber-poled as I spun it but there are sections of pure white and dark sections of pure rose in there as well and I can hardly wait to see it as a two ply yarn. I have enough roving left to spin another bobbin though and I'm rolling around the possibility of a 3-ply yarn. I've never done a 3-ply before but I have a great video on it. I'll probably stick with two ply though. In the meantime, I bought yarn from an LYS (local yarn shop) to do a scarf for my grandmother in New Jersey. It's a lovely rosey color and the fiber is alpaca, silk, merino and little chunks of tweed in it as flecking. It's working up into a nice scarf. I'm doing a regular seed stitch on it because I haven't done that stitch yet. Each new scarf is becoming an adventure in stitches. I ordered some cashmere blend yarn from Knit Picks to do a scarf in as well and I'm very excited to get it.
My soap fragrances came today! Hooray! I'd forgotten what I bought actually. :) I bought it all from Nature's Garden. I got a "Tommy" like fragrance because Jeff wears "Tommy" cologne and wanted similar smelling manly soap. I got Pina Colada, Blue Hawaiian, Amish Quilt, Citronella (for summer camping trips!) and they sent me a fake rose bud soaked in Champagne Pomegranate that smells heavenly! I could become a scent addict very easily I'm afraid. So I now have all the ingredients necessary for my first solo act at soap making. I still may ask Carol if she's available for some soap fun the day I try my hand for the first time. She's been really busy at work though so I may be on my own. But she taught me well and I took good notes. :) I actually am keeping a spinning journal and I put the soap recipe and steps down in that. It's becoming more of a crafting journal than strictly spinning at this point. I want to be able to look back at my first attempts at spinning and my first yarns and say "wow!" and remember how much fun the whole journey has been and continues to be.
Craft night with the girls is scheduled for Jan. 12th for sure and there are four of us confirmed coming. I admit it's going to be great to sit in a room full of other crafters  and share our projects, tell stories, laugh, and eat snack foods of various types. I'm really looking forward to it. I'll get to see Carrie's whole flock for the first time too. I've met a few of her birds but not all of them and I'm excited about that too. I'll take pictures again and share them.
My do-over for New Years day seemed to go better. The plumber had to come out and fix us up but it wasn't too involved. It was, of course, expensive because it was a weekend but it's well worth it to have my kitchen and laundry room functioning again! I'm not going to complain but be grateful instead. I am so used to the little blessings in life like running water and drains in the kitchen, that when they are taken away, I feel very vulnerable and dependent! I don't like feeling like that one bit. Guess it's the price we pay for living in a modern society. But things are finally running normally here again at The Nest and even though Jeff is fighting a cold and the new cat is having to be confined to the garage so he doesn't run away, things are settling into a routine for Winter 2011. (The cat is scared of his own shadow by the way so he runs first and asks questions later. If he gets away outside and takes off we'll never see him again and the coyotes will most likely make him a meal. I couldn't stand that happening so we're locking him up until he settles into his new home.)
I "syndicated" this blog on Facebook so let me know if you have trouble commenting or reading it. I can unsyndicate it just as quickly. I found and am following some great new blogs I found by syndicating though. There are some talented and entertaining spinners and crafters in blog-world! :)