My fleece is spending spring break in Moro Bay and all I got was this lousy Tee shirt....

I learned some hard lessons about the importance of over twisting my singles when plying. When you are holding fiber that either breaks or comes apart in your hand, it's a clue that something is wrong. I know you all are getting tired of hearing me go on and on about my spinning escapades lately. Hopefully it will just be pictures of usable yarn soon. I'm in the middle of plying my midnight merino fiber and hope to finish it tomorrow.

The weather here has changed so drastically over the last week. Today my sinuses couldn't take it anymore and I suffered a bad headache so I waved off the men's knit night. A little medication and nap after work and I'm feeling better.

We did make it down to Laguna Beach for the Pubknitting on Wednesday and brought our friend Stacey
It was nice to reconnect with the pub knitters who we hadn't seen in few weeks.


This week I purchased my first fleece. Mrs Twisted asked that I have it processed even though I wanted to try the cleaning process after all the reading I did on the subject. Something about the smell of dirty wet sheep I think. The fleece is from a Cormo sheep and is making it's way by truck to Moro Bay for some processing. Never thought I would be sending a fleece on a vacation to Moro Bay but it'll show up here all clean and ready so spin. The Cormo fiber was sort of hard to find and the farm I bought from is very small but it looks like it will be extra soft and worth the effort. A family run farm that raises Corriedale sheep with a handful of Cormo. It's been a real pleasure to deal with them. 18 to 19 micron fiber is what I expect to see when it arrives.

Not much progress on the sweater since Monday night where I spent a few hours going round and round.

The weekend is still up in the air, what will we do? Not sure, depends on if these lazy bones can get up early enough to make it to the beach. I suspect a few loads of laundry and some grocery shopping and we may be buying a laptop so we don't have to share. The Mrs received her Ravelry invite yesterday and she was talking about starting a blog. Yes, you heard right, the Mrs is joining the party. We were bouncing around some names for her blog and Ravelry name. More on that later.

Have a great Weekend

Life is good

Easter in Southern California must equal crazy hat day. Why didn't we get the notification?

This was supposed to be my happy Easter post but it's a day late...

The Mrs. and I usually go for a leisurely ride when it's a holiday and this day was no different. A nice drive down the coast to enjoy the summer like weather. It was 91 at our home and 85 at the beach. That's a warm day for the summer time and for March it's a call to arms for everybody to head towards the water.

On the ride down we saw the Corona Del Mar dolphins all decorated for the holiday.



The warm weather brings out the entertainment. Check out Mr Nemo
or Mr Pink fuzzy hat smoking his cigarette. Nothing say Easter like a pink fuzzy top hat. Forgive the blurry picture. We were diving by and he was moving erratically.


Funny to see what's open and what's not on Easter. We found ourselves at Barnes and Noble and for the first time it was almost empty and so quiet. No students clogging up the place looking like they are trying to do homework but really just having some foamy coffee drink in small groups. No little kids running rampant through the store playing tag or whatever. What a delight to browse the stacks. We picked up a paperback from a favorite author and a new guitar magazine.

We drove back north as the sun was setting to see if we could eat at one of her favorite quick places to have dinner. On the return what do we see?



Can you recognize that car?

For you youngsters, it's an AMC Gremilin.
One nice thing about California is that older cars are normal. Pintos, Vegas, Edsels, even Pacers can bee seen once in a while. The drive we take is right through the richest part of Orange county and we always see Ferraris and various other Italian 6 figure cars. I love to see the out of the normal cars like this. I think they were the original owners.

I missed two things from what happened on Saturday. I bought a new spinning book and 4 sample bumps of roving.
I hope the book really does teach me how to spin with one hand while spinning softer yarn with more speed.

Mrs' Twisted bought her first bag of roving (she is going to try drop spindle on Wednesday.


Tonight we met with our Anaheim Hills Knitting Group and the group is growing each week. Ravelry has helped this group really blossom.

I think there was 11 of us tonight. Did almost an inch of the sweater tonight. This is where being over 6' tall is a draw back.

Watch him pull a rabbit out of his stash.

Saturday was the monthly meeting of our spinning guild. Yes Friday spin-in and Saturday spinning guild meeting. It's not all spinning all the time it just worked out that way this weekend.

The group has about 45 members attending the meetings in the three instances I've been to so far. Next month we are all encouraged to bring scraps of roving to donate into a huge pile and will have a carding workshop with the community fiber gathered.



This months program was Chris Acosta on Angora rabbits, their fiber properties and spinning of Angora fiber. Much to my surprise he just set up his wheel and set the rabbit on his lap.

He just plucked the fiber and worked it into the spinning.


This was an English Angora Rabbit, he prefers them for the softness and how they are more pet like. Notice the two laundry baskets behind him, he brought in some just plucked fiber and we all had a chance to take some home. I was able to grab about 2.o oz of this mixed color.


He talked a little about the rabbits and then had a little show and tell of a few of the projects he and his wife had made from the angora. He kept indicating how he preferred to blend the fiber with merino or silk.







Click the arrow to watch the video



Click the arrow to see more video.

The two above videos have sound if you have speakers, and were taken from my little Fuji digital camera and no tripod. Let me know if you like the addition of the video to my blog and if they work well. I have DSL and it works ok. I'm sure cable will also work well but if you have dial up service it my be a little choppy to watch.


I noticed a beautiful Robin wheel behind us in the 3rd row. These are made by a guy in Maine from the most amazing hardwoods. She had the Deluxe in Cherry wood.

Notice how large the bobbin is on this wheel.

My favorite is the Spalted Birdseye maple on the website.

It was very nice to see so many people from so many different spinning groups I attend all come together once a month. Cherie, and Karen from the Tuesday night Laguna Hills spinning group. Many people from the OC Night spinners, also Melissa and Renatta fron the Rumplestiltskein group.

I did work on the sweater a little bit and only have about 45 more minutes of the special fiber to spin. I'm a little slow on the posting. I still have Sundays happenings to do.

Have a great Monday

Life is Good

Friday Spin in

A week or so ago I was invited to attend a spin in. The invite came from someone who found my name on the San Diego North County Coastal Knitters Ravelry group. I joined the group to do a little lurking and hear about special functions that may occur. Thank you Kelie for the heads up. This was a mid day spin in on a "I'm supposed to be at work" kind of day but... I found out that Lori Lawson and some of the group she spins with may be there too so it was, would you rather work or hang out in a yarn shop near the beach and spin with some wonderful people? I convinced Mrs Twisted to join me and we made it a day. I had put in an extra hour Thursday night and went in an hour early on Friday before the escape to Common Threads in Encinitas. We arrived just before noon much to everyones surprise. Lori, Kelie Jeri, Nancy and I enjoyed the spinning while the Mrs knit. We broke for lunch and ate at the World Famous Raul's for some Mexican food. It's just a little taco stand but if you have ever watched Huell Houser and you saw the Encinitas episode you know what I'm talking about. I highly recommend the spicy carne asada burrito or the chicken soup.

The three of us "in the zone". We had such a good time talking about knitting, fiber, spinning and just hanging out together.

On the ride home we passed trestles and the girls, our nickname for the nuclear power plant because it looks like some feminine anatomy. I spied a name on a facade just off the freeway and had to exit for the weekly vice I call the Lotto. I justify it by saying to myself that it helps the schools even though I know it doesn't and I'll never win but I still play. oh the Sign said SAN-O. It reminded me of the name given to a model of surfboards by Harbour Surfboards built for the waves at San Onofre. Just a little surf lingo from a previous life. I was just thinking why not when I saw the name from the freeway.



Nice to have stylish parking signs or no parking signs.

As I purchased the tickets I engaged the clerk in a brief conversation about the artwork on the walls and he replied it was his. I picked up a couple foam coasters of two pictures he had made. Not real exciting but we love our kooky coasters. I didn't ask but I would venture a guess that he is a surfer or was one in his youth.

Life is Good

My PRGE contest Entry

Another post with a preface but I have my reasons. With apologies to my fellow punker gift exchange fans and out of respect to my family and freinds with more delicate sensibilities I give warning to the content and semi-filtered language. I know it seems so normal but I don't curse in real life and I respect those who prefer not to be exposed to bad language or questionable content. If you feel this way I hope you return to my normal content tomorrow.






















OK here is my PRGE partner song/project contest entry. I'm in the Punk Rock Gift Exchange and we are having a contest where the upstream partner sends their 3 favorite punk rock songs and the recipient matches the songs with a pattern/project and select the yarn that works best.


These are her choices

1. ""Too Drunk to F**k" by the Dead Kennedy's (this
was hard to choose because I also like Police Truck by
them as well)

I chose a pink pill box hat immortalized by Jackie


The Yarn would be Ballet Pink Debbie Bliss Cash merino because Jackie deserves the best.
The pattern can be found here



2. " Drain the Blood" by The Distillers

My choice is the knitted human heart that is used to drain the blood in kosher meats. From Knit1 Mag. Yarn Cotton DK weight.


3. "Anarchy in the U.K" by the Sex Pistols

Hmmmmm this was the hard one. You would think acrylic but I see bamboo dyed in the three colors from Pretty in Punk.

Thank you Sunneshine for such a fun & interesting contest.

Field Trip and Sock Yarn

Back to happy fun subjects like knitting and fiber arts.

Today was a field trip to a shipping warehouse that Mrs. Twisted and I have been to a "few" times in the past. This was a little different though. At out weekly Monday knit group a few of the ladies had expressed curiosity about the Purl Soho warehouse. We made plans to meet and Denise started a thread on Ravelry where the group grew to 12 with a few spouses.

For those of you who haven't been there, this building is unmarked except the letter D on the door. No signs, no idea their is so much fiber goodness going on inside.

This is the shipping warehouse for Purl Soho of New York. Jen, the manager welcomes walk ins to shop as long as we don't get in the way of them shipping their orders. You can go online and look at all the inventory before you see it in person if you're lucky enough to live close.

The group waiting for everyone to arrive.


Hard to tell but their are 11 other people back there.

The yarn is calling to us, "TAKE ME HOME"

That's Denise kneeling over the sale bins looking for the bargains. She came prepared with a shopping list and her project cue from Ravelry.

Mrs. Twisted met me there and we were very good.
This all I bought.

Farmhouse Yarns, Fannies Fingering Weight, color way Mauve.

Happy knitting....

A little fiber talk and a little not.

OK for those of you fiber readers here is some good news. My spinning of the black/red fiber is almost complete. In fact I was spinning at lunch Monday on the balcony in 70 degree temps and cool ocean breezes (I live close enough to run home for lunch). My Malabrigo sweater is slowly moving along. Round by round getting longer. Mrs. Twisted finished seaming her third top of the year last night while I went to spin with the ladies in Laguna Hills. Tonight we may just stay home because the Pub Knitters are not meeting or at least the ones I have heard from. I’ll have pictures of the red silk top soon.

I don't do this but the thoughts about this next subject have been festering a long time and I normally don't rant too much on here so this is your cue to exit if you prefer not to read my opinions about non fiber related issues. Most of you know me as a "glass is half full" fatally optomistic person. Mrs. Twisted read this prior to my posting and said something along the lines of "what bug crawled up .......". "This isn't like you at all" Like I said you had fair warning to leave now.

Last Chance

Before I start I know I will receive hate mail and criticism but this is just my twisted opinion.

Yesterday I was reminded again how poor the education system is in the USA or at least in my little part of the country. I’m embarrassed and Yes Bronchitkat it hurts to openly admit just how ignorant I am about things that should have been common knowledge. Let me preface this rant with some clarifiers. It’s not my intention to generalize that the whole education system is wrong. I also know we have some brilliant students hailing from the USA but what I have noticed since becoming a little more exposed personally with people who grew up outside our borders is that they seem to have a broader more in depth education. I graduated High School 3 decades ago in my little vacuum know as Orange County. I know better now but back then I was a lot more arrogant and thought the world revolved around Southern California. Maybe not so much arrogant but naive. That’s how you are raised here. It seemed like everyone new I met came from somewhere else. To me, it was like I lived where everyone else wanted to live. The surf, the Sunny weather 300 plus days a year. Movie stars everywhere you looked or so it was implied. All the hype all the time. It’s like mind control the way you are told how good it is here because everyone wants to live here. Houses were the best investment because there is only so much So Ca property and it was crazy when you told someone you lived in a 1200sqft home that cost a million dollars (or did). I’ve drifted a little off subject. We never had dreams of Ivy League Schools here. It was USC, Stanford, Cal Berkley, Cal Tech. Don’t get me wrong, these are fine schools, but I don’t think it really mattered where you went after meeting people who grew up elsewhere in the world. This eye opening really started a couple years ago when I was in the Secret Pal exchange and had some long e-mails with a lady in her mid 20’s with no college education and yet she had a broader and more substantial education than many college educated people I know. Australia and probably the whole UK looks like they do it right! In fact most European people I have had exposure to in my business life are like this. In my travels I have worked with many exchange students or foreign co-op temp workers. A previous company was based in Austria and the owner would bring 3^rd year University students over for the summer for OTJ experience and have them do menial task at first but I always tried to push their envelope. It always amazed me that English was their 2^nd language but they had a better grasp of grammar than most of us here. Sentence construction and vocabulary was always impressive. The part that bothered me personally was that I realized that our country minimizes the history of the world and limits most of it’s teaching to here in this country and now. It’s like we are on the self built tower thinking that we are in control of all around us and yet our jobs are leaving and our financial system is in turmoil. Our school system is in a finger pointing mode right now. This was brought on by a set of standardized tests to evaluate the students and now it’s used to judge if the teacher is doing their job correctly. Action and reaction occurred and now the only thing that is being taught is how to pass the test. I knit with a men’s group every other Friday and we have a grade school teacher in the group and to listen to him, the kids are worse each year. Not better, not smarter…. When was the last time you saw a child read for the pleasure of a good book? I was reading one ladie’s blog here in Southern Ca where the school system was so determined to keep her child in school that the child’s health and welfare was jeopardized. Our schools are rewarded with funds for each day a student attends class. If your child has an unexcused absence then the school loses its money for that day. The school district will actually prosecute the parent by involving the courts because of what they call truancy. They say it helps reduce gang activity but it’s just to have these kids in a seat so the district can obtain the state funding for each child. You are only allowed so many sick days now because I’m sure there was a multi hundred thousand dollar study ran by some insurance actuary analyst who determined a general rule that kids are sick x days a year. There is no exception and they create budgets based on these numbers. What most people don’t understand is that the Los Angeles Unified School District has an operating budget of 6.9 billon dollars per year. That’s billion! The state pays the district $9,300 per student. So if we do a little simple arithmetic if you have 30 kids in a class let say 4^th grade that’s $279,000 to teach them that year. I just think we are failing the kids and I realized it’s been broken for years. We were never taught literature and art beyond the simplest forms. Every subject is encapsulated and simplified. Watered down and homogenized for your protection. The classics have been removed from many school libraries because someone found something about the content offensive. Music and sports programs are now parent funded. I took auto shop and machine shop classes in HS because I had no intention of a college career at that point in my life but none of that is even available now. I was discussing this with my wife and I posed this question…. Let’s say that you take 90% of that $279,000 or $251,000 and run a scenario.

Let’s propose you lease a property, for $3,000 a month that will be large enough to handle a conference room large enough to seat 30 students. Many churches have resorted to leasing space in large industrial parks and are holding services this way. It functions quite well and once inside the only thing missing is the stained glass windows. But this will work quite well for a school. In fact University of Phoenix was using empty conference rooms in our local hotels near the Airport as class rooms for years. You would check the sign when you arrived at the hotel before each class for the meeting room number.

Available Funds	$ 251,000.00
rent	$ (36,000.00)
utilities	$ (7,500.00)
computers	$ (30,000.00)
Books	$ (10,500.00)
teacher	$(100,000.00)
Lunch	$ (54,000.00)
Field Trips (3)	$ (9,600.00)
Supplies (paper etc)	$ (3,400.00)

This is just for one class. Imaging your child attending a school where you had a teacher who wanted to be there because they were making 100k per year. Where each child had a new computer on their desk and it was used in the learning process. Not just going to a room called a computer lab with obsolete computers and spending 30 minutes a week because you had to wait your turn. New books each year, three field trips out to see real life as it relates to what you are studying, Museums and maybe a play. Since we are not in a housed school you would have to cater lunch each day. The point is that the schools should run as a non-profit organization from top to bottom. OK so now we take this and multiply it and have 6 classes of different topics. Each teacher has the students for 2 hours per subject each day and the subjects are on alternate days. Mon Wed Fri Math Literature The Arts. Tuesday Thursday Composition, History, Science.

I know I’m over simplifying things but there is a happy medium here. I feel the power of money is corrupting the system and the ones being hurt are our children. I witnessed how a little extra involvement can change this when my son entered the GATE program in the 3^rd grade. For those of you not familiar it’s the Gifted And Talented Education program. Our district had 3 magnet schools for the elementary grades and the teachers took extra steps to secure additional funding by applying for additional grant monies from a list of resources ready to give away if you did just a little extra work. I sat on the school site council that dispersed the funds and approved the capital projects each year. My daughter went through the mainstream system and it was like night and day when you had a few motivated individuals educating the kids. The point is, education is cumulative and if it’s not mastered in the previous years lesson plan then it’s time taken away from the current year or just an omission in content all together. Some of these districts are so large they are the size of Fortune 500 companies. The problem is that the “CEO” not being held accountable buy the “Shareholders” (parents.) Would you want someone to split your company up and make you seem less important because that would mean that you would probably command less compensation… Funny how the administrators kids never attend the district they work for. I wonder why that is? The superintendent or other non value added positions should get paid the same if there is 10,000 kids or 550,000 kids. If you really want to Treat this like a business then do it right and reduce the waste and that is by cutting non value added functions. Where does this leave us? In the last 30 years the content of our education has been raped, the funds pillaged and our children are not able to compete in the world economy that we escalated in the sake of cheap labor elsewhere. “Would you like fries with that?” Or “Welcome to MegaloMart” is not what you want your child to aspire to. You hope they look for a career and not just a job. Something to be proud of at the end of the day. Have you sat down with your kids and turned off the TV and talked to them like adults? How do you expect them to see themselves as adults when you don’t show them that path? Blind luck and expecting the school councilors to guide them is not going to suit every child. Help them to create a plan to set goals. Look at possible career paths and what to do to realize them. Accept that we all have shortfalls in our lives and try to rectify as well as you can. Last, try to teach them that school is not life and that you have social situations that exist in school that go away in real life and others that can make the difference in how you succeed in life. Do I have an answer? Not really but I’m glad my kids made it through the system and are on their way to college to at least attempt to compete in the world economy. Companies now recruit all over the world to obtain the best and the brightest, not just who comes through the front door after reading a newspaper want ad. Try looking for a job these days without using sources like Monster or Hot Jobs.

I know their are schools in little pockets all over the country that are succeeding but the large majority of cities are failing around here. Many of these kids will grow up to earn less and achieve less than their parents because of what is happening now. I predict a huge separation in class will occur in the next 20 years. The middle class wages will slowly slide back and times will get tough for all but the very rich. The only homes that are increasing in value right now are the mega mansions because they are not living pay check to pay check like most of America.

Times are changing but our school systems are not doing the job. I have a few feel good days when I watch Jeopardy and do well in a few categories and then have never even heard of some of the answers in others. To me it’s a realization that we are not as sharp as we think we are.

***End of rant, the soap box is put away for a while.****

I hope my diatribe didn’t offend anyone I’ll be happier tomorrow.

Demistifying another Pollyism

Saturday We had to make a trip to the Post office and before we could head out the door their was a mention of someone looking like the Wreck of the "Hespahs." I immediately said "huh?" Never heard of such a thing and so I inquired as to the origin and she remarked it was just something her Mom said if someone looked disheveled or unkempt. This sent me to Google this phrase with out much success until I applied the past rules of engagement. When spelling words spoken by New Englanders you must add syllables that are never spoken and remove others. The word "park" is "paaaaahk" Soft A and always an AH sound. Gloucester is spoken "Glahstah" & Worcester is "Wohstah". Think Rooster with a softer o sound and a W or GL in the front. Mrs. Twisted's Mom was an lady with a style of her own. To listen to her family she was a bit eccentric at times. I just had the one meeting with her when we made a trip back to see her parents before she moved out here to live on the West Coast. I quickly learned that she had certain things that she did that were understood to her family as normal and without debate. These became "Pollyisms" Her name was Polly if you needed a hint. The ultimate driving assistant and perfect one to let you know if you were not driving well or so I have been told. The lore of her ways is retold at each family gathering with love and a sprinkling of exaggeration just for the sake of a good story and to help us non family members understand the history of the family and how to them it was normal behavior. You know the little handle on the passenger side of the car? We call it the "PollyGrip" because she would hold it with a death grip whenever the driver was not driving to her satisfaction(all the time).

Back to the phrase.... After applying the rules learned from previous deciphering, the Wreck of the Hespahs became , "The Wreck of the Hesperus." Still, I have never heard of such a thing. But Google had. :) It was a Poem by Longfellow about a stubborn prideful Captain who went against the word of an experienced sailor on his ship and set sail into a storm that would take the life of all aboard his ship. As the storm hit he tied his Daughter to the mast so she wouldn't be washed overboard. They all perished as the ship went down. The only body found was the Daughter still tied to the mast as it washed up on shore with seaweed in her hair. Disheveled would be an understatement I think but now I understand the reference.

Some other interesting points I found

The Wreck of the Hesperus is also referenced in the comic song "Lydia the Tattooed Lady," written by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg and performed by Groucho Marx in the Marx Brothers movie At the Circus (1939). It became one of Groucho's signature tunes.

Oh Lydia, oh Lydia, say, have you met Lydia?

Lydia The Tattooed Lady.

She has eyes that folks adore so,

And a torso, even more so.

Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclopedia,

Oh Lydia The Queen of Tattoo.

On her back is The Battle of Waterloo.

Beside it The Wreck of the Hesperus too.

And proudly above waves the red, white, and blue.

You can learn a lot from Lydia!"

I remembered the song from the movie because I would watch the Marx Brothers movies anytime they were on TV. To come full circle with this little tale. The ship that sank ran into the reef of "Normans Woe" off the coast of Gloucester Mass. Just a few minutes from where Polly grew up. For more info read here

Happy Monday Everyone.

New Money

The Department of US Treasury is fond of Purple!

Have you seen the new Five dollar bills? They have a huge purple 5 on the back and purple ink on the front side.

I just wish it was worth as much as it was a few years ago but that's another story. I asked for them at the Bank today because I knew they would be sent to the banks today from the news on the US Treasury website.

Regular readers of this blog know my love of music even though I don't talk much about it. I joined the Punk Rock Gift Exchange a few weeks back and last weekend received my partner and was also contated by upstream partner. The swap facilitator is offering a contest to kick things off. pick three punk songs and give them to your partner and they come up with a yarn and pattern that goes with the song. Oh the possibilities I can think of. I will think of my songs and contemplate my yarns and patterns for the songs sent to me this weekend.

Have a Purple day!

Knit Groups a plenty

Monday night we attended the Anaheim Hills knit group for our third meeting there. What a thrill to find out that one of Laura's lace patterns is being used in a KAL and that Dee from Posh is having her write a new pattern for the Posh lace knitters. Such a small world the crafting community is. I want to say hi to Kristie the new spinner, Denise, Shanda, and Laura from the group who was there Monday night. What a warm and friendly group of ladies to knit with!

Last night we attended the first meeting of the Huntington Beach knit group at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on Beach and Talbert. We met Dena and Christine from Ravelry and while I think we all expected a few more people to show up it was quite nice to get to know each other this way. The place is quite large for coffee house standards. Very open and plenty of room to spread out. I even brought my wheel to spin for a little while. I have a special project I'm working on right now so I'm spinning like crazy under a little time constraint.

The sweater is over 10 inches and about 9 more until the arm holes. I know it seems like a long way but I'm 6'5" The pattern calls for 102 rounds after the hem. Mindless circular knit stitch is nice for knit group nights so I'm quite happy to plug along and chitty chat.

Looks like we're going to meet a friend at the ATS group tonight instead of the OC Pubknitters this week but I'm sure we'll return to Laguna next week.

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday.

Life Is Good

Tuesday show and tell

Today we received the first of 7 wonderful packages if this is any indication. I'm talking about the yarn club I bought Mrs Twisted for Christmas. For those of you not familiar it's from Woolgirl and Liisu Yarns. Let's hear it for Greed, Envy, Gluttony, Sloth, Pride, Wrath and Lust. Every other month, Mrs. Twisted will receive a box that has yarn, a pattern and special goodies that has a link to the theme of the month.




I'll post detailed pictures later but she is sooooooo excited because it's her first club.

The other box was a little swap I made with a lady on Ravelry who wanted to swap soy silk for camel. The bonus was that I also got 4oz of bamboo as a tease to entice the swap. it was a win win I think. I ordered another pound of camel to replace what I shipped to her. I know my cost of soy silk was more than what I paid for the camel.

Happy Sunday

I've been a naughty blogger lately but I hope to feel inspired to write more.

This morning I woke up sort of early considering the time changed. It was so quiet and spring like, the warm sun and cool ocean breeze coming from the south. One of the things that attracted us to the condo we live in is the south facing balcony. So inviting, the clean porch and wonderful weather that I thought of my cold climate friends for just a second and sat outside with Lorelai and spun away. What a wonderful way to spend a morning.

The Malabrigo sweater is coming along slow but sure. Knitting every day even if it's just a couple rounds. Not like I'll be wearing it anytime soon. Today it was in the mid 70's like another picture perfect Southern California day. The weather isn't looking like it's cooling off anytime soon.


About 9" more until I get to the sleeves.
Dinner was split tonight. I had picked up some green bell peppers for stuffed bell peppers for the Mrs and I had some tostadas. Not like anyone is interested in my cooking habits but I'm just rambling here.

Last week I had a good time with the knit/spin groups. Monday night I met with the OC Night Spinners and volunteered to help a wonderful lady with the spinning demonstration for the County Fair. She is going to teach me to spin cotton and flax for the fair, she even grows the cotton in her back yard. Tuesday night we attended the new spinning group that meets every week at Yarn lady. Very small group but it looks like it will grow quickly. Wednesday night was All Things Strings for knitting. Nice to see the group back to 15+ attendees.

After dinner tonight I found myself back on the balcony spinning up some merino for a special project.

Mrs Twisted took this as I was enjoying this view..

Here is a little view of the singles I'm working on right now. I have 8 ounces of this merino to spin up.

Life is Good!

Oh just a little PGRE note, The link to my Amazon wish list in on the sidebar now.

PRGE Questionaire

1. Why did you join PRGE?
The biggest reason was, Sunneshine. You Rock!!!!!!! I love Music in general and punk from days gone by. I may appear like a plaid Dad, but their is a more than what's on the surface.

2. What are your five favorite things?

a. Spending time with my wife, enjoying life no matter what we do together.

b. Lately I’ve been enjoying spinning. I just received my first wheel and it’s so relaxing.

c. Knitting daily so I see progress that feeds my drive to completion.

d. Sharing the love of fiber arts. Sharing or teaching in general. Seeing the “light bulb” come on and watching the aha moment take place.

e. Music, playing guitar, listening to new music or hearing a song for the first time in year and remembering why you loved the band the first time you heard the song.

3. What are your three favorite things that you have made with knitting/crochet?

a. My first project, a felted purse for my teen daughter because it was my first project and it made her so happy.

b. A guitar neck cover

c. My last pair of socks, a lace pattern that once again made my daughter very happy.

4. What five things would you love to see in a swap box someday?

a. Concert tickets to a local club.

b. A CD of a band that is yet unknown and sounds like they are on the brink of making it

c. Something that tugs at my heart in a good way.

d. An inspiring book of patterns or techniques

e. A cool concert Tee (2xl in black please)

5. What are your three favorite yarns?

a. Dream in Color Smooshy

b. Sarah’s Yarns Cashmere/Silk or silk blends

c. Handmaiden Seasilk

What are your three least favorite yarns?

d. Acrylic

e. Anything scratchy or something you wouldn’t want next to your skin.

f. Something you can find in most yarn shops. I love the hidden treasure that isn’t in all the shops yet.

6. What are your five favorite delicacies?

a. See’s Dark Chocolate truffles. I usually stand in line and pick a box of the ones I love instead of the assortment.

b. White Chocolate Chip Raspberry Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory

c. Crème Brûlée

d. Coco’s Harvest Pie

e. My own Jello Pudding Cake

7. What are your three favorite guilty pleasures?

a. The Beach Boys Music and most 50’s doo-wop

b. Singing in the car

c. Shopping for my wife, shoes, clothes etc.

8. What are the five things you look forward to every week?

a. Friday night relaxation.

b. The probability of a yarn crawl.

c. Knitting or spinning with my groups

d. Watching the weekly Netflix movies on either Saturday or Sunday morning

9. What do you collect?

a. Yarn/Roving

b. Needles

c. CDs

d. Memories

10. When is your birthday?
October 5^th 1959 Yes, I’m that old. Almost a half century ago. I have concert Tees older than some of you. :)

11. Do you have any wishlists?

a. On the sidebar

12. Do you have any allergies or health related conditions that your pal should know about?
Did I mention acrylic? Lol just kidding no allergies…

13. What do you do for work and what do you do for fun?
I work as an Engineer to feed my habits and put a roof over our heads.
Fun huh? Trying to live everyday without regrets. Enjoy the sunny days here in California for all it’s worth. I would live on the beach if I could.

14. What would you like your pal to know that is not covered here?
I’m an open book, just ask if you want to know something.
Read my blog and you will see the other side of me and realize that it’s ok to be different. If you think you know me by this list of questions, think again. I temper my thoughts a little on my blog out of respect to some of the extraordinary ladies who read my ramblings because I feel I should. (I know it's mostly ladies who knit and read knit blogs) I remain true to my self but there are certain things I would rather not to discuss here because it is a Craft/Music blog.