Financial Planning

Or 'How to ensure your husband doesn't ask to use the household checkbook'

It was time to order new checks recently and I realized it was also long past time to order a replacement checkbook cover too*.

Here's the new one:

Just the thing for those manly trips to the hardware store...

*The current, conservative navy blue one is only about 10 years old - boy, they just don't make things to last any more...

The Return of The Marvelous Eugene Fleece

ETA: UPDATED to include grower's name, some forgotten links and additional photos that I couldn't upload initially
8/6/07 ETA: I added some edits to the fleece washing section.

On Tuesday I came home from work moved through my usual after work routine:

• First the requisite frenzied greeting from a certain small terrier, which consists of much delighted twirling and excited barking.
  
• Second, moving around the large box in the entry to put down my totebag and purse in their usual spots and…

Wait a minute. Large box? What’s this? I don’t remember ordering anything recently. What could this be?

A quick look at the label changed tentative investigation into real excitement:

Back already? I only mailed it off on July 13th - Amazing! I wasn’t expecting it for months after hearing about my various friends’ experiences with fleece processing.

I ripped open the box, anxious to see what the finished combed top looked like. Imagine my complete surprise when this met my eyes:

Holy crap!, I thought clutching my chest in shock, what had they done with the gorgeous fleece I’d sent them? Actually, I’m pretty sure the ‘holy crap’ part may have been said aloud and with considerable emphasis.

Then, as I lifted the bag I noticed there was something written it.

PHEW!
Oh, well, okay then.

Note to self: maybe try, hmmm, I don’t know, looking through the whole box and actually reading stuff before totally freaking out. Yeah, that might be good.

Oh, well, panic first and think rationally later as I always say.

Underneath the bag of waste wool* was the actual finished combed top.

big bag o' top

Close-up of the lovely noil-free top

Absolutely gorgeous! Zeilingers did a really wonderful job on this fleece! I will definitely be using them again. (I had seen their pin drafted Romney top at the Spring Hill Farm booth in Puyallup and it was perfectly lovely, but I’d never seen their preps for fine fleece before.)

I immediately called Holly to let her know that The Marvelous Eugene Fleece had landed, since we bought the fleece together and half of it will be going home with her. “I’m touching it right now!!!” I told her while we were chatting.

And just to be a good friend I took the tiniest bit off the end to test spin. But really only to make sure it was okay before Holly drove all the way out here to pick up her portion, not for any selfish, personal reasons! That’s just the way I am, self-sacrificing and all that.

The verdict? It spins, as Linda Richman would say, “like buttuh”

It was all I could do not to try just a little bit more. Showing an unusual amount of self-restraint, I managed to resist the siren call of that lovely top. I actually had to put it in another room to accomplish this though because, honestly, it wouldn’t shut up. “Fondle me”, “Spin me”, “Me, me, pay attention to me!”, etc. That finished top is a regular Chatty Cathy.

And finally, here is a summary of the evolution of The Marvelous Eugene Fleece that I never got around to posting earlier despite my good intentions.

The Marvelous Eugene Fleece
Fleece Type: Purebred Merino (First Place in the 60’s and finer class)

Grower: Elizabeth Hubbard, Hub Corriedales, Bonanza, OR
Acquired: June 2006, Black Sheep Gathering, Eugene, OR
Raw Weight: 7.78 lbs (price - $12/lb)
Post-Wash Weight: 6.38 lbs
After Processing Weight: 5.5 lbs
Processor: Zeilinger Wool Co.
Processing Method: Combed Top
Mailed: 7/13/07
Returned: 7/31/07

raw locks

I prepped the fleece by sorting the locks, discarding the very few scrufty bits and second cuts not worth keeping, and then rolling them in nylon netting secured with rubber bands to maintain the lock structure during scouring.**

Mr. CPA says these look like giant insect eggs...

My typical scouring process involves using my top-load washing machine. I fill the washer with hot water (supplemented with additional boiling water from the stove as needed) and then turn it off. I add generous amounts of Dawn dishwashing soap (ETA: how much Dawn I add is dependent on both the water level in the washer and the dirt level in the fleece, but generally it's enough that the water feels slippery.), turning the machine back on for just a few seconds to allow the agitator to swish the soap around to mix (but not enough to make suds) before turning it off again.

The nylon netting rolls (ETA: or loose fleece if I'm washing a fleece without rolling it in netting) are submerged and left to soak for an indeterminate amount of time (very scientifically based on the amount of time I have available to obsess about how long it’s taking), but not so long that the water gets cool.

I then put the machine on spin to remove the dirty, soapy water. (my machine doesn’t spray water on the final spin cycle and that’s where I set it to spin the water out – if your machine sprays water during the spin cycle you’ll want to turn off the water at the spigot.)

The next step is either another soapy soak or a rinse, depending on how dirty the fleece is. I always give the fleece at least two hot rinses and I put a ‘glug’ of vinegar in the last rinse because it seems to cut any remaining soap residue.

I let the fleece dry in the rolls awhile before opening the netting and removing the locks to dry completely.

Washed and released from the netting cocoon

Close-up of washed locks

I’d like to note here that I usually enjoy carding my own fleeces (almost as much as I enjoy spinning them). However time is increasingly at a premium lately and even if it weren’t I knew without a doubt after sampling a small amount of this fine fleece on my carder that I needed to have it processed professionally as combed top. The resultant batt wasn’t completely horrible, but carding certainly wasn’t going to do the fleece justice with the small noils it introduced. And really, there’s no sense putting out the cash for a gorgeous fleece only to ruin it by going cheap on the processing.

Washed and ready for its visit to Zeilinger's wool spa...

* I think returning the waste wool is a nice touch and probably saves the poor mill owners from fielding many phone calls from people receiving their fleeces back and wondering why the finished product is pound or so lighter than the original fleece. Having combed wool in the past, I was expecting to lose volume to waste and noils, but I was still surprised to see how many plant bits and pieces (aka VM) were in the waste wool since I had been so careful with the cleaning and sorting of the locks.

** some people might find this tedious but I love handling the raw, lanolin-rich wool – especially one as incredibly clean as this one. This method also allows me to really see every bit of the fleece before washing and sort out any challenged bits that I may have missed during skirting.

B is for...

Berries (again)

Raspberry

Marionberry

Look how big they are!

Strawberries are gone for another year (real strawberries that is, not those styrofoam imposters from the grocery store), but for the next three weeks it's raspberry and marionberry season. Which, of course, means more jam.

I managed 10 pints (5 raspberry/5 marionberry) and 9 half-pints (all raspberry) last night after dinner. I had a few more berries left but unfortunately had run out of jars. Time to shake down relatives and friends for last year's empties!



Bark


Mr. CPA and I spread 5 yards of bark in the front yard Saturday. It really requires at least 10 yards but we only wanted to tackle what we could do in a single day (which, sadly would have been about 10 yards just a few years ago ::sigh::).

That pile sure doesn't look like much in the photo but it's about 25 full wheelbarrow loads (which actually felt like 50 in the humid 80 degree weather).


Bursitis

Umm, no photo but aren't you glad? This has literally been a PITA. I've been having bad hip pain for the last few weeks. It's much worse when I'm sitting, which is most of the time since I sit professionally in my capacity as computer programmer. So by the end of the day I'm even happier than usual to be out of my chair at work. This has impacted the amount of time that I'm willing/able to spend sitting at home in the evening. So not much is happening right now at the home computer. Or with spinning. Or with knitting. Well, you get the drift. Apparently everything I like to do involves sitting.

Hmmm, maybe this explains my ongoing battles with my ever-slowing metabolism?

High Fiber Friday

(barely under the wire but it is still Friday here on the Left Coast)

The blog chi has been unbalanced of late due to the dominant Yin forces asserting themselves and overwhelming the more retiring Yarn energies.

To correct this imbalance, I hereby submit evidence of some actual yarn and fiber-related activities here at Casa del Chaos:

Knitting!

Twist and Lace Scarf

Yarn: Lisa Souza Merino Sock!
Colorway: South Pacific
Pattern: Twist and Lace by Brenda Patipa (also available from Lisa Souza)
Progress: about 50%

I started this while on vacation in Ireland. This is a very easy to knit pattern. I think I’ll really enjoy wearing it once it’s done.

Leaf Lace Shawl

Glorified swatch....

Yarn: Lisa Souza Baby Alpaca Lace
Colorway: Olive Tones
Pattern: Leaf Lace Shawl by Fiber Trends
Progress: Barely started (row 35)

This just came out of the Project Time-Out Closet last night. I frogged the whole thing and started over (due to the unequal size edge yarnovers). I’m happier with the new results.

I do wish I’d made a better needle selection. I’m using an Inox circular. The points are a bit dull and the join on the needle keeps catching the yarn. I went to my LYS today to get an Addi Turbo replacement, but once there I found that I had selected an odd size when I swatched. The Inox I’m using is a 2.75 mm and the Addi brand only came in 2.5 mm or 3.0 mm. I’m not ripping the shawl back again so I’ll just have to deal with the minor irritation of the current needle.


Spinning!

Clockwise from bottom right

Fiber: Winderwood Farms Blue Faced Leicester (BFL)
Colorway: Unknown
WPI: 14 wpi (appx) – slightly heavier than DK weight
Yardage: TBD

This wool was gifted to me by Lara. The color is a more vibrant in person than the photo shows. If I had this to do over again I would have spun this as a softly spun single to better showcase the gentle pastel colors.

ETA: I started spinning this at Black Sheep and finished it about a week later. That's about lightning speed for me and maybe even my best time ever (me: aka 'slowest spinner ever').

Fiber: Dicentra Designs BFL
Colorway: Longbottom Leaf
WPI: 16 wpi - about DK weight
Yardage: TBD

This is the fiber I started spinning back in April. I can’t remember when I finished it but it was before Black Sheep Gathering. I had planned to buy some more of this colorway at Black Sheep but Lisa didn’t have any and didn’t know if there would be anymore. It seems that Lisa dyes much like I cook – the dying equivalent of ‘dump and taste’ - so she wasn’t sure she had the ‘recipe’ needed to duplicate the roving. Darn! I’m not sure of the yardage at this point but it doesn’t look enough for much of anything.

Does the last one look familiar? No? It’s the yarn mascot – only now as a full-fledged finished yarn!

Fiber: Sweet Grass Wool Targhee
Colorway: Grass Valley Green (long since discontinued unfortunately)
WPI: Between 16 and 20 wpi
Yardage: TBD (are you sensing a theme here?)

Thanks to an excellent suggestion by my color guru, Angela, the yarn mascot is a vision in green, blue and purple tones complimented nicely by a charcoal grey lace weight commercial yarn used as the second ply. The finished yarn has a nice squishy-soft hand due to the sproingy* nature of the Targhee.

There seems to be plenty of yardage here (well, I haven’t actually calculated it, but it is a nice large skein)

I don't know about you but, my Chi/Qi feels better already!

*highly technical wool term

Homewrecker

Mr. CPA and I were doing some much needed yard work at a small rental property we own on a recent Saturday. The building itself is circa 1940 and is on about a half acre of yard.

The property had a plethora of “deferred maintenance” issues (real estate talk for run down) when we bought it 2 years ago and we haven’t quite caught up on everything yet, though it currently looks much better than when we started. It seems like something critical is always popping up and competing with the time we have available for regular things (like any additional yard work outside the weekly mowing and weed eating) . It’s a constant struggle to thwart the building's attempts to return to the earth and the grounds from looking like a complete jungle!

But I digress - back to my main story:
We started in early on Saturday morning and after filling a 90-gallon yard waste container with weeds and pruned branches (and stomping down and filling it some more), we decided to tackle the ivy that was starting to overgrow the rickety picket fencing still remaining near the front of the property.

The new American Gothic - with ivy!

Mr. CPA hams it up for the camera

It was a hot day so Mr. CPA and I were taking turns using the mattock so the ‘resting’ person could just use the pitchfork to pile the uprooted ivy into the second 90-gallon yard waste container.

Now I should mention here that just the previous day one of the tenants had called me to say that she had mice in her unit. We had the exterminator in the same day to take care of the problem and this episode was an added incentive to get busy removing all the ivy around the yard (ivy, it seems, is tremendously popular among the rodent set for cover and habitat).

So while taking my turn on mattock duty, I took a swing and pulled up a chunk of ivy. As soon as I did I saw three rat-sized grey bodies take off in three different directions – one almost running over my foot. I yelped and jumped back, dropping the mattock. “EEEEE – RATS!”, screamed the hysterical, rodent-phobic ‘lizard brain’*. But the more developed part of my brain quickly noticed, “Hey, wait, those rats don’t have any tails and…aren’t those ears kind of long?”

Bunny Nest

Evidently ivy is also the preferred habitat for adorable little baby bunnies waiting, quietly hidden, for their mother to return. ::sigh::

Two of the babies had run out and then doubled back into ivy. One bunny though had taken off across the lawn some distance from the family home and into another flower bed.

I took off after it to attempt to return it to the rest of the group (they were really quite small and I was afraid it was easy prey out in the open and so far from the group). It let me pick it up and it easily fit into the palm of my hand (I had dirty garden gloves on so I’m sure I only smelled like dirt). I took it over to the same approximate spot as the others. I wanted to return them to the fur lined nest, but they started to scatter a bit as I moved towards them so I decided to leave well enough alone. We placed some ivy over the bunnies for protection and decided to call it a day. Or a month. Or however long we think it will take to give them enough time to grow up a bit more before we remove the rest of the ivy.

I really hope mom was able to round up all of her babies when she got back…

(I didn't get a picture of the disturbed bunny nest until after this whole episode was over. I had the camera because we were doing 'before' photos of the mess. I wish I'd thought to get a photo of the bunny in my hand, but at the time I was too concerned for it to think about blog photos! After they were back in the dirt near the ivy it was almost impossible to see them, due to that agouti fur coloring, and I didn't want to get too close and risk scaring them off again.)


*The ‘lizard brain’ is the term we use here at Casa del Chaos for that rudimentary part of your brain that handles the basic functions - like breathing , sex drive, or an inherent disdain for rodents and other icky things!

A Fruitful Fourth

(posted late, as usual)

13 pints and 12 half-pints total

I celebrated the Fourth of July by making strawberry jam.

Thank goodness I showed an unusual bit of common sense and self-restraint and did not give in to my initial urge to also buy a flat of raspberries to process the same day. Especially given that I didn't quite finish up with all of the two flats of strawberries (they'll freeze up just fine for later use).

I love seeing all those finished jars of jam lined up and ready to go down to the basement pantry! There's such a nice feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction in seeing the visible results of my labors. It is a bit of work but knowing how much my family and friends will enjoy this jam makes it all worthwhile.

Battle of the Sexes - Laundry Edition

(or, Men are from Mars, where evidently they don’t do laundry)

“After enlightenment, the laundry”
Zen Proverb

Female Method
Mom (aka ‘the laundress’) announces to the family that she’s going to be washing a load of light-colored clothes and asks for additional dirty items to make a full load.

Despite hearing strong denials that any additional dirty clothing exists, she manages to fill at least half a laundry basket with additional items. She proceeds to start the laundry, adjusting the water and soap levels as necessary.


Male Method
Dad, to self: “hmmm, these three shirts need to be washed.” He proceeds to the laundry room and places only the three shirts in the washer (despite overflowing laundry hamper immediately beside washing machine), adds a full scoop of laundry soap and leaves the water setting on “High.”

Off to Black Sheep Gathering

Or off to join the circus if Angela has her way. It will be a fun trip either way with Holly, Angela, and Miss O along for the ride.


I will certainly take lots of pictures. Hopefully I'll even manage to post some on my return.


I'll leave you all with some random photos from Ireland.* Have a great weekend!

Sea thrift by the sea

Kilkenny cemetary

Kinsale Harbour

Kilkenny bike shop

*I truly plan to post more, but it takes awhile to go through 1300 photos. Trust me, most of them are not award winning (certainly only due to the lack of talent on the part of the photographer and not for lack of beauty in the subject matter at hand!).

If only I had the photography skills and talent of Jo's Richard!

You say it's your birthday!

You say it's your birthday
It's my birthday too--yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time
I'm glad it's your birthday
Happy birthday to you.

The Beatles – The White Album

(I love that song! It’s like instant energy and mandatory here at Casa del Chaos whenever there’s a birthday. In fact, I’m listening to it right now…)


<actual age removed for purposes of homeland security> years ago today, on an exceptionally hot Sunday morning in June two-weeks before her due date*, my mother was floating around Lake Tapps on an inner tube when she realized she was in labor. I arrived just a couple of hours later, handily allowing my dad to celebrate Father’s Day that same day (and a whole year early too!).

Me and Mom

I’ve been going through old family photos lately since I’m preparing to scan everything into a digital format (note to self: must remember to get scanner). So I just happen to have some first year photos lying around that I thought I'd share. (ages are approximate since hardly any of the family photos are dated or labeled ::sigh::)

me at around 5-6 months

still around 6 months
(my mother was convinced a fat baby was a happy baby - look how happy I am!)


one year


Mom, Dad and me (at 6 months)
I think my parents are about 14 here (LOL - just kidding!)

I have to say I'm not quite sure what's up with the curlers. What was my mom thinking? She's at a family holiday party for heaven's sake. If that's not enough of an event to warrant taking the curlers out what is? (note to self: remember to tease mom mercilessly at next phone call).

*and sadly probably the last time I was ever early for anything.

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity-Jig

We're back home and trying to catch up on everything!

Thanks to a new motherboard the computer is now mostly healed. The motherboard managed to take a few files with it in the pre-vacation death spiral. I've repaired most of them but there are a few annoying issues remaining that I'm in the process of troubleshooting. The computer crash was a a real wakeup call to be more disciplined about my backups. I didn't have a recent one and since I depend on this computer to run my business I was a bit concerned thoroughout the vacation that I might have lost important files. I'll be developing a better backup strategy this week (hello external harddrive!).

I have, oh, about 1300 photos to sort through from the vacation. A majority of them are likely pretty representative of my rather marginal photography skills but there should be a couple worth sharing. I'm hoping to post some this weekend after I catch up on the orders that came in while I was gallivanting through Ireland.

Not much knitting was accomplished while I was away. Let's just say that the driving portion of the vacation was very much a two-person activity (more on this later)!

Being in Ireland was a completely wonderful experience and I really enjoyed it, but it's always good to come home isn't it?