Thank you Secret Pal 4

My daughter brought in the mail when she arrived home from school. She handed my mail to me and I had a mailer which I thought may be wool samples I have requested. But when I saw it was postmarked in Utah I knew it was not wool samples. But then I wondered.... hmmmm.... what is inside and whom is it from.

So, I look inside.... and I find 2 gorgeous skeins of Home Spun Thrum yarn. It is made by Spinderella's Creations. So soft.... and a beautiful cranberry wine color with specks of blue and angelina spun throughout this yarn.

My secret pal also enclosed a card which told me that this yarn is made by a local spinner where she lives in Utah. This yarn is sold in the local yarn store where she also teaches. Oh how I would love to see more of this yarn and all the fibers this spinner has on her website. I looked up the website on the yarn label. This spinner makes such beautiful things. Very talented and also sells wools and also cards, spins wools for others. Very impressive and a true inspiration since I am working hard on creating my own handspun yarn and fiber business in addition to the handmade soaps, lotion, etc. that I sell.

Receiving this package today was very uplifting and I want to Thank You secret pal for sending such beautiful yarns to me. I may have the perfect knitting project for this yarn..... a scarf.... using a seed stitch pattern which will show off the various shades of color and fibers. I could also make a Sophie purse.... but this really is too pretty for making something I would felt. Or.... this could be the perfect yarn for the design work in a sweater I have plan to design and make for myself.

Now to update all that know me..... I really had never intended to write about my health in my blog or other personal things but to be quite honest this has become a great way for me to keep track of how often my health issues continue. I am being persuaded by family to consider filing for disability for the past few years and I have refused with reluctance. But I am finally realizing that my hopes of returning to work in mortgage finance, management level is probably never going to be very possible.... atleast not on a full time, permanent level as I once used to do for a living. So, I am blogging about my health for the past year so that I can look at how often I have been ill and the degree of how serious things have become.

What I have dealt with now for almost 6 weeks is severe asthma. It has been so severe that I have required weekly visits to my doctor, change of meds each week and increasing my breathing treatments in addition to adding new and increased meds. Also had to go through tests last week. The doctor was worried that it could be possible that my heart was also causing me problems as it has in the past. After all.... last January I was hospitalized for heart problems and a blood clot that thankfully was dissolved due to immediate medical care and rushed by life squad to the hospital ER and then hospitalized, tests were run for two days, my blood pressure was extremely low but was told to keep a close watch on it and I finally was released. More tests continued and finally found that the clot was not longer a problem, it was dissolved by meds. Anyways..... with this recent severe asthma nothing has helped much..... until yesterday. I finally see some easing of asthma symptoms. Today I am am feeling even better. I know from past experiences.... this does not mean I can go do all the things I want to do. I still need to continue to rest and have family help with all the daily chores, etc. And I still can't drive until the meds are completely used to continue to get better and asthma episode completely under control. I am almost there.... but not quite.

So.... I apologize to those that read my blog and read about the health issues. But, as I mentioned..... I write about it only because I want to see how often and how severe the health issues are. So, I mix lots of other GOOD things with this also.

On to the GOOD things.......

Since I could do little of anything other than rest in bed..... I have been able to do things I normally never have time to work on for myself. I always make things for others as gifts and to sell..... never much for myself. So, I have taken the past 6 weeks to work on knitting 4 pairs of socks (2 pair for myself, 1 pair for my husband, 1 pair for the sockapalooza sock exchange), continuing to knit a shawl and a cardigan sweater for myself, 2 pairs of slippers using my handspun (1 pair for me, 1 pair for my youngest daughter), spinning yarn for my cardigan, a pair of slippers for my oldest daughter and more yarn for other projects not yet determined, 2 scarves, finished a purse and felted it yesterday. I have many projects planned to begin working on soon.

So see.... there were some really good things that came about all due to me having to rest for all these weeks. Very productive.... but yet..... it really is very boring for me to rest.... regardless of how productive I have been.

More good news..... my wool picker arrived yesterday. I bought this at a great price. I found a listing on one of my Yahoo spinning groups where a vendor was offering through the end of January 10% off and free shipping on all their products. I had been wishing for a wool picker.... from another vendor but theirs cost almost double what I paid for mine. So, when I found this one and still had Christmas gift money to spend.... I thought.... why not buy this one. I ordered it and it arrived yesterday. Very well made and it included alot of things that the other wool picker did not include. Things I would have had to buy extra. I am so impressed with this wool picker, I used it to test it out last night. I love it! This will definitely speed up the process of preparing wool for carding. Just one swing of this wool picker and the wool is fluffed up ready to card.

Guess what I plan to work on next..... picking and carding wool for spinning. I also need to get some dyeing done soon. Maybe if I continue to feel as well as I have today.... I can possibly work on this tomorrow. Now that sounds like alot of fun doesn't it?

Last week I also worked on wrapping and labeling soaps for the farmers market. I need to get all the soaps off the curing shelves to make room for new soaps soon. Yes, it is that time of year when I need to be busy working on inventory for the upcoming farmers market season. I had also planned to participate in a fiber event in April. But.... that may not work out for me now.... I am behind in what I had planned to have ready to sell for that event. So, I may go as a customer again. I am already wondering if I should get myself another angora bunny also. I am still thinking about that one. I have read that the German Angoras produce alot more angora fiber than my English Angora. I would love to have white one. And Charlie would probably enjoy having a friend. I am not sure about breeding....but who knows. That would be a huge commitment I am not sure I want to take on at this time. But having another bunny for a companion for my other rabbit and more angora fiber would be nice. Plus the kitties would enjoy another bunny to play with their toys with. The kitties and our rabbit do get along really well together. They are such fun to watch as they all play together.

Well.... I need to run.... have a few things to finish up with before my husband arrives home from work.