Category Archives: Family

Family

It’s been a week…

Posted on by Jean

Not in that it’s been a week since I last posted.  It’s been that kind of week…  My father-in-law died suddenly of a heart attack a year ago.  You might remember my husband’s family is filled with Texas A&M Aggies.  If you haven’t gone to that school or love someone who did, you won’t get it.  It’s an Aggie thing.  It is a deep love for their Alma Mater.  One of their many traditions is Aggie Muster where they honor all the Ags that passed away during the previous year.  My father-in-law was one of the honorees at College Station this year.  With the ceremony looming, today is his birthday and the anniversary of his death is on Tuesday…. well… it’s been a week.

He was an amazing man.  The line at his wake went outside and around the building where people stood for hours in the Laredo heat to wish us all their condolences and share their stories of him with us.  For four hours we stood and shook hands, hugged, cried and laughed as we listened to story after story about how he touched someone’s life. He was stubborn… oh was he stubborn… lol, but he’d do anything for anyone and he was well known to be fair and honest.  He was always watching out for those less fortunate than himself and he was a big believer in second chances.  I put together his display for Aggie Muster, so it was a big trip down memory lane.  Pretty therapeutic actually.  I was able to watch the live stream of the ceremony and it was beautiful.  I’m sure my father-in-law was smiling down at his beloved family and Texas A&M.   It was a good thing, I think, for my family to share their love of my father-in-law with people that visited the reflections display.  My favorite picture of the day was one my husband took of three Cadets looking at the display.  I couldn’t help but think how much my father-in-law would have loved to have met them and they would have gotten such a kick out of talking to him about his old Corps days.

In the fiber front I’ve been spinning.  A lot.  Like almost every day.  I’ve been playing around with different fiber preps.  My new favorite is taking perfectly good combed top and making it into fauxlags (not really rolags because they aren’t carded).  I just pull off a piece of the top, put it on to one of the hand cards as if I was going to card it, but I take two dowels, one on top, one underneath and roll it off.  I have to tell you, it’s a DREAM to spin.  It is so fun and gratifying to pull that fauxlag out of it’s tube form into a roving.  It’s like watching a cheese pull on lasagna.  Besides using perfectly good top, this method is great for top that you’ve dyed and, ehem, got a little webby….  😉  for these I did card a little, so I guess technically they are real rolags, not fauxlags.  You don’t even need to use a handcard to do this.  You could just spread the fiber out and roll it between the two dowels, but I think the handcard makes it easier to get it into a tight little roll.  After I roll it off the hand card, I squeeze my fingers around the fiber around the dowels and twist in the direction it was rolled.  It tightens everything up nicely.

I plan on weaving today.  Hoping my back will cooperate and I can enjoy getting several towels done on the Dorothy’s Dozen warp that I shared the other day.

Family, Weaving

Well, hello there….

Posted on by Jean

It’s been ages… six years! …. so long that I don’t even know where to begin… I wonder if anyone even has my blog on their feeds anymore… I guess we’ll see.

My boys are grown now.  The baby is about to graduate High School next month.  That doesn’t even seem possible.  He’s now the tallest in the house.  My oldest is getting married next month and is under contract for a house in the Denver area.  Daniel had one year left of college where he’s studying Software Engineering.  We’re enjoying life since Dan retired from the Army four years ago.  He works from home now to make up for all those years he was gone.  This was us after Easter Vigil Mass on Sunday.   We’ve changed a lot, no?

I’ve been weaving, spinning and dyeing far more than knitting these days.  Not a lot of use for wool sweaters here in Central Texas.  I have knit several cowls and pairs of socks though.  Love the That Nice Stitch Cowl and the Auto Pilot Cowl for mindless knitting.  I go to a knitting group sometimes about an hour North of us at Homestead Heritage near Waco.  It’s a great group and most of us weave or spin as well as knit, so there’s always lots of inspiration and people that get my love of fiber.  Always a good thing.

Like I said, though, mostly I’ve been weaving, spinning and dyeing.   This is my latest weaving project:    Dorothy’s Dozen Dishtowels 

It’s a fun one with lots of color and treadling possibilities.

I put a 14 yard warp on the loom.  I should get around 13-14 towels out of it.  

I’m still very into gardening and nature.  I’ll start sharing what we’ve done with our yard since moving in shortly before I stopped blogging.  I think you’ll be amazed at the transformation.  

Just a little post to see if anyone is still out there….  say hello if you are!

Animals and Nature, Family, Gardening, Weaving

Nobody here but us chickens….

Posted on by Jean

It’s been almost nine months since I last posted.  Wow.  It’s been so long that not only are the hens in the last post all grown up, one (the Silver Wyandotte) is no longer with us and one (the Plymouth Barred Rock) is molting.  I went outside one morning in September and knew instantly that something was wrong with one of the dark birds.  Sylvie died sometime in the very early morning, probably from a blocked egg.  What a way to go.  She was perfectly fine the night before, but she’d been passing weird eggs since she started laying.  Anyway, I know she’s “just” a chicken, but I was sad.  I had to make a decision.  If I kept only the two birds and something happened over the winter to one of them… you can’t have just one hen.  So I called the hatchery and ordered another Silver Wyandotte (and you can’t have just one chick) and a Gold Wyandotte.  I went and picked them up the day they were hatched (Sep 29th).  About a month ago I was able to start putting them in with the older girls, but only at night.  As of the last couple of weeks they are finally together full time.  Shelly (the Buff Orpington) is still a little mean to them, but they’re just working out the pecking order.

I haven’t been doing a lot of knitting, but I am weaving again.  I found a Schacht Mighty Wolf for sale in Austin and I’m loving it.  Here is my first project still on the loom:

It’s the pinwheel towel kit from Yarn Barn in Kansas.

The biggest thing that’s happened since the last post is that Jeremy graduated from college!

He’s living the dream this winter as Snow Patrol in Breckenridge.  He gets paid to do what he loves most, snowboard and ski.  Not sure what he’ll be doing once this little break is over, but he deserves it after five long years in the Army and then college.

I’ve been woodworking a lot.  Dan and I built two pergolas last summer.  The city changed the power lines last month and they now go RIGHT over one of our pergolas.  Argh!  Thankfully we have shade cloth over the top of it, but the bird poop is going to have to be cleaned off occasionally now.  Very annoying.

I also built a new coop and run for the girls.  Pictures below.  I wanted something cuter and I wanted something that was easier to move around.  We have a good routine, the girls and I.  In the morning I let them out and they follow me to the run for their morning treat (scratch or spinach leaves or whatever…)  about an hour before sundown I go out and let them run around the yard for a while.  I sweep out the coop and dump the poo into the compost bin (takes all of two minutes).  Just before the sun disappears they all meander to the coop, up the ramp and put themselves to bed.  I pull up the ramp, say goodnight and that’s it until the next morning.  Every couple of days I roll the run to another part of the yard for them to scratch and fertilize.  When I move it I take a couple of minutes to hose down where they were and you’d never know they were there, but we’re going to have some beautiful grass this year.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to….

It’s winter (even here in Central Texas) so the pics aren’t so pretty, but…

I have plastic over the window because I still have to build shutters.  When the girls are in the coop, they try to fly out the window.  Ding bats.  The slanted roof lifts.  The ramp is right under it and so is an nest box they’ll probably never use.  They use the one in the run.  I say they, when I mean Shelly.  Priscilla has been molting for months now and the young ones haven’t started laying yet.

Under the eaves is a three inch gap for ventilation.  Right now they are stuffed with newspaper because it’s getting in the 20s at night.  There’s also two vents on the backside and one on the other side where the double doors are (you’ll see below).  You can’t see it from this angle, but just under the window is a little door that I can open in the summer for more ventilation.  I’ll probably leave the ramp down as well, but it makes me nervous because that fence is up against a large drainage ditch where all kinds of snakes and such live….

Inside the coop.  They all go up the ramp, jump on the roost bar and stay put for the night til I go let them out in the morning.  See the vent over the door?  There are two more on the back.  It’s important, even in cold weather, to provide ventilation:


Looking down through the run from the nest door on the end.  I have a plastic tarp over one side because this was a very cold, windy day.  In nasty weather I leave the run against the coop so they can go up inside the warmer coop if they want to.  Usually though, it’s somewhere else in the yard.  You can just make out the chicks in the very back.  This was when they were still staying clear of big bad Shelly.

The first pergola we built after we had the side deck put in.  Much prettier in nicer weather when the tarps are gone and the cushions are on the furniture….

The second pergola… almost cost us our marriage.  Oy vey… this one was tough for some reason… but we made it through and are still happily married! lol.  Lesson number one.  Don’t build in Central Texas in August.  Period.  Oh yea… I built the table one afternoon too!

Family

Gig ‘Em Ags!

Posted on by Jean

We’ll be celebrating with turkey and all the goodies that go with it tomorrow.  Today we’re headed to Aggieland for the big Texas Aggies vs. Longhorns game.

We have neighbors that bleed orange so the Aggies NEED to win! I

I’m not allowed call that other school University of Texas.  I married into a large Aggie family and here’s your college trivia for the day:

Texas A&M was already going strong when the State of Texas decided to build another State run university.  They asked A&M if they’d like to change their name to University of Texas.  The Ags said, “Hell no!”  So the State built the school in Austin that Aggies call TU.  Aggies know they are the real University of Texas.  That other one is just a Texas University.  

I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving before we take off!!

Gig ‘Em Ags! 

WHOOP!

Animals and Nature, Family

Who Knew?

Posted on by Jean

As most of you know Joe is my youngest of four boys.  He’s a peanut even though he was ten pounds at birth.  The boy is a handful.  He’s not a bad kid.  He’s ornery and FULL of life.  He has a smile that always keeps him out of trouble and he knows how to use it.  Whenever it’s possible he has a ball in his hand.   Usually a football.  Despite his size, the kid wants to play football in the worst way.   You’ll remember he played for the Junior Black Knights when we were at West Point.  That was it.  He got the taste.  Being in Texas, where football is king, well…. you see what I’m up against.  While Dan’s been away these last five weeks, every single game that Dallas has played, Joe has called his dad at every big play.  

Imagine our surprise when he came home about a month or so ago and announced he wanted to join the Chess Club.  Hmm. We thought it wouldn’t last.  I thought he’d get bored.  Well, yesterday we had our first Chess Tournament.  After four Chess Club meetings, he won one, stalemated one and lost three.  But look at the concentration.  It’s like he’s trying to intimidate the other kid.  This is the one he stalemated on.

This morning I was watching the bird feeders.  I saw a bird that I thought was a House Finch, but I couldn’t tell for sure so I grabbed my camera.  I took this picture of him:

Right when I snapped the picture I noticed something out of the corner of my  eye!  What?! 

I had no idea we had Cardinals!!!  Way cool.

You lookin’ at me?

Huh?

 

I definitely need a better zoom lens.

 

Family

Now I Can Share Pictures

Posted on by Jean

I was a little leary of putting pictures up of the new house while it was still listed online.  I know most of my readers are innocent fiber people, but one never knows in that crazy world out there.  It’s offline now because we closed on Friday so now I can share.

Our new house is almost 2400sf.  Twice the size of this one that the Army has had us in for the last two years.  We will also have a garage again.  And 1/2 acre of yard.   The first order of business is enclosing the whole yard in the privacy fencing and putting in Silestone countertops.  I’d like to put in wood floors but the carpet is high quality and only 2 yrs old, so that can wait.  The kitchen and bathrooms have beautiful tile so those will stay the same.  We thought about putting in an in-ground pool, but we may only live in this house for four years so we’d never get our money back.  Even in Central Texas.

We had a hard time when we were shopping because we had to keep in mind that this is not our forever house.  It’s just until the boys are out of school.  We are in a neighborhood with great schools within walking distance and lots of kids.   My craft room will also be our guest room. I guess I can share.  I’m thinking about a murphy bed with a fold out table underneath of it so that when it’s folded up to the wall, I have a sewing table. 

Hard to believe we move next week.   We’re taking a week to get down there so we can stop and see friends along the way.  I have it planned so that we don’t drive more than seven hours any one day (and most are 4-6) so it should be a good easy drive.  We’re pulling the camper so we’ll stay in it one night but the rest are with friends or at hotels.  We stopping in Canton for the Football Hall of Fame and in St. Louis to hit Six Flags.  The boys don’t know yet.  Kansas is next to visit old friends and then on to Texas with one more stop in OKC to meet a fellow Hudson Valley Fiber Farm Shareholder.

So here’s our new home in the Lone Star State.  We took this house off of our list twice because pictures just don’t do it justice.  We decided to swing by and look at it because we were only a few streets down looking at another one.  The minute we drove up we knew it was better than the pictures and when we walked in the door to all that openess and brightness, we knew it was the one. 

Dyeing, Family

De Colores

Posted on by Jean

My cousin and baby are still doing well.  I think it’s remarkable that they’ve been able to keep her from going into labor this long.  In a few more weeks everything will be in the clear and it’ll be safer for little Isabelle to make  her appearance.  I’ll keep you updated.

When Joe was a baby the De Colores song would settle him down instantly when he was upset.  That was the first thing I thought of when I was trying to come up with a title for this post.  Whenever I hear that song it reminds me of the days of rocking my youngest.  I really miss those days. 

Last weekend I went to Webs for Barb Parry’s dyeing class.  On top of it being a great class, I got to make a weekend out of it with Kim (Woolen Rabbit).  I brought my camera.  I even brought it to class.  Did I take any pictures?  Nope.  Kim and I have met up at least ten times.  Do we have one picture of us together.  Nope.  Next time, Kim.  Next time.  This was especially nice because it always seems like when Kim and I visit, it always feels rushed because it’s usually when I’m visiting my family up in NH.  This was relaxed and quite and a real treat. 

The class was a blast.  I got to meet Judy from Smatterings, Cindy from CindyKnits and some others and I learned a few things that didn’t click before, so many thanks to Barb. 

This was the same fiber dyed in short stripes along the roving (left) and then in long stripes.  When drafted, it’s amazing how much different they are:

We played with colors ourselves.  Here are a couple that I did.  Barb is mailing the others because we ran out of time.   SO MUCH FUN!

Dyeing, Family, Weaving

Maybe it should be “Nova Scotian Lamb”

Posted on by Jean

I love history.  Especially family history.  I’ve been working on our family history (mostly my paternal grandmother’s line) on and off for about 20 years.  It all started with Gram’s stories about John Allan (my 7th ggreatfather).

If I could have one wish, it would be to be able to go back in time and meet my ancestors.  When I was stationed at NSA I used to take weekends and head to D.C. to do research in the Library of Congress and National Archives.  I have to say the help of the internet and sites like Ancestry.com sure make life a lot easier.

You might remember my find that I’m the direct descendant of many of the Mayflower passengers.   That was a shocker.  Even more so when I found out Gram knew it but never told me.  She only ever talked about our Scottish Heritage.  She was very proud of it.  My ancestor of choice for the last year has been Gram’s grandmother, Margaret E. Fraser Campbell.  She came to America in 1882 and was married to Lemuel Saunders Campbell in Boston in 1885.  After the 1920 census I couldn’t find them and it really bothered me.  I looked everywhere.  I knew they both immigrated from Nova Scotia.  I met a 3rd cousin by way of Lemuel once removed through Ancestry.com.  His his ancestor is Lemuel’s brother.  He gave me a bunch of church records including Lemuel’s parent’s marriage record from a church in Bear River, Nova Scotia. 

Anyway, I was talking to my aunt a few months ago and mentioned my obsession with Margaret.  She surprised me by telling me that they had lived in the Ossipee area.  When we went up over Christmas I asked my grandfather about it and he drew me a map.  Dan, the boys and I set off to find it.   This is the beautiful house that my 3xgreatgrandparents lived in:

On the map Gramps also showed me where a couple of Margaret’s relatives lived!  As soon as I got home I went looking through the 1930 census.  Finally.  I found the missing link to connect Margaret to the John and Ellen Fraser in  the 1891 Canadian Census that I thought might be her parents.  One of the relatives Gramps led me to was Margaret’s youngest sister, Marion.  Marion was the key I needed to link everything together.  They were from McLennan Mountain in Pictou, Nova Scotia.

 Here’s the mind blower.  I started researching the area and found out that McLennan   Mountain had only been founded a few years before John Fraser was born.  Three Fraser came to Nova Scotia just a few years before John’s birth and started the Presbyterian Church there.  Now… get this.  The brothers came to Nova Scotia from THE ISLE OF MULL!!  I’ve been there!  Not once but TWICE!!   What are the odds?!  Is it any wonder I teared up every time we had to leave Scotland?  I definintely bleed plaid.  I’d definitely like the weave the tartans of Clans Campbell and Fraser.

Speaking of weaving, I played with the loom last weekend.   Here’s my first sampler.  I still need to finish it but I think I’m ready to move on to towels now.

Family, Friends

Eat, Drink and BEAT NAVY!!! Hooah!

Posted on by Jean

Army Strong, Baby!  Kathy Knitgator just e’d me and challenged me to a little Army/Navy wager.  Fact is, I grew up a Navy brat, but my heart belongs to the Black and Gold.  Go Black Knights! 

It’s a big week here at West Point.  The post is full of excitement all leading up to this day.  I tried to get tickets way too late or we’d be in Philly right now.  But fear not.  Brewskys and snacks are ready!  Joe thinks he’s part of the team since he was on the Junior Black Knights this year so he’s ready to root for “his guys”. The stats are against us:

Navy: 52 wins
Army: 49 wins
7 ties
Longest streak: 6 years (Navy; ongoing as of 2007)
108 total games played
10 years in which game was not played

but I think it’s our turn…. GO ARMY! BEAT THE HELL OUTTA NAVY!!!  Crap.  Navy already scored while I was sitting here doing this.  Gotta go.  My team needs me.

  I was asked about the hat on the lower left corner of the photo in my last post.  It’s the Picot Hem Stranded Snowflake Hat by Kathleen Taylor.  The one on the bottom right is the Salsa Hat by Nanette Blanchard.

Family, Knitting

Calling NYC Knitters

Posted on by Jean

We’re at 54 knitted items already!  Mostly hats but there are a few pairs of mittens, scarves and gloves.

So, I’ve been emailing back and forth with The Coalition for the Homeless.  I think I scared them because I got an email saying they didn’t think they could store more than 2-4 boxes of hats.  Store?!  Who said anything about storage?!  We want them to get out as soon as possible.  So Dan and I are going down to the city (not positive of the date(s) yet) so that we can go out on the food vans and help pass them out ourselves.  The woman I’ve been contacting has even offered to go out with us.

If this is ongoing, I might need someone down in the city to help out here and there with getting them passed out.  If you’re willing to do this, let me know in an email (upper left sidebar).  KatyKnitsNYC has offered to help out this first go ’round.  Also, I just found out that the youth group from our church makes a midnight run down to the city in January, so they’re going to take what hats I have then.  Seriously, I’ll continue doing this as long as people are sending hats.  I’ll have the first drawing on the 15th of December and then I’ll do one a week until I’m not getting hats anymore.

I’ve taken a break from hats.  My next-door neighbor is going in for a C-section tomorrow so I cast on Helena the night before last.  I didn’t have any superwash wool in the right colors so I’m using Bernat Softee Baby.  I want it to be easy to care for.  I usually do the February Baby Sweaterfor my baby girl gift but I needed a change.  Gotta say that so far it’s not a lot different. 

On a non-knitting note, I think I’m going to do a bunch of these up for gifts for my neighbors.  LOVE them.  You can find the instructions here:

And for Joe… it’s the best!  I did this poster for his room.  Total cost?  $9.95 for the template from Easy Digitals and $11.99 to have it printed into at 16×20 poster from Shutterfly.com!  How cool is that??  I can’t wait to see his face when he opens it!