STEVE'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION - 2008

IT'S ALL ABOUT STEVE!!! During the week, Steve had a birthday, so we celebrated with him. So now, exactly how old are you, Stephen??? And he was also doing his best impression of Carl Levin with the glasses...

Then, Steve modeled his hat - handspun BY STEVE and then handknitted BY STEVE. He looks all ready for this winter weather!

The living room crew was at it - spinning, knitting, and sharing some laughs. The after-hours jokes started early this month. The best one was that Steve had to go to the hospital for a test and they shaved his body. It was an I.Q. test. The results came back negative. Oh Steve, if we can't pick on you, then who?

The table was very festive with the seasonal red tablecloth. I brought a month's worth of felted flowers for decoration. I am taking a break right now from making flowers. I am just tired of wrinkly fingertips all the time. Oh-oh. I just checked and my fingertips are still wrinkly. I guess I can't blame it on the flowers. Oops...

Steve and Elizabeth were hamming it up (I think).

Pat is helping newbee Dan M. who came and did a fine job learning to spin, while Troy watches. We hope that Dan had a good time and will become a regular at Back Row Spinners!

Jim is just a cat magnet. Here the cat will not leave him alone...

Steve took a break from knit, purl, knit, purl, knit, purl, knit purl. I am still trying to figure out what he is actually doing to/with Elizabeth. I guess just let your imagination go wild with this one.

Elizabeth had a great pair of socks made from a pattern she got on Ravelry (pattern name: Brigit by monkeytoes). Amy brought presents for everyone - felted soap. Pat brought us each a handmade ornament. We again thank them for their thoughtfulness. And to everyone, have a blessed holiday season and we will see you next year!

November 2008 - brrrrr!

The weather was a bit nasty, but we had a great turn-out. Again, it was good to see everyone. Since part of us did the flowers, we were divided and didn't get to visit as much as usual.

The living room was filled with spinners and knitters.

The dining room held the class, taught by Melinda. What a blast! Melinda was the best teacher ever and I think we all really learned a lot. It was a lot harder than it looked to come up with decent looking flowers. Coby and Chris were the star pupils, followed closely by newbee Sharon. Steve, Dan D. and I participated. I would have done better, but Steve kept making me screw up so that we were getting in trouble with the teacher. We really lived up to the "back row" tenets.

As you can see, our teacher Melinda never looked at the camera, so all I have is the back of her head...

Back in the living room, Ellen is knitting and Troy is relaxing.

Dan thought something was pretty funny...

Elizabeth, Pat and Lori were spinning up a storm.

And Jamie always has a smile on his face. He and his daughter made the trip up from Indiana despite the weather. It is always fun to see them.

And here are Steve's masterpieces!

And here are Betty's masterpieces!

Back in the living room, Troy, Deb and Ellen's husband (sorry I didn't get his name - I told you, we were very occupied with the flower session).

And at the end of the day, Char attacked her knitting project for her class - socks! She, Sharon and Steve are taking a sock class in Lansing and hopefully we will have photos of their finished socks by January. Yes, Steve, we are expecting two finished socks by January!

As I stated earlier, we had a great turnout - I think we counted 24 all together. I almost made Dan barf when I gave him a bit of lamb stew to eat. Fortunately his response was not the general concensus and most of the lamb stew was eaten. We had a wonderful variety of crockpots full of food. Also we want newbee Sharon ( Sharon, you are only a newbee this time) to come more often and bring more sugared pecans - we were fighting for the last few left.

The class wants to say a BIG THANK YOU to Melinda for taking the time to put on the workshop and share all her expertise with us. I am sorry that I didn't get photos of everyone's flowers to put on the blog - I was too busy trying to make mine turn out.

We have updated the spin dates (see the top of the blog). And we have two shearing dates set. In February, our regular monthly spin will be in conjunction with Char's shearing and held at Char's house on Sunday, February 15. More details will be available as the time gets closer.

Steve's shearing date is set for Sunday, March 1. That will not be the monthly spin, but anyone who wants to spin will be able to.

Have a happy Thanksgiving and see you in December!

Spinning in October - 2008

Happy Halloween Month---

What a huge group we had! We tried to do a count and it ended up somewhere between 20 and 30!! We had some new faces, some faces that we hadn't seen in months, and then the old stand-bys.

Dinah and Jacki hammed it up for the photographer - it was good to see them again.
Pat, Elizabeth and Amy were really concentrating on their spinning.
Melinda was working on some needlework, Pat was taking a break, and Elizabeth was watching.

It's really mostly about visiting - we just use spinning as an excuse to visit!
Dinah put her hands on Steve's fiber and had to have it. Steve is trying to wrap it up for her.
And Jim just turned ??, so there was a birthday cake to celebrate!

Steve and Betty posed for a quick photo (yes, it's really me in the photo).
I wore my "special shirt" for Jamie and then he wasn't there!

Maggie spinning on her "new" wheel, while Dan, Amy and Karen are visiting.

Kat is learning how to use wool combs - I was kind of hoping to be like Tom Sawyer and have her comb the whole bag of Cormo that I brought. But she only lasted about as long as I did...
Outdoors, the construction crew was hard at work building a well house for the farm. Sparks were flying (isn't this really a great action photo??).
Jim W., Troy and Kal worked to complete the job. It was great weather for working outside.
Approaching completion.

Fortunately the outdoor project finished in time for Jim W. to share a few jokes. Definitely Back Row only...

Pat, Elizabeth, and Troy sitting calmly, right before a minor candle fire emergency caused the smoke alarm to go off and then First Alert called because of the smoke alarm, and it was almost even more exciting. I was thinking police, fire department, ambulance. Jim was thinking how the dickens did they know that the smoke alarm went off. Kind of big brother scary.
The evening was rounded off with my camera turning itself off and on, prompting a camera lesson for Steve. I drooled on Kaylan's camera and she drooled on Steve's camera. When he's not looking, I think I will "borrow" his camera...

I fell short of my photo job by not getting a shot of Christina's new projects - her jewelry making. She wore earrings and a bracelet that she had made since we last saw her, and they were awesome! Congratulations on your new endeavor, Chris!

Next spin will be Sunday, November 16. Time will be 2 p.m. and bring a dish to pass. As an added bonus, Melinda will be teaching us how to make wet-felted flowers. If you are planning to attend this mini-workshop, get in touch for a list of supplies and a "spot" at the workshop.

And a Halloween reminder - don't eat too much candy!

Stearman's Visit - September 28, 2008

What a great time we had! The fruited turkey was awesome! And things started out goofy, as you can tell from the look on Steve's face...
Maggie and Dan were very sedate, to start anyway.

Kaylan was busy knitting (or was it crochet?) and Bill appeared interested in what was happening.
Madeline was very sincere with the discussion, as Char and Bill look on.

Then Pat and Jim arrived from their day at Bowen Mill.
Then Shawn the Sheep showed up. Bill was happy to see him.

Madeline was also happy to see him.
And then, after she thought about it...
And then Elizabeth gave Bill his present.

We all watch in awe of Bill while he opens his present.

And there is it!

Of course, in typical man fashion, Bill puts it on his head. We inform him of his error.
So then, he starts to put it on the right way.
It loses a little something over clothes, but we can't really expect more.

It appears that Elizabeth got the size just about right. And the red, white and blue really sets it off for Bill.

It seems to be bunching a bit in the back.
There - it looks like he got it straightened out.

Steve finds a bit of humor in it. Be careful laughing too hard, Steve.

Bill is now feeling pretty comfortable in his present.

We all had a lot of fun. Did I tell you about the fruited turkey yet? Well, it was really good and it was like a Thanksgiving meal. Char brought special mashed potatoes, Betty brought a salad, and Maggie brought the best cheesecake ever.

We enjoyed Bill's visit and wish he was able to participate more often here.

We had lots of laughs on topics that can't be addressed here. Some jokes were retold, some new jokes told.

Bill really seemed to enjoy his gift.

Then we all headed out to load sheep. Below is the result of loading the sheep. Does anyone know what it is??

Sorry for the delay in putting this blog out - it's been hectic! I have a batch of cormo soaking right now. So much fiber, so little time. Wait until to you see the roving that Coby just got back from Wooly Knob!

Our next spin date is Sunday, October 19. Hope to see you there!