A few of my favorite things…

I’m having a rough week(s)/months. School is absolutely kicking my butt, I’m worn out, worn down and quickly getting burnt out in general. I only have 2 more months until graduation and then the worst of it is over (no more math/science classes EVER!) but it seems the weeks just drag by. I haven’t been able to spin anything pretty much since last weekend and I’ve barely been able to knit because I’ve been so busy with school, work, puppy sitting and house cleaning/repairs.

It’s Sunday, which should be my relax and spin/knit/watch movies day but instead it’s my ‘cram for Political Science midterm’ day because the test is tomorrow at 9 a.m. However before I crack the books and start rehashing the last 8 weeks of class notes I decided to take a tour through some of my favorite things. I also thought I’d share them here, in case anyone else is having a crap week and needs some yarn/fiber/funny stuff to make their load a little lighter for a few minutes.

We’ll start with a collection of my favorite things in one little favorite thing: Moonwood Farm alpaca + spinning + bright colors + free stuff.

This is a mini hank of hand spun from Roo’s wonderful drum carded alpaca/soy silk batts. She sent them as samples when I ordered a bracelet from here and while the separate batts weren’t really meant to be used together because they were very different colors I thought they were very fun next to each other and spun them all up together and then plied it against itself. I love spinning alpaca by the way.

Next favorite thing: yarn/fiber window shopping. Each of the pictures below will go to a listing where you can buy them if you want. I recommend buying them and having them shipped to my house for safe keeping.

Zebisis Designs Merino/Silk roving in “Spectrum”. LOVE IT. It’s like happiness in a roving.

A felted soap kit combining 2 favorite things: organic hand dyed batts from eXtreme spinning and delicious wonderful soap from the Lote Tree. Also look at that mandarin color next to the mint! So fresh and springy.

BFL top roving in color way ‘Acid Burn’ from Sweetpea Fibers.

Gorgeous handspun in color way ‘Spices’ from Black Tie Fibers. This gal also makes really gorgeous stitch  markers that are totally worth checking out.

In the not fiber/yarn category we have:

http://www.icanhazcheezburger.com lolcats always make my day better

http://www.cuteoverload.com when lolcats doesn’t work, cute overload has the cure for what ails me

http://www.loudandmouthy.com My two besties and co-authors. While we haven’t updated much on the site lately, I can assure you the In Real Life Loud and Mouthy is in full effect.

http://last.fm Music. Music soothes this savage soul. I have several playlists, can check out what my friends are listening to and find new music through the ‘recommendations’ feature. I’ve been using last.fm for several years and am a paid member because I love it so much.

This guy is the light of my life and can make me smile no matter what horrible things are going down around me. I mean look at him; wouldn’t you giggle like an idiot if you lived with him?

My three favorite 4 legged girls. (clockwise from top: Buhunkis, Allie Mae and Dixie Lee) They always know just when I need snuggles.

My siblings! (and cousins are in there too) I am so proud of all of them. From left bottom: Christina the youngest of the girls and is pregnant and will be giving me my first niece of nephew to spoil rotten! Ashley, my cousin who married a soldier and is doing her best to be a strong and supportive Army wife, which I admire. Katrina my sister who I’ve spent the most time fighting with, but also the most time bonding with, is living independently, holding down a great job and has rescued a pup. She’s one of the smartest, clever and talented people I know. She can fix just about anything with McGyver-like skills. (Me. We already know about me.) The boys on top start with Jim on the left there; who has a memory like a steal trap, an intellect and wit that can rip you to shreds and the opinions of some kind of bastard child of Bill O’Reilly and Anne Coulter (okay, not quite that bad) and yet, despite that fact we still manage to get along and I can say I genuinely like him. He’s also at college on academic scholarship that he worked his ass off to earn, has a black belt in Tae Kwan Do (maybe 2nd degree now? Not sure) and can hold his liquor better than his brother or I. In the middle is Jacob, Ashley’s brother, who is a pretty funny and awfully smart kiddo too, I haven’t spent much time with him in recent years because I’ve been so far away but what little time I’m around him I’m always surprised by how well spoken and thoughtful he is. Then there’s Jonny, my Jonny baby. Jonny is my baby brother, and out of all of my siblings the one that probably makes me laugh the most and also want to tear my hair out the most. He’s ridiculously smart (sense a theme? We’re all smart.), funny, talented, athletic, good looking AND I taught him to knit last year and he got super good at it really fast out of nowhere. He’s one of those kids that is good at just about anything they pick up. He plays instruments, he plays football, he’s smart (also has an academic scholarship to college), he’s funny, he’s tall and handsome AND to top it all off he can knit. While the rest of his siblings are all very smart and talented in their own ways, we often struggle with social interaction; not Jon. He’s Mister Smooth Talker and is comfortable in just about any situation. Not pictured is my older brother Erik who recently got engaged and is the one who taught me how to make coffee like a pro.

See? I feel better already, just writing about how awesome my family is put me in a better mood. And because they’re all counting on me graduating from college in May I better get those books open and start studying for that test tomorrow. Also, the new wheel should be here this week!

Don’t forget we’re approaching the deadline for the Robert Smith look-alike contest and so far I haven’t gotten any submissions so it’s still wide open, anyone can win!

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