Journey to the Rhodes End

I've been doing some daydreaming about my fiber studio. So to put my hands to something, we spent Mother's Day refinishing one of our shitty Ikea dining room chairs. How does this relate? Our first real piece of furniture - the dining room table - was a Mother's Day/birthday gift a couple years ago. It inherited our shitty Ikea chairs from the apartment. They were already falling apart at this point, and this was before Evan was mobile. David keeps tossing around the idea of getting the Real Matching Chairs that go with our Real Adult Table, but the table was around $2,000, so you can imagine what the chairs are. The Ikea chairs stayed. And Evan tore them apart. But we still use them. The wood is still good, and I can't justify throwing them out or burning them. (We don't even have the Real Chairs yet, but bear with me.) I suggested we keep the chairs, sand them down, stain and refinish them, and keep them for my fiber studio. If I ever become a Real Busin...

The first time David made wine, it was kinda terrible. We had an unspecific amount of blueberries from my in-laws' bushes taking up the freezer, so he briefly checked out some online sources and threw stuff together. The alcohol content wasn't very high, and he found out later that blueberries are a natural yeast-inhibitor, so fermentation appeared to be over. Once bottled, the fermentation continued and the bottles became pressurized, resulting in hurried phone calls to friends and family who had gotten gifts of these ticking bombs. We figured this out when David opened one to have with dinner, and half the dining room was stained purple. (On the plus side, we finally had initiative to paint!) One bottle from this first batch remains (not under pressure anymore) as a decoration in the kitchen. Things have changed since then. We've had several successful batches of apple cider wine the past few falls, using unpasteurized cider. One turned almost to vinegar when...

If nothing else, I am living proof that you can accomplish anything with sheer willpower and a usable hoard stash. Today's test of willpower: a homemade loom, ideally while spending jack. Result: success and a dead lower back. Ow. Remember that hoarder stash I mentioned? I found  this really useful webpage  to make a simple frame loom. How convenient that I have two "oops" frames I bought compulsively at Michaels about six years ago. No glass, no backs, and $8 a piece back then. I wanted to keep the integrity of the painted side of the frame, in case (when :cough:) I ever get a real loom and want to use the frame for another art project. So following the directions on the loom site, I tick-marked every quarter inch. Then I realized I was an idiot and marked the wrong side. Tick marks belong on the outer edge. Using David's Flexcut gouge tip knife, I cut notches to nestle yarn wraps. This will keep the warp (vertical wraps of yarn that hold the f...

Edit: I have been corrected by Mrs. Reidlinger that this is not alpaca fleece and is actually Rambouillet sheep's fleece. The brown fleece is also sheep but it was obtained a long time ago so its breed is unknown. I don't feel like editing the whole thing, so please accept this disclaimer! Since it is absolutely beautiful outside, I figured I would use up what free time I have and come back to my neglected blog. Earlier this winter, I was given a huge box of super dirty alpaca fleece from a family friend of David's. It was shorn two years ago and had been sitting ever since, so it was sent to me for practice. It's some crazy practice. This is what I'm starting with: I've pulled out straw, styrofoam, plants, hundreds of burrs, a piece of wire, plastic strips, and two-year-old poop balls. This fleece is dirty as hell and starting to matt up in some spots. But underneath is a beautiful buttery-soft layer of heaven. And after washing, it's actually ...

I've been slowly collecting photos of all the stuff I managed to spin during Ravelry's Tour de Fleece event. I wanted to showcase them all together and update my  shop page  at the same time. This was the first batch from days 1 and 2. The green variegated is from a merino wool braid I purchased from  Little Bird Fibers . The top is from a one pound ball of plain wool roving I got on  Amazon . I've spun a lot from this ball and am needle felting with it, and there is still a lot left. It goes a long way! Since this was my first Tour, I was pretty unorganized and just spun for the hell of it when I could. These two skeins came from the Amazon roving. The one on the left is much more balanced, and during the Tour I became more proficient in keeping my threads the same thickness. I still have a long way to go, but the white one is one of my best. The tan one I had originally tried to dye with pickled beet juice but it all washed out, so I tried again and a...

Let me pour myself a fresh drink here. That's better. You've heard this before. You've read it in the blog posts all your mom friends pass around on Facebook. You've seen it in comments to moms who are overwhelmed and venting in a safe space so they don't list their kids on eBay. Maybe you've even said it. The horror. "Savor every moment." "They're only this little once." "You're gonna miss this." Yesterday, we powerwashed, dried, and boxed up Evan's booster seat. No more buckles around dining room chairs. (No more straightjacketing him to his seat.) My heart played that country song I hate... You're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back. You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast... No. Shut up. I do get the momentary pangs when packing up outgrown clothes and boxing up infant toys (the Jumperoo made me tear up a little), but here's what I hate about these sayings,...