Sisters

Our Melissa is ever so curious of the outside, I wonder why.

Oh yeah our Burt is out in the back forty grazing!

Having a sister is not terrible...most of the time.

Did I ever show you my Rhinebeck room door poster?

Good thing I bought a calendar from Crazy Sheep Lady back in 2016. I get to enjoy sheepie inspiration when I walk in my room.

So my life is still hectic at times but boy am I enjoying living it.

The Good Life

Having a sister is not horrible.

Kitten food tastes way better than my food.

Little Sis has started pulling her cuddle with Momma time weight.

Fine you can take a picture of my toe beans.

Why would you want to take a picture of your handspun yarn when you have this cute kitten asking for your attention?

Ta Da!

We had a little family addition. Burt decided he would like some feline company. Momma is way during the day and it sure gets lonely in the house all by your lonesome.

So we added this little girl to our house. She is only 3 months old, and tiny comparatively.

Burt the world's most interesting cat is taking her in stride. 

She is busy with new toys and figuring out where laps should be, kinda.

 The cuteness factor is high but she is made of energy and does not sit still. She would not let me touch her again the first night. But after settling in she was ready for some petting the next day.

I've even managed to spin some for Tour de Fleece. I'm still figuring out spinning so I've plenty to hold my attention. 

Coming together

Slowly my Rhinebeck room is coming together. It has a comfy chair and ottoman and plenty of places to put yarn and books. I've even converted an old cup rack to hold yarn and lights. Not a bad selection if I do say so myself. I just love my yarn collection.

I found a great picture that remind us what the room is for, it says Go Away I'm Introverting. The wary stripy grey kitty just sums it up without the words though.

I forgot to show you the great sign that I found at Black Sheep Gathering. It made me smile right off. I circled a few times then decided it was indeed a sign I needed for Rhinebeck.

The yarn is some hand spun I spun a while ago from an odds and ends bag from Into the Whirled. Come to think of it I bought that bag at my last Rhinebeck trip. You never know how the yarn you spin will be used. 

Yeah this is a room I am becoming comfortable with. I can spin and knit in here all right.

My First Black Sheep Gathering 2018

Well that was super fun! My first festival where I got to say I'm a spinner and knitter. And when we get to the photos you will see what my focus was for this one. I hope spinning opens a new world to me, because I now have the stash for it!!!

First let me introduce you to my new (old) wheel. 

She is a 1970s Ashford traditional wheel. Isn't she grand?! Keeping with my who I am, she does not have a name yet. And I just spent too much time on a name website looking up names...hmmm they all seem to be old fashioned names. Edwina means valuable friend, Dumi means inspirer, Finan means capable, Edna means spirit renewed, Agatha means good. So many names running around my head. Oh who am I kidding I will probably call her all these names.

And here she is with all her new wooly friends. We're going to have so much fun together!!!!!

I tried to get a nice selection of breeds, many have the sheep's names on them. Since it was Black Sheep Gathering, dedicated to colored wool, I made sure to get a pretty wide selection of natural colors. I have Alpaca, BFL, California Red, Corriedale, Icelandic, Navajo Churro, Romeldale/CMV, Shetland, and Wensleydale.

I was resting near the restrooms when the button wagon and lady came by. Are these not fantastic?Adriene make your selection I think one needs to come live with you. Maybe next year you can come down and attend with me. We have always wanted to go to a festival together...

So there it is my magnificent fiber and fun haul. Only two skeins of yarn came home with me, well yarn in the I-can-knit-it-as-is sense. Burt did a preliminary inspection and thinks that yes we will have fun with all this. We've been spending some time together in our Rhinebeck room.

I'm going to go fluff some fiber now.

How to win friends...Burt style

The other night Burt and I are lounging around in our pajamas, what? Hubby was not home and we were hot and out of ice cream. Them's lounging rules people.

Anyways I had tried to retire to bed but Burt was not being is normal, follow Momma around the house, self. I tried drifting off to sleep I really did but where was my wee Burt? I trotted downstairs and there he was lounging on the nice cool floor.

So I sat down to enjoy a quick computer game. Hey when you cannot sleep you might as well rule the world, or at least a computer version of it.

Burt started trilling and chatting to me, or I assumed it was me. But he would not come near to me, he was not leaving his spot in front of the door to the patio. Now this was definitely odd for my Burtie Boy. Momma can usually get a courtesy check in for a quick pet.

And boy was he making adorable sounds. Not the I want that bird chatter but little trills and sighs. I tell you it was a cute noise seduction.

Well it worked on me, I went to see what had put him in such an adorable mood. There was the new neighbor cat looking in our back door. Now I've been struggling with the thought that Burt might like a feline companion. I would love to get him a friend if I knew he would like it, but Burt is so dang near perfect, I decided to wait. It was sort of nice to be able to answer the vet with firm litter box behavior answers. You never have to guess which cat did what when you only have one.

But back to Burt's visitor, I cracked the door to let them smell each other but realized the screen was not in the right position. I snapped it safely shut and listened to Burt make a new friend.

They did a quick nose to nose sniff then the cute kitty noise took over. All I heard was the feline version of hey buddy! over and over again. Ok fine there was one quick test growl but that never went anywhere.

One would walk away and lie down the other would approach the screen. Nose sniff then the other would walk away and lie down. You get the idea it was like a cat infinity loop with the screen being the meeting place.

I let them have a good natter, then I told McFriendly it was time to go to bed. I swear I heard the kitty version of Awww Mom!

Burt stayed by the door for a good long while. He did make sure to let me know when he came to bed. Guess he did not want to get into trouble for breaking curfew.

So yeah I think he would enjoy having a friend. We're not naming him Nunzio though.

Not Exactly a Marshmallow

So... do you all remember that cowardly, judgemental letter I received?

Well... I know who sent it. I was offered an apology because someone else wanted it. The apology was a one time offer, only under her conditions. I did not respond. It was just another attempt to manipulate and control me.

I am currently working my way through all my thoughts and feelings. Moment to moment the things I want to say and do vary widely. I want to tell her to never speak to me, which is ironic because she has never spoken to me. I want to expose what she has done. I want to hide in a corner and never go out in the world again. I want to say everything I've ever thought of saying. I want to get an sincere apology full of regret. I want to yell and scream at her. I want to cry. I want to make her cry. I want this to had never have happened. I want her to not do this to someone else.

Right now I am ignoring and not responding. I am allowing myself to feel all of these things as part of my processing. No one gets to tell me what I feel. 

As we were talking through this situation I told D Oregon is sure going to make me strong and tough. His reply? "You weren't exactly a marshmallow."

Now if you will excuse me I have a warm kitty in my lap. And he is not judging me at all.