Holiday fun-ness and spinning

Here is a picture of my treat baking extravaganza.


I took the dog/horse treats out to the barn yesterday so I could have some test subjects. Let me tell you, they were very well received. The horses were giving me pitiful faces when they realized that there were no more treats coming. The dogs were salivating. Patches is a Great Dane. Great Danes don't like to exert themselves. I was holding the treats a little higher than elbow height when I was walking the dogs back to the pen. Patches was prancing next to me (usually he picks his way along) and making little jumps to try to get the treats. Aggie raced to the pen to sit down so she could get her treat as soon as possible. I definitely won't have to worry about the animals not liking the treats.

On to other holiday stuff! My mom really likes when we have guests around the holidays. That means that she is able to get them to do Christmas-y stuff like getting a tree, decorating cookies and making gingerbread houses. It is a lot harder to get Dad and me to do that kind of stuff. Anyway, here is the gingerbread house that my Japanese cousin, his girlfriend and I made on Wednesday night. Isn't it cute?

The wreath on the roof is adorable!


I've rebelled from Christmas gift knitting and decided to spin instead. I finished up the green roving from a local farm. The twist isn't set on it yet but I have to wait until we have a fire going in the woodburning stove. The yarn would never dry in our house otherwise. I'm pretty happy with the final result.


Then I started looking around in my roving stash to try to find something else to spin. (Sidenote: The roving stash seems to have grown since the last time I looked. Hmmmmm . . . .) What should I find but 8 oz of Louet roving called Violets. So I started to spin it up last night.


This stuff is pencil roving and is a lot of fun to spin. I'm amazed how quickly it is spinning up. This morning, I finished spinning 4 oz. of it before I went to work.


When I ply it, this yarn is probably going to be a fingering weight and is the most consistent thickness that I have done. I think it is the pencil roving.

I'm thinking the yarn might be perfect for a Clapotis or that new pattern, Jeanie. But, if I do Jeanie, that means getting another 8 oz of the roving because a) I would need 1350 yds for it b)I won't have enough yardage with the 8 oz I have now and c) Louet doesn't sell this roving in 4 oz balls. But then that means that I will have an additional 4 oz that I probably won't use for the pattern. Though I could use it for something else. Clapotis, however, needs 820 yds. Hmmmmm. We'll have to see once I get it all spun and plied. I apparently really want to do something with dropped stitches with this yarn.