I've been tagged.....meme

I have been tagged with a cute meme by Morticcia. So here it goes...hopefully not too boring for all of you.

4 jobs you have had in your life:
Waitress
Casino blackjack dealer
Mental health counselor
Teacher

4 movies you could watch over and over:
Toy Story
Far and Away
Star Wars
City of Angels

4 places you have lived:
Florida
Florida
Florida
Florida

4 TV shows you love to watch:
Heroes
Gilmore Girls
Lost
Dancing with the Stars

4 places you have been on vacation:
Disney World (duh!)
Colonial Williamsburg, VA
Asheville, NC
Bahamas

4 websites you visit daily:
Flickr
Ravelry
Etsy
LOLcats

4 of your favorite foods:
Strawberries!!
Hot pretzels
My mom's cooking
Mashed potatoes

4 places you would rather be right now:
I'm home...so I am right where I want to be. :)

If you would like to complete this meme consider yourself tagged!

**I have some super fun stuff to post about this weekend. Make sure to check back.**

Fiber Stash

I have a fiber stash! I received a lovely package from Funky Carolina over the weekend. It contained the most wonderful fibers, and they were all expertly packaged. Carrie's customer service is impeccable, and I was extremely impressed by the depth of color in these braids. They are gorgeous. I guess I went a little overboard for my first fiber purchase, but what can I say. I fell in love with these, and I know none of it will go to waste.

My favorite in the bunch is the scrap bag of roving. There are so many great color combos and such a variety of fibers. These will be so much fun to spin, and I am very curious about how the different fibers spin up. I unwrapped each of these so that I could really see the myriad of colors. They are amazing!

Since I am brand new to spinning I knew I needed some BFL. So I picked this lovely braid. My favorite color lately is orange, so I was thrilled to find this colourway. This roving is so light and fluffy. It is called Huse.

I also wanted to try some merino top. I know that it is a bit trickier than BFL for newbies, but I love the texture of merino. It is so soft and silky....just yummy. This colourway is called See.

Last but definitely not least, I purchased a merino/bamboo blend. The texture is so smooth and interesting. This is a roving to aspire to, and I am not going to spin this until I have lots of practice. For now it will be a work of fiber art on my wall. :) This colourway is Final Autumn.

I am so excited that I will be spinning soon. I am trying to be patient while waiting for my wheel, but it is very difficult. I am using my wait time to research spinning, and I am reading spinning blogs like mad.

I wish all of you a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving. I hope you all get an opportunity to spend time with those you love.

I have been bitten

By the spinning bug that is. Yep, I knew I couldn't resist, and honestly I have been researching wheels since the summer. At the time wheels were way out of my budget range, but the idea of spinning is so romantic so I didn't give up my dream of acquiring one. Well, while doing my end of the year budget (yes I am a geek) I saw that I would basically never be able to afford a wheel. I was so upset. I knew I needed a plan to come up with some cash, and I was not willing to compromise my integrity to earn it. :) So, I scoured the house for treasures to unload on ebay. I came up with a few. It is amazing how much stuff I can accumulate, and so much of it I don't even need/use. I unloaded some designer bags, some general rick rack and a few other items. I raised enough money to buy this.

Yes, it is a Majacraft Rose. It gets rave reviews on every forum I have checked. I ordered it today! Isn't it beautiful. Too bad it is going to take a few weeks to get here. It is coming all the way from New Zealand. I hope she has a safe trip.

Now let me back up a bit. Until this past Saturday I hadn't even sat down at a wheel or held a spindle. I took a spinning lesson over the weekend with a member of the Orlando Weavers Guild. It was a mini-lesson...more of an introduction. She was kind enough to cover the basics, and she let me use one of her amazing wheels for the lesson. I had a really hard time with the drafting...I just could not get the feel for it. I guess I just need lots of practice.

So, I need practice and my wheel won't be here for weeks. What's a girl to do? There are no shops within hours of my home that sell any spinning supplies, so I went online today to order a top whorl spindle to practice my drafting. I decided to get a spindle kit from Hello Yarn. It's a great shop, and the price was unbeatable. That should be enough to get me started along with some great videos I found online.

But wait, there's more. For months I have been drooling/admiring Funky Carolina's lovely rovings. She has an awesome knack for color, and everyone just raves about the quality of her fibers. So, I went a little nuts during her shop update yesterday. I got this, and this and finally this. The last one is way out of my ability range, but I can admire it, and one day I shall spin it.

So needless to say, I will not be shopping for anything for a very long time. I have spent enough money to make me queasy. At least it's on quality stuff right!

Any advice from you spinners out there? Are there any books that I should check out, good online tutorials?

Summer is finally gone!

This weekend we had the best weather in Central Florida. It was nice and cool in the morning, and warm in the afternoon. It was the first opportunity we have had to go outside without sweating to death for months. My husband and I got up early today and decided to take a nice scenic drive to Deleon Springs State Park. It is a great park, and we try to visit state parks as often as we can during the cooler months of the year. It is not a terribly busy park, so we can actually find a nice bench or table and just sit and enjoy the scenery. They also have a great restaurant inside the park called The Old Spanish Sugar Mill. It is a great place. Each table has a griddle built in so you can make your own pancakes. It is a lot of fun, and they are seriously the best pancakes I have ever had.

We enjoyed a beautiful breakfast, and then found a great picnic table in the park to just sit and relax. It was around 70 degrees...perfect weather. Here is the view from our table.

We met some fun wildlife as well including these ducks. They hung around right in front of us for the longest time.

Overall it was a great Sunday. The crisp morning air was just cool enough for me to wear my clapotis. It was so nice to snuggle up and talk with my hubby. Just what the doctor ordered after a very hectic week.

I hardly got in any knitting time this week, but I am making some progress on my Celtic scarf. I am really enjoying the pattern, and I have finally memorized most of it. I will hopefully be able to finish it in another week or so. My husband keeps commenting on how nice it would look on him. He is so subtle.

I have a new project on the horizon that I am super excited about. I don't want to give any details yet because I haven't finalized anything. No I am not pregnant...it is a craft project. More details to come.

Happy Sunday everyone. I hope your week starts out well.