Yarnpatch

I have a passion for yarn and genealogy--hard to say which is the most consuming! I spin, knit and/or weave, depending on my time. In summer, it is mostly knit while sitting by the pool. But I love genealogy and have more genealogy books than most libraries. This allows me to do my research when I have time rather than when libraries are open.

After not reading books for a long time, I'm back to reading--which means cutting into my knitting and genealogy time. I try to read historical novels, especially those based on facts.

I have 7 spinning wheels and twice as many looms ranging from a huge loom that took 4 of us to assemble and takes nearly 20 feet of space int he great room to the little potholder type looms. I have woven fabric for purses, a coat, a dress, vest, hand towels, bath towels, and several shawls and ponchos. But my favorite piece is the baby blanket I wove for my granddaughter when she was born. I hope it will be something she will give to her daughter.

ABBA, Beatles, Johnny Rivers, Kenny Rogers. Dolly Parton, Carol King, Roberta Flack, The Drifters, and on and on. But my all time favorite music is when my sons both come home with their guitars and we sing and play together with one or more of the grandchildren. You'll never hear us in public, I promise, but I enjoy our music together because I love the time with them.

Dirty Dancing, Last of the Mohicans, Braveheart and about anything historical or with Bruce Willis. Since I like to watch movies on MY time, I usually buy DVDs, so I have quite a collection. But the three above are my alltime favorites.

I love color. But I also love white that is edged with blue or with red or other rich colors. I'm called the Queen of Pink at work because I like pink things--not as much as they think, however, but I like to go along with them. My house is all white--walls and the few rooms with carpet--so I can change the colors as often as I like. It's so easy to change the dining room--just take out the red dishes and table cloths and put in the blue. I recently changed my bedroom from red/black/white to blue and white. So I LOVE colors of all sorts--except for browns. I just can't get into browns.

Knitting, spinning, weaving, genealogy, tole painting, machine embroidery. I've tried crochet but don't do well at it. My piano sits idle these days because of my yarn crafts! I have baskets of yarn all over the house and I recently remodeled and added a great-room with 30 feet of windowseats. Hidden inside the window seats are more yarn. Come to think of it, there is yarn in every room of my house except the bathroom. And knitting needles! And spinning wheels! Gee, I have too much!

I collect figurines and have them everywhere I can find a spot. My Christmas tree is done in all figurines that I have collected over the years. In my next life, I'll do my tree in crystal ornaments!

I also collect antique photographs and have thousands that I've salvaged from yardsales, dumps, antique stores, etc., over lots of years. I try to scan these in and load them onto my genealogy website. These are someone's history and I can't bear to see them discarded. My office walls are covered in framed antique photographs.

And I collect dishes--like I need more dishes. But sometimes they are just so cute or such gorgeous antiques that I can't resist them--especially if there is a story behind them. Can't you just imagine the wonderful meals that touched an antique platter or plate?

Add to my collection list my postcards. My grandmother got me started in this when I was a child and she sent me postcards from wherever she went, which was all over the world. I have also purchased postcards to add to my collection. I especially love the old town scenes in Tennessee, where I live.

For my adorable granddaughter, I've started collecting hats. We had a slumber party--just the two of us--and tried on hats and made photographs. These were mostly hats from the 1940s and 1950s. I've added a few for our next slumber party. She wants to have one soon so she can try on the new ones--especially an antique wedding veil I found. She's 10--perfect age for this!