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I am Olivia-Lee. I live in Beaverdam (the far northwest tip of Hanover County) on my husband's family's very fine dairy farm. We are old newlyweds. We have been married 7 years now. I have a herd (8) of children from a previous marriage and only the 16 year old is home now. I have 6 grandchildren so far and one due in June. FC has two grown boys, one a married firefighter for Henrico County with a stepson, and the other, yet unmarried, and works and lives on the farm.
We have small two dogs that are our only children. and I have two fiber bunnies. Hazel Nut and Maple/Ruth. Hazel is a French Angora and Maple is a German/Satin Angora Cross. I have an Ashford Traveler spinning wheel, but I cannot call myself a spinner yet.
In addition to knitting, I do all kinds of other crafts and needlework (crochet, cross stitch , embroidery and hardanger...etc... ) and I am a beginner quilter. I want to try them all before I die... Lace knitting has become my current obsession
I taught myself to knit as a child (11-13), using a book my deceased grandmother left in the family vacation cabin in Maine, using log cabin spikes (10 inch long galvanized nails) and a spool of cotton twine. My aunt had taught me to crochet the year before. My mother promptly forced my father to drive 50 miles to civilization to buy me real (Redheart)yarn and real (Boye)knitting needles. The following year we visited those wonderful wool shops in New Brunswick Canada and mother bought me real wool and plaid fabric to make a skirt to match. I don't know whatever became of those. I didn't knit a sweater until my first child was incubating in 1974 and promptly put knitting away finding crochet was so much easier to pick up and put down with a wee one around. I did a few simple knitting projects over the years, but it was the grandchildren that inspired me to knit again.
Diana Cooper (Shepherdstown) started talking about a lace shawl she was doing for her daughter's wedding and Liz Lovick joined our scotty group. Further inquiry led me to be introduced to EZasPi and online knitting groups. Since them it has snowballed... and so has the amount of stash... and undone housework, overflowing in every room of the house.
Still I had no one to sit and knit with. Living in a very rural area and having a difficult schedule to work around and an even more limited budget I couldn't run out to the not so local LYS for help and I didn't know any one in a guild. So I started seeking out other Virginians on various KALs looking for a buddy nearby and the idea to do this was born. That is where I met Cat and most of you. I have a creative mind and can imagine what I want, but I can barely manage e-mail, so Cat is our technical guru. She claims to have no expertise, but I think she is doing just fine. If any of you have questions or suggestions in that area she is the one to turn to. She is a single mom and does work full time so be patient if you don't see instant results.
I do not work ( for money) full time, but I do have a lot of irons in the fire. I am the "run and fetch" and general secretary and receptionist on the farm. I am looking after two elderly relatives and have adopted my aunt's 95 year old roommate who appears to have no family that we have seen. I am working on setting up a library at our church and I teach the junior high class and missions outreach director. I also pet/puppy/house sit and occasionally have a "bad dog" rescue that needs to be retrained before being adopted out.
I am in and out of the house most days of the week. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my regular days in Richmond and I am less accessible for questions those days, but gas and our budget being what it is, I try to fill those days to the max.
You can reach me by e-mail olmommee@aol.com
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