Ok...so in a major effort to avoid the photo work i'm supposed to be doing, but is killing me, i went thrift store shopping! and what a payoff it was people....i'm not kidding- it was like...things were jumping out of the racks and into my basket...amazing things! a beautiful pair of post WWII motorcycle pants in quality black leather and heavy duty zippers. they are shaped just like old bomber pants only slightly less poofy at the thigh. the ankles zip down tight. they fit and they're sweet!!! what does this have to do with the wagon challenge you say?  Nothing! but i am in avoidance mode! so i'm going to chat up my thrift store scores...ok!? ok. what else? oh yes! sweet vintage chains, a gypsy skirt for my 3 year old gypsy daughter.  and i saw, but didn't buy because it was $10, a beginner's painting of a guy with no eyes holding a little doggie in his lap. he is holding the dog under the butt with the dogs belly facing the viewer...but they didn't know how to paint fingers so they just left them off and so it looks like he's giving the dog in depth feel-up. really. it's was hilarious. i stood there in the middle of all the old bitty's,  totally doubled over laughing. damn. maybe i should go back and get it. for $10 i could laugh whenever i wanted. alright darn it!  tomorrow is 1/2 off day. i'll go get it. then i'll show you guys. you won't be sorry. there is nothing like a faceless guy with his fingers up a dogs ass to make you feel better.

what else...oh yes! scores for the Circle The Wagons challenge. dudes... i SO got the best, the absolute best, wagon train prairie dress. it was very old. see-through old calico cotton lined with ivory cotton. it buttoned up the front with little pearl drop buttons and was trimmed in green satin. no. i know what you're thinking and i'm not gunna do it. i'm sorry Holly. i love you, i really do. but i just can't spin this dress. it fits me! if it didn't fit then maybe i could do it.....but uh! it's sweet! so here's my compromise: i'm going to wear it while i spin the wagon yarn! then it will be like sympathetic magic. maybe the spirit of the old gal who's dress it was will inhabit my body and make the yarn. or possess me and make me chase my husband around with a meat thermometer. or no....someone of that era wouldn't know what a meat thermometer is....an ice pick! no ice on the plains though...maybe a knife! yes...just a good old plain old chase around the house with a knife.

but i'm off track. so i'll wear the dress but i may have to shorten it. it is exactly polygamist length. you know that length? above the ankle but not quite mid-calf? yeah. polygamist length. and since it is a prairie dress coupled with the length it would be way too Rhonda from Big Love. or maybe i should just go for it. my good friend Laura, who is always 5 years ahead of everything, assures me that the Nicky look (wife #2- Big Love) is going to be the next hot thing. maybe i'll chance it. we don't call her the Lauracle for nothing.

So...on to the materials that i will spin. i found a nice hand embroidered old coverlet and some old lace work and crochet. (stop wincing antique people! they are stained and if you really want them i will mail them to you. but you don't really want them...no one wanted them, that is why they were where they were.) also a pretty strand of seed beads. so this yarn will be pretty and tattered. like a war-torn battlefield with remnants and bits of things about....seeds spilt...treasures abandoned in the midst of protecting what is really really important: not material things but the bodies and health of your comrades and loved ones.

Challenge #5 Circle The Wagons!
Challenge ends: NEW DATE EXTENSION!! Sat. Feb 9th.
submit to The Yarn Museum
VOTE here on my blog Sun. Feb 10th.