All The Things I Love

I had a fabulous weekend once again. The festivities began on Thursday during Market Night when I got to open my Yarn Pirate Sock Club box. The yarn is gorgeous, in a sock yarn base I have not tried yet, and the goodies are pretty fun too. I will wait to announce so it doesn't spoil anyone else's surprise!

This weekend The Soap Plantation was booked at Summergrass, a bluegrass festival held in Vista. I took Friday off work to go down early and help set up, but the motor home had other ideas. Even after it got coddled through a smog check and had a low tire replaced, it decided to be cranky and have a second leaky tire. Mr. Fixit threw in the towel and the lovely and talented Mandy held down the fort at Summergrass on Friday with her nephew and the flying screaming monkey. I spent the remainder of the day with Mr. Fixit. We visited his friend and they worked on a piston for the racecar (I brought knitting) and we went out for lunch. We tried the new Pei Wei in Tustin and I tried some Orange Peel Chicken. It was very tasty and pretty swanky for fast food. After we were done, the guys went back to work in the garage and I played a little Chocolatier and then lay down for “a minute”. I think it was dark when I surfaced again.

Saturday we got an early start and headed down to Vista. The day was easygoing and fun. We sold some soap, heard some good bluegrass, ate some yummy snack food (Mr. Fixit woos me with root beer floats. I am powerless before them), and I actually got a little spinning done. I plied 2 oz of some Merino/Tencel lace weight yarn that had been sitting on the bobbin since June and it came out very pretty; a nice peachy-orange. Then I fired my Millie up again and started on some BFL roving. I am spinning it heavier, and, gee, the bobbin fills up fast when one is not spinning lacewieght! It felt good to be spinning again. I have been focusing on knitting for the last couple of months and the change was refreshing.

We packed up for the night around 8, found our hotel, and had a tasty dinner. I am pretty sure staying in a hotel ended up being a better bet than putting gas in the motor home for the weekend.

Sunday morning dawned bright and partly cloudy, until I looked toward Escondido and saw the wall of black clouds. eek, the soap! I wailed. We drove through the deluge, arrived at the site, and I was relieved to see that the soap was high and dry. We had the farm breakfast and the sweet old ladies were flirting with Mr. Fixit right and left. We got ready to open – bluegrass fans are a devoted bunch and I did not think that the show would be cancelled – and the deluge returned, soaking the site for over an hour. We still held the high ground and were nice and dry and toasty under the pop-up tent. Soap sales were slow, but the visiting and entertaining were alive and well. Everything was bright and sunny again by noon, and Mandy joined us for the afternoon. Denise came over and tried her hand at spinning on a wheel – and did quite well!

We packed it in about 5 and headed for home. Mr. Fixit and I stopped on the way to meander around Dana Point and we had a nice time – we saw stingrays and fishies and all manner of seabirds. Lots of folks were out walking their dogs. We admired the boats and picked out the ones we would have if a) we won the lotto and b) we had much interest in boating. Then it was a fish & chips dinner at the Harborside Café, which was excellent, and watching the moon rise and the sun set. I think I may just be the luckiest girl in the world.