Reading, Not Writing

This weekend was the boutique at Knit N Stitch. Soap sales occurred (thanks!), washcloths were knit, sunburn was avoided, and no nick nacks were acquired. Sunday I had a lazy day at home playing with my new toy (the tv converter box I finally installed) and cooking. Things went great until the headache, nasuea and intestinal distress all hit at the same time (during the pilot of "24" of all things) and I spent the night curled up on the bathroom floor. I felt better (except for the nightmare headache) this morning, but my tum is a little tender. I managed to go to CVS first thing to buy a lot of Tylenol. But enough about me.

I have become enchanted with opinionated blogs. Sometimes I agree, sometimes I don't, but I am impressed by some people's ability to gish out invective. And dish it out too. I just don't have that many strong opinions, don't want to hurt people's feelings and don't want them to stop liking me, so softspoken and boring I will remain.

Washcloth knitting is continuing - they are popular with soap patrons so I must stay in the sweatshop. I picked up the grey sweater this morning and worked on it a bit.

And Blogger ate the last half hour of this post. Dammit.

Knit knit knit KNIT knit knit

I am still in washcloth heaven. It is a comforting place to be. That said, I managed to put in half a row on the gray sweater (!) and spun 2 oz of yak/silk yesterday. Having no electrics at the house was a real motivator to spend the day at Knit N Stitch. Speaking of which, don't forget to swing by on Friday and Saturday for their Handmade Gifts Boutique and Open House. There will be vendors (soap!) and snacks. They have a new yarn line or two which are quite nice.

The house is real pretty by candlelight. I found all the oil / hurricane lamps and refilled the tealights. I had plenty of light to read and knit by and loved the rustic-ness of carrying around my light source. Except for when I stepped on the dog, who got up after I shifted my weight forward onto him and I fell on my buns. Dogs are slippery. I was in bed with lights out (see what I did there?) by 9:30 which was a pleasant change from 1:30.

This morning I took a cold shower before I realized there was nothing wrong with the water heater. Duh. I saved a lot of water though. Yes, I paid the bill yesterday. Yes, everything will be back on today. Really all I must have electric for is the fridge and the fishtank. Living without a fridge really sucks. I've done it.

But anyway. I am happily at the coffee shop working and blogging. It is a beautiful day, I am clean and dressed, I watered the garden. The bell pepper plant is covered in blossoms - what is up with that? I should start looking for a sale on swiss chard, spinach and broccoli plants for the winter garden. The tomato is still bearing, although the fruits are pretty small. I have fallen wayyyy behind on grooming in that department. They say these 90 degree days will be at an end soon. I like the heat, but geez it is November!

Is it safe to come out yet?

I did nothing Friday and not a whole lot else earlier in the week. It was a sad, annoyed, restive week. Blah. I did eat a vast quantity of off-brand cheerios and spend an embarassingly long time reading the archives of my new favorite blog, Well Done Fillet. I have a burning desire to visit Belfast now.

Today I made soap until the battery in the scale ran out. That is a lot of soap! Plus, I learned that 2 minutes is not the same as 20 seconds and that burnt soap smells revolting. I was glued to the channel 11 coverage of the inferno here in SoCal... I hope the 91 is open again by the time I need to drive on it (tomorrow morning). It totally sucks that so. many. people. have lost their homes (500 in one mobile home park alone), but dudes... if you are going to build them that close together, in the middle of nowhere... And why have people not yet stocked up on that cool gel stuff that you spray on your house? And the last observation: arson isn't funny.

I think I will stay perky for a little while. I hope so, anyway. And don't let me forget to buy dog food before I go home. I forgot cat food earlier in the week and that wasn't pretty.

That Elusive Thing

Some of us don't even get to feel it, share it at all. Why limit the few who find it? 'Nuff said.

Woolies

I managed to get the sun, the camera, the battery, the cord and the computer all together this week and now present the new woolies... all looking for new homes. Drop me a line for quantity and prices.

Convert

Well, I have taken a running leap and jumped on the washcloth bandwagon. I hope they don't ask to see my ticket. After years (years!) of pooh-poohing washcloths and their knitters, I finally made one up, pretty much on a dare. I was nonplussed. Then I used it. I wanted to spend the rest of my life washing my face. So soft! So gently scrubby! So adorable! So little lint! And the Soap Plantation Honey soap did not hurt :) I am now a washcloth knitting machine... at knit night, at craft day, at the shrink, at traffic lights.

I have been selling my soap and fiber heart out the last two weekends, and plan to continue the same for the rest of the year. The new fiber colorways came out *gorgeous* and I have a few left (pictures soon). All the best scents of soap are back in stock and as lovely as always. We offered a new blend - Almond Joy - which is already sold out. However, the new Organic Soap is still in stock. It would make a lovely gift if presented with an organic cotton washcloth (hint hint). Upcoming shows are in the sidebar (as always) and I will work on booking more events as soon as this post is posted.

Mish Mash

I should have known that as soon as I started wool socks and wool mitts that it would get hot again. I took pictures this morning but have to charge the camera battery before I upload them. It is always something!

Martha from knitting brought back a fox tea cosy and a sheep (black of course) wine cosy from Scotland. The website for the artist is here and her work is just spectacular. I don't read Finnish, but I sent an email in English asking about US distributors. Maybe we will get lucky.

Francesca finished her cashmere sweater and it is gorgeous. If I rememer right, she held 3 strands of laceweight together. It gives me hope that I can make something similar someday.

I am still working on the Halloween socks - number one is most of the way through the leg. It is a nice quick stockinette "plain vanilla" sock. I started a pair of mitts last night (I don't know if they will be gloves, mittens, or fingerless mitts) in some leftover sock yarn. It is loud but wears like iron, being a wool/mohair/nylon blend (Schaeffer "Anne"). I am trying out some new needles - DPNs in Ebony from Blue Ridge. They are brand new and Knit N Stitch and I love them beyond reason. They are very pointy, slightly flexible (unlike birch) but not too flexible (all my bamboo ones make smiley faces now) and super smooth (also unlike bamboo, which splinters), but not as slippery as metal ones. The 5 1/2 inch length is perfect - 6 rubs on my palms and 5 is just too short for me. At the moment the only drawback is that I am knitting with black yarn on black needles, but that is user error!

I made it to yoga this morning and am about to go into a workshop on using Iyengar wall ropes. It might be beyond my ken, but the instructor says I should give it a whirl.

Back in the World

Presenting the Tea Towels! They are all woven with a handspun weft, using 100% cotton. These are the final 4 and each one is unique. They are all preshrunk and measure around 8" x 30". $25 each or two for $45. Please email for availability to sleepingfox16 at yahoo dot com. Teapot not included :) White with Blue Twill Border

Pink Twill

Green Stripe

Blue Stripe.

Today I joined "The Ladies" at quiliting and we got Christie's quilt up and running. I need to learn how to do the actual quilting before I can help, but I did finish pinning my little "Elements" quilt together along the stitching lines so I can machine quilt it. I also found sashing and backing fabric for the two 9 patch quilts that are in progress.

I have been knitting along on the Halloween socks and am well into the leg of sock 1. All other knitting is still languishing, but I look at it affectionately. The Halloween socks have the advantage of being plain stockinette, which makes them good travel / therapist appointment knitting.

Spinning continues on the gray cormo. I have been using it to practice my long draw / semi woolen technique. Since the Millie has a delta orifice, I have to use one hand as the "point" of the spindle and the other does the drafting. It makes more sense when you see it. It is time to pluck Olive (the angora bunny) again. He finally looks like a properly fuzzy bun - no big mats or areas which are half grown next to areas which are plucked bare. I had better get on it before it gets any colder, so his winter coat can grow in.

Steve McQueen is still the chubbiest mouse in town. He knows that if he puts all 4 feet on my hand he gets taken out, and then we have a nice little snuggle. One day he got to run around in the bathtub.

That's all the news that is fit to print! I updated the schedule and the blogroll over in the sidebar. Be sure to check it out!

House Arrest

I got up yesterday at 7 to the sounds of a sledgehammer on concrete. The neighbor is having her walkway replaced. This is fine. The concrete truck blocking me in my driveway until 2 was not so fine. While I waited to leave the house I pieced a whole slew of 9 patches for my quilt (and discovered I need to buy more fabric for the sashing) and listened to many people rant on NPR. I really like piecing squares and sewing straight lines. It goes so much faster than spinning and weaving! In the afternoon, the other neighbor took her turn blocking my car in, so I had to walk to the yoga studio to run an errand. The dogs made the trip with me and enjoyed it thoroughly.

I am also re-sleying the loom for a dimity pattern (in white). I finished another tea towel and realized I was totally ready to see what was on the cloth beam. 9 towels were edged, washed, dried and readied for sale on Thursday. Two are already off to a new home (Scott, I held yours back, not to worry). As there is still warp on the loom and I received my new Handwoven the other day, I am rethreading /resleying for something new - a pattern with texture in the warp pattern. It is a pain in the ass (PIA) but I suppose it is good practice for something.

Las Vegas Faire was fun, but I always forget how much damn work it is to work for 30 hours in 3 days, plus the 10 hour drive. The parrow show guy has motivated me to play with the birds more, I didn't pick up anything or anybody contagious, and I earned about half my rent money for next month. Wheee!

Knitting is lacadaisical: the halloween socks are my waiting-for-the-train knitting; the stripey socks (which have gone through about 20 name changes) are for knitting in the shop; the Preppy scarf is ambling along; MS4 is still on clue 4 (although I did work on it last night); Mirepoix is still on hold due to the sleeve issue. I haven't started many new things, but am not finishing anything very fast.

All in all, things are quiet here at the homestead and I am not feeling sad or lonely.

Smothering in Wool

Today I was moseying around the house and said - There is a box. I bet it has wool in it. I wonder what it is. My pretties, it was an entire sheep that I forgot about. A finewool fleece ("Jamocha") I had processed by Morro Fleece Works and split into light and dark sections. I don't even remember how long ago that was. It is a lovely fleece and I am glad it has floated to the top of the pile. But I think I may have plenty of wool now. I think I will be spinning tonight at Knit Night instead of knitting.

Things have improved since yesterday, which was just a down day. Today is happy and perky and lovely; almost-crisp and cool. Back at my alma mater (Smith) it was Mountain Day - a free day in the fall where we could enjoy one of the last perfect fall days. One year I went with Etta and her geology class and climbed Mt. Monadanoc in Vermont. That is the fun thing about going to school back east - it is easy to visit other states on a lark. I went back once to visit a friend in MA and ended up driving to New Hampshire before I found a drugstore / grocery.

There is no new knitting progress to report. Everything is in limbo. I did print clue 5 for the Mystery Stole, but I have not even started clue 4 yet. It will happen eventually. There are only 6 clues, so maybe I am extending the lace love subconciously. *snrk* I will make an effort to photograph the fleece picking process before I pack up the box to Wooly Knob, and to take some painfully boring spinning progress photos.

Let's Just Pile it All On, Shall We?

Well. It is one of those days. Mercury is Retrograde (will Oct 15th ever get here?), the Moon is void-of-course for the rest of today and most of tomorrow. Everything I have touched this week has picked today to fall to pieces. Sigh. I am really ready to hide under the covers, but on Tuesday I pretty much used up my allotment of laziness for the week. I was on a rocky road ice cream drip this morning, which did help a little.

Knitting on MS4 is suspended until I cease to be an idiot or until I make an offering to the YO fairy. Every time I end a lace row, I realize that I have lost at least one yarnover... somewhere. It should not take an hour to knit 116 stitches. I have been doodling along on the "Preppy" scarf. That is the one that is burgundy, navy and hunter was nameless the last time I posted about it. It makes good mindless knitting.

I kind of feel like I should be storing acorns for the winter. I have a credit at Wooly Knob and some fleeces that need processing, so I will send them off and get them back in the spring (or maybe next week), and getting wool in the mail is just as delightful to me as finding a long lost acorn is to Mr. Squirrel.

OH! The alpaca scarf made it to the mystery destination and the recipient is pleased. Whew.

Freezing Summer Days

It might be time to go back home - I can tell because the a/c in buildings is making my fingers umbjh. Numb. It has been hot and humid this week, but in general I think it might be time to go in the closet and fluff up my down duvet for the winter. Not quite yet, though. The bunnies still need frozen water bottles in the afternoon and the mouse has taken to sleeping outside his hut. It must be too well insulated in there.

Not a lot of knitting progress to report - about 4 rows on MS4 (and I am still not on clue 4). I doodled around with some leftover sock yarn in an effort to use it up, but was not pleased with the 2 or 3 things I tried. Ho Hum.

I have been feeling fine, but you all forgot to remind me that I am not allowed to watch "Sex and the City" yet... I was in tears by the middle of the episode last night. I can't stand to listen to them talk about relationship woes (and joys). Seperately (but related) I realized last week that what I want, what I have been waiting for - without even realizing it - is an apology from Mr. Fixit. I know I am not going to get it but I feel a bit better for identifying the thorn.

No big achievements this weekend and no big plans next week... but next weekend is the first of the yoga teacher training program. Wheee!

The Day After

Well, I think the interview went fine. It was with a placement agency (temp company), so who knows what will be in my future. I think I conviced my "account executive" to come to yoga though

The baristina at the coffeeshop is wearing a Megatokyo tee shirt today and was floored that I recognized it. That's me, spreading the love.

Delivery of the Southwest Sweater was successfully accomplished last night! I was rewarded by getting to play with 4 6-week old siamese kittens. They were adorable. None of my cats came to me that young, so it was interesting. Although now that I think of it I fostered 3 kittens about that age for a while about 8 years ago. I have Freddy Mercury all picked out and to take home, but I need Mandy approval. And I should probably not mess with the pet equilibrium that I have right now.

Now that the sweater is done, I have the urge to knit (finish) one (or two) for myself. The button salesman came to Knit N Stitch and now I want to find a cardigan pattern to make. I was wandering around Ravelry and I am sure I will find one somewhere :) I will have to get spinning for the yarn.

I printed Clue 4 for the Mystery Stole 4 project, but am still only halfway through Clue 3. The beads are off the charts for the moment, but lace part of the pattern just got very detailed and it requires my full attention. Last night I only knit one row because I spent an hour chasing down one missing stitch (I dropped a YO, but I found it eventually). I still don't know what it is, but I adore the color, the yarn and the pattern so far.

It is a sunny day, I had some breakfast, I checked in the yoga class - my favorite part of my work there - and said Good Morning to everyone, and got a coffee at the Depot. This afternoon I have lace class and tonight I am taking myself out on a date to the Bluegrass Night at the (big) Coffee Depot downtown.

I have been putting a little effort and energy into my spritual practice again this week and it has made me pretty happy and confident. It could be the placebo effect, but I will take it!

Ironing Day

I have an interview this afternoon. It is with a temp company, so I am not sure how it will all turn out. My friend put things in perspective - worst case, I get interviewing practice; best case I find a happy job at a good price.

Holding Steady

Today was a lovely day. I got up early, cooked and went to the knitting store on time. My student was a fantastically quick study and she was spinning away within an hour. Then I did some puttering, some working, some WOW playing, some more knitting, some yogaing and now some coffeeshopping with a raspberry scone and some white flower tea. This is the life.

Hot Feet! Hot Feet!

Just for you I trekked outside to the car and retrieved the camera, although I suppose it is really for me so that you don't stop loving me :) It managed to migrate out of the laptop bag and into the knitting bag.

Here is the Alpaca scarf in all its squishy glory:

And here is how much yarn was left over after I worked in the ends:I think that might be a knitting record. I know it is a personal best. The scarf is short, but very, very warm and very, very squishy. I just loved to pat it. It is now in a box winging its way to a mystery location. *bwahahah*

Here is the new scarf. It is actually longer than this now, and coming along nicely. I made it a little narrower than the alpaca one, so I should get more length (I also had 77 more yards in this skein). I spun the colors in little "puffs" in order by color, so it is making stripes that are more or less orderly. The colors are burgundy, hunter green and navy blue which were all the rage a few years ago when I was in college. I feel like there is a good name for this scarf right on the tip of my tongue, but it just won't come out. Yuppie? Trendy? Smithie? New Englandy? Help is appreciated.

That is all the knitting news that is fit to print. My only big adventures today were returning my overdue library books and paying the overdue light and gas bills.

Mon-duh

This weekend (well, yesterday) I knit a scarf out of that fluffy alpaca yarn I made a few weeks ago. There were 200 yards and I worked it up in a "mistake rib" pattern. It came out very handsomely, and I will have absolutely no yarn left over after I weave in the 2" yarn ends at the start and finish points. It is a little bit short, and I should not have widened it after all, but it is warm and soft and will make a nice neck warmer. I put the finished scarf in the car. I put the camera in the car. I put the laptop in the car. And yet, at no point have I taken a picture of the scarf to upload.

That is about the extent of my knitting progress this weekend. Actually, that is the extent of all my activities on Sunday. Just me, the scarf and "The Two Towers". The scarf came out so well that I think I will make another out of the blue / green / burgundy wool I spun up about the same time as the gray. Now I know why people "gift knit"; to get rid of the yarn that they don't want for themselves, but will find a good home elsewhere.

I am still on a "finishing" kick -- I need to block Mandy's sweater, make a decision on the sleeves for the "Mirepoix Bodice", finish spinning the gray wool for the "Aud" sweater (betcha thought I forgot about that one!) and I will be pretty well caught up on the sweaters-in-progress. Maybe I will delve back into stole-land afterward.

About yesterday's mini post: I figured out how to log into the blog from my cell phone. I can make a title and give it tags, but there is nowhere at all to write the body of the post. Sigh. I was able to approve comments, so keep 'em coming!

phoney

Superwoman

Mandy's sweater is done, done, done. 'Nuff said.Here is the finished yarn from the Red Fish roving I was working on last week. It is chain (Navajo) plied to keep the colors in some semblance of order. It is a 50 / 50 Merino and silk blend, and I got 277 yards from 4oz. (There is a better link to Redfish / the Weaver's Cottage here.)

Coming up soon on the parade of roving is this merino / soysilk blend from Louet (which I purchased from The Dizzy Ewe). It comes out as a rainbow if I chain ply it... I just have to decide how long I want the repeats to be. I have 8 oz... maybe enough for a tank top?When I was at Knit N Stitch yesterday (for 20 minutes, to seam the sweater), a man called about his sheep's fleece. Today I wandered by and met these fine fellows (fellines?) They are mystery sheep (I suspect the dark one is a suffolk and she is 9 months old), but very cute. The little lamb is just a couple weeks old and is a ram. The white mystery sheep is his mother and the one who was shorn. It is actually a darn nice finewool fleece. They were very friendly (well, not the lamb) and quite soft (well, not the lamb).

I have been making progress on the MS4 project. Here it is completed through the end of clue 2. I am about halfway through clue 3 and I am beginning to think the lacy things in the center are seahorses. On the other hand, I still don't even know which way is up. One of the Mystery Stoles (#2) was a geometric pattern, so this may end up being "nothing" at all. I still love it with a burning passion.

I am also working on the Mirepoix bodice. I am nearly done with the sleeves (working 2 on one circ) but am having a size issue... the sleeve cap is already at the recommended length and I have 10 rows to go to get the right number of stitches to cast off. Sigh.

Things perked up around Friday afternoon and I have been more or less chipper since. I have heard from several people that last week was just full of molasses. And Mercury doesn't even go retrograde until next Wednesday. SIGH.

Bring Chocolate

It never feels like I have been away long, and then I look at the date of the last post. Yikes! I have been keeping somewhat busy in the meantime...

Mandy's sweater needs only the second half of the second sleeve seamed in. I tried it on the other day and my head fit through the proper opening, so that is a huge relief. Everybody pray for a cold spell so she can wear it! There is one skein of the yarn left over, so I might be talked into making a matching hat, but no one should hold their breath. It might go on the "for sale" area of Ravelry.

I took pictures yesterday of the finished Red Fish yarn and the MS4 project, but managed to leave the camera in my knitting bag, so no pictures on today's post. Tomorrow for sure. I am done through clue 2. Clue 3 will be released in the morning. Today I actually picked up and worked on the Mirepoix bodice project that has been in a holding pattern. Since I am so close to done with the purple sweater, I am rewarding myself with work on a sweater for me. OOOH, that link is to a knit-a-long. I will have to join!

While I was looking for some stash wool to spin on the wheel (now that the Red Fish roving is done), I found some dyed BFL that was gifted to me but is not a colorway that I would have picked out. I decided to spin it anyway (maybe I could re-gift the yarn) when I realized this would be a good yarn with which to practice my long-draw technique. So I watched "Born Into Brothels" and argued with the roving. By the end, we were reaching a truce. I think if I keep practicing, I will keep getting better. Funny how that happens.

Lucky the Mouse is still doing well. I feed him by hand to keep him tame - it works for the guinea pigs and the rabbit. In fact, they go a little nuts if I walk past or open the fridge without giving them something. I have to watch my fingers when I give them banana. They go, well, bananas. They drew the line at mushrooms, though.

Even though I am putting together a happy post, I have been feeling rather low these last few days. My cooking-cleaning-laundry-gardening phase seems to have ebbed away and I am left with restlessness mixed with lack of motivation. The only useful things are that I am still making it to all my appointments / committments (the ones that don't slip my mind, at least) and working on projects in progress, not starting new ones (except for spinning through the stash, but that is ongoing and keeps me from buying new yarn). I have been getting up late and getting started with my workday late (such as it is) and feeling like I am slogging through mud at the same time. I have also been sad about lost relationsips and such... but am not willing to go looking for another one. When we were in resting pose at yoga last night I imagined meeting someone new and immediately felt anxious. Heart pounding, can't breathe, freaking out and running away anxious. So I backed off that little exercise.

I am sure that I will be on an upswing soon, but it would be nice to know when. It was about this same time last year that things started to fall apart mentally, emotionally, and ultimately relationship-ly with Mr. Fixit, so I don't know if the season change is what makes me sad, or what. I love fall, so it was (is) particulary odd that I have felt so unbalanced at this time for the last 2 years.

I will keep knitting.