Tuesday.

The first half of my wheel came in the mail yesterday - my niddy noddy, and a pound of fiber. The actual wheel itself is scheduled to be delivered on Thursday. So it's not here yet. But that's okay. I'll go home Thursday, put it together, and spin some. And then some more on Friday. Saturday morning I'll take it all apart, and go stain it. !! And I'm going to work on refining the PVC swift with my little brother, too. So, exciting.

I'm taking a class for work right now - it's every Monday night for three months. And they're awfully boring. Last night was especially rough - so after the first break, I pulled out my emergency sock. You know, the one I started a month ago and still haven't made it past the arch expansion? Yep, that one. I worked on it while focusing on making eye contact with the instructor (I've never knit in a meeting/class before, so it was a new thing!) and now I'm almost finished with the arch. Ten more rounds, and I get to start the heel. :)

And the Luna Moth - I think it finally clicked. I knit two rows last night, and I only needed the chart a few times. That's way exciting for me. I'm about halfway through my 3rd repeat. I might get a summery shawl finished in time for the wedding at this rate!

Today is my birthday. Which is a very important day in the bubble in which I live. :)

And, because it is my birthday, I bought myself something special. (Ok, so really my dad's birthday money bought me something special.)

Isn't is lovely? It's an Ashford Kiwi. And I'm going to finish it with one of these colors. Aren't they lovely too?! I think I've settled on the Antique Jade, but I could change my mind when I see these in person.

Beyond the excitement of the new wheel, I'm also way totally excited about the loaf of bread I baked last night! (I bake bread. Fairly frequently, actually. You kinda have to when your partner can't eat wheat products.) I used a sourdough starter, and a white rice flour mix. And, magically, the taste and the texture was exactly that of English Muffins. Love in loaf shape.

Today is a whole new day. I wouldn't quite say a whole new world, but the hope and excitement traveling over the air waves makes it feel as such.

Watched the inauguration on the fellyvision yesterday. Rae says she watched all day long. I only got to see about an hours worth, but it was enough. Yes, I cried, but just a tear or two.

I haven't knitted in ages, it seems. I decided that the Gail was too much lace much too soon. So I dropped back to the LunaMoth. I like it. I'm working it up in Knitpicks Palette, a hunter green. I was hoping to finish a shawl in time for Rae's cousin's wedding, but hunter green isn't such a great spring wedding color. Maybe I'll zip through the rest of this one, and start another simple-like shawl with the alpaca. But that would require some knitterly ninja focus.

Which I definitely don't have right now. Largely because I've been reading the last few days. Over the weekend, I read The Friday Night Knitting Club; it was okay. I'm glad I didn't buy it, because I'll never have the desire to read it again. To be honest, I wouldn't have read it the first time if it wasn't about knitters. ... Not that it was a bad book, because it wasn't. I've definitely been exposed to worse books. (Notice I didn't say I read them; I didn't. I promptly put them down.) It was a light, fluffy read with very little focus required. It was good for the moment. I also got a knitting mystery book. I'm intrigued to see how that one turns out. And I'm reading the Golden Compass, which has been on the to-read list since high school. And we're working our way through the Lemony Snicket series. We bought them because I thought Renee would enjoy them, but turns out I like children's lit too! They're also light and fluffy. I will say, though, that the style has gotten droll and too repetitive. I think I've finished book 9 or 10, and I'm about done for a while. And we picked up several small business starting/owning/managing/accounting/etc books that I'll need to work my way through, taking notes and such.

Maybe I won't get to that second shawl... :)

My new fiber came in the mail yesterday. I opened it at work. I had to! There was no option. And I'm so glad I did, because it's entirely delightfully and squishy and amazing.

I think the BFL is my favorite, right now. The color is spot-on, exactly what I was hoping for. The 8 oz bag of it is awesome to look at. We touch-tested them last night. Rae likes the merino/tencel best, and I don't blame her. It's way shiny, and way squishy, and slick feeling. The bamboo is similar, but not quite as slick. The BFL, my favorite, is just as squishy but it has more grab to it. (Well, it's not superwash and it's not mixed with a slick plant fiber so that makes total sense.) And I appreciate the grabiness.

I finished the first oz of the colored fiber last night, and then wound it off onto *gasp* our new ballwinder! I'm currently designing (just in my head) a way to create a lazy kate that works well with the ballwinder. I've got some ideas. I'm splitting the second half into quarters to spin it, and I just started that last night. I'm still enamoured with how pretty it is!

So, my favorite thing about spinning - the dyed top I've used the most is all brightly colored with intense contrasting colors. In fact, when Rae first saw the ball of the Louet, she said, "That's ugly. You're never making me anything from that ball of clown barf." Which is totally HIGHlarios, because now every time she sees the finished skein she asks me what I'm making for her. I can't wait to see it knitted up. So see the complete transformation from ball of clown barf to beautiful cowl. :)

I did sit down with the lace on Tuesday. And that involved ripping it all out. And then I knit back to where I was again (but it didn't involve any tinking at all) and started the second pattern repeat. That didn't go so well. Turns out, I'd been purling my yos and my knits together on the way back when I wasn't paying attention. So I ripped out another 2 or 3 rows, and soon I'll be ready to start the second repeat.

I didn't spin at all on Tuesday. I was very proud of me.

Wednesday was knit night! And I took my spinning. Well, I took socks too, but. Those are boring right now. They're perfectly in the middle of the lace and spinning on the need-to-pay-attention spectrum, and apparently I don't want that right now. I did work on them when I was at the dentist yesterday morning, but. That hardly counts.

Okay, one last time - ahh! My yarn is so pretty! I'm somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 the way finished with the first half of the dyed merino. That's exciting. I ordered more fiber from Spunky Eclectic to finish the stuff - some dark BFL to ply with it. And then I ordered more top, just for fun!! I got some white merino/bamboo, some white merino/tencel, and a handpainted Romney. So, in addition to lots of spinning, I'm going to have to do some dying. I think I'm okay with that. :)

I hope my package gets here, like, tomorrow. Woo! Except that since I'm working on the lace again tonight, it's not like I'm going to finish the whole 2 oz of the merino anytime soon. Eek!

Ha!

Yes, ignoring the lace!

Until tonight, damn it. I'm going to sit down and work on it. Yesterday, I spun some of my next roving (uhh, which I'll tell you all about); tomorrow is knit night and there is no way I'm going to take it with me then. I'll take socks to work on. Or the wrap, or maybe even the bag I hate. So, tonight the f*ing lace.

The spinning, oh my goodness! I'm using my latest spindle (I say that like I've got a collection - really just 4, and only two of them are usable (by me) and one of those is annoying) anyway, I'm using this

spindle (which is entirely delightful and utterly awesome) and a lovely .9 oz weight. I've got 2oz of roving I picked up in Tennesse - it's blue, red, blue, orange, yellow, red, etc. I'm spinning it at about ... say, a light lace weight, maybe. I'll have to get out the WPI tool. It's so skinny, and it's so pretty, and it's really been pretty consistent. I spun for a few hours last night, watching tvontheinternet, and The History of India on PBS. Then Rae got home (from her first day!) and she made me stop. And by that, I mean it's good that someone fed me.

It's really pretty. I ripped the roving into two pieces, lengthwise, to work with. I'm going to aim for spinning the two sections of the dyed roving, and then one more piece of either some white that I have, or maybe purchase some natural color fiber, and then do a three ply. Ohh, and I think I'm going to buy some bamboo! Yikes!

I totally finished my first complete skein of handspun! It's 4 oz (uhh, give or take a bit), 159 yds, and entirely delightful! I think it looks like fall in the Jellico Mountains. It took entirely forever to finish. The first 1/3 was spun quite some time ago, and it ended up a light dk weight; the last bulk of it was spun over last weekend, and it's a heavy worsted/light bulky. I'm working on finding a project for it; probably a textured cowl, or short scarf.
And now I'm way excited to get into my second skein! I've got about 2 oz, I think, of a very bright roving that I'll likely ply with a bright white. Definitely.

That lace shawl? I sat down with it last night. Only got through about 6 pattern rows, but I had to tink back at least halfway through each row. Plus, I spent 45 minutes trying to figure out why the row I was on didn't match stitch count, etc. I feel like I've spent forever on it, but really I haven't. I'm just a slow lace knitter right now. I'll be starting the second repeat tonight. We'll see how that works out. I think I've got it figured out, though.

The lace, though, has definitely increased my urge to spin. It's way easy to ignore the lace when I've got some some delightful roving to play with!

January 2nd, the day we all say, "Yes! Of course! I will go to the gym! I will stop eating! I will stop smoking! I will stop buying designer shoes!"

So, those aren't actually my goals for the year. Mine are, I think, not in any order:

1. Finish a kitting project that requires commitment. Afghan, lace shawl, sweater, knee socks, and such would all count.
2. Buy a house. Well, okay. I'd like to own a house by June, 2010. So, be well on my way to owning a house.
3. Write a business plan. Perhaps start a business. Renee and I would really like to have somewhere to employ ourselves. Or, at least, her.
4. And, of course, go to the gym. ;)

That lace shawl - not coming along at all. I think I might have to frog and start over. I was doing okay, but then my chart got jostled and I'm not sure what row I should be on... eh. :) I've got all year, right? Those socks? I've only knit about 3 rounds over the last week. That bag? I still hate purling. I might never finish it. But the spinning - I picked that up again yesterday. I feel that I'm doing better than I was when I stopped before. So there's one positive thing.

The madness is mostly over. For this month, at least.

It seems as if I'll be heading down to Knoxville once a month for a while. Rae and I went down in November, right after grandma's surgery. Then we went down the weekend before Christmas, and spent a couple days down there. We found a yarn store - that was delightful (and expensive) fun. Rae decided she wants to start knitting Estonian-styled lace. We grabbed a skein of Alpaca with a Twist for her to work with. And, of course, I picked up some more sock yarn. Pretty stuff. We ended up not going out while we were there. We were just so tired - after the drive, and handling Grandma, and surviving the Walmart, goodness.

To be able to help Rae with her lace, I started my own. (Just to get a little jump start on the learning curve.) Well, okay. So I started a lace shawl a month or two ago, and it's languishing in the basket right now. But this one will be different, I promise! The repeat for this one is 30-some rows, twice as long as the Luna Moth. The horizontal repeat is a little longer too, but I can't tell you how much. This one didn't come with real great instructions! But, it's the Beginning Lace Knitter's KAL for January - so I'm sure there will be plenty of help along the way. I'm about finished with the first repeat (I think 7 are suggested, or maybe five) and it's delightfully beautiful. Also Aplaca with a Twist, in a light slate blue. I bought the yarn at Heavenly Creations on Friday, and I wanted to immediately go home and take a nap with it. Mmm.

What else is there? I've got a set of delightful socks OTN right now - a dark blue, with an easy little lace pattern on top. The first is finished, and I'm still working on the toe of the second. My Twisted wrap is still in the big project bag - I think it's close to finished now, but it's been a while since I've touched it. I need to look up the finishing instructions to see if I need to keep going. I'm still working on my pretty bag, but the stage I'm at right now is all purling, and I'm not so much a fan of that.

I got a swift for Christmas! My little brother made it for me from PVC. It's perfect. So I'm going to splurge on a ball winder now. I started winding a skein of Cascade 220, and half way through I decided that, although I enjoy ball winding, I really want a winder. So that's exciting.

But really, I think that's it. Christmas is over, I like yarn, I've debated on New Year's "goals", and Grandma goes back for another heart surgery sometime in January. Oh, and John wants me to make socks for his girlfriend. Ha. We'll see about that.

I haven't been spinning at all, lately. We were both sick all last week, which meant I hardly even touched a knitting needle while Renee knitted practically an entire blanket. Eh, okay.

I started making dishclothes. I knitting one, but it hurt my hands too much. So I started crocheting them instead. I made a star one, and a circle, and a regular square. Then I did a square one with a pattern stitch. I started a tawashi one last night (an open square with 4 linked rings inside it) and it's interesting like. They've been great with my entire lack of focusing ability right now.

I'm going to spin tonight, though. I decided. I'm going to start on that ball of Louet again, because I think I miss spinning. And I think I've got a better conceptual idea of what's going on, at this point, so it'll be good to get my hands started at catching up with my head.

Yep yep.

The holiday season has officially started. Thanksgiving (my personal favorite) is over. (Umm, and it was entirely delicious. And completely gluten-free. And homemade, down to the stuffing bread and pie crust. I'm very proud of it.) Our Christmas shopping / producing is nearly complete. We've still got to felt all the bowls, and Renee just started a blanket for her great-grandmother last night. I got a late start on gifts for my relatives. ... Okay, so I wasn't going to do anything for them. But then I grew up a little, and decided on presents for anyone under the age of 10. Which means I'm gifting for little girls. I decided I'd knit them coordinating hats. Luckily, one of the girls is technically a Johovah's witness, so her present doesn't actually need to be finished until after the holiday (but it would be nice to finish early). I think I'm going to make them all Republic Hats - one hot pink, one bright teal, and one a nice purple color. Easy, doesn't require much thought, etc.

I actually started a Lifted Twill hat for one of the girls, but. It just requires a little more focus than I've got right now. (Especially if I'm going to finish in time!) Since I'm doing a simple hat, though, I might knit some little wrist warmers to go with them. We'll see.

I finished my Renee's-family-christmas-swap gift. I drew one of the boyfriends, ha. I knit him a scarlet and grey hat based on the Turn a Square pattern. I love it- it's warm, and soft, and I might need one that's not Buckey themed!

Since last week, I've learned to ply. Which means that I'm making yarn. Not at a breakneck pace, mind you, but still making yarn. My own handspun, which I think is entirely delightful.


And now that I'm making my own handspun, I have an entirely different view of it. I purchased a small skein of some handspun over the summer, and hadn't the slightest clue what to do with it. It seemed to precious to disturb. Well, now it's not. And it's going to turn into wrist warmer things, or perhaps a cowl. Because the process of handspun (from roving to singles to plied to knitted object) is now to delightful to interrupt. I'm going to work with it this weekend.

And I'm going to take this ball of fiber (which has gotten considerably smaller since this photo!) and make more of these singles.

Then I'm going to ply the singles together, and make some more of this!!

Which, I promise, is much prettier in person than this poor photo makes it look! And I've got two skeins of it now. And I'm going to finish two spindles worth of singles next time and try to make a little larger skein. And to ply a little differently! Ahh!

Beyond that. Thanksgiving is here. My little brother is coming over. We're eating turkey sandwiches, and probably watching crappy tv. Or something. And he's bringing his new girlfriend who is *gasp* 6 years older than he is! (Last time we were at Dad's, dad kinda freaked out about the age difference, and how you don't want to trap yourself, and older women want to settle down, blah blah. We laughed. Mom was 4 years older than he is (so he knows from experience) and Renee is 10 years older than me. Ha!)

Big weekend...

Raeface and I went down to Tennessee this weekend to see my grandmother. She had heart surgery last week, so we went down to visit her, etc. We ended up getting to take her home from the hospital on Saturday morning, so that was exciting!

We always have a good time in Knoxville. The gay bars there are absolutely hysterical. This time moving to Knoxville was on our minds, so we started deciding who we would be friends with. And making up stories. And watching all the ladies interact. Turns out that lesbians are the same everywhere. And we wouldn't be friends with many of them - much like here! Ha!

Anyway. Grandma is doing fine. Obviously, she tires easily and is a little grumpy, but that's what happens when they crack open your chest.

That's a long drive to make over a weekend, though. Which is a disheartening thought, especially since someone really needs to start making that drive once a month or so. Not that she's in bad shape, or anything, but someone needs to visit more than once a year. Seriously. And, since I want her land, I should be the one to do it. Crikies!

Umm, spinning, oh my goodness. There wasn't much time this weekend, but. I picked up some new fiber on Thursday, and a new spindle! and .. well, there need to be photos. I'll get those soon.

Spindling

So, the spinning is going really really well. I picked up a new bag of Tuscan Grove roving. It's beeeeaaautiful. It's called Electric Storm. It's a superwash merino, colored neon orange, neon leaf green, white and black/dark gray. In class Monday night, we all went over to the fiber wall to see the offerings. The other ladies picked a bag and went up to the register; I picked a bag and went back to my spot on the couch and started spinning.

I worked on it some more last night. I've probably spun about an ounce (or close to an ounce) right now; it's spinning between a dk and a worsted right now, but I've got a new, lighter spindle on the way. That should thin it down to closer to a dk or lace weight. Then I think I'll ply it with some of the plain white, or the other storm colored roving (a similar green color, purple, dark gray, etc) and then make a scarf with it! I think it would make a lovely My So-Called Scarf. Or something like that. Perhaps.

It's fun that I'm already planning on knitting with the yarn I'm making.

I spun some last night, on the clunker spindle. (Which is 2.76 oz. The one I ordered is 0.9 oz. I'm looking forward to the difference.) I pre-drafted about 3 yards of fiber, then started spinning. Standing up, I could get about 2 yards spun before I'd have to wind everything (which, with the additional drafting, equaled about 1/3 of what I'd pre-drafted.) After I'd spun all I could reach, I'd let some slack into the yarn (because at that point it really is yarn!) and sometimes (about half the time) it would be perfect! with hardly any overspun sections.

I'm starting to look at wheels. That's a while off, though. I need money, first. And space to put it.

meme. sorry.

Are you cheating on someone right now?
Dolly Parton. No.

Do you hate when couples are like "i love you" after datin g for about 2 days?
Umm, that's the lesbian way. 'Cept Renee and I. We're not lesbians.

Do you like coffee?
Does it count that I need it? Because I do.

Ever been so anxious or overwhelmed that it felt like you couldn't breathe?
Yes. Certianly. Of course. Weekly, it seems.

Do you believe that love is all you need?
I'm too young to believe in the Beatles.

What' s your favorite lollipop flavor?
Delicious.

What kind of mood are you in?
Exhausted, pretty much. And my ear hurts.

Are your parents divorced?
Widowed.

What were you doing eight o' clock this morning?
Probably looking at drawings. Or something.

Who is the last person you told a secret to?
Likely, Raeface.

Do you wish you were somewhere else right now?
Of course.

Last thing you purchased?
New roving last night. It's beeeeeeaaaautiful.

Plans for the upcoming weekend?
Tennesse. To be with grandma.

Did you sleep in past noon today?
Ha! I wish!

Who is your last missed call from?
Probably my brother. Or raeface.

When was the last time you ate Frosted Flakes?
It's been a looong time.

Do you know any songs that are older than you are?
Yeah buddy.

Can you even walk in high heels?
Some of them. Depends on whether or not I'm having a good ankle day.

Do you like peanut M& M's?
M&Ms are legally no longer chocolate. Bleck.

Do you like water parks?
I like water. But I hate children. Well, children in groups.

What was your last phone conversation about?
Umm. Scheduling this weekend, I think.

Last place you went to eat out?
Casa .. something in Gahanna. It was okay.

Who were you with last night?
Spinning class!

Are you listening to any music right now?
No. Just work noises.

When was the last time you were truly and completely happy with your life?
I'm pretty okay right now.

Next time you will kiss someone?
This evening, I would hope.

Is your handwriting large , tiny, or pretty normal?
It's neat, and slightly on the larger side. It's pretty stylized, I guess.

Are you there for your friends?
The friends I have, sure.

Are you a forgiving person?
No. I'm not forgiving, but I don't think it's worth the energy to hold a grudge.

Anything bothering you now?
Just my ear.

Who were the last people you ate with?
Raeface made dinner last night. It was delicious.

What are your plans for tonight?
Doing dishes, folding laundry, ordering a new spindle.

What color are your nails right now?
Un-manipulated.

What is the last non- alcoholic beverage you had?
Coffee. Goodness.

Where did you last sleep other than your house?
I don't frequently sleep other places. The castle, I guess.

Do you prefer hot or cold weather?
Temperate.

Have you ever been on a horse?
Years ago.

Do you get distracted easily?
Depends. How focused am I?

What is the last thing you did before you went to bed last night?
Took off my clothes.

Have you ever changed clothes in a vehicle?
Again, years ago.

What' s the last thing you put in your mouth?
Coffee. Still.

I made more yarn last night. And I need to take my camera to the electronics store to get a cord to connect the camera to a computer, because I really want the world to see the amazing stuff of dreams that I spun last night. (And by 'amazing stuff of derams' I really mean over spun and under spun yarn of varying thicknesses that's better than the stuff I made Monday night.) Actually, there was a stretch where I had a good length of nice, rather consistent, yarn. That was really exciting. But then I lost my focus and it started stretching out and it broke. So I stopped for the evening.

Plus, at that point, they'd already decided that Obama won so I didn't have to stay up any later.

Knit night tonight. I might get my Jitterbug socks finished. And maybe start on the sweater!!!

I totally made yarn last night. It was pretty frinkin' sweet. I'm going to go home tonight and make some more. Perhaps it will be of slightly higher quality than what I produced last night. (The stuff I made last night has segments of overtwist followed by segments of undertwist. Kinda like think & thin, but really curly.)

Anyway. That was exciting. And I enjoyed it. And I can't wait to go back next week and learn the next step. Or perhaps even just a refinement of this step.

AhhhH!

Oh, and I voted this morning. Have you voted?

Ahh! Spinning class tonight!! Ahh!!!

That's exciting. I'm excited. Woohoo!!!

Ahh! Happy November!

So, I totally punked out and did not go to the Obama rally. I was really not feeling crowd friendly this morning. Rather, I felt more like a girl who hasn't slept properly in several weeks. Whatevs. Last night, I finished the last of the icord for the handknit surprise for the Starbucks and Yarn swap. It (and by it, I mean the package as a whole) still feels like it's lacking something. I think I'm going to put together a project bag, or a project notebook, or a pattern binder... something. Maybe. Or I'll just send it off as-is, because it's still pretty fantastic the way it is. Umm, the cozy is delightful. I love it. Might have to make me one.

I made a second one while I was making the first one, and that one will go to the angel package hoard. I'm doing a third one right now, out of some fantastic blue-green-yellow-brown yarn. It's a different style, and maybe I'll actually make myself one in this style. It'll be awesome.

It's been a weekend, for sure. Halloween was a fun night with some fantastic costumes to be seen (like a pumpkin patch, and a 7' tall Oompa Loompa) and some delightful food and drink. We stopped a Jeni's on the way home Friday night, and I got a delicious sundae (blood orange ice cream, dark chocolate fudge, a dark chocolate brownie, and a "severed lady finger!!!") that was entirely too large for me to eat. I ate the brownie and the lady finger, and the hot fudge - but other than tiny tastes, I pretty much gave the ice cream to Renee's brother. The ice cream was delicious, surely. But I just couldn't handle all the dairy - ahh!

This week looks like it should be pretty okay. My work week is already planned; I like it when that happens and I know what to expect. Home life should be pretty calm, I think. Except for trying to decide what to say to my Dad, if anything, about how I feel about what he's doing with his life... I feel that, perhaps, a letter to the magic Bubbopants is in order on that one, though. I just can't seem to decide myself.

This power plant project is close to kicking my ass. That is all.

I finished one of the Toscana socks, and, umm, it's practically perfect. I'm almost to the arch expansion on the second one - hopefully I'll keep focused and be wearing them this weekend! I'm using the same sockitecture I used for the really ugly socks - I really like the Riverbed one. Initially, I was stuck on the Coriolis because it's so pretty and I love that the increases are organized into something so sweet looking. But the way the increases create this extra fold of fabric and how it's almost-but-not-quite invisible in the Riverbed organization... It's lovely. And it's really really exciting that I finally have socks that fit! And I'm already excited for the next pair of socks - I've got some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn I picked up in Indianapolis. I've got a navy color, and bright lime green. There's a simple lace pattern in the Bordhi book (that I'd intended for the Toscana socks) that I'm going to work on the navy socks; I'm not sure what I'm going to work with the lime. Maybe Monkey, or something cabled. Something as equally obnoxious as the color (which I really do love, a whole lot). Then maybe I'll go back to working on the Klein bottle bag, or the Twisty Turns wrap. Eh. :)

We went to the library last night. I kind of went a little crazy in the books-on-CD section. We got a lot of Prairie Home Companion, the Stories of Dusty and Lefty, and Julia Childs' My Life in France. Uhh, I picked that one because I really enjoyed Julie & Julia (which doesn't actually have any of Julia Childs' writing in it) and because she was a spy. :) We'll see how that goes. I'll have to get into them this evening before NCIS is on.

And, I think I'm going to go vote this evening! At least, I mean, if I remember to look up my sample ballot and spend some time this afternoon researching judges. And, if I could make up my mind on who I'd prefer to be president. (Yeah. Still not sure. Whatever.)