morning : noon : night :: 2.7

 

 

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Hoodwinked

Yeah, so I live in New England. I’ll get over it.

If you need me, I’ll be immersed in brightly colored dyes today. Coping Mechanism.

*C’s out there right now…camping out at the place we’re likely moving to in less than two months time. Want desperately to know what’s going on, his thoughts, what it looks like feels like smells like…anything. No cell service so am in the dark. Boo x 10, I’m feeling anxious.

*This is my first night alone in this house. The housemates left (also for California coincidentally), and now I am in charge of my boy, a giant nipping draft horse, three crazy voyeuristic sheep (they are endlessly watching the windows of the house from the pasture), three goats (including one master escapee), two dogs that need to be pilled (one of which has taken to leaving diarrhea on the floor) and two awesome cats (who require very little from me). Oh, and about fifteen chickens and one asshole rooster who bruised my calf the other day.

*Am looking forward to when the roads are no longer the consistency of cake batter. Seems I will be neighborhood-bound for the next few days as even the all-wheel-drive Subaru is no match for the deep, gooey ruts from our driveway to the main road. Had to park it a mile and some away at the town center.

*At least for a couple of days the SNOW and frigid cold will harden up that cake batter I mentioned, making a more pleasant walk to the car if I desperately need it, but it’s a long walk for a four-year-old. And snow? Come ON. There’s even talk of accumulation.

*Will need to rent a car to make the 3 and a 1/2 hour drive to pick up C from the airport on Saturday. I’m out a wheel bearing and strut. See that part about cake batter.

*Wind is wild and whipping about. I’m surprisingly non-plussed by this whole situation. Just getting sleepy…finally.

Priorities…

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
When life gives you snow and with it a "snow day" from school, you make snow angels with the kiddo.

This is my fourth winter in Vermont, and I finally have my first real snow bib. It makes laying down in the snow a whole heckuva lot more enjoyable. I used to just be wet and miserable after spending time playing in the snow, but here I am warm and dry after angel-making, sled-pulling and mountain-building. I have now experienced the value of Proper Attire.

Spinning is happening, as usual, but felting is on hold until I get some more nylon tulle in the mail. I cut it all up for the nuno-felt workshop this past weekend at the LYS…
I’m still getting used to this teaching gig…I was all tied up in anxiety knots before class started…I always wonder, will they enjoy the class? will i give them enough to go on so they feel the class was worth it? My process has always been so intuitive, I feel I have difficulty giving guidance on the aspects of design. BUT, for all my worrying, everyone seemed to have a really excellent time, and left with some beautiful pieces of felt. I left the class with a blank "canvas" for a gift wool "painting" and a pair of awesome pulse warmers…pics soon as I sew on the buttons. They are for teeny-tiny wrists, but I’ll get them in the shop in the next couple of days. I even updated last night…a couple of things leftover from BBB that won’t be on their way to consignment…

like this and this and this

I scored some awesome patterned silks the other day, so there is definitely more felt on the way, a new line of yarns for January and soon, some small-batch handpainted yarns spun from locally, humanely raised corriedale and alpaca at the local Spinnery.
I think I might request a 3-ply worsted weight. I’m not a sock knitter, and I’m pretty sure there are already plenty of folks that provide handpainted sock yarn to those insane people who actually enjoy using those itty-bitty needles. I will admit that I traded for some sock yarn from Woolerina at the BBB, and that it’s BEAUTIFUL, and that I will try again to knit a whole pair of socks this time, but I would rather work with the heavier-weight yarn for my own dyeing and usually for my own knitting.

In the meantime, there’s this whole holiday thing I’m not ready for, a few custom orders, moving (the day after Christmas) and then a trip to Cali to see family during New Year’s week.

Perhaps better to go back out in the snow and think about all that other stuff tomorrow.

The Good, the Bad and the Freak Out

The Good:

Spectrum Shift (props go to Banadura for the awesome squishy-soft handspun)
Love these.
I love them for myself, but will be selling them at BBB, anyway.
Will make more.

The Bad:

This is the bulky flyer for my Lendrum.
This is what happens when you’ve done something really horrible in a past life and the Craft Gods want you to suffer.
Chronology of Disaster of Epic Proportions:
-Happily finish up a bobbinful that I’ve spun on the bulky flyer.
-Remove flyer assembly and place in basket on the floor.
-Basket tips over just enough to topple out said flyer assembly.
-BULKY FLYER BREAKS IN TWO PIECES.  A week before BBB! It fell less than a foot! 

Turns out, the flyer is made up of two perpendicular pieces GLUED together. No dowels, no rods…nada. How much did I pay for this? So, it went into traction, after the husband drilled and added dowels for stability. Brilliant, no? Yes. BUT, there’s no way to really "true" it up at home. It will get me through the week now, but there is a slight wobble and I will need to order a new part tomorrow. And I think I will also have to purchase the damned expensive special carry bag for my wheel and it’s accoutrements, since I suppose the lesson learned is that you don’t carry around specialized pieces of equipment in a woven basket. The thing must have been ready to go for a while if it broke so easily. Totally my fault, methinks, but seriously…only glue?
So, anyway, yeah…take care of your tools or stupid things like this happen at really inconvenient moments.

The Freak Out:

You-Know-What is in one week!
I’m in pretty good shape, I think. Lots of scarves, lots of yarn, but I still feel like I need to work on lots more of everything. There are about 30 ornaments that are cut out and embellished…just waiting to be sewn and stuffed. I would like to take photos of my favorite pieces…just because, but I may not get to that. Especially if we try to move this week. We were going to try to do it last week…ha, ha, HA!

In other news, we had snow today:

I’m making a funny face, but ignore that and notice the yummy Wooldancer yarn in my scarf. I was saving this swap yarn for a blankie project, but now the amazing natural fiber fabric store in town is selling gorgeous wool…as in, I can just buy a length of woven wool fabric and have a pretty inexpensive, incrediby warm and beautiful blanket. No knitting required. So, now I can knit up some things for sale with my formerly-hoarded-for-blankie-project indie-spinner stash.

Shortly after the above picture was taken, our snow turned into RAIN. Awful, awful stuff. Now we will have a nice sheet of super-dangerous ice to drive on in the morning.
I want my snow to stick!

Ooooh…the power just flickered off…yikes! weather! Must be time for bed.

Points

It’s snowing.

I prefer this, because if it’s going to be so damn cold, there might as well be something to show for it.

Cranberries sauteed in butter + honey + yogurt = mmmmmmmmmmm.

Have discovered a brand new level of stress. Moving plus preparing for craft shows = panic attack. I have managed to squeeze in dyeing and felting here and there, but feel woefully unprepared for BBB. Hope to make up for it this week. Really, though, I think I will have a ton more product than I did for last year’s SFBB, so panic probably unwarranted.

Have learned that the barn/studio I will have available to me has a moth problem due to previous improper storage of wool/clothing/books. Am NOT bringing my wool in the first wave of moving, but rather will leave it in my current studio until problem is resolved. Thinking about trying to work through a good deal of my stash and storing the rest in those vacuum seal "space bags" or whatever they’re called, so that I can keep them in our part of the house without taking up too much room until eradication is completed in the studio area. It is simply not worth the risk of contamination. Otherwise, the studio space is beautiful, so I’m hoping it’s cool with my friends to turn off the heat and let the place freeze for a week. That would off the bastards. Any input in regards to those hateful creatures is appreciated!

Am excited to have a show-buddy accompanying me to BBB who knows her way around the area (and who is generally awesome). Am no longer terrified of making the drive to the big city. Hooray!

Wow. It’s really snowing.

Pictures! From the felting workshop!
     

Odd-sized pics, yes…I stole them from the Knit or Dye website.

Three Words

It SNOWED yesterday.

Oh, and I’m still alive. Promise. Just needed to take a hiatus from journaling and trying to keep up with more than my own crazy life. Please boost my ego and tell me you missed me.

Here’s something to show you:

Recognize the yarn, misshawklet ???
Yes, it took me THIS long to use it.