Pay it Forward

Jacqui is doing this on her blog and I thought it was a great idea.
Here's the blurb:
I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.
Now.
I will get it to you before the end of the year, 'cause otherwise I'll forget. I may even ask for colour prefs from you. So leave me a comment and email me with your addy.
I'm on a sock and hat jag right now. So that's likely what will be going out. But I do have a couple of scarfs on the go too. You never know...

SNAFU

I really want to thank everyone for their nice thoughts about Loki. It's so quiet around here without him, I'm still not used to it. We got his ashes back yesterday and plan to take him for a last walk in the dog park. Seems like something he would like.
We are trying to remember just his happy little foibles. Like the funny "aroo" sound he always made when yawned and the way he would give the human nearest to him a dirty look when he farted and would make a big show of moving away from the stench.
We've also made a funny/gross discovery about our beloved little doggy and his cat. Uzume has been leaving large dingleberries around the house almost daily for the last little while. This is a seemingly new occurrence. We suspect it is NOT a new occurrence, but that Loki was getting a daily cat poop treat courtesy of Uzume. Funny, but kinda nasty too. Ummm, ick?
So. Like the header says, pretty normal around here, but a little effed up too.
I sum up my workpile like this right now: You know how when people are deep, deep, deep in debt and just keep spending like Rockefellers? Because hey, what's another couple hundred when you're in the hole by hundreds of thousands? That's what my deadlines are like right now. I am no longer panic stricken. I care, and things are getting done, but it's not really registering. I'm that deep in the hole.
There are only four more Nihon classes left in year three and I have two garments to complete. I still have a sweater and shawl pattern to write up for immediate publication. That deadline was last week. The crying over that one happened two weeks ago. I have moved on.
I've decided to shelve the master spinner program for the coming year as I want to try to have my book done and published by February 2009. The monkey keeps asking how he can help. I tell him to come up with the money and just smile and nod when I go completely batshit crazy trying to do this next year. No tiger poking.

In other news, my friend Kerry has published some great baby patterns. Go check out her site, Northern Palm Designs.
I had the pleasure of test-kniting this cutie for her:


And on friday, the charming parcel guy delivered a box full of happy from Lorena. The timing was perfect. The only way that it could have been better is if I could have gone to Rhinebeck with the lot of them. Maybe in a couple of years. I think I may be tied up this time next year...


Anyway, it's a great package. There's yarn. Hand-dyed, handpsun AND hand-dyed and a skein of Great Adirondack. It's all gorgeous and I am greatly honoured to have a skein of Lorena's handspun. She sent me her soap too. Which is good because now I don't have to send her a nasty email about how unfair it is that you can only get her handmade soap if you go to their soon-to-be-open shop in Gainsville called Hanks.
There were Disney cookies (the monkey and I ate them first), the now infamous grape jelly that should come in plastic jars, there's lime jelly too, but it's already in the fridge. And, of course, the Florida Gators cold mug. There's tea from Canada, which is amusing, the florida Bud coaster that I had to make sure Holly didn't take home with her, a Lorna's Laces pattern and a bunch of info from the magic kingdom which I assume is to try to lure me down to Epcot.
Like I need to be lured anywhere warm!
Oh! And the Lime Buds! You can try and pry those out of my cold dead hands. Just go ahead and try.

Loki

1996-2007
He was a wonderful, joyful friend.
We miss him more than we can express.
It wasn't long enough.

Sometimes, life gets in the way...

...of blogging.
It's been insanely busy and wildly emotional around here for the last few weeks.
I feel like a chipmunk on crack. Can't sleep, no appetite, and often, a complete blithering lack of focus.
But I'm still here. They haven't sent the nice young men with the clean white coats for me yet. So it's all good.
First there was the monkey's birthday. Which involved a fabulous meal at the Harbour House. The next day was our anniversary and the monkey's brother joined us for a nice visit and some sushi.
Then, on friday, blog-challenged Janet and Jill came up from Seattle for a kamekaze visit. We braved rush hour traffic and made it downtown in time for the first seating at Vij's.
After dinner it was on to shoe shopping and I got totally lucky. Found awesome little thinline wedge heels in black satin with cream dots and a peekaboo toe. Last pair. My size. Less than half price. The monkey said I should have bought a lottery ticket.
Then we went on to a cupcake shop. I had no idea these things existed. It was a little surreal. And there was A LOT of pink. But we bought some cupcakes (despite the fact that we all felt like we were going to explode from being so full) and went home.
Where we all crashed. And I learned that since joining Fat Losers and eating in a very healthy way, I have lost my talent for digesting lovely rich food.
It was an unpleasant discovery.
Saturday, we trekked into Richmond and hit the Daiso, the Japanese book store, a yarn store and the Japanese candy shop. Had cheap sushi for lunch and I was pretty much done in.
It was a great visit, but waaaay too short.
I did find myself an excellent new knitting bag:


It was only $20! It's lined, has a zipper and inside pockets!
Can't beat that with a stick.
That was last week. This week has been much more quiet as far as friends, but much more insanely busy because of some looming deadlines.
I can't say much about the deadline stuff yet. I really, really want to, 'cause it's sooooo exciting. But I have to keep mum for another month or so.
I can say that I should have some patterns in print very soon. Yay!
I didn't expect this to happen so fast, but it has and I'm just going with the flow. There's been a lot of stuff to learn, a lot of banging my head on my computer desk. A few Eukeka! moments and a lot ripping stuff out. Had to wrestle one pattern into submission. Damn thing just would not cooperate. If it weren't for the deadline, I would have set fire to it!
Because of all this, I've made a few decisions.
Master Spinner will have to wait a year. I don't see how I can do this and manage to take level 6 next year.
I want to have my book in print by early 2009. No more putting it off. Strike while the iron is hot and all that.
I need to go back to a gym. The fat's coming off, but I feel tired and blob-like. The only remedy for this (other than speed, and the monkey insists that's a bad idea) is exercise. Crap.
Our house is too small. I want to find out if we can put a master suite on top of the existing structure. 'Cause hey, writing a book with a house under construction is such a great idea.
So.
Somehow it's friday again. I thought it was thursday. I have no idea what happened to thursday. It may have been surgically removed from my week. Which would explain the large lump on my head.
There is some knitting fit to show others:


It's not exciting knitting, just the stuff that's been keeping me from going completely postal over the last little while. The gray is soon to be Boot socks for Angela. And yes! Those are the new Harmony needles! I really like them. They're warm, smooth and not bendy.
There's another pair of plain socks from some Lana Grossa that I had to have, a red alpaca hat and a little wool hat for my niece.

And because it is friday, and I missed last week I have another bizarre, yet fascinating link.
Ladies, meet Vincent Gallo.
What a charmer.
Almost makes those pork martinis seem like a good idea...

It's not even noon!

It wasn't even lunchtime and I'd made grape jelly and seville marmalade. Of course, now I need a little nap, but hey, it was a productive morning.
I made the concorde juice yesterday and let it drip through so I could use it today. I use the low sugar pectin so it's really grapey and not too sweet.
And since I already had all the stuff out and there was sugar all over the counter, I figured I may as well make up some marmalade too. It's prefab from a can. Comes with the pectin already in it, all you add is sugar. Hideous amounts of sugar, but have you ever tasted a seville orange? It's very necessary.
All the jars sealed. Hooray!
Now I go nap.

Friday Freakfest

I've decided to try out a new blog feature for a couple of weeks and see how it flies. There are some very odd/scary/funny/down right weird things on the 'net and I seem to come across them a fair bit. Or sometimes friends will send them to me.
For some reason, a few people are always trying to gross me out. It rarely works. You think they'd give up already.
But they don't. Which is a good thing because the first Friday Freakfest comes to us courtesy of Holly.
Some people are always in search of the ultimate martini. This is what happens when you get too creative. CLICK HERE Not on the pig.
Bon appetit!

Gah! It's fall!

See those pretty purpley flowers? Those are fall crocuses. They've ben up since the last week of August. I cheerfully ignored them until now.
I'd walk past them, averting my gaze and singing a little song in my head about how it was still warm and therefore must still be summer.
There's really no point in denying it now. I had to turn the heat back on the other day. It was just too freaking cold. And I have a cold. Or some sort of drippy, virus thing. I don't feel awful, just not quite right. A warm house was necessary to my continued survival.
We did manage to get the house painted. Except for the doors, which we're leaving for now as we're going to replace them. The new ones will get a nice coat (or two) of blue paint. And we found new screen doors that aren't hideously expensive, so I don't have to try to refurbish the old ones yet again.
New flooring for the kitchen has been ordered and the bathroom is almost done.
The house is almost unrecognizable from when we first bought it.
Trust me. That's a really good thing.


The Ribbi Pulli is done! It fits great and I finally timed the completion of a project correctly and it can actually be worn now.
That's the only project I can actually show pics of right now.
News of the others will have to wait until sometime in October.

That's the nice stuff.
Now a small rant about the sort of service our soon to be ex-phone and internet provider gives us.
This first pic is the phone company truck attending to some sort of line maintenance near our house. Keep in mind that he's not actually working on our line. They've never had to work on our line except for the times when they're screwing around near our house and make our line go out. The gap in the trees where you can see the truck is our driveway. That was yesterday. I called the company to complain (again). Got nowhere.


This is today:


I've asked these guys repeatedly to please not block our driveway (they're usually parked like that for a minimum of two hours). Sometimes they move they truck for a few minutes and then move it back. Sometimes they laugh at me. Mostly, they do nothing.
I've called Telus to ask them to please tell the repair techs not to park across our driveway. Most times I get nowhere, but twice, I've had a manager call me back, apologize and promise that it won't happen anymore.
The last time a manager made that promise was less than a month ago. Guess that was a four week promise. So I called again today. Got someone a little higher up the food chain. He wanted the truck's plate number. So I went out to get it and the tech asked me if I needed to get out (of my own driveway). I asked if it should matter. 'Cause frankly? I shouldn't have to ask permission to leave my own bloody house!
Or to get back in my driveway when I return! Cripes! Enough already.
Partly because of this and mostly due to the fact that Telus has surcharged us to death, we are changing providers. Telus obviously doesn't care about their customers at all. And that attitude is loud and clear through their employees.
I once called to ask why I had a $5 charge on my bill for long distance administration when I had no long distance calls that month and the charming fellow at Telus offered to disconnect me. That was his response. He would disconnect my line.
Cute.
My Telus bill looks like this:
$44.73 for basic phone service and 4 calling features
$35.95 for high-speed internet (it started at $16.95, bit of a rate hike there)
$4.95 for long distance administration (whether you actually use it or not)
$3.00 to have a private number (yup, they're billing for a negative service)
$0.13 for 911 service (God forbid the company eat that one)
Those charges don't even include long distance, or 411.
My Shaw bill will look like this:
$55.00 for digital phone service which includes 8 calling features, unlimited long distance in Canada and the US, 1000 minutes of international long distance and no hidden charges. That $55.00 includes the 911 fee, free 411 and keeping a private number.
$32.00 for high-speed internet that is more than twice as fast as the Telus high-speed.
Gee, combine that with Telus' poor customer service that is frequently down right rude, and I wonder why they have any customers left at all.
Hasta la vista Telus!

The Joy of Home Ownership

We decided earlier in the year that the house was due for an exterior paint job. Of course, right after we thought this was a good idea, the weather got too hot to paint.
Now that it's cooled off (bloody cold if you ask me) we can get to it. As usual, the monkey has grossly underestimated the amount of work this is and only took one day off work. We didn't even manage to get the priming done. So this week I've been at it on my lonesome.
This is the before:


Yeah, I know the purple is cute. But it's been ten years and it's looking a little dirty and old now. Not to mention the fact that I'm just sick of it. I wanted the house outsides to better match all the updating we've done to the house insides.
So now, it's looking like this:


Kinda boring, but I think when we're done it will look really nice and a lot more modern. Clean and tidy too. The wood on the peaks will be gray like the stucco and the trim will be white.
I didn't get all the gray done yesterday as there's an awful lot of it to paint and the monkey bought a ladder that's made out of solid lead. Okay, so it's aluminum, but it's incredibly heavy. He managed to "accidentally" break the other nice light ladder we had by falling off it into the hedge on Monday. Yeah, yeah, he's fine. I say "accidentally" because he's been going on about the mega heavy ladder since he saw it last week. And I mean going on. He was starting to sound like a teenage girl in lust with some insipid boy-band member. It had gotten to the point over the weekend where I just looked at him mooning over the damned ladder and told him to just buy it already before I threw-up.
So now we have a ladder that I can barely carry. And after six hours of painting, the thought of toting that beast around the house so I could do all the cutting in and high up stuff, I almost cried. Instead, I just put everything away until tomorrow when the monkey will be around to tote what I have dubbed "el leado" around the house.
Anyway.
There's this great stuff you can get from Home Hardware that makes cement look nice too, so we'll be doing that to the walkway when we get the house done.
We still have to prep and prime the shop as well. Hopefully, the weather will hold long enough for us to get all this done.


I've gotten to the point with my drop spindles where I don't have room for many more and have most of the ones I want. So. Needed something different to collect.
Voila! Old spindle whorls from the world.
Yup. Crazy. That's me. They are kinda cool though. The ones on the string are from Mali, the bronze one is chinese and the white one is roman lead. Very interesting things. I have to make myself some pointy sticks so I can try some of them out.


I finished my September socks for SAM4 in record time. Still just a boring 64 stitch sock with a short-row heel, but isn't the yarn great? It's Galaxy from Regia. It took a little fiddling to get the pattern to match up, but once you get it going, it works very well.

General Ramblings

Fibrey stuff first.
Because I am sometimes a brain-dead moron, I joined another thing that forces me to make stuff on a deadline. Lucky for me, this time it's just socks.


These are my August socks for SAM4. My usual plain 56 stitch sock with a lark's eye heel just to keep me from slipping into a coma. They're Sweet Georgia in a yarn and colourway I can't remember and the label has long since disappeared into that strange void where all the stolen dryer socks reside.
There's also new spindley goodness.


It's a KCL made out of maple with the whorl and finial dyed a greenish colour. Customs had it so long that I thought they were gonna keep it. Almost a month and they opened it. I'd love to know what they thought it was for. Maybe that's why they kept it so long.
You may have noticed the poll in the sidebar. If it seems a little pointed this time, that's 'cause it hits pretty close to home. One of our next door neighbors is a complete and utter idiot. He works shift-work and, I suppose, that makes it hard for him to sleep some nights. At least once a week, on a weeknight, he's out in his backyard chopping wood at about 1 am.
He does this on a concrete block patio in a (mostly) quiet residential neighborhood. We don't live in the back and beyond here, it's not quite city, but it's definitely not wilderness.
The noise is loud. Very loud. It is sometimes accompanied by drunken hoots and laughter. As he enjoys weekday wee hours of the morning partying. I lie in bed some nights waiting for him to chop of a toe, or something more necessary, and try to decide if I would help him or not. I know I'd feel guilty if I didn't help him, but maybe it would fade quickly with the quality sleep I would be getting in his absense.
Tough call.
Despite a distinct lack of sleep, things are going reasonably well around here on almost all fronts.
The designing thing is really revving up. Things are happening at a pretty break-neck speed. To say I wasn't prepared for this would be a gross understatement. But this seems to be the way my life has always gone along. I haven't ever really had a career as such. I went to university for a couple of years taking Kinesiology, went to college for a few years learning to build instruments and now the courses in knitting and spinning I've been taking seem to be leading me in another direction.
This road has never been dull. I've met athletes, musicians and creative geniuses. I've always been in the background, but it's still been pretty bloody cool. I wouldn't trade it for a stable desk job that paid me buckets. No way. I do wonder though, how these things always seem to just "happen" to me. I never go looking for it, it just lands on my plate and I have to decide whether to go for it or let it go by.
I'm not a "let it go by" kinda gal. I usually give it a good kick at the very least.
Right now, designing is getting a good kick. I've been getting great feedback and amazing support. Who would have thought there'd almost be more test-knitters than patterns?! WTF? And the ideas just keep coming.
Very cool.
I never would have guessed this was the next phase.

Buses, Trains and Automobiles

*Note: this post has been edited to allow me to protect just about everyone.*
So, last thursday I got on a bus at a completely ungodly hour to go to Seattle and get on a train to Portland. I took the early bus 'cause it had the best train connection, only half an hour. Sounds good, right?
Hah!
I wound up standing in the Seattle train station long enough to watch people walk straight onto the 10:30 train (mine was supposed to be the 9:45 one) and then watched as that train pulled out. I was still standing in the station waiting for my train to show up.
A bit of a piss off, but finally we pulled out at about 10:50. Things were looking good until the train came to a dead stop in the middle of nowhere, for no reason that I could see. The conductor came on the PA to tell everyone that a track was out of commission and we'd have to stop every so often to let trains go the other way. Greeeeeaaat. 'Cause it's not like we're already really late or anything. So I call Blank and let her know that my train is sucking the hind tit in a rather major way and I will be pretty damned late.
The train got to Portland only an hour late (I don't even want to know how they made up the time. Really. I don't want to know). Blank picks me up and we're off to blank.
Blank is really pretty. I loved it. Very quiet, and full of wildlife. I saw rabbits, deer, ground squirrels, a ton of colourful birds and a bunch of chipmunks on crack. Very twitchy those chipmunks.
It was great to see blank and meet her family. They were nice enough to put me up for a couple of days. Really lovely people. Thursday, Blank and I played with yarn and compared notes on the blank. There was a lot of brain-storming, but it never got overwhelming. Lots of fun!
Cat arrived on Friday and we went to Portland to get the hall set up for her talk and signing. Traffic was awful, making a lot of people late, but it worked out great in the end. And I think everyone had a good time. Cat's new book is pretty inspiring and I loved seeing her again. I think it had been a couple of years since I'd last seen her. She encouraged me to get on with the designs and the book sooner than later. She also said a lot of really nice things about the blank.
Blank introduced me to some fabulous (but sadly, blogless) people from around blank and Seattle. I'm hoping we'll keep in touch and take a trip to the Daiso sometime soon.
Saturday, we all left and let Blank have her house back. I went to stay in Blank with Doug and Angela in a little cottage at an Inn. We just relaxed and knit for the rest of the day.
This is the only picture fit to print:


The Inn had fresh eggs thanks to the chickens running around the grounds. Of course, I was thinking how good this guy would be kentucky fried when he woke me at 4:30 am on Sunday morning.
The drive back was long, but pretty entertaining. I have a great pic of Angela dozing the back seat, but I was mildly threatened into not posting it. She's small, but feisty.

Another great weekend

Holly and Orion and Denise came up from the states this past weekend to eat salmon and dim sum, go to Daiso and laugh at the folly that is the Stash room.
Angela and Doug joined us for salmon bbq and took everyone out to dim sum the next day. It was great. We drank rather a lot and I have pictures to prove it. A couple of them, I don't remember taking. One is down right incriminating.
I may be very wealthy if Angela ever wants to run for office. Mwahahahaha
I should have even better pics after this weekend. I'm off to Oregon for some work and play with more crazy creative people. I get to go to Cat's book signing too. I'm really looking forward to it.
Hopefully there'll be some pictures fit to post!

Makeup fibre heavy post

I've been a little neglectful lately of the fibrey aspects of the blog. A lot of the work going on around here in the last little while has been of the stealth variety, which makes crappy blog fodder. I have managed to get some regular stuff done though, including getting my spinning book back with a passing grade.
I tried to get this Ruby hoodie by Bee's Knees done in time for the big birthday bash, but it just didn't quite make it. I'll send it in a couple of weeks when all the other birthday stuff is put away. I was worried about it fitting, but it seems pretty roomy, so Aurora should get a a lot of wear out of it. We call it Kermit around here.


This crossover tee also got done somehow. It was too cool to wear it when I finished it and now it's too warm. Go figure.


I've done very little beadwork in the past year, and even though there's supposed to be bead content here, there's been next to none.
So, tada!
A peyote beaded bracelet that's not quite done.
Peyote beading is so cool. You can make a beaded fabric without a loom. It feels like snakeskin.
Hope the intended recipient likes it.


I did buy a little fibre for myself in Olds. This is some of the mill ends that I'm supposed to share with Irene. I have to admit, I was tempted to keep it all. It's so incredibly gorgeous! All natural shades and all very, very soft. I have no idea what's in there (that's half the fun of millends), but it feels wonderful and I can't wait to work with it.
I have to get more design work and spinning homework done first, but then I'm going to use it as a reward.
I really want to spin this stuff!
Thinking a three ply (for the tweedy effect) in a DK weight for a sweater.


Stop poking at your monitor. Touch-o-vision still doesn't exist.

A 22lb Spring with Cake

As you can see, the monkey was allowed to come home. He only caught one fish, but it's a doozy. 22lbs of wild BC salmon. He smoked half of it yesterday and we'll BBQ the rest with friends this weekend.
I love smoked salmon. I could probably scarf down the entire fish if it was smoked. I'd feel really sick, but I could do it. I'll be making pasta with ginger sauce and smoked salmon tonight. Mmmmmmm
The monkey only had a 28 hour layover at home and he was off to Philadelphia on business. He had cheesesteak, I got a fridge magnet of the Liberty Bell. Pretty sure I got the short end on that one. Although, I bet customs frowns on people bringing greasey bags of sandwich stuff into the country. National security and all.
This past weekend was the niece's first birthday. It went down as you would expect:


Lots of presents.
Birthday girl who had no idea what was going on.
Covered in icing before the inevitable...


Sugar rush and crash.

Peace and beautiful things

That's a pic of the water lilies at the college in Olds. I think many of us need to see something this lovely and serene right now. For some reason, people seemed to have slipped sideways in the last week and have just gone weird en masse.
So take a deep cleansing breath and look at the pretty flowers and the peaceful water.
Nice isn't it.
I don't read the posts on the Mystery Stole 3 group, but apparently a bunch of people over there haven't been playing well with others. In fact they have been so awful that I doubt Melanie will offer the Mystery Stole again. This is a really nice thing that is offered up free and for fun that some people have chosen to ruin for everyone else.
So, on my behalf and that of all the rest of us who just get our clues and happily knit away, I want to thank Melanie for doing this. And let her know that we really appreciate the time and effort she has put into sharing this great thing with so many people.
Here's my stole so far:


I've finished clue #4 and now have to wait for two weeks to get the next part. Damn Harry Potter!
The Ribby Pulli is almost in one piece. I'm working on the second sleeve for the long sleeve, hooded version with the kangaroo pocket.


I think this will be a good wardrobe staple. I've done it in black cotton, so it's bound to get lots of wear.
I've had to set it aside for some stealth knitting for the time being (niece's 1st birthday coming up). And I'm still waiting on some measurements so I can get a move on the Blue Moon designs.
I've been playing a bit on Ravelry too. It's a daunting thing. I'm not at all sure even where to start with the stash list. And before you offer, I know a bunch of would gladly "help" me with this problem. I know who you are and you're never getting the alarm code.
The monkey is off on his annual fishing trip tomorrow. He knows the drill. No salmon, no come home.

Let's clarify a few things

This is MY blog. The things I write about are mine. The feelings, frustrations and opinions are MINE.
When others read these things, I equate it with them being guests in my home. If someone is rude, unpleasant or otherwise untoward in my home, I ask them to leave.
If someone came to my home with a bag over their head so I couldn't tell who they were, I would make them leave.
Anonymous comments are not welcome on this blog.
I don't give a flying crap what you have to say if you don't have the balls to identify yourself.
That being said, no one on the internet is truly anonymous. We all leave little trails and I'd like to let everyone who sees this know that every time you visit a blog, the owner can tell a lot about you.
I know when you visited, where you live and/or work, what you looked at on this blog, how long you looked at it, where you were before you came here, and where you went on your way out. Food for thought isn't it?
What this means is, think before you make an unpleasant comment on someone's diary (that's how I feel about my blog). If their blog displeases you, DON'T READ IT.
I have never presented myself as anything other than what I am:
Liberal to the point of what my father would call a "bleeding heart".
Not religious.
Frequently, I swear like a trucker on long haul.
Completely in favor of gay rights. And everyone's rights for that matter.
Strongly, and I mean STRONGLY, against censorship.
If you find that any of these views offend you or upset you in any way, don't come here anymore. That is your right.

Why I don't open my front door

I know, it sounds completely antisocial.
And I've been accused by a couple of people in the last little while of being a hermit.
But how the hell else would I ever get this stuff done?!
Anyway, back on subject.
Yesterday two nicely dressed people spent a rather lot of time at the end of my driveway, then one of them came to my front door. Nicely dressed people in my driveway make me suspicious. Very suspicious.
Now. Before you judge me too harshly, and I know you already think I'm completely paranoid, I used to answer the front door. After a while I noticed an alarming trend, everyone who came to my front door wanted something. Money, the insane neighbor (who's "accidental" death I am now configuring) wanting free guitar repairs, or, as in the case of yesterday's visitor, to save my eternal soul from the firey pit of hell in which it currently resides. Quite happily, I might add.
So the nicely dressed visitor knocks politley on my front door as I hide. Loki does the ritual barky thing for her and she pushes this through my mail slot:


I have no problem with people following an organized religion. Many of my friends are spiritual in some way. I like that. It makes for interesting and sometimes animated discussions. People need to have different points of view or we may as well all live in Stepford.
I do have a slight problem with the above tract. When did Jesus start using "the" before his name? Has he been hanging out with The Donald? Does he now refer to himself in that alarming third person way? And hey! What's with the 'do? He looks like the after shot in a Grecian Formula beard ad. He's all clean cut and incredibly white for someone with a middle eastern background from 2000 years ago.
And it immediately brought this to my mind:


Buddy Christ (or should it be "The" Buddy Christ?) from the movie Dogma. He was the new "hipper" persona that the Catholic church thought would bring young people back to the fold. It was supposed to be funny. It wasn't real. It was a movie. Heaven help us, somebody thinks it'll work!
Just look at that tract. Doesn't The Christ look awfully close to giving us all a big thumbs up? Yipes!
So. The end of this tragic tale is this: if you're a friend of mine don't come to the front door. Come around to the back, I have the kettle on.

Home Again

Well, we got back from Olds (Lynne and I) Saturday night and I've been in hiding ever since.
It's a long drive and Lynne likes to do it in one go. Since I don't feel totally comfy driving her big beast of a car (I drive a teeny weeny sports car) she does the entire thing. I don't know how she does it and I really appreciate it. I make sure she gets food and stuff to drink without driving off the road.
It was a long ten days. Seven of those were class and two were travel days. That left one day of playing in the barn full of fleeces being judged and fibre vendors. I didn't buy too much this year, in fact, most of the stuff I brought back wasn't for me. I sent three fleeces to the mill for processing, brought one home for a friend along with some mill end fibre, some yarn and these:


Two Tabachek spindles in mahogany and ebony, a yew noste and a padauk Forrester with a little spider burnt into the top of it.
Class involved a day of procion dyeing:


And a lot of spinning. I managed to get a number of the samples I need for my notebook done in class. But there are a lot more left to do. We had to spin everything from polyester batting to silk hankies. From very thick and lofty to lace weight. We even had to make our own silk hankies. Those silk worm pupae are very stinky. Blech. Glad I didn't have to do that one at home.


I started the MS3 yesterday. I'm using Alpaca with a Twist's laceweight silk and alpaca with matte gold/mauve/green oilslick beads. I'm only halfway through the first pattern, so I'm definitely going to fall behind on this knitalong. Especially since I have to get back to reality spinning and knitting tomorrow.


I've got four spinning level books that need to be turned in before next March or I won't be able to take the final level next year. I know that sounds like a long time, but the homework for these things is huge.
I still have to write up the pattern for the Firefly tank and start drafting five others.
Yup. the manic laughter is starting again.
Gotta go check the fleece drying on the deck.
I get to put it through the combs for my next level project. Um. Yay?

My Friends went to BSG and all I Got...

Was a bunch of great STR!


Thanks Tina and Ang!
And you thought I was gonna say a t-shirt. Sheesh


Angela was also helping me get this tank done. I know, I know, it's not done. But I leave for Olds in two days and won't be back till the 8th, so take what you can get. It's going to look a lot better when the lace is blocked out.


Yesterday was a bumper fibre day around here. This huge batch of Kauni arrived from the Nederlands. Lucky for me that I found it before a certain someone blogged about it, and got it easily. It's probably the toughest yarn to get on the planet by now. If I didn't like it so much, I'd entertain bids so I could enlarge the Stash room.


There's been a lot of stuff going on around here lately, but most of it's not that interesting. Unless you count my daily meltdowns as interesting. And this top is a result of me not being able to concentrate on anything but Olds prep. Nice mindless summer (not that we've had summer yet) knitting. It'll be a short-sleeved top at some point. If I don't get it done by tomorrow, that point will be waaaay in the future. I still have to make up a bunch of itty bitty skeins for dyeing. Joy. I LOVE labelling dozens of teensy skeins. Just LOVE it.


I had to resort to alternative storage in the Stash room. But it works. See that stuff at the bottom of the pic? That's FLOOR. You heard me FLOOR. I had started to doubt that floor existed in there. The new Kauni and STR have taken up temporary (hopefully temporary) residence on the couch in the living room. They're very pretty. They may become a design feature that I add to every now and then...

And there's one in the spotlight

he don't look right to me
get him up against the wall


What an amazing show. The sound was superb and Waters was bang on.
I hadn't realized just how influential his lyrics were for me until last night. The stage was set up with a large vid screen as the backdrop and he made very good use of it. Images of war, people in need, greed, pollution and the Palestinian wall were flashed behind him throughout the show and the predominant lighting color was red. It really brought home the sad fact that songs he wrote 25 and even 35 years ago are still very current. Our political situation hasn't changed, only the faces have. Very sobering.
The Fletcher Memorial Home actually made me tear up.
I had The Final Cut in constant play when it first came out. I knew the songs by heart and apparently still do. It was one of the things that made me realize we weren't getting the full story on the nightly news. And it made me very angry. That hasn't changed either. We still don't get the truth and it still pisses me off.
I hope the message wasn't totally lost on the twenty-somethings at the show.


The man's 63 and he still kicks ass.
I'd see him again in a heartbeat.

Watermark

This week I drowned.
At the Monday morning Fat Losers meeting, the leader asked me if I found my knitting relaxing. She backed away hastily when the manic laughter started.
I didn't make the deadline for the design sample.
I had to send a 3/4 done garment to BSG for Blue Moon. I don't even have a picture.
I can't even use the excuse that zombies ate my brain.
Anyone who knows me will know that this is killing me and making me feel like a giant loser. The only hope I have is that Angela will knit on it like a mad fiend and get it done (or more done) by the time she arrives. She's ever so nice and it helps that it's in her size so she can even wear it if it's finished.
I have everything crossable crossed. The eyes are starting to make me a little dizzy.

But, life goes on and I still get to do cool things even though I botched the deadline.
Tomorrow night the monkey and I are going to this:


It's the monkey's favorite (after Wish You Were Here, but Waters isn't doing that one so the monkey will just have to suck it up).
No progress pics for anything this week. If anyone asks me why I will smack them. Hard.
Just the doggy in his happy place. Sand between his pads and a piece of stinky crab ready to eat.


A side note for anyone wondering about the Olds course I keep ranting about.
It's a six year Master Spinner program done through Olds college in Alberta. Here's more info.