Back from philly

Very tired. Managed to find not one, but two yarn shops. Pics of the spoils and the city later. For now... must sleeeeeeeeeeeep.

Casual observation.

Have you ever spent a day at home. Nowhere to really go. Just puttering around, cleaning house and what have you. The phone will remain silent all day. At the very moment that you become engaged in something, however, such as watching a movie, or turning a heel, or using the bathroom, the phone rings off the hook. Not just one or two calls either. Everyone you have ever met calls you. One right after the other. I’m sure if I could create a feasible explanation for this, scads of people would be willing to pay me large sums of money to give speeches about my theories. It would probably unlock the answers to other burning questions that plague humanity, such as “Where does that other sock go when it disappears from the dryer?”

I’ll be working on this tomorrow when we are driving to Philadelphia and back. At least 8 hours on the road. My son has an appointment at the Shriners Hospital to get a new leg brace and continue working on his treatment plan for getting him more mobile. My son has Cerebral Palsy as a result of being shaken as a baby. He has a left side hemiplegia and has difficulty walking and moving his left arm. He can move them, and for all accounts is a pretty normal little boy, but he would like to be able to walk and move his left arm more freely without the inevitable CP claw. He has been a patient at the hospital for a while, however his doctor began to work on research projects and getting him another appointment has been a real pain in the ass. I am grateful to the hospital though, they've done him a lot of good and their services are free to everyone regardless of income. In fact the only time my income was mentioned was when he went to his first appointment, and this was really just a survey. The drive is grueling, especially since we usually do it in one day, but it is so, so worth it.

I'm hoping we will have time to stop by after the appointment at Loop. Hubby is desperate for an authentic Philly Cheesesteak sandwich. We all have our priorities.

I am still alive. Sort of.

I have been a bad, bad blogger. Time has run so short in the last few months, and blogging was the LAST thing I thought of each day as I passed out exhausted. It's been rough lately, But hubby and i had a good long talk last night and we both agreed that although our lives are hectic, we can't function anymore without taking time for ourselves.

It is time to come back to the blog.

I love to write. I always have. I was published years ago, and even given some awards for what I wrote. Very exciting, but as the years went on I realized that my time for it was nill, and when I was inspired, it was usually at a time where I could write nothing down. This blog is my writing outlet now. Time to dust off the old thesaurus and get things on track. it will probably also be the only journal I put more than two entries into before it finds the bottom of a pile of books.

So much has happened in the time I was gone that a detailed accounting of all the time would be a novel. I'll summarize.

-The chickens have all shuffled off this mortal coil. The first death occurred when Barbecue became egg bound and the egg broke inside of her. Peritonitis quickly ensued and hubby put her down. This was Halloween night. The neighborhood opossum decided the rest were a fantastic midnight snack, and despite the chickens having a secure area at night to roost, chickens are stupid, stupid creatures. I am still pained thinking about this. I adored my chickens. The dogs found the first chicken dead and cried and nosed her trying to get her to get up and play. Hubby assures me that when we finally find a place to settle that we will have more chickens.

-I went on a cruise with my dear friend Beth who is sadly blogless and a non-knitter. I've offered to teach her many times, she politely declines. Instead she commissions small projects for her family and pays handsomely for them. Back to the cruise. We went on a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on Carnival cruise lines. I've never been to the Caribbean, and although we really didn't see much other than the typical tourist traps, I am dying to go again. You don't know luxury until you've had 7 days of people making your bed, food and drink available 24/7, and generally, nothing to do but what you feel like doing.

Returning to real life after that is a horrible let down. When you get home at night you really expect to walk into your room and find a towel animal and a mint on your turned down bed. I tried to pay the children to do this for me. They were so bitter about not getting to go with me, that they declined my offer of cash, despite the huge amount of crap I brought back for them. Hubby just about fell over laughing when I suggested at 1 am that we call room service for champagne and cheesecake, then go dancing.

-The girl turned 12 (gods help us) and the boy turned 10. Nothing makes you feel older than your children having birthdays. Nothing.

On the upside, in eight years I can legally set them loose on the world and try picking up the (few) remaining pieces of my sanity.

-We had a FULL house for the holidays. We brought home 4 of the kids from Hubby's group home to spend the holidays with us, and my uncle came up to spend the holiday as well. I could often be found escaping to my mothers house, pouring a drink and mumbling under my breath about 6 children in the house. Christmas Eve hubby took them all caroling. None of them had ever done it, and none of the neighbors have ever had carolers. They were stopped at each house for photos. They came home and we each talked about Christmas traditions and made a CD of the kids singing carols and creating a Mad Lib Night Before Christmas. We took all of the kids to Midnight Mass while my mom and uncle hung back and did the Santa thing. We returned home at 2:30 am to 6 children with eyes bulging out of their heads with excitement and were up until at least 5 am unwrapping gifts. (I must add in here that I received many lovely knitterly gifts and am very proud of my family that they finally figured out that if they need to give me a gift it should involve either yarn or liquor.)

Seriously, the best part of the holidays was knowing that each of these kids had a safe, happy and healthy holiday. Each of them at some point thanked us for having them, and told us how much it meant to them to have such a holiday and feel like a family. Hearing this made any gifts given or received become completely secondary, and I finally really appreciated what the holiday was about first time in years.

-In knitting news I have whipped the arse of 2 techniques. Fair Isle and Lace. I've made multiple fair-isle hats, and I even managed a Kiri Shawl for my mother for her birthday. Now if I can just whip the arse of knitting my father his long overdue aran sweater, I'll be golden.

-All of my time since then has been spent trying desperately to keep the house in order, work full time, keep the bills paid, spend as much time as possible with hubby during his 100 hour work weeks and when there is time, knitting. We have some big decisions coming up. My parents are selling both of their houses (this includes the one we live in now) and moving to Tennessee come summer. It is time for us to move on, and we are not sure yet where or when we will be going. Just that we are going. This also means thinning our household out of all the crap we have acquired in the last 3 years. How we managed to get all this crap is completely beyond me, but we've done it and now it's time to get rid of it, and get down to the bare essentials of what we really need and is really important to us.

Now, to convince hubby that every bit of fiber and yarn in our home is really, truly vital.

Yarn pr0n Friday the Sixth

YarnMonster Super Sock in the colorway Hyacinth. Gifted to me by my lovely and kind SP8.

This stuff is so soft and the colors so perfect that I'm having difficulty choosing just the right socks to make with it. Any suggestions?

Proof that we are old.

I've been absent from the blog most of the week. I apologize. In my defense, I spent the entire weekend car shopping. I'd had a free vehicle lined up with a very generous person from my local freecycle, but she went on vacation right after the offer was made, and I was uncertain when she would return. Hubby and I decided to not wait any longer. We just couldn't. The car situation was becoming very stressful, and unfortunately my local public transportation sucks.

I'd like to start by expressing my intense hatred of car salesmen. I'm sure they are all nice people in regular life. but at work they are just slimey. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the weekend;

"What can I do to get you into this beauty today?"

"Will you need permission from your husband to buy this car?"

"See? It won't scratch when you hit something at the grocery store!"

"Well, I don't have anything in that price range, But this car is only $5000 more than you were looking to spend!"

"Oh, I don't know pricing, management handles all of that. They'd be happy to tell you what you can buy after you fill out a credit app. We wouldn't want you to get your heart set on a car just to find out that you can't afford it."

RAAAAAR!

I finally just gave up and went to a dealer that has a not so great reputation for customer service, and is looked at as a "last chance" type of place. Fine. Honestly since hubby and I have gotten back together we've had some difficulties. The credit ain't what it used to be. I went in, looked at their stock and looked at their pricing list online. It was fair. Not the greatest, but fair.

They "crunched numbers" (God, I hate that phrase. Hate it.) and gave me some options in my price range. One was a cheaper SUV, one was a current model year car, and one was minivan.

Let me preface this story by stating that I'm a die-hard Jeep owner. I love them. I work on my own jeeps and I've lifted 2 of the 3 jeeps I've owned and wheeled them in some pretty crazy places. I love having 4 wheel drive and being able to go places few others go. I've seen some of the most beautiful places in the world this way. Obviously this means that the options that were given to me were less than appealing.

I definitely did not want the car. It was essentially a stripped model and I'm not a "car" fan. No matter what they do to them, they are always cramped, they are hard as heck for my parents to get in and out of with their health issues, and good luck going to Ikea with a car. Also we need extra seating for when we are hosting the kids from Hubbies work.

The SUV was an el-cheapo. There are some people who live and die by this brand of vehicle, and I often see them sporting stickers of Calvin peeing on their competitors. I'm not a fan. My mom had the upscale version of the vehicle at one point. I'd never been carsick in an automobile before, but in that thing, I just wanted to puke up my lungs every time I rode in it.

This left the mini-van. There was no way I was going to buy it, but I figured I would look at it. I had them pull it out for me. We wandered over and they opened up the doors for me to get in. I scoffed and hitched my bag on my shoulder then stuck my head in the side door. The scales fell from my eyes.

"Oh my god," I thought, "This thing is nicer that my living room!"

The seats were plush and comfy. It was cleaner than an Obsessive-Compulsive's bathroom. There is a DVD system, climate zones, and get this.... good gas mileage.

I was in love. The dealer told me to go ahead and drive it up for hubby to see since he was at work and couldn't get away. So I did, and I pulled up to the house hubby works at and he said,

"It's really a minivan, isn't it? Not a crossover or anything. It's really a minivan. This is proof that we are old."

Well lots of paperwork and 2 trips to the dealer to get all the correct documentation and it's mine. I'm a minivan owner. My Jeep friends would laugh until their testicles fell off. That's fine. I'm the one who gets to go to my car at lunch, put my feet up, watch a movie and knit at lunch break.

Now your job, should you choose to accept it. I need a license plate. Vanity plates are more common in this state than fleas on a huntin' dawg. I'd like to choose a plate that expresses my lust for all things wooly and yarn related. It cannot be longer than 7 letters, but it can include a hyphen. It must also not already be an issued tag. You have one week. The winner will receive lovely yarn-y prize. Leave your suggestions in the comments and I'll pick my favorite and announce the winner next Wednesday evening.

Good Luck!

Yarn pr0n Friday the Fifth

Today's Yarn pr0n Friday is dedicated to the world's most wonderful fiber:





Alpaca.

Cashmere is better you say? LIES!

If you were to offer me 10 pounds of cashmere and 10 pounds of alpaca, it would be the alpaca. Every time. I could just dive into this stuff. I'd sleep in huge alpaca bed every night if I could. Even in pictures my hand just wants to reach out and touch it's soft squishiness.

These yarns were also scored at the recent fiber festival. 2 Gigtanto hanks of naturally colored charcoal alpaca and a skein of Alpaca with a Twist lace weight.

The colors commemorate the black and blueness of my lovely mug. I'll spare you the pics for comparison. There was a miscommunication between the doctor and I. It was a really minor fracture in the zygomatic arch. I can't walk on it for at least 6 weeks.

I broke my face.

Yes. That's right. I broke my face falling down the stairs. Stop laughing.

The doctor called today and while stifling her laughter let me know that I had a fractured Maxilla. It's probably nothing and will likely heal on it's own, but to be sure they want me to see an ENT tomorrow.

I thought falling down the stairs was bad enough. Breaking my face while doing it? that's just mortifying. I think I'm going to lie down for a bit.

One Skein SP update and Pics to make up for the Rotten YPF

Well I'm still hurting. I think taking the Kids from Hubby's work out to King's Dominion yesterday didn't help things one little bit. I'm sore in places I didn't know I could be sore. Sadly, i didn't even ride the rides. I knit and waited. When I finally stumbled in last night around 12:30 from dropping off dad's truck I checked the mail. Inside was a big heavy squooshy package. I'm an incredible package ho, and I caught my second wind and ran inside to open it. When I dumped it all out on the bed I found this:




The package contained a big bag of Hershey's (which seems to be dwindling by the minute) Plymouth Turino Silk, Online Supersock, Furryarns 2 ply (the colorway is perfect!), and Blue Sky Cotton.

Not only was this package incredibly generous, but it was very cool in that all of these are things I've heard of and wanted to see and touch and play with, but can't get anywhere near me. The colors are gorgeous too. Thank you Gracie. I love it!

I also wanted to post pictures of some of the other stash enhancements of late. The first is a pic of the silky wool I picked up on my yarn binge last week. I love this stuff. It looks tweedy and rustic, it is soft, but it still has a definite texture, and it drapes like crazy even in the hank. Now to settle on a pattern.....




Finally, there is the latest Knitpicks order. Some deluded part of my brain has decided that it is time to try colorwork, and it forced me to order the Northern Lights Mittens pattern and yarn (with some color mods).




I've been working on the fair isle hat kit. The stitches look wonky and strange, but the actually knitting is getting easier each time I pick it up. I'm going to have to take it into the LYS to get some tips to fix the problems I'm having, which are entirely related to gauge. Once get those worked out, it will be time for the mittens.


Also, I have finished the hoodie. And have worn it almost every day this week only partially blocked. Embarrassing, yes, but excitement over an FO gets to my head sometimes. I'll get it blocked up and post pics soon. If I can stop wearing it.

Yarn pr0n Friday The Fourth

And a deep apology for the quality of the pics. I did my best with the light I had.

This is the LL shepherd sock in Bittersweet that I picked up at the Fiber Fest. Yes, the colors are off, but again. I ran out of light. I spent my evening at the hospital instead of snapping pics of yarn. I blame it all on Diet Coke, and it's rather embarrassing, so try not to laugh too hard.

I got up this morning and groggily opened up my Diet Coke and took a big ol' swig. Then I choked. Right at the top of the stairs. I'm guessing I choked on it enough to lose consciousness because I woke up face down in the landing (we live in a split level). My first thought upon coming to was that I had fallen back asleep after I hit the snooze, the I though, "But this hurts, and sleeping usually doesn't hurt like this." Very disorienting. Hubby got home, checked me over for a concussion and any obvious breaks or emergency type injuries, then proceeded to laugh. Then all my coworkers laughed, and my parents, the kids, the doctor, nurses and radiologists. Sigh. I managed to bang up my face (nose especially, I has some good rug burn on it) and my back really well. Went to get x-rays tonight to get checked out. I seem to be OK, just sore. But I have good drugs.

I'm gonna go take some and pass out. And I'll avoid Diet Coke near stairs in the future.

You know you're a fiber junkie when:

Your friend goes to North Carolina and brings you this as a gift (and you think it's really neat):






A cotton bouquet! Now. anyone have any idea how to process this stuff? I'd like to blend it with wool and make a neat little gift type thing for her.

I'm going to keep the seeds too and see if I can't get some growing next year.

VA Fall Fiber Fest

Well things didn't exactly worked out as I'd hoped for the Fiber Festival, but it was still a remarkably lovely time. The sweater did not get done in time. I still have most of the sewing up to do. My mom did not get to come since we have a last minute visitor from out of town. I didn't manage to get a skein entered in the competition. I forgot the camera again, so hubby had to take camera phone pics (I apologize in advance for the quality of some of these.) That's all okay though. It was still absolutely wonderful. The entire place was a deluge of mud from the rainstorm we'd been having the last few days. When we pulled in we were asked if we had 4 wheel drive. Luckily I was in the rental and managed to talk them out of a Trailblazer (Jeep > *.Chevrolet) so we made it through the parking lot just fine, and I got to play in mud holes.



We tromped up to the vendors and everyone (but me of course) managed to ruin their pants and shoes within minutes of our arrival.



Unfortunately, due to the weather, a lot of the vendors bailed out. There were big empty spots in the tents. The vendors that were there though had some of the loveliest things and everyone was incredibly friendly. The kids had a good time working on a project in the kids tent and they each got a stuffed alpaca. The girl named hers Bob. An excellent alpaca name if I do say so myself.

This vendor had gorgeous clay spindle. I had intended to go back for one, and ended up so high on fiber fumes that I completely forgot. Next year I guess.





We did get invited to come take a tour of some alpaca farms at the end of the month. Hubby is suddenly very interested in running some kind of fiber business, which is what we've been talking about for a while. We'll definitely be checking into it. (He also wants a lathe and other woodworking equipment. I'm seeing a custom spinning wheel in my future, if I can stop spending his lathe money on fiber.) The vendors even gave us extra plastic bags for us to put our muddy shoes in and to cover the seats in the rental car with. The girls feet and pants were so nasty we ended up bagging them.





Hubby fell in love with a corriedale fleece from a sheep named Helen and a really handsome Rambouillet. Unfortunately I was out of cash at that point and there was no ATM. Instead he'll be coming with me to the MDSW next year and picking out a fleece for me to make him a sweater.





And finally, a picture of the haul clockwise from the top. 1360 yards of charcoal gray alpaca, 2 ounces of a gray/brown cashmere (hubby picked it), and 8 oz of Blue Face Leicester From Misty Mountain Farms. A set of combs and a base for them for blending ($60! Holy steal!) and 4 oz of bombyx silk from I See Spots. 2 skeins LL Shepherd Sock in Bittersweet and one ball of Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch from Carodan Family Farms. Two skeins each of hot pink and Lime green wool from Zeilingers for a scarf for Beth. In the center is a Skein of alpaca with a Twist Fino from Rivanna River Farms and a skein of spun silk lace weight from Woven Gems, Just enough for a Swallowtail Shawl.


Now if I can just resist the temptation to go back today.

Yarn pr0n Friday The Third

Trendsetter Oceano in the Fire Fantasy Colorway. It begs to be drooled on by yarn pervs.

Another amazing deal I got on a sweaters worth of yarn. I got this a while ago. It is destined to be the Mandarin Faux Cardigan from IK. I need to get cracking on all these sweaters, but the current one is driving me insane. I'm one row and a bind off from one half of the button band being complete. Something tells me I'll be up till the wee hours of the morning tomorrow getting it all ready for Saturday.

Naturally with all of these sweaters worth of yarn laying around, the first thing I do is go to the yarn shop. I had my $50 gift Certificate from Hubby, and was $10 away from a $40 store credit. I got my license this morning and a rental car after that, and so in celebration, I went to blow my wad on fiber. I was hoping for alpaca, but my LYS was poorly stocked on it (tragedy). After much sitting on the floor flipping through books and guidance from my favorite LYS employees, I managed to pick out a fair-isle hat pattern and yarn, and a bag of Silky Wool in turquoise with a simple lacy cardigan pattern. (I'm reconsidering the pattern though. I think the silky wool wants something different.) Admittedly I went the teensiest bit over my $100 budget, but I'm OK with that.

Finally some good news

Sorry. there are no pictures in this post. There is just some good news.

1. The sleeves are done on my hoodie, and I've begun the hood. It's looking good for this sweater to be done for this weekend.

2. The eggs are delicious. I highly recommend investing in chickens if you are able to.

3. I am FINALLY caught up at work.

4. I GOT MY LICENSE BACK!!!!!!!!! Well, it was temporarily reinstated at least. I got notice from the DMV that they are scheduling my appeal hearing (over the phone even, which means I won't have to take a day off work for it!) and until my hearing my license has been reinstated. I'll be going Friday to get it if I can get a few hours off in the morning. Then I have to do something about a car. but at least I'll have my license.

September has ended. The world is snapping back into order. Thank goodness.

Yarn pr0n Friday The second

My newest acquisition. 13 skeins of Noro Kureyon in the "Deep Seas" colorway (purchased for an absolute steal). It will be a Rosedale once all the christmas knitting and the Cable Hoodie are complete.

Kureyon was never the softest yarns, but something about the colors always makes me drool.

The Girls Did It!!!!!!

I found these beauties in a little nest in the backyard. Im not sure if they are all laying in one nest, or if one chicken did this all by her lonesome over the last few days, but we have eggs. They are sooo pretty too. They're a bit washed out in the photo, but they are more of a terracotta color with those lovely speckles.

I'm so proud of them.

The weekend of congestion

Ugh. It was not the bubonic plague that the girl brought home. It was quite obviously a rare and virulent form of ebola bronchitis. I'm still miserable. Apparently it was so obvious to the doctor that they gave me steroids and a breathing treatment before I even left the office. I shudder to think what my desk at work looks like today, but I may not even be able to go back until Wednesday, so we'll try not to think about it too hard.



Other than frenzied knitting during periods in which the massive amounts of drugs in my system allowed it (I'm just past the armhole decreases on the right front of the hoodie. From there it's just 2 sleeves, a hood and a button band. With any luck it will be ready for the Fall Fiber Festival. There will be knittyheads in attendance and a new sweater will be just the identifying mark to wear to attract fellow knitters.) I watched the neighbor's adorable baby Jameela, who was also sick. Despite being sick though, I've never met a happier baby in all my life. EVER. She laughed more than smiled and at only 5 months, willingly put herself to sleep whenever tired. Even her (rare) crying is sweet. Plus, she is absolutely adorable.




Truly, truly a cupcake. How could anyone NOT love this baby? I'm also pleased to report that she reached for the knitting needles on her own. With that and having already been bestowed with a hand knit sweater from yours truly, she will most assuredly one day be a knitter.

Yarn pr0n Friday

Kid Mohair Locks handspun courtesy of Fyberduck.

This is trophy yarn if there ever was one.

I'd blog more, but my lovely daughter managed to bring home what I can only guess would be the bubonic plague. After half a day at work I came home with a rotisserie chicken, ice cream, the new Spin Off and cold medicine.

I'm going back to bed to contemplate the possibilities of knitting and blogging from beyond the grave.

Who's the bitch now?

I spied recently in the back of the latest IK an ad from Acorn Street for a Fiber Trends Spring Blossom shawl kit for a really good price. Naturally in my sudden and overwhelming lace lust I bought one. I got it started the other day and everything was going beautifully, but I noticed that to get my YO's right I was wrapping them deifferently between purl and knit stitches. if I YO'd before a knit stitch, I'd wrap the yarn from behind the right needle over the needle then back between the needles. When I YO'd before a purl stitch, I would bring the yarn between the needles the over and back behind the right needle. Now, I knit English, and I've always YO"D the first way I described. But when I realized I was having to do my YO's different, and they were coming out differently, I got suspicious. I checked out Knittinghelp.com.





Lo and behold, I've been wrapping my yarn wrong this whole time. Seriously, the entire time I've been knitting I've been doing it wrong. (This shouldn't be too amazing, since when I first started, I did all my knit stitches through the back loop for at least two months before figuring it out.) Now the center of the shawl looks like this:





If you click on the picture you'll see the difference more clearly. (And check out my mad MSPaint skillz, yo!) I've decided to take the cheater's way out and just continue on, but knitting correctly from here out. The idea of ripping back all of that (mistake-free! Well, except for the bad wrapping) work makes me queasy. I think I'll just refer to it as a "design feature" instead. Besides, it's a square shawl and I figure it'' be folded in half to be worn anyways. No one will notice, and I'll never tell.



This is my triumph, however. The left front of my sweater is now complete with the cable placed correctly. Sorry for the lousy picture, but It's really not that impressive yet anyways. Give it time.

Meet the Newest member of our Family

This is Oz. She is a Goffin Cockatoo. Her turn-ons are peanuts, sitting on your shoulder, attacking circular needle cables while you knit, harassing the dogs, dancing to Jethro Tull, and self-mutilation. Her turn-offs are: Anything that keeps you from paying constant attention to her.





She belonged to my Aunt Diane, who sadly passed due to complications from breast cancer. My Uncle Mike, bless the man, did everything he could for Oz, but she began picking her chest, and now has a more or less permanent open wound on her chest (I chose not to post pictures of her chest as some might find it disturbing. I know I do.) and a lot of emotional issues from losing her owner. Mike brought Oz and his blue and gold macaw named BeeGee (this bird is an unmitigated ass. I kid you not.) up to stay with my mother. Now, I am not a bird person, but Oz is very special. She is a people too, just ask her. When everyone was about to give up on her, I suggested that mom bring her over to stay with us for a while. We're doing everything we can to help her out, and although she is still picking, we are finding more plumage on her every day. Even though she may never grow chest feathers back, we hope that one day she will be healed enough to be healthy. In the meantime, I will just hope that she doesn't get irritated enough with my knitting to bite through my circs while she's sitting on the couch with me.



And about knitting.





This is the left front of my Central Park Hoodie. Again. I got to within 1.5 inches of the neckline decreases when I realized that I had put the cables in the wrong place. ARRRRGH. So it ended up frogged back down to the ribbing and we're starting over. I can't tell you how much I hate frogging. All of the wasted work. It drives me nuts.

Which brings us to the next photo and a lesson on my lace should be worked from charts




This is the sum total of my angora scarf. 5 rows. That's it. Lace is railing at my suggestion of superiority over it. The reason? I have started and restarted the thing multiple times trying to do the lace from the text instructions, not the chart. I give in. I will try it from the chart this time. If that doesn't work, and I still can't manage this simple diamond lace pattern, my only choice will be to eat the yarn to hide the evidence of my miserable failure.



Here is what I'm currently spinning. Supposedly it it wool, but I tend to believe that it is a cloud. The bag was marked Cormo when I purchased it from Stony Mountain Fibers. Barbara claims that it came from her own flock. Don't get me wrong, there couldn't be a nice person, but it is clear to me that she is lying. She has somehow, through the use of black and terrible magic, forced clouds to land on earth and is selling them to be spun by her unsuspecting customers who become lulled and enchanted by the magic clouds. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I purchased 8 oz. I want to get a nice 2 ply fingering weight to make a shawl. I figure by the time I get done spinning all that, I might have some slightly less tenuous grip on lace than I do now. What I have on the bobbin there is lovely and uniform, but I don't think I have enough twist in it to manage a decent two-ply. Luckily it's just a tiny amount. The crimp in this stuff though calls for lots of twist so I think I'm going to have to pull out the stops and use the teeny little whorl (it's reportedly a 9:1, but I have my doubts) and try that out.

Any die-hard Cormo spinners out there have any suggestions???

The hits just keep on coming!

I have been trying, for the past 24 hours, to figure out exactly what it is I did to piss the fates off this much. I haven't pinpointed it, but it could have something to do with the years between 16 and 23. This seems like an awfully late payback though.



I spent much of my day yesterday at the DMV. I discovered that they still do not make any sense at all. At least some things in the universe remain constant. Apparently despite being fully insured on my Jeep, I was still uninsured. I have an Oldsmobile that my father gave me. It became inoperable a few months back. We'd been using it as an extra "emergency" car when the engine finally blew. Since then I removed it from my insurance and have tried to find a charity that can use it. (I know there are a lot of "donate your car" charities, but typically I've found that most will just sell the car as salvage and take the money from that. I wanted a charity that could actually make use of the vehicle.) Well, apparently, because that car was uninsured, I have lost my license and will have to downgrade my insurance (from the ridiculously high amounts of coverage that I purchased to an SR-22 which covers just around state minimums) in accordance with state law and pay steep fines to get my license back. I'm currently appealing this, but it's the DMV. I see little hope in my appeal.



Also, the Jeep was totalled. I got a value on it today (less than what I owe, naturally) and went to get the rest of my things from it, only to find half of my things have gone missing. CD's (some are irreplaceable from our favorite local bands back home), a vintage pin, mini kleenex packs, my badge for work, and several others things gone. Just gone. Also I cannot purchase a new car now, until the whole license/insurance debacle is sorted out.



My friend who was in the car with me ended up in so much pain that she's been out of work the last few days. We're not sure when she'll be back. Luckily I'm feeling much better, but that doesn't make her feel any better.



I suppose this is one of those experiences that is supposed to make me grow as a person and have some miraculous outcome that makes me feel silly for having worried in the first place. Forgive me fates, for not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I feel like I've lost my freedom and even though everyone that has seen where the accident happened agrees that there was nothing I could have done to prevent the accident other than not having been there, I can't stop feeling horrible about having hurt people. I suddenly realize why the people I talk to each day at work have that hollow sound in their voices, and often try to deny that they were in the wrong. The guilt is crushing. I will eventually work through it, I know that. Today though, I'm pretty miserable.



At least I've been getting a lot of knitting done. I'm so glad I took it up. It was about the only thing that kept me calm at the DMV, although security did keep a close watch on me while I was flashing around those threatening pointy sticks.




I've finished the back on the sweater and I'm to the armhole decreases on the left front. Those little pieces just fly, but I'm sure the button band will find a way to remind me again that I'm no super-knitter.



By the way, does anyone know how I should block this? Should I block individual pieces, or get everything put together first? Will blocking in pieces interfere with the picking up of live stitches later when I put on the hood? Also, since the hood is knitted on, won't I have to block it again once I finish the hood? Inquiring minds want to know. If anyone else knows, please, please clue me in.



One last thing. Since I upgraded to Beta, I've had some mention of comments not being accepted. From what I've found, you can comment, but as "someone else". Not as "anonymous" and not under your own sign in, you just have to type in your name, it should take it. if it doesn't, please email me froux2zj at verizon dot net.