7.24 Progress Report

Dayflower Daydream is coming along. Slowly. Tinking three rows of over 400 stitches each didn't improve either my mood or my progress. Realizing that it's more than 400 stitches and only going to get worse with the next repeat makes me a little giddy. No wonder it took so long.

Actually, realizing that it's more than 400 stitches already makes me want to go double check that I need another repeat. I would be really pissed if I did another 40 rows and didn't need to.

ETA - Sadly a lifeline wouldn't have helped because on each row I was tinking, I kept thinking that the problem was just with the row previous and if I could just back up that far I'd be fine. I don't think I would have ripped to a lifeline unless it had been just right there. My problem was that three-rows-ago I did the double decrease in the first section and then didn't do it in the next 7 sections. So my numbers worked out in the first section, but not in any following sections...

I've now checked, and ::le sigh:: it does specifically say each section will have 72 stitches when I'm done and there are 8 sections altogether, ergo 576 stitches total. Another repeat it is.

7.22 Odd Thursday

J is down at Geneseo helping to setup for the NYPower rocket launch this weekend (the weather is looking icky for that but hope springs eternal).

S is upstairs avoiding gathering up stuff for packing for his trip to VA on Sunday.

In theory I'm sewing patches on uniforms, but I notice a little avoidance going on here as well.

This is BFL from High Bid Farm, in the Maggie colorway. Maggie is a perfectly beautiful brindled boxer. I got to meet her on Saturday when we met at the farm for spinning guild. Maggie had a great run (Bad Maggie!) when one of the Shetland rams got out - she chased him until she herself was finally caught. The ram was hot and bothered for quite a while after that. Maggie sat in the shade and visited with us after that, not repentant at all.

I have about 3/4 pound of this color, and another 1/4 pound of a darker shade. Depending on how much yardage I get, I'm thinking the body of the sweater in this shade and cuffs and ribbings in the darker shade.

7.20 Ten on Tuesday

10 things to take when camping

1. Sleeping pad. Preferably an air mattress. My bones are too old for sleeping on the ground.

2. Sleeping bag or other night covering, suitable to the weather. A sheet in the summer; a lightweight bag in the fall; our zip together winter bags when there's snow on the ground.

3. Pillow. Gotta have a pillow regardless of the weather.

4. Tent. Or possibly a trailer. Or even a camper. J likes to sleep under the stars, which is ok for one night, maybe two, but gets old quickly. A cot is good if there isn't a tent - I'll never forget the little crabby footieprints under the people's cots when we camped out at the beach. I want the crabs Under the Cot, not Walking Over Me.

5. Cookstove. Cooking over a fire is fun as a side amusement, but I want reliable heat for tea water in the morning.

6. Enough clothes.

7. Enough food.

8. A book to read.

9. Sturdy shoes to go for a walk.

10. Something with which to stifle any drunken neighbors. A bludgeon comes to mind, particularly when I recall the idiots who decided it was a good idea to kill a skunk (by stoning it) upwind of us. We went home early that time.

7.19 Okay...

K is in Nicaragua on a summer exchange for four weeks. I got a note from her recently which said, in part, "we went up to a lake in a volcano and went swimming... There was a place about 25 feet up where you could jump in, but I thought it was too high so I only did that three times."

7.13 Ten on Tuesday

10 things I like about where I live

1. College town. Not that I am enamoured of college students en masse, but where there are college towns, there are often side benefits. Cheap entertainment for one - lots of possibilities for music, theater and museums.

2. Guilds. Embroidery, weavers, crochet, knit, spinning, lacers...

3. Farmer's markets abound.

4. Lots of parks - by the Lake, by the river, in the hills.

5. Skiing within easy reach in the wintertime.

6. Yarn shops. Possibly too many to be self sustaining for the long haul, but having 5 real yarn shops within easy reach is really nice.

7. Six months of nice weather, three of ok weather and two or three of hot muck. The odds are good. Having real seasons is a major plus after living in CA for so long.

8. A real bicycle race in the summer time to go see.

9. Having a real rocket guild is a plus for J and when he's happy with his hobbies I can enjoy mine with a clear mind.

10. Having an expensive school system is expensive (and somewhat wasteful ::sniff::) but I will say we're getting our money's worth for the most part. Three more years to go and we'll be through with public school.

7.5 Spinning some Brownie

It looks rather like a poster child for bad craigslist photos of spinning wheels for sale, but for some reason, piling the fiber on top of the flyer keeps the cats from thinking it's a cat toy. Why? Dunno.

This is the next to the last bit of the Fudge Brownie I was complaining about but I finally mastered it. Unlike most of the top I've been spinning for a very long time, this roving has a right end and a wrong end for smooth drafting. Guess who started from the wrong end? On the whole, this was probably not a bad thing as I would have been completely flummoxed had I accidentally started from the right end and then gotten the wrong end the next time I bought some. That would have been worse.

With the right end, this is lovely lovely stuff to spin.

And who would have guessed? With the right prep and the right spinning technique (and the right end!) I too can be one of those people obnoxiously mentioning that this four ounces of spinning only took a couple of hours while I watched a World Cup game. You watch now - the next four ounces will take a week (or more) as I'm shifting to top, short draw, and sport weight.

And we won't at all go into the two ounces of silk that I have been working on for more than four years. Nope, we won't discuss that at all.

This is all that's left - do you suppose that I can finish it this summer?