April 18, 2007
· Filed under Dyeing, Random Pics, Sachi's Purls, Spinning, That's Life
Did I say I was on a yarn diet? Oh… well. Tools don’t count.
So…. I met up with Sarah and Karen on Saturday at the Knitting Expo near Seattle. I was so bleary-eyed after having stayed up late on Friday night (come on, it was Friday!) and I felt like a dork because… well… because I’m sure I was acting like one.
OK. Seriously… Here is my public apology to Sarah, Karen and Teyani. I was totally acting like a dork. I was not my normal, friendly, chipper, giggly self. I’d had only one cup of coffee after a full week of having quad-shots every morning. Add to that staying up until 2 AM working on stuff and then going, “Crap! I gotta get up early!”
And then I proceeded to get lost on the way to the hotel. Which isn’t a shocking thing for me but, just so you know, you have to try pretty hard to get lost in that neighborhood. So, seriously… I’m sorry. I promise that, next time, I’ll be much more intelligent conversation and I won’t keep going, “Ooooo… shiny!” every 30 seconds.
Karen and Sarah (left and right respectively) both scored some awesome stash and some fantastic goodies. I made out pretty well myself. Do you see that big, white bag on the table between them? That’s MY 4.4 lbs. of dark grey merino. *drool*
I also scored a couple lovely books and some superwash.
The superwash, as per usual, is from Crown Mountain Farms. I always have to buy stuff from Teyani and Klaus. I think it’s a disease or something. The superwash is in the colorway “Secret Agent Man” so I got a quick serenade from Teyani as we did a little catching up. That made me giggle.
One of the books has some great history that I very much look forward to reading.
And now, to give you a quick taste of what I was up to, staying up so late on Friday.
April 11, 2007
· Filed under Critters, Dyeing, That's Life
As I mentioned earlier this week, I somehow managed to cram in a little dyeing between work and retrieving M from Portland. The dyeing kit I picked up contains a bunch of natural ingredients (like extract taken from bugs and roots and bark… oh my) and is put together by a company called Earthues in Seattle, WA. I read up a little and, while my original plan was to wait for a couple books I’d ordered from Amazon (very pissed off at Amazon right now), I couldn’t stand it anymore and just threw together a pot of Madder to dye up some lovely. It’s a root that needs to mature for 3 years underground. This is 13.5 ounces of Rambouillet-corriedale that started out as a very light grey. LURVE!!! I can’t wait to spin this stuff!
Also, seriously wasted Mew. I’m starting to worry that we need one of those catnip interventions around here.
April 9, 2007
· Filed under Dyeing, That's Life
So, I drove down to Portland to pick up poor M who has been home for a total of 1 day in the last week and a half. I think he was pleased as punch to veg on the sofa all day on Sunday. I was happy to have him home. It’s tough keeping 5 fur-babies entertained when you only have 2 hands.
I did some natural dyeing over the weekend too. I have no idea when I managed to find the time but I accomplished a pound of lovely. Pictures coming, I swear. It’s really too interesting to pass up on the blogging material.
Short post today. I’m brain-dead. I still haven’t recovered from my endless driving over the last week.
BTW, MIL is doing very well. She tossed back a couple glasses of wine after the memorial and was chatting up a storm. When I saw her on Saturday, she hadn’t popped open a bottle of wine but was in a good mood anyhow. Mainly because, if she stays in that house for as long as possible, then her lousy step sons (two of them… the third one is a good guy) will have to wait until she dies to get their hands on the house. We (her whole family) have pretty much decided that this means that she needs to live to be about 125. That would be sufficient torture for those bastards. *insert evil laughter here*
April 6, 2007
· Filed under Dyeing, Knitting, That's Life
Can’t post. Too busy necking.
OK. Not really.
I grabbed M from the airport late on Wednesday night and then we had to drive to Portland (about 3 1/2 hours from home) on Thursday morning to attend the memorial service for my FIL. We got into town a little early so I dragged M off to Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks. M asked me to knit a soft hat for Ritchie so I made him swear that it would be OK to break the yarn diet for the sake of a friend in need.
Oh yeah… I didn’t mention the yarn diet, did I? I’ll have to get to that later.
So, I picked up some black Cascade Fixation because it’s super stretchy and, since Ritchie has a really small noggin and he’s not here for me to measure, I’ll have a bit of leeway when I make this thing. Now I just need to come up with a design. I’m thinking lacy skull-cap. Something that’s not too hot in the summer (if he doesn’t stand in the direct sun) but will keep his head warm when he’s in the hospital for chemotherapy.
I know my readers are a little tired of all the drama that’s been on my blog lately. Sorry about that. I know you’re here for the fiber (most of you, anyhow) but this blog will never be JUST fiber. It’s very representative of my life; mostly fiber but not entirely fiber. The only big thing in my life that I don’t talk about much here is my M. I’ll have to do an entry just about M some day.
OK… back to fiber stuff.
While at Abundant Yarn & Dyeworks, I picked up a kit called “The Reds”. (Not THOSE reds… damned hippies.) It’s a natural dyeing kit with all the natural reds. Pretty cool. I’ll be sure to post all about my little dyeing adventures.
So, memorial went well. Not sure if I want to talk about it but it went well. I left M at his mom’s house until tomorrow at which time I will retrieve my husband and actually spend some time with him for once.
Happy Friday to you all!
March 29, 2007
· Filed under Critters, Dyeing, Random Pics, That's Life
Here are a couple pics of how I spent my weekend. There’s more, really, but it’s sort of secret project stuff and I’m saving it for a big reveal some time fairly soon. I’m sorry to tease but I MUST speak about this in some fashion lest I freak the hell out. I’m serious. I might freak the hell out.
At the moment, there is only one person out there in the knitting community who knows what I’m up to (Hi, Sarah!) as she is sort of my co-conspirator. Isn’t it funny how far bribery with yarny goods will get you? There actually might be one more person in the community who knows (Hi, Karen!) but I don’t know for sure. If you’d have seen me in person today, you would have known too because I think I told everyone I met what I’m doing… I also got a lot of sideways glances from people who are normally kind enough to speak to me. I guess I was a little uber-enthusiastic.
I put my darling M on a plane today. Or rather he hopped an airport shuttle while I was at work. He’ll be working in Los Angeles for the next week. Can I just tell you how painfully jealous I am? It’s not that I want to go to Los Angeles. It’s that I want to go to Los Angeles on a Thursday so that I can see my friends at the WeHo SnB. Most aggrivating of all is that he is staying about 5 minutes away from the Farmer’s Market. Were I there with him, I would be able to walk over to the meeting. *le sigh*
The memorial service for my late FIL will be the day after M comes home; next Thursday. I dropped the MIL an email to tell her about my “issues” and it appears that M spoke with my SIL on my behalf, explaining my present mental state. The SIL, no doubt, has conveyed this information to the MIL by now as I received a weird 2-ring-then-hang-up on my cell from a phone in that area code last night. I’m just content that the MIL understands that I’m not avoiding her because I don’t like her or something.
I have been knitting. I’ve just been lazy about taking photos of the works in progress while the sun is still out. Now that I think of it, we have only had a wee bit of sun for the last few days so I guess I haven’t been that naughty.
The good news is that I still take photos of the animals constantly.
Vicious Poodle! Poodle of Doom!
“Me? High? *twitch* Why would you think that? *twitch, twitch*” (For the full effect, click to make it bigger. Seriously.)
March 19, 2007
· Filed under Dyeing, Knitting, Random Pics
