Twists of Fate

I was able to attend the Dulaan Knit In at TMK’s lovely, cozy, beautiful house (yes, Ryan’s TMK) on Saturday thanks to the kind indulgence of a most wonderful new friend. She rocks, yo. Sweet and kind and funny and terribly cute. She knits a mean colorwork hat too y’all. There were so many other fabulous people, some I got to see again, some folks who were new to me…like the lovely Janine, and Mary B, and Linda (she of the Hey Lets Give Away Tons of Noro from my stash just because), Rebecca and new friends! Please don’t feel slighted if you were there and read this and I didn’t mention you - it’s because I have a brain like a sieve and get sorta overwhelmed when there’s more than two or three people in the room and can’t remember names to save my life.

I was sick most of last week, and collapsed in a pile of “blergh” once I got home, but the hours I spent with other knitters working on projects for this awesome scam incredible project. I have pics of the pile(s) of hats and sweaters and scarves oh my!, but of course didn’t get them out of the camera. I was too busy making like a big fat moany feverish crankypants bump on the log that is the couch, drooling over the team members of SG1 in their hot black ops gear and wishing I were dead. Or not under the weather. Either one would work, so long as I get to trade snark delightful witticisms with Richard Dean Anderson in the afterlife.

I’m scheduling my latest attack of the vapors for this evening, after I write the $415 check to cover the ransom for my car repairs to my brakes. Something about a master cylinder going bad blahblahglazedeyesblah. I was pissed all weekend because it nearly made me miss out on the Knit In, but also because I was unable to get goodies to contribute TO the Knit In. I had plans! Plans I tell you! Of actual cooked things and a six pack of beer to share (TMK let me have one of the Fat Tires she had in the fridge, because she’s amazing and I possibly looked like I’d been hit by a 2×4 with all the folks there and perhaps needed a bit of reinforcement). I got to indulge in a rare glass of Cherry Coke and a Top Pot donut and a few other nibblin’s to spare, and while I was embarrassed that I didn’t contribute most of the time, it didn’t stop me from savoring the nuts on the donut OR a piece of the famous Tofu Chocolate Pie.

Meh. Who needs food anyway?

Fiber or knitting content to return soon. I’m going to daydream of the lovely things in TMK’s beautiful backyard paradise to help prevent the panic attack I can feel lurking, over soon-to-be-unemployment, interviews, car repairs and the cashing out of a 401K.

First, a bit of shameless commerce. I just bought an Ashford Basic Jumbo Flyer (double drive) kit yesterday on impulse and once I got home realized that it’s just not something I’m going to use. Fastest case of buyer’s remorse I’ve ever had. Gah!

Box opened once, and I’ve barely even touched anything inside, so it’s practically brand spankin’ new. Includes jumbo flyer, whorl, four bobbins, front maiden, and I believe it also has a drive band, though I will need to double check. Can provide picture of contents if requested. Items are unfinished, so you can stain to match your wheel!

$110 includes shipping in the US, or make an offer. Paypal only please.

Non-commercial content - Did I mention this before? If you’re going to the Dulaan knit-in on the 27th here in the Seattle area and want free fibers to spin, let me know and I’ll bring some. Only caveat is that you use the resulting yarn in charity projects. I got not one but TWO boxes from the lovely person in Idaho who was stash culling, and I’m never gonna get through it all.

Not much else happening here. I was a total couch potato all weekend long and managed to get through the entire second season of SG1 in three days. I didn’t think it was possible to have a sore ass from sitting around on it most of the weekend, but it really can happen.

It’s not going to stop me from starting S3 tonight though. *G*

Sock knitting continues apace. The hotness that is RDA, Michael Shanks and Amanda Tapping is making it difficult to make progress. Too much drool is not good for metal DPNs, not to mention what it does to the sock. I’ll try to muster up the wherewithall to stop with the terribly gauche drooling and make more progress pronto.

Happy Monday y’all!

Pre-pregnant? How about I cut off your f-ing Viagra access you bastards?

Filled with so much rage. I can’t even articulate how angry I am. The words “pre-pregnant” make my vision fill with red and it’s a wonder my head hasn’t exploded yet. But would it matter, so long as my womb was intact, regardless of whether I’m planning on reproducing anything with it?

Fucking bastards. Grrrrrr!

[this post brought to you by not enough coffee, ardent pro-choice sentiments and a sincere desire to castrate whoever came up with that phrase]

In knitting news, I’m still working on socks. And may work on a design for a male chastity device because the poor dears can’t be bothered to keep it zipped, and of course it’s the fault of all the baby incubators everywhere, so long as they’re of an age to menstruate.

But first, I’m gonna run out for a double shot of scotch and possibly chain smoke my way through half a pack while eating a cheese steak sandwich with a side of fries smothered in cheese and gravy or something.

OK, so my grand plans for the weekend? Never really materialized. There was a lot of Stargate: SG1 watching (holy cow RDA got better looking as he got older and lost the mullet and mmm my older man fetish continues unabated), as well as another disc of Veronica Mars. And there was a lot of chocolate in there too. Too much. Waaaay too much. I think I could feel my very own personal molecules vibrating at a subatomic level at certain points from the combined caffeine/sugar rush.

I flowed, like water, from one passive, ass-broadening activity to another for three days. There was mass consumption of coffee (mmmm coffee), a lot of TV-on-DVD, and an absolute TON of reading done. I think I plied a bobbin of practice singles somewhere in there while I was watching Pretender, but it was late and I was crashing and things there got blurry.

I did manage to wash another fleece this weekend though. Finished the Lincoln (huzzah!), and washed up a Shetland. Oddly enough, these two fleeces are very different. That’s me, Mistress of The Completely Freakin’ Obvious. But I’d done a Cotswold and a Lincoln, and abruptly shifting to Shetland made for an interesting tactile experience. I can tell you the Shetland was hella more dirty too. That pre-soak water? Almost made me gag. X-P

It’s supposed to get into the 80s here today in Seattle. Eighty degree weather in the middle of May. This doesn’t really bode very well for August, non? Too bad I don’t have today off of work too - I’d try my hand a spinning in the grease.

I’d better go find some coffee to help with this headache (I know, I know, sounds counterintuitive but it usually helps). Can’t go from mainlining for the majority of three days to an abrupt reduction w/out paying one way or another.

Oh! I meant to mention - I’m going to work on doing something for myself and have (like an insane person) joined a knit-a-long. Check out the Trekking button on the sidebar, once I get it loaded! Here’s to hoping I can actually knit something for myself in three months!

OK, so all my grand plans described in the last post sort of…fizzled. I ended up doing laundry on Tuesday night (don’t I just lead the most exciting life ever?) and watching Disc 2 of the first season of Veronica Mars. I love this show. I don’t have live TV service right now. I actually haven’t had it for over four years now, and while I never thought I could cut that cord, it turned out to be a brilliant idea. Not only do I save myself the expense of cable (which is a must where I’ve been living as otherwise you can’t get ANY channels at all, even with an antenna), but I am able to pick and choose what I want to view.

Netflix is a gift from the Goddess, I swear. Best. Idea. Ever.

I get most of my news via the newspapers on the internet, or actual newsprint. After 9/11, I found I couldn’t really handle seeing the news. Reading it is entirely different, as it feels like there’s a layer, a buffer between myself and the horrors of the day. Seeing it in color and right there in my face, as well as the endless repeats of that day for months afterward pretty much sent me into a PTSD state. Sadly, I know of what I speak there, so the most constructive thing I found I could do was to disconnect from that particular method of getting my news.

Is it chickenshit, given the state of the country? Maybe. Or maybe not. I felt even then that the objectivity of the television news was going the way of the Dodo, and increasingly advertising and sponsors, not to mention ratings, were running the shows. I am fairly certain that not even the online sources of news are truly any better, but I have more of an opportunity on the internet to find foreign English language papers and see what the rest of the world thinks about what’s going on in my country.

Um, where was I? Oh! VMars, Netflix and Tuesday night. Then last night I had my astrology class, and got home around 10pm. Not a lot of fleece washing is going to happen at 10pm, so perhaps tonight is the night for pictures.

LadyV had asked what I’m planning on doing with all this fantastic fiber. And, um, she sort of caught me flat footed there. Hee! I truly have no idea. I’m so stuck on the idea that I need to get it all washed up and carded that I haven’t actually thought through the spinning of it. I know I want to do a number of shawls, and I have some ideas lurking about patterns/concepts that I’d like to get down on paper someday. I think I’m going to concentrate on spinning up at least one of the white fleeces at a consistent sport or fingering weight and then dye the resulting yarn to match the concept.

I think Georgia would make a gorgeous sweater, but I am definitely on the far end of “ample”, and am not sure I can handle the idea of knitting a sweater in my size. More likely would be a sweater for either my brother or my sister. Sister mine is a teeny vegan woman who wears a small, and brother is a healthy (and I’m told terribly hot) trim and fit person. At this point, it’s more likely that Georgia would be a sport or worsted weight yarn for a sweater for either, or possibly both of them. Her fleece that year weighed ten-and-a-half pounds! I think I could probably get two sweaters and enough yarn for myself for socks AND A shawl out of that.

OK, maybe I’m dreaming there, but it’s nice to plan big.

Aside from sweater plotting with Georgia, I don’t really have plans for the rest of the fleeces. My knitting needs are fairly simple, running to shawls and socks and scarves. I actually have yet to attempt knitting a sweater, though I have the yarn for a number of them in the stash. I do want to spin the white fleeces and dye the results, but figure any projects from those would tell me what they want to be after the dyeing is done.

Er, that was all a really roundabout way of saying “I have no f-ing clue what they’ll be.” :-D

However, I do know that the first step is to admit I have a problem wash all that fiber, so that’s my goal for tonight. No, no, not to wash it all, but to wash at least some of it. Because there’s still Shetland and Rambouillet and some mohair and an Australian Merino fleece waiting their turns for a bath, and I have no washing machine.

I’d better get a move on, yeah?

I try to be a good human bean, but this time of the year? When MDSW happens? And again in the fall when Rheinbeck takes place?

I fail. Miserably.

I’m filled with envy and bitterness at all the lovely, lovely fibers and tools and fellow bloggers that have the chance to attend these East Coast festivals. I lurk and sigh with longing at the stash folks acquire there. Or the new spindles. Or new wheels and other tools that are ripe for the picking, especially if you’re good with your elbows and can get to the front of the line. And the chance to get to meet all those vendors universally adored by the spinning public! The creators of the tools we hug and squeeze and call George treasure…man that’s cool.

But then I see reports of long flights and long lines and packed barns and I have to remind myself that I get verra, verra cranky in those types of situations. When the sea of humanity makes me feel like one of the sheep in the pens at the fair, or one in a herd of cattle (anyone else out there MOO out loud in long lines and crowded conditions?), I get antsy and headachy and just totally overwhelmed.

So it’s probably good that I may not see MDSW or Rheinbeck in the coming years. After all, that’s what the internet is for! For porn remote fiber acquisition! I dream of having access to so many different kinds of wheels in one building, but that’s a temptation my poor pocketbook doesn’t really need at this point in time. Maybe when I win the lottery! I’ll just travel from wool festival to wool festival, and take every class I can get into.

Yeah! That’s the ticket! (The winning one!)

In the meantime, I am soothing my only slightly bitter (semi-sweet?) self with anticipation from opening the second box from Skylines Farm. You may note the link there off to the right in my sidebar. This is because Melissa has the absolute best Romney and Romney cross fleeces I’ve ever seen. I’ve mentioned Georgia here before, but I have, um. *blush* Four more of her fleeces this year. They’re that good.

Actually, I went back to check and, um. I have five of her sheep this year. In my defense, three of those are half fleeces from Irene, Linda and Nadine. Those were in the first box, and they’re all truly lovely Romney cross fleeces. The other two are full fleeces from Haley and Lily, which resulted in me realizing I didn’t have any of her full Romney this year. Oops! So I actually have fiber from seven of her sheep, if I include Georgia and Frances from last year.

Whoa.

Anyway, I haven’t even opened the box that has Haley and Lily in it, because I’ve been saving it for a) when I’m feeling a bit blue and b) when I have time to wash them both up, as well as c) a better plan for storing the washed fleeces than the “oh shit I’m out of boxes and shelves so how about paper grocery bags for now?” option.

Tonight, however, I’m gonna have a little fiber fest of my very own and open that box! And this time I’ll avoid camnesia and take pics as I go.

And I’m going to run like hell from the link posted earlier today on one of the fiber lists for Utopia Ranch’s natural colored fleeces. Unless someone is interested in going halvsies?

*earcocks* That sound? “That is the sound of ultimate suffering.” That vast and all encompassing silence? Where crickets chirping and the sound of a lone pair of knitting needles clicking away in the dark are magnified by about a billion?

That’s the sound created in blogland by the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

The sound of no updates. The very far off sound of squeeing when someone scores a prize fleece (thin, high, excited!), or the contented hum of finding just the right spindle. Or perhaps the sound of a poor partner’s heart skipping (in joy or terror) when a spinner finds their OTW (One True Wheel), and the accompanying groan of horror from Ye Olde Bank Account. And the *snick* of credit cards sliding through ATMs and card readers, of course.

But all that’s very far away. On the other side of the continent, in fact.

If you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go chill here in the corner and pout for a bit. Possibly until Monday, when updates about the weekend start rolling in.