Twists of Fate

Is there anything funnier than a foal who’s just discovering what his legs can do? Is it a universal thing with all baaaaaaaaby animals that they discover the things they stand on can go BOUNCE and BACK and UP? The colt is bouncing around his mother like he has pogo sticks for legs, and it’s hysterically funny. He’s also not liking the halter much, and rubbed his little head against my arm and gave me the sweetest eyelash fluttering look. I told him I wouldn’t take it off, and he bopped me with his nose and wheeled off to go carooming off mom for a bit.

I’m glad I gook the trash out and got to see them out of their paddock. I’ve been hesitant to go into the barn much, mostly because I don’t know what I’m doing out there, I’m not really sure I’m allowed, and I’d be tempted to bring all the animals a big fat treat every single time. Probably not healthy, you know? Getting love blinks from a stallion when giving cheek rubs though…well, that’s a nice warm glo in the old heart right there.

Oh, you want to hear about sheepy things, and not horses that aren’t mine? Well. Not a lot to update there. I had Spinderellas process the merinoX fleece I got from Jean Near into roving. I did ask that they save about 8oz for me to work with hand cards, so I could get used to hand carding again. I can’t find most of my spindles - I have a Jenkins Turkish that I don’t know how to use, and a very light one whose maker I cannot remember…they were in one of the boxes labeled “spinning supplies”. But I haven’t worked with either very much, and I’m really not sure how to use the Turkish. What I really need to do is get off my ass, find a screwdriver, and turn the maidens on the Traveller. It occurred to me, after I took a class at the Spring Fair, that the maidens are all backasswards on the Traveller and have been since I got it. I didn’t know! So I need to find a Phillips head and switch those around, shorten and re-sew the drive band, and maybe then I’ll get out on the lawn and do some spinning.

I’m not really sure I’m a big fan of merino. There, I said it. The feel of it just isn’t comfortable for me right now. I *love* the job Spinderella’s did on the fleece/roving, and I agree that the straight merino is a bit tender and has some neps (features, not bugs), but the silk blend is awesome. I’m glad I paid just a little bit extra to have half of this fleece carded up that way. The roving is awesome, and I want to take the big bag out to my “yard” (it’s looking kind of jungle like right now…I wonder if I should ask the landlady to mow it or just let the mare take care of it) and spin. Maybe Sunday. I can spring for a screwdriver, I found a needle and thread, and I think I found most of the bobbins for the Ashford.

I’m still afraid of the Schacht, which is a shame. It’s so beautiful…I don’t want to mess it up. I know, I know. WTF? But I can’t help it. I want to learn more about spinning before using my superfantastico wheel. It doesn’t make much sense, but it is how I feel.

Unfortunately,ran around Friday afternoon/evening and on Saturday for much of the day. Sunday? I was a total lazy ass and read up on the Potterdamerung and read and read and read lots of intarwebs based fiction. And worked on my Mirabilia in progress. On the other hand, I also got a lot of work done on the teeny cotton beanie for SisSpawn #1, and I finished it this evening. I wish I could a) find the camera and b) hook up my home tower so I can download the pics from the camera to edit and upload. That would be awesome.

Alas, I shall have to settle for a dinner of string cheese and Chardonnay (I don’t think I’m really a fan of Chardonnay), and an early night. I’m such a rebel.

Anyone have any plans for Lammas/Lughnasadh? I’m tempted to make candles again, but would have to dig through boxes to find all the stuff.

Last but not least - random picture of cuteness! Sent to me by a friend. Ahhh!

Part of me would love to have a Ravelry invite, but the rest of me would prefer to spend my time on the other things I have going. Frankly, reading really good fiction (albeit fan based and, well, rather on the smutty side) is free and requires only my time. Browsing people’s stashes via pictures is likely to cause a hemmorage in my bank account, the likes of which would take years to recover from.

Plus, and I don’t know if you’ve experienced the same thing, people get kinda bitchy when they start comparing crafty things in a wider setting. With blogs, I can pick and choose who I read, and I like everyone I have listed in my RSS feed. I’m on the special notice only for MS3 (as well as most of my groups) and I skim the digests for topics I like. I’ve been through enough crafty flame wars to know that me and wider audience participation are not so mixey. It’s really true that familiarty can breed contempt, and well, I’m cranky. It’s best for all if I participate my way.

Ravelry is not my way, but y’all have fun now, ya hear?

I think the Seattle Mariners have the Stitch & Pitch tonight, which I won’t be going to because a) I forgot and b) the last time I went to a game I was very uncomfortable, and frankly, the nosebleed seats give me vertigo liek whoa. It’s fun to hang out with all those knitters, and I love me some Mariners Moose (MOOOOOOOOOOSE!), but not this year. I look forward to the reports from the various area blogs though.

The water in the house is off and the denizens upstairs forgot to tell me before they all left for work. It’s so nice to be forgotten when there’s important things like showering at stake. What if I didn’t work from home and had to get washed and dressed and presentable? Geez.

I mentioned I’m cranky earlier, right? :D

Have you ever had one of those days where you feel like everything on Earth is upsetting and you feel like you’re about to burst into tears at any moment? That you can’t do anything right, no matter how hard you try? That you can’t get on top of the bills, or stay abreast with friendships, or generally apparently be a good human being who is someone a person might like to know?

Yeah, totally having one of those days. As soon as I’m done with work today I’m seizing some knitting and trying to soothe myself. It’s a good thing there isn’t any ice cream in the house, and that my chocolate supply is low. I generally STOP eating when I get upset, but today a huge ice cream sundae smothered in chocolate sounds like the best idea ever.

In the meantime, if you haven’t seen this post over at Simply Knitting, go take a look. It gives some good information on who to contact to get Susanna Lewis’ Knitting Lace back into print. Take a moment and drop an email to the Brooklyn Museum of Art if you have the time? I’d love to get a copy of this (it’s on my wish list along with those ever elusive Alice Starmore books that go for $250-600), and if we can get enough people to request a reprint, and that they’d buy a copy, perhaps we’ll get to see it sometime before I am old and grey.

Off to find some more kleenex and maybe open a bottle of wine, as I DO have that here in the house….

Yanno, I’m just don’t think I’m ever going to be a cotton fan. Knitting with the cotton ends up just killing my hands. And since my hands are a necessary component to my relationship to my work laptop, I need to slow down with the cotton.

I’m working on a baby cap in an random skein of Manos Cotton Striat in a nice neutral shade of aqua. It’ll be soft and drapy and fantastic, but it’s going to be slow going because I can only do two or three rounds (a whoppin’ 70 sts each) before my hands seize and I have to put it down. I’m alternating a few rows of hat, a few rows of sock, and a few pages of stuff online.

HP7? Done. About as I had expected, and I enjoyed it for what it was. Watching the fallout on the intarwebs though = hysterically funny. Seriously. I <3 fandom, but HP is batshit insane. The Potterdamerung is well underway. It’s spectacular!

Also, thank you to everyone who dropped by with birthday wishes!! I’ve since discovered that while yes, Godiva dipped strawberries = awesome, champagne and I are not so mixey. At least, not in that volume in that time period. Ow.

Happy Monday, if there is such a thing! :D

Before I get to the war to end all wizards, I should mention that I had a marvelous time at the shindig at TMK’s house on Sunday to meet Cuzzin Tom and a whole lot of wonderful people. I got to talk to Evelyn Clark about some neat things, and it’s always good to talk to knitters of all backgrounds, bound together by this common interest. I’m always glad that I get out and about to these, and really hope to get off my ass and join the Guild and maybe join them at Ferals now and again.

Also, Cuzzin Tom is just amazing. My shyness struck again, and i didn’t talk to him nearly as much as I would have liked to, but I did enjoy listening to his stories throughout the day.

One of them was a story about losing his mala briefly. I try really hard to be respectful of other people’s tools, and felt very honored to be allowed to handle his lotus seed mala. Holding it in my hands, I could feel this incredilbe buzz of energy…. I had to close my eyes for a moment, and just feel. I heard him say later that he’d had it for 16 years, and when he first got it it was white or light grey. The beads are now a gorgeous deep browniksh red color from handling and time.

How amazing must that be, to have one set of hands working them over and over again, as chants and devotional mantras are said. Through times of great peace, or maybe doubt, possibly fear, and incredible love.

I held his mala in the palm of my hand, and felt deeply and profoundly moved by how much devotion and love that stood for. I think he’s amazingly courageous, to walk the path that he walks, to go and see things and deal with things right up and in front of his face that would utterly destroy me. Meeting him and knowing that he’s seen all the troubles of Mongolia staring him right there in the face really brought home to me why people are doing this.

Thanks for coming and hanging out with us!

——-

We’ve got a little less than 36 hours to go where I live before Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows (does anyone else think this sounds like Harry is dating Kate Moss or maybe some other stick figure Barbie-type?) is released. Now, there are sucktastic people on the intarwebs that will spoil spoil spoil all the fun for everyone and either tell you what happens before you have a chance to read it, or just post scans of crucial pages. I know there’s a PDF of the book released on the web already, and hell, some NYT writer walked into a shop and bought it off the shelf earlier this week.

I prefer to remain unspoiled, and so will be hunkering down with some emergency rations, a battery powered radio, the sock in progress, some stitching and the vast silence of a self imposed internets blackout. At some point on Saturday, a hot person in a brown uniform will be dropping a copy off at my home, at which point I will devour the novel and get back to business as usual.

See y’all on the flip side! The folks bundled up in all the warm knitted gifts for Dulaan may be the only ones left standing after the book drops. :D

*plays air guitar and bops around the room*

Lunch with good friends! New lip gloss! Godiva covered strawberries half the size of my hand!

::passes out glasses of Veuve Cliquot Ponsardin to everyone::

Holiday! *makes with the Madonna dancing* Celebrate!

:-D

I tell you, I have been in a foul mood for weeks now. Too much stress, not enough sleep or “me” time makes for a cranky Moirae. Add to this the most vicious case of PMS so far this year and it’s a recipe for my own personal thundercloud, following me around and raining on my head and anyone in the vicinity.

I came home from battling the mobs at the Lake Forest Park farmers market, and already I’m exhausted. But I gathered my purchases, and as I left the car, I saw my landlady out with a camera, taking pictures of something in the grass. At first, I was like, “why is she taking pics of one of the chickens?” And then I looked a little closer.

TEENY TINY BALLS OF YELLOW FLUFF THAT PEEP!!! One of the chickens has, apparently, been brooding, and hatched eight chicks this morning. Just this morning! These little balls of PEEPing hilarity were only hours old, but already out for a stroll with mom. They are so incredibly cute! And funny!

Alas, they moved off to explore as a mob once mom was done with the crookneck squash the landlady had given her as a personal treat to make up for days and days of sitting on the eggs, so I didn’t have a chance to run in and get my camera. But I’ll hopefully be able to get a pic before they all grow up or the coyotes get them.

So cute, and a total cure for the cranky!