Lots of work and play

So, I sewed up the ends of two pair of socks, and am part way through my second pomatomus, but I screwed up and the sock is in time out.

I have spun another ounce of Andrea's roving. It's heavenly to spin, except every once in a while a piece of fluff flies up my nose. I just wish I was as fast as FatCat, because I haven't even got halfway through my four ounces, and I want to knit something with it!

I suppose if I were the kind of person who stayed with one project until it was finished I'd be done much faster with the spinning, but I'm not, and really, I don't know any yarn people who are! We can't resist the pull of starting a new project. Each WIP is like a badge of honor, right? So I started some socks - Big Tease, from the Joy of Sox - with my new loopy ewe solid, sereknity. It's gorgeous.

And in between knitting and spinning and sewing, sometimes I go to work and try to wrangle teenagers. I had four teens working for me all year, doing all kinds of cool programs, making awesome sea serpents for our summer reading program and creating a final video about their experiences and how cool the library can be. It's not all just books people! There are fun things for teens at the library. Really, you propose something to us, we'll consider doing it. Like movie nights, a dance (where no one really danced but still had a good time) gaming days, the list goes on. Anyway, here is the final video that my teens made. They are all done working for me and I will miss working with them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj-PhqVTSg8

Invasion of the Earwig

I can't figure out how to move the pictures so look at them first and enjoy the post later! 1.Yarn Hollow Haul. 2.Shepherd's Wool. 3. Mohair in Motion. 4. Wonder Why Gal. 5. My socks! from top to bottom: Plurks, Lohengrin, Pomatomus.

Don't worry - no earwig pictures. I was just "inspired" because as I opened up this window on the computer, I looked up and saw a FUCKING EARWIG crawling on my ceiling. Ewww. I hate them. We've had an unusual amount of them this year. Maybe the humidity? Anyone else in the lovely state of MI experiencing this phenomenon?

But look - I have lovely pictures of my haul from the Castle Farms Fiber Fest. People, this one is nice. It's in this gorgeous building near Charlevoix. It's full of vendors with lots of yummy stuff and if you go on Sunday you miss the super rich crowd of tourists buying yarn and yarn stuff even though they don't knit. Really. We heard a couple of them actually say "This would be really cool if you were a knitter". Dude, it's a fiber festival. What did you think there would be? Different kinds of oatmeal? That sounds fun.

Here's my stuff

The new sock yarn from Shepherd's Wool. Superwash (the variegated) and denim 100% wool. Her wool is so unbelieveably soft. And the colors! And, she's located in East Jordan Michigan. Which is up, just east of Charlevoix. Beautiful stuff.

Yarn Hollow. 3.6 oz. of soy fiber to spin! Pretty orange lace for a shawl, and a heavier laceweight which I think I can finagle into a mythos, from knitty.

And lastly, a bargain bin buy from Mohair in Motion. It's cotton, though, not mohair. Those people are some of the nicest people I've met at these fiber festivals. And they always have the best bargain bin around.

I also bought sock needles because I've got three pairs of socks finished, but the second sock of each is still on the needles because I don't have a sewing needle to graft them! Yes, I know I could've bought a sewing needle, but buying the new sock needles now enables me to actually work on four pairs of socks at once! How awesome is that?

Oh, and here is my alpaca from WonderWhyGal, I have lots left to spin, but I couldn't resist plying up my first spindle full, just to see what it would look like. Isn't it pretty?

Oh no. The earwig isn't on the ceiling anymore.

Spending Spree

What's it called in psychology when you push down your feelings by doing something totally inappropriate? Well, whatever you call it, I think I'm doing it.

My son moved out two weeks ago. He's going to MSU in the Spring and is living in East Lansing with his cousin and trying to find a job for the summer. He was deferred at MSU for the fall, but we figured it would be a good idea to live down there, go to Lansing Community College in the fall and acclimate himself to the environment before January.

People keep asking me if I cried. Well, no. I keep telling myself he'll be back. I mean, I came home all the time from college, holidays and summer and such. So it's not like he really moved out. Come on!

But curiously, at the same time he moved out I found myself ordering yarn from the Loopy Ewe. Four different kinds of yarn. Did you know they have this awesome new Solid Series? I had to get two skeins each of Strawberry and Serenity ( I think that's the green color's name, but don't quote me on it).

And then I needed to try a new line - String Theory sounded fun. And they had this lovely color called Jade Fusion. A must have.

And since I was going with something new, it felt right to throw in an old favorite, you know, for comfort. So a skein of Trekking found it's way into my basket.

And last week the Tour de Fleece started. My knitting homies, the ZPDK, all joined the Team of Wonder, how could I not join too? I will admit, I am not spinning every day. Only because it's freaking hot as hell up here and I have no air conditioner. Did I tell you all the story about the air conditioner? If not, let me know because, while a bit embarrassing, it is quite funny. Anyway - it broke. And no one wants to pony up for a new one, so I suffer. Not so much in silence though. I think everyone I know is sick of me talking about air conditioning.

But I did manage to finish spinning up some Lorna's Laces roving, which was the very first "serious" roving I bought. I'm plying it up right now and thinking of what to do with it.

But all the ZPDK are talking about this Wonder Roving. I've resisted because the hubby has a thing about credit cards and the internet (did you know you can pay with a check at the Loopy Ewe? ) but then I realized that since my daughter has become an Ebay entrepreneur (the rule in the house is "hide it if you don't want Sophie to sell it") we have a PayPal account set up. And then, right when I was chatting with the ZPDK about Wonder Why Roving, I heard my husband say that there was money in the PayPal account! How convienient! I zipped over to Etsy, plunked two 4oz. balls of roving in my basket, asked for the username and password of our PayPal account and before my husband even knew it, bought the stuff! He figured it out when he got the confirmation email, but hey, I told him I'd pay him back on Friday.

The point is, do you think this little spending spree could be related to the kid moving away?

(Obviously, I've misplaced the camera again, but my girls are back from downstate and they both have cameras which I plan to snatch for a little photo shoot with all the new yarn and roving - pictures will be forthcoming!)