Fluff Turns to String - Who Knew?

Here's what's left of my fluff

Here is what it became!
I had 8oz. of fluff, I wonder how much yarn it will make? I'm thinking if I ply it, it will be between dk and fingering weight. Yes, it is still suffering from a slight thick/thin problem, but I'm getting more control every time I pick up the spindle. I love it!

It's so nice to be back in the library. You wouldn't believe the things you miss. Like the smell of a drunk. It's not so much on the breath, but an odor of alcohol that just wafts off the body!

Or people returning books that smell like smoke and have cat hair stuck to them with some unknown substance.

Or realizing that the entire juvenile picture book section is just as messed up at this library as it is everywhere else.

It's like home! (Not really, because the Blair Memorial Library will always be my library home and nothing can compare. It's the best library ever, I swear. All that stuff I mentioned above? You only experience that if you work in a library. Patrons of the BML only see the good stuff. Promise! If you ever visit Clawson, stop in and ask for Kristin or Elizabeth and tell them I sent you. Really.)

Feelin' Kinda . . . Eggshell?

Everything I'm working on today is eggshell. Maybe. It's that off white color that can't be described . . . or can be described, like, a thousand ways, you know, like Eskimos and snow.For example, above, you will see my first official big ball of fluff, from one of the LYS's. The owner said it drafts easily, and she was right. It's just like the fluff Spinsanity sent me, it drafts awesome! So awesome, I'm not even really spinning the thick/thin sort of yarn, just the slubby kind!
Now, I have a lace horror story. Those of you who are faint of heart should probably stop here. It was ugly. I don't have very good photographic documentation, but I think I can accurately describe it. See the largish hole below?
Well, I was happily knitting along, having pretty much memorized the repeat, watching some awesome episode of one of my tv shows (this was so traumatic I've forgotten which one) when a largish puppy running at full throttle lunged across my lap ripping the needles right out of my hands!

I sat there, with my hands in mid air, in total shock. I was desperately afraid to look at the yarn. I took a very deep breath and picked it up. And entire repeat plus had slid off the needles. And no, I did not have a life line. I think I stopped breathing. And then I started swearing. I probably called the puppy some names he really didn't deserve. And then , as if the lace were my own baby, my momma instinct kicked in. I became calm. I grabbed an extra needle and picked up what I thought looked like stitches and to the best of my ability, I counted the stitches before and after and managed to figure out where in the repeat the horror began, and restitched it! While it's not perfect, I think when blocked maybe the person it's being made for won't even see it. She's not a knitter so it's ok.
Lace pictures look like crap until you block the stuff. I've got five more repeats plus one more smallish chart and I'll be done! Then I'll get the good stuff for you!

Now I should really go make the lemon bars I promised my children. I promised them last night only to realize I had no eggs. I had a small revolt on my hands. I promised after school the lemon bars would be waiting for them, and I fear for my life if they are not on the counter. If you don't hear from me soon, maybe someone should call Alpena and check! :0

Brief Update

The dryer is fixed. Laundry is being done. Life is back to normal?

Knitting the Adamas shawl, on the 8th repeat, gonna add a lifeline just in case.

Want to start more socks, but. am. fighting. the. urge!

Job is fine, work tomorrow, get paid time and a half!

Husband away for a week, just me and the rugrats.

House clean, time to go knit. (or spin!)

Don't Move To Northern Michigan

Sure, it tries to suck you in with all it's watery and fall leafy splendor, but don't fall for it. Because if your freakin' dryer breaks?


With clothes in the washing machine,


on laundry day,
there is only one person who can fix it! Guess what? He isn't coming to your house for at least two days, and then on the day he is supposed to come, he doesn't call to tell you when he will be here!

But oh well, screw me, because like I said, only game in town. This I know for sure would not happen downstate. Downstate there is a plethora of appliance fixers. If one of them is impolite enough not to call, you call another one, and for a sufficient amount of money, someone shows up at your house relatively soon and fixes your damn dryer!

It's the same with the video stores. One video store. If they don't have what you want, too bad. But guess what I saw at Wal-Mart today? A DVD vending machine. No kidding! You slide your credit card, pick from the list of newish dvd's and boom, there ya go. A dollar a day. Way cheaper than the video store. But weird.

Anyway, it's all sucky and rainy, and I have dirty clothes and dirty carpet all around me. (I can't clean the carpet until the appliance guy comes because my dryer is on the second floor and you all know how those appliance people can be with their dirty wet boots) I'm trying to work on my pretty lace and it's going well . . . now. Two days ago, I was on the 7th repeat of fourteen, when I realized I had screwed up on the fifth repeat. Now, I knew that I had had to pick up a stitch because I was one short, but the denial part of my brain was working overtime and said "Oh Tracy, it won't even show, don't worry!" Ha. When I tried to frog back, there was no way those stitches were going back on the needle. I had to frog the whole damn thing. Now I'm on repeat five. But it's ok. Because so far so good. (I just knocked on the desk)

Register to Vote Today

If you haven't done so already, in Michigan, this is your last chance.

Go to the Secretary of State. I know, it sucks, but bring some knitting, your sure to get some done.

Get in line, wait, knit, and tell them you want to register to vote. Then you get to vote in the presidential elections.

Awesome. Easy. It's your responsibility as an American. And then if things don't go your way in November you totally have the right to complain. And I'll even listen to you . . .provided you voted!

The First Step is Admitting You Have A Problem

I have a horrible case of too many wips. Not so much startitis, because I started all of these projects at really different times, just never finished them. Witness . . . .
1. The brown yarn? For my NYOBE squares. I'm on number 8 of 11, if you don't count the 12th one I need to knit for myself, so really, wouldn't you want to start another project too?

2. Orange yarn? My pretty Briar Rose Scarf. A couple of repeats shy of finishing if I want a nice, medium length scarf. I told myself when I started I would make a really long one you could wear a bunch of different ways, but a girl can change her mind you know.

3. That bluish yarn stuck in the book? That's a second sock. You guys know all about Second Sock Syndrome, right? Hey, at least I cast it on.
4. Moving on to the second table (my knitting is taking over the living room) we have a shawl, a wedding present for my former boss, who is getting married in June. I know, June SEEMS like a long way away, but it's lace, and it's big and I'm sure it will take me some time.

5. That pink yarn is not mine! My baby is knitting a scarf! She knits so tight, that I have to knit a row for her now and then to loosen it up so she can fit the needle into the stitches! She knits alongside me at night while we watch delicious reality tv!

My job. I am a total wuss. At my old job, we would work the circ desk for an hour at a time, then work on whatever else needed doing, come back and work the desk for a second hour, etc..., but we were only ever on our feet for about an hour at a time. Here? Yesterday, I stood for seven hours. Thursday it was five. I won't take a picture of the wicked blister on my toe, just suffice it to say, it freakin' hurts. Otherwise, it's nice to be back at the library. Same computer system, so I don't really have any of those freak out moments, where you think you've broke the computer, or accidentally charged someone, like, hundred of dollars. Just learning this libraries policies and I should be fine. And my feet will toughen up. Especially when they see a paycheck and can walk over to the LYS and by some roving. No yarn right now, but stuff to spin? It's a new thing to stash. :)

GO ME!!!!

I got a job! I am now employed as the new circulation person at the Alpena County Public Library! YAY! I'm psyched! It doesn't pay well, and as the director pointed out, it's the bottom of the totem pole for sure, but it's what I loved doing back in Clawson at the Blair Memorial Library (always the best library ever!) and I can't wait to start! I start training tomorrow. Awesome!

So today I have to knit and do laundry like a mad woman. Oh, and I want to spin some more. Here, let me see if I can find the pictures of my yarn. There it is on the spindle . . . .
And there it is wound into a skein! It's very twisty. I for sure over twisted it, which I hear, can be a design feature, but not the one I was going for.

Did I mention the second best part about working at the library? Knitters. I hear there are like, five serious knitters there! I met one lady, who knits yarn that she spun from her dogs fur! And Meg, she rocks. Check out the pretty scarf she spun and knit for her boss' retirement, it's on her blog, you may have to scroll down.

The first best part about working at the library? It's a combination of things. First, I will have money to buy yarn and fiber! Second . . . it's around the block from the LYS!