Socks, Socks, Socks

It's all that's on my mind these days, really. I'm going to bed at night thinking of socks. Socks I want to design. Socks I've yet to knit but have the stash designated for. Socks I'm working on. Socks I wish I was farther along on. Socks that are whistling on the wind and socks that are still becoming string on the wheel. It is safe to say I'm consumed with the sock.

It doesn't help that the most awesome sock event EVER is up and coming. Yes, I'm getting really jazzed about Sock Summit. I'm nervous as all get out and I'm also working like a madwoman to get ready for it - but I'm also oober excited about being there! So, I hope that ya'll will come by our booth and hang out for a while.

My sock fever is also being fueled by the fact that I've been spinning so much sock yarn and dyeing up some new colorways - like this 'Blue Ring Octopus' that just has me knitting as fast as I can to free up more needles for new sock projects. Seriously, I finished a pair the other day and was actually disappointed when I found the needles I'd used for them were 1 size up from the size I need to start my Blue Ring Octopus socks. Woe! I love blues and greens anyway but when I came up with this colorway a few weeks ago, I knew it had to be a tribute to this little gal. All small and pretty and vicious.....who could resist her? But, since in real life if you get to see her pretty rings, you are very nearly dead, I decided to make the colorway JUST the colors of her rings. You can knit it and it won't cost you your life...as far as I know.

Of course, this may mean to some that I have too many WIP's on the needles but I am not interested in such practicality at this juncture of my life. I'm far more intrigued and intoxicated at the thought of knitting socks day and night. I think it must be karma for the first few years I was a knitter when I turned my nose up at sock knitting and SWORE I'd never knit anything on teeny tiny needles. People cajoled me with sock yarn....promised me I'd love it, but I resisted. Now? Now I have two sweaters worth of handspun yarn and three hand-dyed sweater yarns (one is a 50/50 wool silk combo for goodness sakes) and I can't be bothered to touch them.....yet I foam at the mouth and elicit strange moans at the sight of sock yarns of all types. It has to be karma.

The thing is, this kind of karma is just fine with me. I'm particularly smitten with the last pair of socks I've finished. When I first got my Cat Bordhi book - I was totally excited. I wanted to do what every excited knitter does and just jump right into it. My first few jumps were a little rocky and I'm not so patient with frogging so I quickly fell into despair. I'm like this with knitting patterns/books, sometimes so I knew better than to give up on it entirely - and I'm so glad I didn't. I've now knit a few successful pairs of socks from the book and continue to be stunned, shocked, and energized by the genius that is Cat Bordhi. Once I got over the 'oh my god I have to do math?' shock and relaxed enough to wrap my mind around alternative shapes and gusset concepts, etc., it's been nothing but non-stop sock knitting bliss. If you've not had this kind of fun with Cat's patterns, yet, do! You won't regret it. It opens the sock knitting mind like some sort of magic portal and, instantly, you cannot imagine a sock you cannot knit. I blame this sock knitting drunken frenzy on my desire to knit the Blue Ring Octopus into the Ocean Toes socks in the book. I mean, how can I possibly imagine that I can knit these? I don't know, I just do.

But, these socks are on stage today - my handspun 'One Fish, Two Fish' yarn from the Happy Hooves batt club. You remember how much fun I had spinning these, don't you? Well, the knitting was only an extension of that bliss. I bet you didn't know that I love quirky? LOL. You did? (surprised). So, to continue quirky loving sock knitting and also to further investigate just what kind of socks I like to wear and which ones wear with the most stealth, these are slightly mismatched. The sock on the right is a Navajo Ply of one batt. The sock on the right, same gauge but a 2 ply. Since most sock spinners say that a 3 ply wears best, I've tended to trend toward standard 3 ply sock spinning. But, I guess the ever questioning and, thus, slightly annoying at times person within can't help but ask, "are you sure?". So, to be sure, I'm trying a bit of everything. This pair is about testing the stealth of a Navajo ply and a 2 ply. In the interest of testing and also because I never seem to do anything exactly the same including my socks - I put two different heels on these. The Navajo Ply got a plain stockinette heel and the 2 ply got the textured, longer wearing heel. Now, the fun part. I get to wear them just as much as I can and see how they do. Right now, they do pretty darn good because my feet are oh, so happy! I think we need a close up to capture some of those sparkles - don't you?

Wow. I can't believe I got through this whole post without complaining AT ALL about the fact that we've had 20 day of the last 23 that have had rain, high humidity, and a warm sort of sogginess to them that makes even the most treehugging person ever crabby and cranky....ooops, I think I just stumbled.....time to go! LOL.

The Problem With Thinking Ahead.....

I'm sure fifty stars will thud to the ground in some ceremoniously sacrificial rite for me even having to audacity to say this like it might be a surprise to anyone but, ya'll know, I'm not exactly the most organized individual on the planet. Nor do I claim to have ever even dipped a toe in the well of wisdom or even been accidentally splashed whilst walking by (which would probably only have ended in me slipping on the splash and falling without grace or candor on my butt because, let's face it - I'm also not very coordinated LOL). But, I've always sort of held the belief that not being naturally inclined to something is no reason or excuse to relent and give up on the concept entirely. Of course, there are extremes to which I think I'm done testing myself in hopes of perfecting or attaining in ample supply the qualities I lack but, nonetheless, it's good to give it a try now and then.

Lately, I've been experimenting with organization and (gasp) planning. I know! While it has not been an antidote to the chaos that seems to have become the theme of my life, it has been kind of, well....neat. You know, dinner makes it to the table a little earlier than, uhm, just before bedtime and it is often well planned and represents the food groups that extend beyond the essentials: coffee, chocolate and salad. I've even begun to organize my work day a bit so that there is actually some time just after dinner each night wherein I can delight in spinning a bit or knitting feverishly to finish socks for no apparent reason other than the fact that I needed to torture myself with a fictitious deadline (more explanation on that later), or just play a quick game with the kids before bedtime.

All in all, I'd say that this whole organization plus planning ahead plus being practical and not expecting to be able to do 210 things that take 1 hr. each in one day because, well, when you've mapped it out on paper and you're out of hours, it seems more real and believable than if you're just going along in your head saying, "yeah, I can do that, sure, I'll do this, too," is going pretty well. It is hard to keep our fantasies about doing everything now so we can have oodles of 'free' time later in check, non?

The problem with thinking ahead, for me, is that it is a sort of snowball effect over time. Once I begin, I just can't stop and I tend to get just as confused about timing when I'm ooober organized as I do when I'm hopelessly behind. You may be screaming 'middle ground' at me right now but, trust me, you'll lose your voice doing that and I'll still likely be singing, "la la la, I can't hear you". I can hardly ever find middle ground and, when I do, I'm generally so in need of it that I drink it in, relax in it a while, and retreat until I get restless again and go searching for more chaos.

I thought I had June mapped out pretty tightly.....though I've been feeling my grip slide for weeks, now. First, the Frolic was way earlier than I'd expected. 'Way' meaning just a few days but still falling on the first weekend in June instead of the 2nd and, therefore, flabbergasting me as I'd planned on it being the second and, therefore, it was supposed to be - LOL. For some reason, in addition to that little 'slip of the mind', I had myself fairly well convinced that Father's Day was today. I operated, sadly, under that illusion until yesterday when a consult with the calendar defeated even my most powerful assertion that it HAD to be Father's Day. I'd bought the dinner, I'd worked like a dog finishing the Dad socks, I'd cleared the schedule for today so we could all just hang out and dote on Dad. Ahem, my only mistake being the whole 'consult the calendar (reality) then plan' part. Sheesh.

Oh well, at least I'm ready for next Sunday and the Dad socks are done. You may not recognize the Dad socks - traitors that they are. They are made from the 4 ply cabled fingering sock yarn that I spun, remember? Yeah, the yarn that took me FOREVER to finish but I thought it would be worth it because it is made from the lambkin roving so it ooooober soft and lamby and would also wear sooooo well because, you know, 4 plies of tiny strands to make a good light fingering usually equals excellent wearing ability. You don't remember it? Of course not! Because yours truly was so ooo excited when she returned from the Spring Fling that she forgot to show it to you (slaps self on forehead and rolls eyes along with everyone else). Anyhoo, here it is. No special prep for this one. I just split the lambkin dyed in "nature walk" into four equal strips and started spinning. I ended up with close to 450 yds. of 18 wpi sock yarn. I was smitten. I was thrilled. I knew we were destined to be together, always, and so I did what any other sensible knitter would do - I threw my other WIPs outta the way and cast right on for some knee socks.

Only, the yarn was not sharing my visions of our future together. It started talking to me which I don't usually mind. I mean, everyone likes to knit a handspun yarn that says affectionate and passionate things to them whilst they knit it, don't they? looks around the room in hopes of hearing a 'yes, sistha'... This yarn was saying soothing and passionate things, all right, but not for me. Woe! The pain of love betrayed! The yarn said it wanted to be for the huscreature. We had many arguments about it whilst I was working on the simple ribbing for the cuff to stretch around my calves because, after all, this yarn was for me, right? Right...not! Turns out, as fate or senility would have it, I had cast on the exact right amount for his calves, not mine. Sob! I still proceeded to argue with it:

Me: you were meant for me and I worked extra special hard on your fancy cabling. Don't you feel any sense of obligation to love me since I took you to the spring fling and everything to work on you? Don't you remember those long nights I spent plying you and saying over and over to you that you were sooooo good looking?

Yarn: you are selfish. Don't you realize how many times he's picked me up and commented on how much he loves this colorway? Don't you know how hard he is to please as far as color blends go? Are you mad, woman? You could attain valuable points by giving him socks made from me!

Me: Yes, but I have two problems with that. One being that I worked so freaking hard to spin you and, therefore, want you for myself. You know how he is with socks. One of the pairs I knit him, he lost. The other, he never wears. You won't be appreciated in his sock drawer like you will be in mine, trust me. Two being that I've already got a pair of handspun socks in progress for him.

Yarn: You mean the harvest socks that you've had in your WIP basket for nearly a year? The ones he's already told you he won't wear because he doesn't wear 'wine' colors? Are you not hearing the voice of reason,yet, and understanding that I am going to be his socks for Father's Day?

Me: What socks for Father's Day? I'm not making him socks for Father's Day, am I?

Yarn: triumphant, smug smile.

Urgh! Clearly, the pain of being ditched by my own yarn was so strong that I just decided to get the knitting done and over with. There were at least two days last week when the huscreature picked up the socks in progress and commented on how great they were going to look on me that I had to exhibit the most fake smile I could muster and murmur under my breath, "Put them down, I hate you, you sock stealing hussy," after he'd gone away. I became so deluded with rage and sorrow that I didn't even think to consult the stinking calendar to see what actual day Father's Day was - I was just hoping it was today so I could give away my beloved socks and be done with it. To console myself, I've cast on two pairs in the last 48 hours that will be mine if I have to turn into Voldemort and conquer the world to be sure of it - LOL.

Next week, I will present my finished project, re-configure the special dinner on the right day, and pretend that I am a gracious and giving soul but - know this - hell hath no fury like a woman who's been deserted by her own handspun yarn. It's bad enough that the one time in so many years I can't remember that I actually have the knitted gift I'm making someone ready on time, it happens to be the one I am most reluctant to part with. If he doesn't worship them. If he doesn't moan when he puts them on his feet (which are, btw, huge and so eternally boring to knit for that I've now asked Thing 1 to start surveying any prospective boyfriends and asking their shoe size, kindly weeding out the larger shoe sizes so that I can be assured I'll have no ghastly gift sock knitting sizes on the horizon) and promise to ever more keep them as kindly and gently as he would a soul mate - I shall probably hiss, arch my back, and scratch his eyes out. Until then, I am off to spin something that has sparkle and colors in it that I know he'll abhor. In fact, I'm thinking of changing my favorite color from green to something totally anti-huscreature like hot pink - only I despise hot pink, too. I mean, urgh! How does this happen?

Time to Frolic

This year’s Fiber Frolic was just so awesome that I cannot seem to put it into words. So, here, let me try another way. I’ll write you a picture of it and include some photos for visual reference should your imagination fail you and have a blip while you’re seeing it, which, and I know this is shocking, happens to me quite a lot.

As you can see from the glaring background in this pic, the sunny early summer Maine days couldn’t have been better than this weekend. I mean, atmosphere wise (weather, surroundings which included fiber happy peoples and fiber happy animals all talking about their fiber passions together, and the cool breezes and warm sun bliss mingling with one another) I had to pinch myself a couple of times just to believe it was real. It was a beautiful day, indeed, for the llamas to strut their proud selves around and do a little drill team action. The llama drill team is a fun end to the fair going day – the last hour of the show when the llama mamas and papas (be they children or adults) lead their long lashed babes out onto the grounds and perform many amazing feats. It usually begins with some enthusiastic marching.

It quickly turns to some slow dancing to sappy love songs that you wouldn’t think you’d get all sentimental about but, ya’ll, that is the llama’s magic power – they just make you feel all dreamy and wispy like. By the time that spell has played out, those songs have changed again to some serious partner dancing and then a few line dancing tricks at the end. I’ve been going to the Frolic for many years and vending for quite a few of those and the llama drill team has always been a part of that. Even the skeptics who walk into the arena like they will remain un-phased by the llama’s sweet powers stumble out of there with the silliest smiles on their faces…..that, too, is fun to watch!

But, really, who am I to talk? I had plenty of silly smiles on my face this weekend, too. Muchly (grammar kill alert – I’ve had only 10 hours total sleep this weekend so there is no brain space for grammar) due to those of you who came by the booth to say hi, to shop, or to hug and share the conversation that is the love of fiber. It is intoxicating to be surrounded by great people and be able to unabashedly throw down our love of wool and its hosts. At least, that is the excuse I am using for having a little falling down in the fleece tent that resulted in landing on some fleeces that smiled the happy smile of wool at me and called me ‘mama’ and, henceforth, are sitting on the couch and recliner right now like they have become family members or something. It was the ‘sharing the love of wool with friends old and new’ fumes that just got to me. There was a bit of coopworth that winked at me and said, “you know, you’d like to blend me with some of your Cotswold fleeces, wouldn’t you?” and I just trembled under its touch and said, ‘uuuuuhmm, yeah.’ Then, there’s a coopworth/corriedaleX steel gray fleece that said it wants to be blended with Storm’s dark Cotswold fleece because they are slightly different tones of grey but both highly lusterous and crimpy – it was a practical approach to seduction that this one took. The others – well, they just batted their eyes and flashed their farm tags and happened to belong to some fellow local treasured wool growers so it was just a given that they were coming home to be with me in wool heaven – LOL.

There was some shopping of non-fleecy orientation but I still managed to come around to the same theme when I stopped over in the Sunshine Pottery (which I cannot find a link for, sorry) booth just down the row from us in the barns and found these beautiful frog beads (any hooves people out there know exactly how much I adore frogs as this month’s hooves were in praise of a special little frog we love in Maine – enough to drive out in the middle of nowhere at night and roll down the windows – if you don’t happen to be lucky enough to live very rurally and get to hear them all the time – just to hear their song) and, of course, a huge sheep button….couldn’t.pass.it.up! I headed over to Raku Beads – another great bead/button vendor at Fiber Frolic and some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. We visit their booth every year and they are always a joyful encounter. I got these gorgeous green Raku buttons for a sweater and bought Thing 1 a bead I know she’d been adoring. It is made with a Maine clay that apparently takes the glaze completely spontaneously – making every single bead totally unique = Awesome! Here’s a little bit about Raku Beads taken from the tag:
” RAKU is a way of firing pottery first used in 16th century Japan. The hand formed beads are painted with two or three coats of blaze, fired on rods in a small kiln and removed while red hot. They are plunged into a tub filled with crushed leaved or sawdust which bursts into flame – a lid is then fitted into place. The fires consumes all the oxygen in the container causing the glaze to reduce and change colors. The beads are cooled in water after which the soot much be scrubbed off by hand. The rapid firing and cooling gives each piece its wonderful crackle and luster. So much work for each little bead – Enjoy!”

Of course, one of my favorite parts of the frolic was getting to hug, visit and laugh with Boogie from Spunky Eclectic. I hardly ever get to see her but always when I do it is an absolute fun time! I had to sneak over to her booth and snag some Spunky loot . On my way over I did counsel myself to remember to not just grab what I like but to also play outside my color range a bit. And, duh, because grabbing everything I like might have left Boogie with an empty booth - LOL! I totally failed at the ‘not staying in your color happy range’ thing as I’m sure you can see by all the earthy tones and greens I bought but you do have to give me some credit in that I tried new fibers (as you shall see when I stop floundering and drooling over my fiber loot pics and get back to describing) and that my buttons, new Spunky loot and the handspun sock I was knitting on over the weekend in my ‘Nature Walk’ colorway – do all coordinate. So, while I may be firmly rolling only in the love, love, love green colors at the moment, I am, at least, matching and all – snork. Okay, the Spunky loot , let's see - there was a bit of ‘Aspen’ in her merino/bamboo base. I love ‘Aspen’ and the idea of trying in it something different that my usual Spunky addiction which is her BFL top sort of thrilled me in a way I cannot explain. Naturally, that meant I needed 2 of them. There was a want of mine for some sock spinning and then I spotted some shiny stuff in the corner. I swear, it is hard to keep your head in Boogie’s booth – it’s so inviting and so colorful and well, you just feel totally relaxed and happy. I must have stood before the merino/tencel roving for at least ten minutes trying to decide which braid I wanted. I settled on ‘Midnight Run’ (bottom right corner of the pic) – all green and happy and shiny – can’t wait to spin that one up! There was some bending of the ‘no BFL this time, try something else, too’ rule but, ya’ll, you knew there would be. I snagged a bit of ‘Riverwalk’ BFL (top middle of loot heap) but, in my defense, it was a giftie for the huscreature – just his kind of colors and he’s been spinning more lately so I wanted to let him know it’s okay if he spins some other woman’s fibers, too – I think (casts a raised eyebrow in his direction just to keep him in line) LOL. He loved it!

The frolic was a hopping good time but today is Monday so, naturally, there is not enough coffee in the world, me thinks (yawn and repeats resolution to self to be in bed by 10 tonight to catch up on sleep). And, as the wheel rolls, so do we need to – what with the garden still naked and the seeds starting to hurl insults reminiscent of the MP/Holy Grail taunting at us as we walk by – that is where we’ll be for the rest of the day. The next few days of rain will settle in nicely today’s seed scatterings and we’ll be so sore from planting tomorrow that we’ll be practically FORCED to sit down and spin for a bit in the evening……provided the sheep are not plotting revenge for being left alone all weekend and planning to destroy our garden fences just to show us they remember how quickly that big brown square turns into a sheep’s hungry bliss also known as peas, carrots, corn and tomatoes. We were planning to plant Memorial Day weekend but the weather was just not cooperative – wet, cold and we’ve have a few frosts since then so, instead, we just busied ourselves with compost spreading and fleece stealing instead. But, we’re really excited, even with the super late start, about the garden this year. This is the first year since we’ve been growing in these two gardens (herbs/salad greens outstide the kitchen and the ‘other’ veggies farther off the road) that we are feeling really good about the soil. Good soil takes time to build and as it was formerly just brush fields, that ‘time’ was about 5 years. But, applying liberally composted sheep manure every year plus some calcium/seaweed/fish amendments has finally resulted in some seriously rich, lovely black soil…I’m off to gear up my defenses against the vampires with wings (mosquitoes) and head out to fling seed!

My Mannequin and I are 'Together Again'

Well, the 'finish or die' spree that I claimed to be going on in the last post was not a success and I lacked the fortitude to really push the concept to its eventual end. In the end, I am a wimp and also the first to look to a 'plan B' when failure looms apparent. So, plan B was to try to find something I could accomplish. Back in my teaching days, we called these 'success days'. I really, really needed one, too!

I began with what I seem to be able to do in spite of any other looming chaos that spreads across the pages of our days here on the funny farm - spin, of course! This is some corrie/targhee/cotswold/silk blended 'Gold Dust Woman' roving that we made up in the mill last week. It was oober springy and practically spun itself which is good because I had no plan whatsoever. It turned out to be 265 yds of dk wgt sparkly gold bliss. checks off a smiley face on the success day chart....

In addition, I needed a quick, certain, and preferably orgasmic knitting experience. I know, I have high expectations - LOL. About 6 months ago, I promised my dear friend of some 20+ years, "h" that I'd make her a handspun hat. Well...errr, Christmas came and went and I felt like a heel when she sent us the nicest and most thoughtful gift and I sent a card and an IOU. Her birthday is this week and I still had nothing. A few things about H: 1) She loves color and music and happy stuff and 2) she is really hard to buy or make for because she has better taste in those giftie things than I. So, I did what a knitter who needs a success will do - I made something I've already made a few times that was really, really quick. Yes, I do believe I need help because I have knit yet another calorimetry. I can't help it. I love to wear them, love to knit them and what else can be so functional and give you such joy in just over 1/2 skein of handspun yarn?

Brace yourself, Lorraine, I know you've told me how Cookie (my mannequin, not the delightful person) creeps you out. I just can't help it because I haven't washed my hair in two days so there's just nooooo way I'm modeling this thing. Cookie is back. And she's wearing the Calorimetry knit out of 'cabaret' batts - another of the Happy Hooves batt colorways. They've been popping into the shop from time to time and will likely be there next weekend as well. They are, as you can see - a shameless bout of sensual colors like cobalt, green, purple, gold, brown and all with sari silk and sparkles that just make you say (insert inappropriate noises here and, oh boy, this may have to be a private moment) mmmmmmm. Ahem, looks like that covered all the desired outcomes of this knit:)

Yes, Cookie and I have been on timid terms for too long. I mean, I guess I'm small because it really started to turn bad when I caught her and huscreature in the studio in a questionable exchange. He said he was just moving her but, well, it was an odd way to go about it is all I'm saying. There was also the problem with her name. I named her long before I was completely enthralled with Cookie A's work and, for a while, I considered changing her name. We tried a few but they didn't work out and I swear she spit on me once when I tried "Lily" on her for size. It just seemed odd to take Cookie A's classes and such and feel like at any moment I might get nervous and say something dumb like, "I have a head on my desk that has the same name as you". Believe me, I am capable of such horrid goofiness. In the end, though, her name just fit her and with Cookie A. I'll have to take my chances. One doesn't want to go creeping out one's sock knitting guru, you know what I mean?

Really, though, I've missed Cookie the Mannequin. We used to talk. She used to sparkle and smile when she modeled my knits. I've forgiven her her tempting the huscreature - even though he says she still flirts with him from time to time when I'm not in the studio. I gave her back her name and we're on speaking terms...I guess that's a start. In this photo, she's really getting the the photo shoot groove and sporting a necklace of 'carmelita' roving - a blend of our chocolate merino/corriedale X fleeces, some dyed cotswold and crossbred fleeces and a hint of silk. Doesn't she have a seductive gaze? LOL.

Speaking of huscreature, I should go help him load the car for the Fiber Frolic tomorrow. He must be getting tired or something because a JuneBug flying across the living room startled him. In no time, our brave kitty, Boulder, jumped across the room and exhibited masterful hunterly skills to protect his people. What a guy! Hope to see some of you at the Fiber Frolic this weekend!

Excuse me, but, where can I find morning?

You know that time of day when you do those things like, waking, dressing, starting the day - that part where the sun rises and the cool of the day begins to retreat to summer sun? Yeah, that part - it starts with an 'm'. I dare not speak its name anymore because I'm trying to sneak up on it, catch it in my light bug net, and put it into a sample jar so I can study it and try to find out how to multiply it. Because, around here, it seems to have become extinct. In fact, the days sort of feel like waking/etc. all happens in 10 mns or less and then it's just run around like a bat out of hell until you are forced to prepare an evening meal which only settles in your starving belly and makes you lethargic until you crawl into your bed, where you last glimpsed the elusive time, and begin grunting and snoring and hoping for a better chance at seeing the dwindling stock of morning the next day.

Part of the problem with the disappearing mornings isn't really a problem at all. In fact, it is like - stupendously good news. In fact, I only mention it here because it has munched away on the dwindling stock of mornings a bit. Huscreature and I are thrilled, though, because we're taking yet another step into our eventual fiber goal and are running a mill which is totally thrilling. Now, we can make some of our batts (not all, the batts are still going to be sticking around so if you're a fan of them, do not worry) into rovings - but make them just like the batts. It's all been great fun but some of the most surprising fun is the random sort of rovings we've been creating on the big ole machine we lovingly call, "Millie". The pic on the top left is a roving we just sort of threw together that we're calling 'Sandy'. It's a bamboo/wool blend and I guess the yarn next to it is kind of an indication as to how excited I was to spin it up - LOL. Ya'll - I'm only going to say this about how beautifully this machine turns the humble fleece into something from out of this spinner's world and that is this "like buttah!". Really.

There's been some colorways done, none of which I have a pic of today - we're on day two of gray, wet, dreary weather and I just can't seem to make my camera be my friend....hmmm, would it do well to mention, here, that I usually take my pics in those now missing morning hours for good light? But, here's a pic of some 'Marie Laveau' yarn I spun from said maniacal, crazed, color blending from outta this world sessions on the ole Millie. Like it's complex and wildly magical namesake, it has some of just about every color on a purple background. That glisten is due both to some sparkles AND because I 'spilled' some silk in there. Oops (looks around all innocent like before grinning ear to ear and clapping like a little kid).

The funny thing about having a large chunk of your day go missing is that it tends to instill a panic that convinces one, beyond all rational argument against the notion, that one is doing less. You don't really feel lazy because, dang - you're exhausted beyond all belief. But, you do feel like you just don't get much done. Naturally, this sends you on a 'finishing up everything I need to do if it kills me' stretch and then, well, realizing all the neat stuff you ARE doing becomes kind of tough to do. Like, for instance, this shawl that I've been working on. I mean, it's not alot of progress, but that's some knitting there that I didn't really count as 'stuff I've done that I wanted/needed to do'. And the yarn I just showed you is for a lace patterned border on the bottom of the shawl so, clearly, the ole brain is still able to coordinate, set goals, and at least give a meager attempt to achieve them. Likewise, I made some 3 ply sock yarn from the 'sari' batts and that also didn't get counted. I had a whole dyeing day that I didn't give myself credit for and there are two secret sock projects I'm working fairly steady on as well. And all of this without the help of morning. Should it return, I feel fairly optimistic that I could do even more. But, as it's nearly 4pm and I've managed to do half of my chores and work projects today but have not managed to brush my hair, yet, I am losing hope.

Morning, my love, please come home:)