Can't Promise Anything

With toddlerdom well behind us and our three Things progressing into the age of constant desire (which is altogether different than constant need - isn't it?) I am getting used to answering the 'mom, can-may-will-what-why' questions with a simple, "can't promise anything but I'll try" reply. They surely hate that. Not that my things are demanding as much or any more than anyone else in the age range of 8-14 - that fertile ground for really coming into your own personality and figuring out the individual part of yourself. It is hard to really explore one's individuality when you have to have someone wipe your butt or change your clothes for you - or at least I'd think so. So, those toddler years when I was pulling my hair out with all the mountains of laundry, the never-ending (it seemed then) struggles of communicating on a serious level day in and day out with someone who prefers to grunt, stomp or scream over a rational discussion? They've been replaced with things that are perhaps smarter than I am, definitely more cunning than I could ever be (my poker face is pathetic) and very quick. My only form of defense has been to make fewer promises since I'm a little slow and might forget some and also because I am also a sort of perfectionist so I pull a serious Dobby on myself when I can't fulfill them.

This, my friends, is why I am staunchly against New Year's Resolutions. I mean, I see the value of goal setting and looking ahead with the mind of who one wants to become instead of just whom they already are and all but the actual act of promising to attempt 'resolutions' is, in my mind, a certain invitation to doom. Also, I'm avoiding it because this is one of 'those' years here on the farm. A year when certain benchmarks are supposed to be met that aren't. A year when near impossible home repairs have been stomped out by a gargantuan amount of snow and bitterly cold temps for this early into the winter train - even in Maine. A year that if we were to strictly survey ourselves about the delicate balance of affordability, productivity, and overall stability - we'd probably cut and run or something. So, for now we have to operate in the land of the surreal. We'll just put our heads down and keep on going until the pile of 'haven't gotten close' to the pile of 'look, you did something really great, here!' either has more balance to it or is totally clouded from view by the pile of 'other elephants in the room'. Which is why the JenLa duo brought tears to my eyes and made me get up and go on a day I really needed it for mention in their Fourth Annual JenLa Knit Blog Awards. Only made better by the follow up post by Jen which comforted me greatly in my distress over the aforementioned house repairs situation. Just so you know, we're not as crazy as it may seem -doing this addition at the last minute hoping that into November we'd be able to finish it. Last year we celebrated Christmas with dark brown frozen dirt which would have changed the course of this year's project altogether. Are we crazy for building a house from the ground up while living in it? Of course! But, seeing as how neither of us has been spawned from or manage to acquire any means of enviable financial abundance - it was either this or wait until the kids were grown and gone which kind of negates the whole point - don't you think? I digress. Definitely send hot toddies to Jen. Don't bother with trying to do that for me, though - I'll take the bourbon straight. In a glass. Better make it four.

Some things are going quite well, though. I managed to spin up a lace/sock wgt skein of some of my favorite batts - Lady of the Lake. They are merino, silk, and finn with oodles of glitz all sprinkled throughout. Not oodles, maybe. Oodles would just be all glittery and I'm afraid of that because of, well, you know, my 'roots'. I prefer a gentle, consistent shimmer. And, soft. Oh, also, give me high lustre or get out of the way. Maybe 400 yds for just under 4 ozs.? Zis iz good, no? I mean, okay, so it isn't this handspun sock yarn or anything but if I could spin or knit half as well as either of these women I guess I'd have to shut up my griping and smile a while. Still, I'm pretty smug about my shimmery new pair of socks. Now, if I can just finish the hubster socks that are on the needles, I can sink my teeth into a pair of socks designed by yours truly and knit in this.

Now, just stop laughing and wriggling like that. I did say designed, knit, and spun by me. I can so do it - you watch. In fact, if it's FO's you crave....this will be a week for you. I have lots coming up and a fiber give-away as well but before I go - here's another little fun yarn I made up this week. It is a funky little think comprised of two totally different strand that seemed to want to be together. The wine colored strand was a cotswold, merino silk batt that I had in my 'to be spun' tote. I spun it thick and thin from a fingerling to dk range and then plied it around a silk strand that I had dyed in a zebra stripe. The result? A funky, punky mix with a definite feminine/goth thing going on. Sometimes, you just have to sit at the wheel and let yourself play a while. That was definitely the case after the sock yarn. Gratifying as it was to spin, my eyes were a little tired and I was definitely needing a break from the constant goal of perfection. A slubby, textured, playful yarn after a 'serious' spinning project is like a little something sweet after a fine dinner.......