Progress....

is a hateful word! In its very essence, it enters the destructive power of doubt. You're not there, yet, and there's no guarantee you will be - but you must keep at it anyway. Don't get me wrong, I embrace progress. I make it a daily point of my own personal growth. But, right now, the scales seem to be balanced in a way that there's alot of trudging on and not alot of 'here's a good feeling to keep you apace'. Pewy!

As ya'll know, I'm sure, the Ravelympics are in full swing. I meant to post a great big 'woo hoo' on the first day but I haven't been feeling so 'whoo hoo-ish' lately and saying 'woo hoo' through a tightened jaw just looks silly. Instead, I have opted for the practical approach which, in my twisted logic, is to persevere and work through it. So, I cast on for my Philosopher's House Socks from the Cat Bordhi 'New Pathways for Sock Knitters' book. I chose a very impractical yarn (because, you know, being practical can get so boring!) and am using my hand-dyed 50/50 wool/silk dk. I know that I could have saved this yarn for a super soft and silky scarf, a shawl even (mind wanders and claps like a toddler, 'wee....we love shawls') but, at the time, I was focusing more on the pleasures of having silk on your ankles. What, doesn't everyone enjoy that? I admit I was just tickled beyond belief when I found a pattern using dk wgt yarn for socks. It's not that I didn't know it was possible - but all the same it was a thrill I couldn't pass up. Of course, I decided to make it harder on myself so I challenged myself by making 2 at a time on circs - FOR THE FIRST TIME.....WITHOUT INSTRUCTIONS...nuff said. Considering that little, uh, exaggeration of ability, all is going well. Because I cannot follow a pattern completely, I did make some changes. The ankles seemed way too big so I decreased double the recommended amount. I changed the foot patterning to eliminate some of the variations of k1, p1 and just made it simpler because, ya'll, I need simple right now. I'm hoping to finish them tonight, while I'm spending the evening in bed nursing my pinched sciatic nerve because, apparently, stress makes me a basket case.

So, in the column of 'ways in which this woman defies practicality', this is what I signed up for:
8 ozs. handspun in a natural gray corriedale X and cotswold X
8 ozs. handspun in white cotswold (which I will dye with plant dyes in the coming weeks - blog fodder alert!)
1 first year sheep puppet
1 fairy godmother sheep puppet
1 scawl of handspun pumpkin juice for the wip wrestling - less than 1/2 of it left to finish
oh, and the Philosopher's house socks.

Seriously, I think I can do it. Forget how the universe is hurling fire bombs in my direction. Ignore that I'm limping and wince in pain with every step. Try not to see that, even under the best of conditions, this would be a serious challenge to complete given that I will also be farming, gardening, kid rearing, kid teaching, store running, wool goodness making, yarn wrangling, and generally trying to eat at least a meal a day to survive. Doncha think I can do it? I'm having a lunch of peas, chickpeas, paneer and brown rice just to increase my stamina! And, I have finished the 8 ozs. of gray! ONly, I was dopey and entered it into my stash. Then, when it didn't show up, I entered it into my projects. Then, I forgot to delete one of them - you see where we're headed, don't you? So, now, if I want to truly finish all of my goals - I must do both. Make that a double, 16 ozs. of handspun grey. Slap me, throw cold water on me, and give me a bag of sugar!

Hopefully, I'll be back in two days to announce the name drawn for the Great Giveaway and be proudly showing off more spinning and my finished silky socks. To whomever laced the finish line with nails - too bad, I saw that coming!