Then there's the spinning......

I learned a long time ago that trying to mask my feelings was tricky business. I'm just one of those people that, well, you can pretty much tell what I'm thinking or, more aptly, when I'm not (which is slightly more common). My expressions just tend to pin-point EXACTLY how I'm reacting on the inside and reflect them on the outside. It's no big deal, really, as I also tend not to be a person who cares to hide my feelings/thoughts/ideas anyway but, one does have to admit that there are advantages to not having certain people in certain instances know exactly what you are thinking at that certain moment. That's where my unmasked all the time problem really gets me. LOL. But, I am getting better at some control over it - only there's always the spinning.

Spinning, for me, is like breathing. It is the thing I do to feel better regardless of where I am on that spectrum to begin with. Already thrilled to pieces? Spin. You will hit an orgasmic level of happy fumes that will keep you smiling much longer than otherwise. See here, just look at this yarn, for instance. You can tell that this spin brought me MUCH joy. The Gold Dust Woman on the right is about 320 yds of sport wgt bliss in a 3.2 oz skein and the Titania on the left is a 300 yd, also sport wgt. pillow of merino/corrie/cotswold cross bliss with silk and happy stuffs all crammed in there. Woot. That's some glass running over with happy right there!

Not so thrilled but feeling like you'd maybe tear yourself into a 1,000 pieces and scream like a wild beast? Spinning calms me right down when I might otherwise be thrown into some raving/raging pool of unhappiness. It gives me quiet, peaceful moments to reflect on things, come to terms with the things I cannot influence with my super-human (or not, heh!) powers, and gain a fresh perspective/tactic on how to move forward to a better solution. Purple is always good for that - a color that makes you feel strong and at peace with yourself and all that's going on around you. For a darker mood, there's the black. This was a blend of my Araucana/Phoenix rovings - so it resulted in this oober decadent black/red/green shiny stuff that feels pillow soft and makes me want to give it a boyfriend name and keep it next to me forever. I suspect the huscreature would complain but, meh, he'd probably get over it.

How about just down right blue and feeling exhausted from being exhausted and wanting to crawl into your bed and sleep but you have kids/jobs/life that means you cannot sleep just now so you find a way to squeeze in a few moments at the wheel when you should be unpacking and spin a while? Ahhhhh.....I understand that, I think. For that, you may have to go hunting for something really warm and spicy to simmer the cockles of your heart and get you smiling again. Well, that and a cup of coffee couldn't hurt, either. Chocolate, of course, it a complete given. This Red Dirt Girl will surely do the trick. We had this roving in the shop two updates ago and it quickly found loving homes. Red Dirt Girl is all about warm, spicy red and russets dancing with each other over a sparkle here and there and just feeling really good. These two worsted wgt skeins weigh (combined) about 5 ozs and total 390 yds. of 2 ply farm-grown loveliness that almost smells like a warm cup of chai.

Or, if you're just spinning to spin because you've got the laundry going, dinner cooking and the kids are keeping you from the computer with barred fangs and drool dripping from their lips because they are in the middle of something SO IMPORTANT and you have the audacity to want to use the computer so you decide, instead, to sneak off and get some spinning fun done - any ole color will do. Something peaceful and graceful and demure like these sparkly fairy dust skeins from the roving we had in the shop a month or so ago. I blended some of them with one strand of plain white fiber to tone down their sparkle and left the two in the rear in their true Fairy Dust state to sparkle the night away. There's about 750 yds. there.

So, clearly, despite my attempts to disguise the fact that moving a farm, settling in family and critters whilst still preparing for shows and keeping the food on the table, and preparing for winter MAY have had a little 'push' factor to my stress buttons, the spinning doth give me away! This is about 10 days worth of spinning and it is also, curiously, my explanation as to why the living room is still decorated with brown cardboard box tables. I mean, can you blame me? What would you do - unpack or spin?

It didn't help that Ms. Boogie sent out her Spunky Club offering of 'Beach Day' just before I left for Sock Summit. I couldn't wait to touch it so I spun it up the night before I left but never did get around to plying it. The other day, determined to unpack and make my living room look like a real room, I started emptying boxes and, somehow, I must have known I would do something so crazy and, therefore, when packing I prepared a 'surprise' in the box of the kids' games, school supplies, etc. of the two 'Beach Day' bobbins. Yaw-hoooo! I squealed and headed off to the wheel to ply them directly. I mean, look at that blend of merino/bamboo/shiny stuffs of beauty! Can you blame me? 250 yards of worsted wgt oozy puffy yarn later, I am thinking mitts for me for the coming fall. Shut up, I know that Fall is really almost already here (especially for those of us up in the wilds of Maine) but please don't tell me that until next week when I've finished picking the cucumbers, canning tomatoes, helping with the Fall shearing (dang, there's that f-word again), and am completely caught up on the laundry, have mopped the floor, and have at least swiped the unclaimed but folded laundry off of the couch. Why is it that when they want a shirt clean - they can walk around guilting you out FOR DAYS that they didn't have their 'lucky' shirt on their big day but when you wash EVERYTHING in the hamper, they will inevitably leave a stack here and there of clothes that they 'claim' are not theirs? Is it some sort of mind game that I just don't get or am I really starting to be haunted by shirts and mis-matched socks?

Now, I know this is going to surprise you but, ahem, in addition to the aforementioned stress relieving spinning - there was a jaunt of retail therapy to sooth the jangled nerves a bit. I fell into my cart over at the Loopy Ewe and I'm so glad I snatched this cutey bag from 3AM Enchantments up when I saw it because it was out of stock the next day. Look at those sweet sheep! I grabbed a few more Hiya Hiya needles, too - but the bag was my happy place for sure. Keri of 3AM Enchantments is a skilled woman who does real magic with her sewing machine. Seriously. The bags are sturdy, beautiful, and expertly constructed. I couldn't resist balling up some of my 'Gold Dust Woman' sock yarn (the 90/10 superwash sock)and casting on some Lindsey socks RIGHT AWAY to welcome the new bag. They are very happy together, as you see....little sheeps bounding all over my project bag just make me squeal, 'tooo cuuuute'!

And, with Fall comes the cold, hard knowledge that the holiday season will soon be upon me. Every year, I make some foolish resolution that I will not gift knit for anyone out of obligation. I tell myself that my knitting is my own and I work on what I like. Until about Dec. 1. Then, I am consumed with guilt that fuels near round-the-clock gift knitting that is doomed to be late at best and likely despised by the time I finish it. So, in breaking that tradition, I am accepting that the notion of gift knitting WILL come over me and trying to embrace it sooner than later and get a head start on it. So, I put this handspun yarn from our 'Tiny Dancer' batts to good use and made it into a simple hat.

Other than that, I've just been sitting around (LOL)...if you can call starting 25 lbs. of cabbage fermenting into kraut, making the daikon radishes in the garden into some yummy kimchee, and canning 2 cases of tomatoes sitting around. Coffee, anyone? Oh god, the dryer buzzer just went off - like it was an answer to that question (insert creepy Halloween music here). The dryer and I are going to have a cup of coffee together - please join us - snork.