Not that anyone really follows my blog, but I can't believe it's been four months since I posted anything. Well.... all I can say is that life got in the way.
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I was reading my last post and all my plans, etc for my summer. Well, for the most part, the knitting needles did languish in the corner. I pulled them out periodically. Mostly, I did finish the socks... well, okay. I finished one pair. The other pair has one sock completed and the other waiting for me to begin. Other than that, I did toss them across the room and they sort of sat there most of the summer.
~I never did pack up the dining room. Shelby brought a whole bunch of stuff home from college and all her boxes (5 of them) sat stacked in that room all summer. Three of them are still there. I think she's waiting to need her winter clothes before she takes them with her.
~The good news is that I actually did get some projects finally off my list. I scraped, primed and painted the garage doors. That took almost a whole week because of all the rain. Then I gave up trying to do anything outside and finally got into our bedroom. I started with the ceiling. Pretty durned gross when you need two coats of white so the ceiling looks white... LOL! Then I cleaned and sanded that dark paneling we call "walls" and then primed and painted that a lovely shade of pale lavendar. Scraped, primed and painted the window and then hung new hardware and curtains. It's amazing how changing the color can totally brighten a room from a dark dungeon to an actual place of rest and relaxation.
~Not much to report with the yard other than the morning glories absolutely loved our rainy, cool weather. Every time I tried to get outside, it would rain some more. I finally gave up. Poor yard has been ignored for two years (last year, I had the surgery whic prevented a lot of hard physical labor) and it shows. Next year will be hell to get it back into shape, but that's at the top of my list.
~As for spinning? I spun up the BFL and knit another Barbara Walker's top down raglans. I submitted that into the Durham Fair and took a third place with it. It's soft and very comfortable to wear, but there are some inconsistencies in the spinning that I can see so I can understand why it certainly didn't take a first. I was thrilled to get a third place.
~I did submit a lot of stuff to Durham and most of it placed very well. The only disappointment was this one, my red Dale of Norway. It placed second after a Philosopher's Wool kit. I know the PW kits because I've knit two of them myself. As for complexity? Sorry, but Dale of Norway is much more complex. So this one was a total disappointment for me.
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But what can I say? I know I deserved a first for this sweater, so in my mind, I see a blue ribbon attached to it... LOL!
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Good news is that I was contacted by a long lost forty-second cousin (I'm only kidding! I have no idea how far removed we are, but we're related back to common grandparents about 4 generations ago) from my Dad's side of the family. We never knew much about his father other that I've been able to learn in the past couple of years from his half-brother. Well, I'm now finding out that there's a whole slew of relatives I didn't even know existed. This has been exciting with pictures and stories and all kinds of stuff. I might just have to find a way to make it to Cornwall one of these days to see the old family church. Wow, what a concept!
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I'm back to work and both girls are living on campus now that Dee is a freshman. Oh boy, I never thought about what it would mean to lose all that slave labor. No one to leave a list of chores for anymore. I've been trying to adjust so I can get everything done, but it hasn't been working too well. So I keep trying different things. Eventually, something will work and I'll be able to keep up.
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Oh... spinning. Let me just say that it wasn't Rambouillet. It's Romuldale. And very neppy. I've managed to spin up a whole bunch of it. I think I've got 3 or 4 skeins at this point. But it's annoying me. I can't get an even consistency in my singles and that really annoys me. So I'm going to finish up the two spools that I've got running, ply those off and then switch to something else for a while. I have some beautiful rovings that I bought from Lisa Souza at Stitches East and I'm dying to dig into those. One is a straight BFL and the other is a merino/silk mix. Both in shades of blues and greens. Really, really pretty. And it'll be nice to have something smooth under my fingers for a change.
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And I treated myself while at Stitches East. I bought a few skeins of Dream In Color (colorway musk melon). Gorgeous stuff! That's going to be a Wool Peddler's Shawl for me. I also bought a whole bag of Araucania for another top down sweater. Colorway has some brown, blue and even olive green. It might end up looking kind of camouflage, but that's okay. I got a shawl pin (it's about time and, yes I used it within days). No hand carders, though. Darn. I'll have to get those online. But the big score and real luxury item was I bought a whole ounce of quivet. Now I have a reason to spin that yak/merino mix as a prelude to attempting my hand at quivet.
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Best news of all is that Interweave signed a contract with HArtford, so Stitches East will be in Hartford for at least another two years. A reason to tuck away some stash money for next year. If I start now, I might have enough to spend and spend some more next year...
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LOL!
