For Art Fair is over in Ann Arbor. It's not that I don't love art... or have much against Ann Arbor... Just the two put together drive me up a wall. But the week is over and I have fun things like a wedding shower and a birthday this week so I have a bit to recover... But right now I'm off to have another drink, because it makes me forget the pain of my brian leaking out of my ear from the silly people.
by not delivering my ring!!! Luckily it is all tracked and insured so it is on its way back to the goldsmith that we got it from. And even more lucky is that the guy we got it from is a pretty small company so we were able to talk to a real person and they got back to us really quickly. So when it gets back to the smith he is going to resend it to a different address (i.e. one that will have a human at it during business hours) so it will totally be here in time for the wedding but just not quite yet.
Part of my birthday present that made me go squee is the set of drop spindles that I got here. I found them on eBay but you can also get stuff directly from their site. The spindles are gorgeous and I kind of haven't put them down except to go to work and sleep. I have some fiber from an arts & crafts show from 2 years ago that I kind of picked up on a whim for cheap that I've started with. It's really nice (might be merino, there was not label and even if there was I would have lost it ages ago) and soft and is spinning up really nicely. After the obligatory "yarn barf" stage I'm actually spinning pretty consistent yarn that is working up to be roughly worsted weight. Super excited about the whole thing though...
wheeeeeeeeeee!
I might have just bought myself a birthday present. Two weeks early. That supports my already prodigious fibre addiction...
oops
I feel so refreshed by summer. Living in Michigan (aka the Great White North) can be a bit depressing at times. But with summer here and the 4th of July under my belt, I am feeling light and refreshed. I've been having a great time cleaning things out and taking pleasure in my surroundings instead of having them make me want to go curl up on the sidewalk because it's all so overwhelming. DW and I consolidated down to one storage unit, we mostly have everything out of his grandmother's house, and the amount of junk that I will never use has been greatly reduced. I've been using a very simple method of determining if an item is something I need to keep or not: If it has been in storage for more than six months and I haven't at some point in that time thought, "wow, I wish I had my ------", then it is either going to charity or the dumpster. I think that I've shed almost a household's worth of junk that was just sitting around in storage, waiting for me to do something with it. There are points when I have had to sit back and say, "wow.... I really own all of this, No Way!". After having a series of jobs from hell (and no time outside of them), I am finally at a point where I can begin to deal with all the accumulated stuff that I have collected.
In addition to all of the physical stuff that I have been getting out of my life, I've made a lot of changes to my eating habits too. Part of that is having access to the farmer's markets and fresh produce that comes with summer. But part of it too is how I'm thinking about food and the role that it plays in my life. I've been making it a big priority to make sure that I am planning out at least two meals a week so that if nothing else I have those two meals and leftovers for most of the week. I've also been making big batches of things like pasta salad and chili that store well in the fridge so that when I don't have a lot of time or am just hungry for a little something I don't feel the need to go get junk food on my way to places or things like that.
Ok... I have definatly rambled on here, but there are things that just need to be said, like the things that get left at the wayside.
It's been a whirlwind spring here in Ypsi. I'm settling into my new job nicely... I'm not really willing to advertise where that is here because I have enough people who stalk me because of my job. Plans for the wedding are progressing in fits and starts but most of the major details have been decided. Sometimes I find myself wondering that anyone bothers to worry about some of these details (for instance... am I really supposed to care what color shoes the bridesmaids are wearing???) But I am mustering up answers to these questions as best I can and moving forward. I'm a little concerned about people who want to stay in town for the wedding because of the lack of hotel space in the Ann Arbor area. It is a home football game for UofM and EMU that day and there isn't anyone willing to give me a block of rooms even if I am willing to sign over my first-born and all the extremities that I can spare. I'm at the point where I will smile and take the hurdles gracefully as they are thrown in my path. I'm not going to obsess here on this blog about things for the wedding so I will just point y'all to: http://www.donaldandtessie2008.com where you can find updates on registrys, info on hotels (if I can find any), directions and more. Invitations should be going out in the next two weeks so watch your mail boxes!!
More to come on the rest of my life when I have another spare moment to contemplate life in a manner that is grammatically pleasing to the eye.
I am sick enough that I don't want to knit... This sucks in so many ways. The good news is that I finished the STR Scottish Highland socks on the bus home the other night. and as soon as I kitchener the toe I will get pictures of them and get them up on Ravelry. For now I'm going to go and hack up my second lung and hope that I feel better enough to work on the Monk's Travel Satchel that I've started.
There weather here has been horrible for the last week and half and this week started out with temps below zero and snow predicted for tomorrow. I'm so ready for it to be warmer and not so depressing outside. On the upside Flying Sheep (one of my LYS's) was having a huge remodeling sale when I stopped in on Friday so I picked up some Brown Sheep Bulky for a Jayne hat, and two balls of elsebeth lavold Chunky AL (50% Alpaca 50% Wool 82 yds per 50g) one in a burnt orange called Maple Leaf and one in a brown with hints of orange called Bramble. I also picked up some e.l. Silky Wool for a hat that I'm making for a friend in a charcoal gray. I'll post pictures and other details when I wake up... right now, the one degree temps have sucked out my energy and I'm going to go curl up in my bed.
This week has been a return to a semi normal schedule. I was still working a little bit more than I really would have preferred but I am not really complaining because in today’s job market I am truly fortunate to have two jobs while there are those out there would be overjoyed with one. There may be an upcoming change on the job front but I’m not going to go into that right now (don’t want to jinx anything!).
I finished the first Highland sock the other night watching Project Runway. I don't think I'm going to get too stuck with second sock syndrome on these, because I love the STR that much. I've already cast on the second sock and I just started the heel flap. I don't have my camera with me but as soon as I can I will get pictures of the progress. I also had total startitis the other night. I cast on for Knitty's Eiffel with "Hemp Wool" that was in the stash. The pattern calls for 100% hemp but this is a 50/50 blend. I don't know who makes it because it isn't really well marked and I got it off of ebay. But it is a really pretty sage green color and I think this will make a really nice early summer tunic with a little cami under it. I'm about 4 inches in already as it is a really easy lace pattern. This will be my first sweater completely in the round which excites me because finishing is definitely not one of my fav things in the world. So between these two projects I'm pretty much being faithful right now. The kilt socks for DW are still in the queue because I have yet to procure yarn for them yet. I just got my Christmas present from my Grandma the other night and it was a gift certificate to Knitpicks.com so I'll be getting that yarn in the not too distant future.
Well, gotta go, my phone is ringing and I'm off to do stuff with people.
I got my first date night in a while tonight. I went and saw Malinky at The Ark in Ann Arbor. It was a really, really good show and I'm so glad that we got tickets. There were not as many people there as I thought there were going to be, which is both good and bad. It was good because we got really great seats and we got to chat for a bit with the band during the break without feeling like we were hogging all of their time. But it kind of sucked because I though that they were going to get a much bigger turnout than they did. All things considered though it was a great show, and it is their first tour in the States so I think that when they come back to the area the turnout will be much bigger. I already had all three of the band's albums so I got the solo album put out by Steve Byrne, one of the founding members of Malinky. I also got one of their bumper stickers that I had the whole band sign (because I wasn't about to buy a repeat CD just so that I could have them sign it). All in all it was a really good night!
In the land of knitting I got a fair bit done in the car to and from Wisconsin this past weekend. I finished the Palindrome scarf for my cousin's Christmas present. I am so glad that I am done with this freaking scarf. The pattern is really great and I'm going to use it again, but I made the mistake of using black yarn. It took so much concentration to make sure that I wasn't losing stitches that it was just a headache to knit. But I finally finished it and my cousin absolutely loved it. She's going to school at De Paul University in Chicago and so she needs all the warm knitted things she can get. After I recover from the scarf I'm going to knit her the matching hat, but she might not get that in time for this year's cold weather.
I also made some progress on a pair of socks for myself. It's a straight stockinette pair of socks made with Blue Moon STR medium weight in Scottish Highlands. Cast on 64 sts, 2x2 ribbed cuff, short leg heel flap & gusset. This is the first time I've used STR and I'm totally a convert. Next year for my birthday I'm going to to be hard pressed to choose between a Sock Club membership and paying for my car insurance.
