The Good, The Bad, and The Freak Out

X-posted from LJ November 30:

The Good:

Spectrum Shift (props go to Banadura for the awesome squishy-soft handspun)
Love these.
I love them for myself, but will be selling them at BBB, anyway.
Will make more.

The Bad:

This is the bulky flyer for my Lendrum.
This is what happens when you've done something really horrible in a past life and the Craft Gods want you to suffer.
Chronology of Disaster of Epic Proportions:
-Happily finish up a bobbinful that I've spun on the bulky flyer.
-Remove flyer assembly and place in basket on the floor.
-Basket tips over just enough to topple out said flyer assembly.
-BULKY FLYER BREAKS IN TWO PIECES. A week before BBB! It fell less than a foot!

Turns out, the flyer is made up of two perpendicular pieces GLUED together. No dowels, no rods...nada. How much did I pay for this? So, it went into traction, after the husband drilled and added dowels for stability. Brilliant, no? Yes. BUT, there's no way to really "true" it up at home. It will get me through the week now, but there is a slight wobble and I will need to order a new part tomorrow. And I think I will also have to purchase the damned expensive special carry bag for my wheel and it's accoutrements, since I suppose the lesson learned is that you don't carry around specialized pieces of equipment in a woven basket. The thing must have been ready to go for a while if it broke so easily. Totally my fault, methinks, but seriously...only glue?
So, anyway, yeah...take care of your tools or stupid things like this happen at really inconvenient moments.

The Freak Out:

You-Know-What is in one week!
I'm in pretty good shape, I think. Lots of scarves, lots of yarn, but I still feel like I need to work on lots more of everything. There are about 30 ornaments that are cut out and embellished...just waiting to be sewn and stuffed. I would like to take photos of my favorite pieces...just because, but I may not get to that. Especially if we try to move this week. We were going to try to do it last week...ha, ha, HA!

In other news, we had snow today:

I'm making a funny face, but ignore that and notice the yummy Wooldancer yarn in my scarf. I was saving this swap yarn for a blankie project, but now the amazing natural fiber fabric store in town is selling gorgeous wool...as in, I can just buy a length of woven wool fabric and have a pretty inexpensive, incrediby warm and beautiful blanket. No knitting required. So, now I can knit up some things for sale with my formerly-hoarded-for-blankie-project indie-spinner stash.

Shortly after the above picture was taken, our snow turned into RAIN. Awful, awful stuff. Now we will have a nice sheet of super-dangerous ice to drive on in the morning.
I want my snow to stick!

Ooooh...the power just flickered off...yikes! weather! Must be time for bed.

August 6th, 2008

It's raining again.
It will stop on Sunday, maybe, but we still won't get any sun.
We had a looooong difficult winter, and were very much looking forward to a nice late summer. Hot. With sunshine, building projects...oh, drying out some wood for winter, perhaps? Well, there are LEAVES TURNING ORANGE in Vermont, as I type, and our veggie plants are rotting from having wet feet for too long. I think I might actually be looking forward to winter, even if just for the reflective quality of snow...perhaps some vitamin D will bounce up into my face as I walk to and from the woodpile, and cure some of my malaise.
I can't believe I'm saying all this in the first week of August!

So, I have to distract myself from the reality of global climate change and make things:

Pink Sugar and Synapse
cobwebby felted merino with recycled sari silk.

More fun with knots:

Macrame II
knotted scarf with corespun wool, wood and ceramic beads.

In other news, I think I finally have a car! When the Volvo kicked it, I thought...no problem, I can stick close to home, take lots of walks with the little guy, get to know our little piece of land, do "city" errands on the weekend when C is home. HA HA HA! We've had so much HEAVY rain the last couple months, that even the three mile round-trip to the post office has been impossible most of the time. A magical tip from a friend, however, has shown us the path to a '95 Subaru...for $600. All she needs is a set of tires before the winter, and we're golden. Or maroon, as the case may be. I am sure, now, that all of our car troubles over the past couple of years here have been due to the fact that we've avoided the quintessential Vermont ride. Now, all we need to do is slap a "Vermont Yankee is Closing" sticker on the back and we'll blend right in with the rest of the Brattleboro area!

I'll leave you with this:

Oh, and craftyscientist, expect an email tonight with your long-awaited pattern. Many, many apologies for having taken so long, but I've been under-the-weather and forcing myself to actually go to sleep at night. To answer your question from our last convo...I used somewhere between 250 and 300 yards, but I think it's a lot closer to 250. It's easy to make it smaller or larger depending on how much yarn you've got.

ABC Meme-ness, and...stuff

Accent: um...northern California girl?

Breakfast or no breakfast: Always. Lots of it.

Chore I don't care for: Cleaning bathrooms. Really, any cleaning involving sponges and water.

Dog or cat: Cat. A fluffy one that leaves dreadlocks all over the house.

Essential electronics: Laptop and the stereo. Yes we live in the dark ages and still use CDs, records and...cassettes.

Favorite cologne: What's cologne? Essential oils I use: sandalwood, vetiver, black coconut.

Gold or silver: um...steel?

Handbag I carry most often: What's a handbag? I carry a Timbuktu messenger bag (from back when they used to let you design your own)

Insomnia: Yes.

Job Title: Artist? Mama? Neither of which I get paid for.

Kids: One three-year-old crazy bean.

Living arrangements: 200-year-old farmhouse.

Most admirable trait: Resourcefulness. Without it, we'd be starving.

Naughtiest childhood behavior: Stealing, although I hate the term "naughty," (in reference to children, anyway).

Overnight hospital stay: Never.

Phobias: Elevators.

Quote: "The snow goose need not bathe to make itself white. Neither need you do anything but be yourself." Lao-Tse

Reason to smile: My boy. Our garden. Good friends. Hope. (I suppose that would be reasons).

Siblings: 2 step-sisters, one a Mofo Maven, and the other a Roller Derby Queen.

Time I wake up: Between 5:30 and 6AM. I wait as long as possible to get out of bed, though.

Unusual skill or talent: Lately...hoeing. Yes, my back hurts. Usually, thought, it's turning a pile of fluff into a beautiful piece of functional art.

Vegetable I refuse to eat: Cauliflower. I'll eat it, but I think the stuff is awful. Besides, I think white vegetables are creepy, unless they're roots.

Worst habit: Internet.

X-rays: Mouth.

Yummy stuff: Chocolate. French indigo lentils. Pecans. Kombucha.

Zoo animal I like most: It's a tie between the Sun Bear and Otters.

I post this because I have too much to say right now, too much I've been thinking about, to make a real post. The state of of things (in this country, in the world) are weighing heavily on me and I'm in the midst of major life decisions that terrify me and give me hope all at the same time. We have had two glorious days of rain, thankfully, and all is dreary, wet and gray. In the moment, I can be happy. When I think outside of it, I feel paralyzed.

I carded the wool for this yarn, infusing it with Prayers for Rain. They were answered, and my seeds are happy:

Prayers for Rain corespun bits of everything, including wools, flax, sari silk and easter grass.

Market tomorrow. Off to spin.