Judith, Judith, Judith

That’s “Judith MacKenzie McCuin” for those of you who still need to update your scorecards.

I’m blogging from my hotel room, after a long and somewhat frustrating day full of Learning Experiences. One thing I learned at the very end of the day was that my wheel needs some fixing and updating. Pending the availability of the right parts (odds are good), Maggie should receive a new flyer (with extra whorl — I will have two ratios from which to choose), a new brake band, and a new drive band early tomorrow morning before the last day’s session.

However. Considering all of that, I think we did all right with worsted, woolen, wet spinning, plying, bouclé, and slubs. It was a bit of a liability to have missed everything that took place in the Friday sessions, but I caught up as best I could. (It’s hard to concentrate on your draw technique when your flyer keeps falling off.) I did some spinning and plying and skeining-up in the hotel, too.

Tomorrow we’re going to work on tweeds and encased yarns. Woo hoo! But tonight I’m missing an informal dyeing session (boo hoo) because I had to leave that hotel in Columbus and check into this hotel in Watertown. Oh well. I’m not going to worry about it.

I have a lovely quiet evening to myself after driving through the fog to get here — dinner for one, a room with a TV I haven’t turned on yet (and might not at all), and Firefly DVDs I can watch on my computer if I wish. But maybe I will just knit, or spin, or read the Judith book I already have.

P.S. I tried to upload my pictures of Flickr, but the hotel’s wifi doesn’t seem robust enough to handle it. I’ll put them up tomorrow — wait till you see my “clown barf bouclé cabled yarn”!

I can’t believe I’m going….

So, like, there’s like, this spinning retreat, like, starting tomorrow — and I get to go!

Well, not to the whole thing, but something like two-thirds of it plus a little slice of Friday. It’s the Judith MacKenzie McCuin-led retreat held through Susan’s Fiber Shop. Getting there has been an interesting journey, what with date changes and roommate arrangements and hotel reservations — but it starts tomorrow.

On the one hand, the original plan was going to be *awesome* with all the things that a friend and I had schemed up. Nothing can replace the weekend that I had, briefly, in my imagination. But this one should be pretty good too, even though I’ll miss everything that happens in the daytime Friday session.

The best part of getting ready for it (have I packed a single thing? NO) has been clearing the spinning equipment so I can start fresh this weekend with spinning every freaking thing in my stash, with intelligence and intention. This week I made two new Wookie skeins totaling almost 200 yards of 2-ply, I updated my spinning records as much as I could without Actual Research, and I made little labels for the jars I keep my handspun in.

(No, I haven’t knitted a single stitch on any of my handspun. There are many reasons for this. But I do have a project in mind for my Wookie-wool once it’s all spun up. Right now I have about 25 percent of what I need. Wait and see….maybe by 2011.)

So. I emptied my bobbins, I reglued most of my bobbins, I printed out directions to the “field trip” portion of Friday…. 

Yup. Going to yarn camp, and I couldn’t be happier.

Wait till the kids find out.

Knitwise I’ve been a bit of a slug. I started working on the second Retro Rib Sock again, figuring if I did one pattern repeat a day I would eventually finish the sock and could get on with my life. That plan worked about as well as most of my plans do, but this time I’m going to climb right back on the wagon and keep trying to work it.

I got caught up on Logan’s Blanket tonight, too. It’s pretty easy to work twelve rows on that blanket — you just have to turn your back on teh drama of Ravelry and actually sit down to knit.

So. Let me know if you’d like me to blog from mid-retreat on Saturday night, and I’ll take the computer along with my collection of two-hundred year-old technology. Hey, maybe I’ll even take the camera!

Fiberrific

I wasn’t planning to write a post tonight, but I’m overdue, and besides, everyone is asleep. I might as well strike while the kids are sleeping. Who knows when one of them will have a nightmare and come running down the stairs? (I never know; without my glasses I can’t read the bedside clock. My daughter swears I lift the covers for her without even waking up.)

After the Marquette scarf got done and the first sock of the pair got done, not much knitting has been taking place. I started plugging away again on the Season 16 Doctor Who Scarf, but I haven’t cast on for the second sock yet. I was going to do that tonight, but then this German wine kind of got in the way of doing a good job of it. (Then I was going to watch two episodes of Torchwood, then one episode of Torchwood, but then it took forever to get caught up on Ravelry, so here I am.)

I did, however, cast on for a new project. That’s not as terrible as it sounds. It’s really something I promised as a Christmas present, so actually it’s about time I cast on for it. It’s a simple scarf, but I considered several stitch patterns before I found something I liked. And once I did, I loved it. I think I may have finally found a scarf that knits itself. I’m using the Baby Cable Ribbing pattern from the first Barbara Walker book. It’s an easily memorized four-row pattern that you could knit in the dark if you had to. I started the scarf two days ago, haven’t put in much time on it really, and it’s fairly galloping along. I don’t think it hurts that the yarn is 100 percent Merino either.

So. I have the Scarf, the Second Sock, and the New Scarf all going right now. (As soon as I get the Second Sock going, that is.) There’s another pair of socks lined up one the Retro Rib pair are done, but I promise that as soon as one of the Scarves is done I will start working on a WIP.

And you can vote on which one it is! Shall it be:

Tyrone, the striped bottom-up sweater stuck at the raglan decreases? Since October 2007?

The Irish Hiking Scarf in cursèd yarn from Mystical Creations? Three skeins (at least) to go!

The Gullwing Lace stole in silk yarn I bought for myself last Mother’s Day?

Or, the Denim Sweater I started in November for NaKnitSweMo and didn’t even finish the crew neck? I might have enough yarn for the whole sweater, but I’m not sure.

Every vote counts. Each commenter can cast as many as ten votes — all for one project, or split them up however you like. Clearly, my own inclinations toward the next project cannot be trusted.

———

In other news, I have registered for a spinning retreat being taught by Judith MacKenzie McCuin. Naturally, I am preparing for this by spinning up fiber that I am dealing with by the seat of my pants. This works fine for the Wookie fiber, which I would love to spin up and ply so I can clear off all my bobbins, but a few nights ago I decided to card and spin up some huacaya alpaca fiber samples. I got the majority of it spun, but then something happened with the take-up and the twist was just not getting into the fiber to make it strong enough to be singles. After a half dozen tries at dragging it back through the orifice to try to draft more fiber on it, I decided to leave it alone and finish when I was calmer. So now, I just hope to finish the huacaya, and prep and spin the suri samples, and possibly do the rest of the current bag of Wookie-wool before it’s time to hoist Maggie into the van and head to Columbus (Wisc.) for the retreat.

Is anything else going on? Well, Leah went home on Top Chef. About time. I am really getting to enjoy Fabio’s screen time, and Stefan’s skills.

Doctor Who is done airing the 4th season for the American audience, and true to form, they absolutely sliced and diced the season finale so they could promote Ashes To Ashes. Which even the Brits didn’t like. So if you watched the finale last weekend and wondered what all the fuss was about, ask me and I’ll give you links to where you can see what aired in the UK.

But Torchwood is coming back on soon, so I’m trying to catching up by watching Season 2 on Netflix. Trying and not succeeding tonight. Maybe tomorrow….

Everything

Here it is, Post 300. Long in the making because, well, these benchmark numbers put one under such pressure to perform! Until, finally, it occurs to me it hasn’t been three days since the last post, it’s closer to three weeks and by the time I write the next post there won’t be anyone there to read it anyway.

Emergencies

I have had my share of little panics over the past three days three weeks. Remember that extra little Christmas we had when I found the presents I’d hidden? One of them was a Scout knife, fresh from the factory and twice as sharp. The very next day, said Scout forgetting that putting it on top of his dresser wasn’t exactly removing temptation from his four-year-old brother, we had ourselves a small crisis. I’d tell you all the details, really I would — they were hilarious! — but until some sort of statute of limitations runs out, I’m afraid I’ll have to plead the Fifth lest someone from Children’s Services is reading this and decides I need some time in solitary to reconsider my parenting skills. (Short version: I did not know the knife was on the dresser until we were on our way to the doctor’s office for some skin glue. The reasonable explanations I heard for there being blood everywhere were all lies.) But we did meet a lovely new pediatrician.

That was a Wednesday. The following Monday I went upstairs to wake the same four-year-old boy for school, and was met with a zombie. I carried his limp body down to the couch, where he lay all day, eyes glazed, fever burning, unslaked by orange juice. The doctor’s office had no open time slots, so he didn’t get there until Wednesday, when it was discovered he had an ear infection and a teensy bit of, well, pneumonia.

It’s interesting to tell people that your child has a touch of, well, pneumonia. They look at you as if you’re about to breathe some pneumonia on them as well, while the thought bubble above their head wonders do people still get pneumonia any more?

Some of them do, and I hope they’re almost done with it. Because for a whole week, TV sucked, medicine tasted nasty, I was the most horrible mommy on the earth and deserved to DIE, and school became the Emerald City. But we did meet another nice pediatrician.

Meanwhile, I was adding “I am SO going to Knit Night” to the end of every e-mail I was writing last week. The events of the night were undiminished by the fact that one of my brake lines blew out as I was leaving the Beltline on the way to Verona, and were of course completely out on the hourlong drive back. I could tell they were handling differently — I just didn’t know why. But I brought me home safe. We dropped off the van on Monday, and maybe it will be fixed tomorrow morning. And we did get to reacquaint ourselves with the guys who fix my car.

So.

I finished a Secret Knitting Project I can now call the Old School/New School Scarf. Check it out in 2009 Finished Projects. It’s a tube scarf, with colored stripes transitioning from Marquette Warrior to Marquette Golden Eagles. It’s hideously warm and was completed two days before it absolutely had to be.

I finished my January sock for the Personal Sock Club — check it out in Finished Projects as well. I finished this sock yesterday, so technically it’s a January/February sock, and I don’t care to speculate as to when the second one will be finished. I might cast on for it tonight, just so that doesn’t get delayed any further.

Who’s left? The only other active project I have is a Season 16 Doctor Who Scarf. I’m coming to terms with my other projects not really being Works In Progress, but Hibernating Items I’d Rather Not Think About For A Few More Months. But I really would like to get them all wiped out by the end of 2009.

Thanks for reading my 300th post!

P.S. I did some spinning the other night — yes, Wookie roving. I have a spinning retreat coming up in less than a month and thought I’d blow through the open bag of Wookie wool, have fun plying it, and have all the bobbins free for the retreat.

Late night knitting at home

Thank you, economy. Due to gas prices and many other checkbook-related factors, I won’t be able to go to Late Night Knit at the Sow’s Ear tonight. Waves to Dale-Harriett, Lovely Mary, Heather, Annika, Melinda, Yo Jane, Mary, Donna, and everyone else whose name I’ve forgotten……

The only thing really making this bearable is that my DH suggested we have Late Night Knit at home and I could teach him to knit. At that point I figured he was just trying to make me feel better, which, frankly, was actually good enough. But then I suggested I teach him to spin instead, since he was really more interested in it, and his eyes just lit up.

Wish me luck! Has anyone taught their Significant Other how to knit, crochet, spin, weave, or …?

Sigh. Knitwise I have been devoted to the Scarf. The end is in sight. I try not to unroll it or measure it, so that’s why I don’t have updated progress shots. I just keep working the pattern. The kids are starting to get impressed that they can all have part of it on their lap as I work on it. Now that would make a good picture!

But I really need to finish my WIPs so I can move on to the next phase of my life. Brother Ben’s Christmas Stocking needs to be next, then Bamboo Socks, then whatever yells the loudest. Nobody wants knits for Christmas, so I’m not making any.

Genealogy has been taking me over. In a flash of generosity I started looking for unanswered lookup queries on places like the RootsWeb board. I have binders and binders full of family sheets from various parts of my family, but haven’t touched anything in almost ten years. Hmm, was that when I moved to Wisconsin? I can’t work on my own people from here, but maybe I live close to someone else’s ancestors.

As it turns out, I do! And the local genealogical society here has an awesome collection of fantastic materials. I’ll be joining them at the beginning of the year! I currently have four lookup projects going, an appointment to do a photo shoot at a cemetery next week (yes, I have a different definition of “me time” than most people), and I’m finding new leads almost every day. I love love love tracking these people down. Maybe I’m just channeling my inner Trixie Belden.

I’m using this quarter of lookups as a trial period for myself. If I enjoy all the parts of the process and start to get more efficient, it might be time to take a couple of seminars and start working towards becoming a certified genealogist.

So things are okay here — just lean, and changing. But now it’s time to knit.

Transitioning

Lately I’ve been looking at all the things I’m trying to do, all the things I’d like to do, and, frankly, all the stash I’m trying to use up, and I had a teensy tiny epiphany. The comfortable kind, the sort that sneaks into your head and gradually makes itself known without blowing anything up.

I don’t have to do so much of this stuff all at the same time.

I’m always amazed when somebody comments that I’m so productive, or so organized, or so efficient, because I’m really none of these things. It’s probably more accurate to say I’m easily bored, and attracted to new hobbies like a raven to a glittering piece of foil.

But now I’m looking at the knitting as a skill set rather than a lifestyle, and it felt like a weight was truly lifted. It’s easy to be obsessive about the knitting (even more so if you have the money and time to knit as much as you want), fun to collect patterns and yarn and cyberfriends (and easier to do these days than it used to be), and entertaining to keep up with the trends and magazines and knitalongs and swaps (especially for those us who didn’t used to be joiners, so much).

It’s also kind of exhausting, especially if you suddenly realize you have 3.5 kids in school (well, maybe 2.75, depends on how you do the math), and two scout schedules to juggle and a book to write All By Yourself.

So I’m kind of scaling back. There are lots of things I can do well enough, and I’d like to start taking turns with them. My little Scouts will need scrapbooks, and I can do those. If someone needs a scarf, I can make one. Christmas cards? Well, maybe I will buy those one more time, but I can make the birthday cards for next year with my stamps & stuff. I can spin to relax, and make my own stitch markers with the beading supplies.

But, as Steven Wright said, *not in a row….*

So. A new plan. My favorite thing in the world, and this year it’s three months early.

Finish the WIPs, and make Christmas gifts. If I feel flighty or bored I can work on those things first. There is certainly a variety of unfinished work that needs to be done, and (mostly) nice yarns to do it with.

Next. The Book needs to be written, the pattern booklets need to be begun (any knitting or quilting designers out there that want to be authors?), and I need to move into something that can be paying work that interests me and can be done no matter where I live.

I have an idea, and if you can guess it based on this information, I’ll send you a prize package. The deadline for comments is September 27.

Hey, that’s my Ravelversary!

So, this one time, at Sheep and Wool…

…we had this little party, and about 40 people came? And had cheesecake? And won door prizes?

And then we all got massively tired and wished we could sleep for weeks and weeks. But we did take some pictures. They’re not great, but they’re pictures, and they’ve already taken Stage One of their journey and now actually reside on the computer rather than in the camera.

I’ve got a few things to do first (like shower, and run out for diapers and wipes) but I want to take advantage of this being a 3-child school day and put up a very nice blog post with some of those pictures and lots of words.

Here’s our display at the Country Store on Saturday morning. I don’t know why the camera was doing that! (Hi Brandy!)

Here are some sheep (including Shetlands). Check out the horns on that Jacob!

Four-day-old lamb, 2008 WI Sheep & Wool

 

 

Shetland sheep, 2008 WI Sheep & Wool

 

[/Jacob Sheep, horns and all!]  

The feed is sweeter in the other pen!

 

Here is the food at the Afterparty before anybody had some. Chocolate chip cookie pizzas in three flavors, pizzelles in two flavors, chocolate dipped pretzel sticks in four varieties, and two types of cheesecakes with three fruit toppings. Coffee, soda, water, etc. The wine was a door prize ONLY.

 

Chocolate dipped pretzel sticks

 

 

Cheesecake bar — New York style and chocolate mint chip

 

 

Chocolate chip cookie pizzas

 

Here are the door prizes, almost all of them. Some people came to the party and dropped more items on the table.

And here is the TARDIS I made just for the party. You won’t believe how cool my children think this is, and where it is now.

Off to do errands, then I’ll fill it in later.

A tremendous thanks to everyone who attended, everyone who just stopped by the table to say Hi even if they couldn’t come, everyone who helped in any way, and especially to Cheesehead with Sticks, who really made it all possible. I really hope there’s an event like this next year, even if I’m not involved with planning and running it.

September 11: OK, I almost give up. Sorry about the formatting. If I can figure out how to fix it, I’ll do so one picture and caption at a time, saving in between. Meanwhile, I’m on with the rest of my life.

Name This Post

I have already written posts titled “sorry” and “hiatus” and “mea maxima culpa,” so if nothing else you should have a clear picture of me so far. Sometimes, I don’t post. Even when stuff is happening.

I’m sorry I haven’t written. Between the flooding and Ravelry and, oh, Ravelry…. Ah, crap, I’m just a bad girl, not keeping up the blog. You know how you get so overwhelmed you can’t find the energy to try to get un-overwhelmed? That’s me!! **(waves to Radar)**

Floods. The waters are starting to subside, the Jefferson County Fair is this week, summer school did start a week late after all but will end on time. The post-flood mosquitoes are nasty but small.

Family. I think everyone’s been injured at least once. All have recovered. Except for our poor dog Chili, who was diagnosed with a spleen condition that was most likely cancerous. He had other issues ahead of him, and a happy life behind him, so we made the hard decision and said goodbye.

Travel. My husband and my brother circumnavigated Lake Michigan by motorcycle in mid-June and not only lived to tell about it, but got back on time. Some of the small parts of their bikes didn’t quite make it, but it was a Learning Experience — their first tour of any length, solo or team. Unfortunately they learned the wrong lesson and want to circle Lake Superior next year. Anyone want to send their husband along with them next June?

Knitting. Did I mention knitting? I finished a testknit scarf, and am doing some Doctor Who knitting now for a project that will go to cast & crew. SQUEE! (Had to get that out of the way, sorry to hurt your ears.) I tried to do some finishing off of stuff before the Who project started, but it didn’t work out that way. Now I have a second mitten I have to half-dismantle due to screwing up the amount of plain knitting between the increase rounds. Lucky me.

Otherwise I’m actively working on an alpaca triangle shawl for myself (deadline: Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival), a pair of socks for DH (I’m next), and … apparently a bunch of other stuff. My WIPs literally fill a laundry basket right now and the exposure is rather embarrassing.

Spinning. No more spinning for a while now, but I do have another wheel, an antique with some missing parts. We acquired it on Saturday. SQUEE! (oops)

Computer. Got my Mac back. Unfortunately the data were gone. I’ll still be working on the statewide craft store guide since I have all the info in hard copy form, but at a more leisurely and thoughtful pace. And I’ll be making backups. I swear to God I will. Losing all my digital pictures of the yarn and the kids has taught me that, the hard way. I hope I can get back the ones I uploaded to WordPress.

I’ve also fallen terribly behind on my blog reading, so if you’re on my blogroll and feel neglected, I’m sorry about that too. (I apologize a lot, don’t I? Sorry!) This summer vacation thing is kicking my butt big time.

One more thing: Happy Birthday (today! oops, now it’s yesterday) to my dear Mr. Beth. He’s happily rowing curragh with the club, then going out for a beer (or more) with his brothers. Permission for that was the least I could do for someone who likes to bring back nicer yarn from his business trips than I’m willing to buy for myself at my favorite LYS.

Which I should be able to visit on the 18th for Late Night Knitting. It’s been about three months and I really miss everyone!

Podding along

First of all, my immense gratitude goes out to everyone who sent me knitting podcast suggestions. I just (really, JUST) finished listening to ‘casts 2 and 3 of Sticks and String, and am about to transfer ‘casts 2 and 3 of Cast On to the iPod. I thought they were there, but they weren’t. Still figuring out this iTunes business. Maybe it’s just too uncomplicated.

But anyway, I love both these ‘casts, and after some false starts with Doctor Who podcast selection (i.e., if I’m not ready to watch series 3, I probably shouldn’t be listening to current news about current episodes, here at the end of series 4) I found some Doctor Who audio tales that might be just right for those long nights when The Husband is busy making a magazine, or in Canada, or traveling for business, or wherever. My only half-complaint is that the headphone we now have make my ears hurt. That shouldn’t be hard to fix.

The podcasts were a real bit of cheer in a rough night. Because Mr. Beth is out of the country and I have to actually Be The Mom to four kids, I couldn’t go to Late Night Knitting at the Sow. Can’t go to the next one, either, or to a Saturday meeting of the local spinning guild. Darn schedule conflicts. So I can now use these barren nights to listen to podcasts. I learn about knitting, I hear new music I otherwise wouldn’t, and I am entertained.

I need some entertaining — while I was trying to get my Ravelry fix this evening, my kids were in the process of breaking my ball winder. The handle was snapped off flush at the base, and the tension wire (for lack of a better term) was bent out of shape. The wire arm I could have fixed, but I’ve used enough cyanoacrylate to know I wouldn’t be able to fix the handle.

The little tube that you wind the yarn onto didn’t get broken, because it was elsewhere holding the ball of my first handspun on it. So now, when I buy a replacement winder, I will have extra yarn storage. Kind of like having an extra mixing bowl for your stand mixer. But it does mean I’ll need to buy the same style of ball winder so this tube will fit.

Knitting updates:

I went to Open Knitting at Gosh Yarn It (Lake Mills) on Wednesday evening, and spent a lovely time with the store owner, Patty Dehnert. I was the only one there! To give you an idea of how much we chatted, Open Knitting was from 6 to 8 and the first time I looked at the clock, it was 8:10. I showed Patty my handspun, bought another skein of yarn so I can start my second Hufflepuff mitten, did one repeat of the test knitting I’m doing for Mazzmatazz, and exactly one row of a four-row repeat of the lace. Honest to God, I thought I would have to rip it all out. I counted that row at least three times to make sure I hadn’t screwed anything up. Now I know that what I will screw up is starting it again and managing to forget that I knitted one row of the pattern already.

She seemed impressed with the ridiculous number of projects I brought, and she didn’t even charge me the Open Knitting fee. Kudos to Patty! I would link to her store site, but I don’t think she has one yet. She is still getting her feet wet with Ravelry ventures and commenting on blogs, so say hey if you come across her. She’s very nice and a little shy.

I meant to spin tonight, but instead I picked up Bamboo Sock Two and have gotten it almost to the heel flap portion of our show. I’ll do those few more rows after I get done uploading this. (I would go to Ravelry, but the Software Update icon is bouncing like a hyperactive beach ball on the Dock [I SEE you!], and it’s getting very distracting. Besides, perhaps I ought to allow time for sleep.)

I did get through three wonderful episodes of Torchwood last night: Ghost Machine, Cyberwoman, and Small World. Can’t wait for more. But I can’t do anything but plain vanilla sock while I watch, since there’s so much going on.

Quote of the Day from Jack (my Jack, not Captain Jack Harkness): “If you’re on the wrong way, go out. If you’re on the right way, go in!”

 

Guess what I can do?

I can spin. On my spinning wheel, no less.

Read the complete (sort of) story over at one of my other blogs, Spinning Wheels. Sadly, I still can’t got photos uploaded. Imagine an Ashford bobbin full of white yarn, ‘kay?

Knitting update: Almost half done with the last Debbie Bliss square. Started another square for the Doctor Who afghan. One more repeat on the silk stole.

We did have guests over for a grillout yesterday, and it was in the high 70s, so all the kids were in swimsuits beforehand, getting squirted by Dad (armed with a garden hose). They all showed their Irish skin pretty quickly and Tom had to be escorted inside in a hurry before he burned. Nobody actually did burn, but they drank a lot of lemonade later, and everyone slept well (despite a quick-moving storm).

Except me, who was up at 2am with heartburn. I had a sore throat all day Monday and gradually lost my voice until today, when I am just hoping I don’t get any phone calls. Can hardly make a sound.

Friends who would like to cheer me up can do so by e-mailing me pictures of the Tenth Doctor. Molly Bee, I think you know the one I’m looking for and cannot find.