Is that good or bad?

15

(Thanks Catherine!)

Temptation, part III

Ah! Someone's selling their used Kiwi!

Temptation, part II

There's a used Lendrum DT for sale on Ravelry....From what I understand, this is equivalent to the "complete" package, which retails for $622. It's being sold for $550, including shipping/insurance/tracking. Here's my question for the spinners - are the extras necessary for a beginning spinner? When I was originally looking at wheels, I was looking only at the wheel and the bobbins it comes with (not lazy kates, plying heads, etc). Thoughts?

Little WIP update

Chevron scarf - I finished a skein of the blue (Sundara, in Dusk) and figured this was a good time to pause for a photo shoot.
And a close up. I've been playing with my camera more and trying to learn how to use all the different settings to make more of the light I have. The beauty of digital? Taking as many pictures as it takes to get it right. And then some more.
Little charms, shaped like hands, that say hand made. I spotted these on gradschoolknitter's blog and immediately headed over to etsy to hunt them down. Extra motivation for finishing things!
And finally, a hat to keep M warm (Thorpe) when he goes back home - his uncle died this weekend, so he may be going home sooner rather than later.

I'm off for an early night, after an incredibly early morning (6 am conference call. Seriously). Good night everyone!

Thanks to all of you for your comments. In the end I did email him, and it turns out he hadn't noticed my last email had arrived and had been wondering why it was taking me so long to respond. But the whole incident has led to alot of thinking about how we all deal with the difficult situations in our lives. Do we back away? Do we hover? There's no good answer for how to help someone through a difficult time, and you can't please everyone. But I'm glad this time I said something.

A dilemma

I'm facing a bit of a friend dilemma, and I'm not sure what to do. An old friend of mine from college (and high school actually) resurfaced on Facebook this month. In some ways we were close - I thought of him as sort of my conscience in college and he always encouraged me to pursue things outside of science because I think we both knew that I was sort of in between to two sides of the brain. We exchanged a few messages catching up and I mentioned my brother had died, and that dealing with it had been hard due to how he died.

I haven't heard from him since. This isn't the first time a friend has dropped off the face of the earth when I told them how my brother died. Things have been awkward with a number of friends, old and at the time new, since it happened. But usually I don't say anything. But for some reason this time it really bothers me, mostly because I never thought he would be one of those people. Not because we were extremely close, but because of who he is.

The dilemma is this - do I say anything, or do I continue to do what I've always done and ignore it. I feel like I've lost a number of friends in the last year and coming out and saying something to someone who has just resurfaced may or may not do anything to foster friendship. But in many ways I feel like I'm being 'punished' for something I didn't even do when people drop out of my life and I'm tired of it. It's hard enough dealing with what my family's going through without people backing away when support is what we all need most.

Shop update!

Shop update!

Um, am I losing my mind?

A couple of weeks ago, REI announced their winter clearance sale and I, being the retail moth that I am, quickly snapped up a larger backpacking pack for my trip to Mt. Whitney later this year (did I mention I'm climbing Mt. Whitney?) - in addition to a pair of shoes and a jacket (which will probably go back). REI ships with UPS, and I opted to have my shipments delivered to my home instead of work or the store because I was so excited about this new pack. And didn't want to have to drive to Northridge or carry a large REI box around work. The initial delivery estimate was for the 18th, but as of last week became the 15th. Which was bad, because I was leaving Friday afternoon to drive up to the Bay Area.

I crossed my fingers and hoped it would arrive before I had to leave. After 4 hours it hadn't, so I left a sign on my door instructing the driver to leave it at my front office and NOT on my doorstep. I arrived in Santa Clara and received an email saying my packages had arrived. Left at FRONT DOOR.

A call to my complex and UPS confirmed that FRONT DOOR really meant my front door, not the front office. Upon arrival yesterday, luckily my packages were there. But my sign was gone....

Here's where I feel I'm losing my mind a little. Any other package, it wouldn't have mattered so much because typically I don't order things that sell out quickly so they could have been replaced. And UPS insists that customers can leave delivery instructions at their door. I did that, and not only were my instructions ignored but they were removed. An email to UPS did nothing but result in a response that, "We checked our records and it says your package has already been delivered." Thanks, but the two boxes in my apartment told me that.....

In less ranting news, I'm almost done with the first sleeve of the Buttony Sweater. Ooh, and I saw a spinning wheel on Telegraph as Jasmine and I were walking around - it looked like an Ashford, but maybe that's just because I've been thinking about them so much :)

Hope everyone's having a good Monday, especially if you have the day off!

V-Day approacheth

I'm not one to do much for V-Day (and this year M will be on his way to the slopes), but this tutorial (found via not martha)on making your own conversation hearts made me grin with possibilities....

Odds and ends

• Slow down, you move too fast

Yesterday I went to the post office after work to mail some destash yarn (more about this later) and of course chose the automated postal unit over the long line in the lobby. However, there were 2 people in front of me and an elderly man already using the machine. While talking himself through it. "No....no....enter zip.....wow that's expensive...go back.....no....no"

As the line grew and we all silently plotted to throttle him (I know I can't have been the only one), I realized this is what bugged me about my ex's apology. He had waited over a hear to apologize and acknowledge he had failed to treat me like a human being. But he couldn't be bothered to sit down and at least email me from a freaking computer.

We're all in such a hurry these days, and that's been part of the anxiety I've been feeling since the new year. Hurry up to define my relationship, hurry up to resurrect broken friendships, hurry up to get over my brother's death. I suspect all this hurrying is why I wake up before my alarm clock these days.

• Obligatory politics

I've been listening to Al Gore's The Assault on Reason the last couple of days. And a few things come to mind - one: Al Gore has a very distinctive writing style. It's like he's talking to you. And even though he's not the one narrating the book, you know it's him. Two: how the hell did we end up here? I'm not one to follow the news anymore, but listening to his accounts of the last few years have me up in arms. Though his account of hypnotizing a chicken is pretty funny.

• So, you call this a knitting blog?

Only very loosely. In my anxiety to clear out material goods (apparently I am not my mother's daughter on this score), I've managed to destash about half my stash. And made a vow not to buy any more new yarn until Easter. I've decided this applies to a wheel as well. By that time I should have my tax refund and feel a little more certain about this whole spinning thing. In the meantime, I am knitting from my stash, finishing up UFOs (or frogging them), and practicing on my spindle. Unfortunately all this WIP polygamy has slowed down progress on the Buttony Sweater (the Chevron scarf was too pretty to leave in the basket!), but it will be done.

Some day....

Temptation

Yesterday I had a day to myself (most weekends are spent with M - though now that ski season is in full swing that's more the exception than the norm) and took a mini road trip up to the Santa Ynez valley. I had a food club shipment to pick up (yes, I'm in a food club and it's awesome) and a wine club shipment as well. But the real reason? To try out spinning wheels at Village Spinning & Weaving.

I am in love. I tried out Ashfords, Lendrums, a Louet, a Kromski, and a Majacraft. My two favorites?

This Lendrum:
And this Ashford:
Up until yesterday, I've only spun on a spindle before. And while I like it, I don't really have a rhythm to it. There's alot of stopping and starting. But the wheel just felt smoother. Here's my dilemma though - why should I buy a wheel? It's a relatively large investment, and right now I think I'd be buying it just to spin and not necessarily to make yarn....There's also the retail therapy to think about. I've been hugely stressed the last few weeks. Work has been unpleasant, and things with the family have been hard. And my MO to deal with being unhappy and stressed is to a) hole up and knit and b) shop! So I'll wait. But man, did I love spinning on those wheels yesterday :) And I so highly recommend Village Spinning and Weaving - both the owners are absolutely wonderful and helpful.

Today brings laundry, a trip to REI, lunch with an old friend from college, and of course some knitting. I'm hoping to finish up the Buttony Sweater within the next week or so :) Happy Sunday all!

Um....

Headline on Yahoo!: Spears quietly released from LA Hospital.

Does anyone else feel this is somehow....inaccurate? It's like the year I was living in Santa Barbara and Michael Jackson was on trial. All Britney, all the time.

sent from my hands on the keyboard. (Sorry, but I got an email from my ex last week signed "sent from my iPhone" and I'm still a little snippy. Simmering down now)

ETA: I assumed it was a default setting on the iPhone. It's really more that he's coming out of the woodwork. With an iPhone. Long story.

Busy with WIPs

Well, it's been crazy the last 3-4 weeks at work, so the motivation to blog has been steadily decreasing. Luckily, the motivation to curl up in front of the TV and knit hasn't :) First up, progress on the Buttony Sweater:

In spite of the weird looks I got yesterday when I pulled it out at a Super Bowl party, I knit for almost the entire game and made a ton of progress. A few more inches, and I think I'll be ready to bind off and start on the sleeves.

I also managed to make 2 trips to Anacapa Fine Yarns this weekend. One, just to get some Noro for the famous striped scarf, and the next day because they were having a Super Bowl sale (had I realized how late the game was starting and that I'd be able to go for the sale, I wouldn't have bought the first batch of Noro....). But, I also bought a new spindle:


My spinning is getting much more consistent, and I'm almost ready to break out the pretty roving I've been holding out on (until I got better. And stopped making slubby yarn)

And, finally, my sewing machine has been getting a workout. I made myself a circular needle holder awhile ago, but I decided I wanted one hold for all my DPNs and circular needles. So I came up with this:

Here it is, folded up in thirds (I still need to sew in some snaps, but you get the idea)
....and opened up. 9 pockets for circular needles.
...and here with one of the sets of circular pockets flipped over to reveal the DPN slots. I haven't used it yet (sew in snaps....must sew in snaps), but I'm pretty excited :)

Alright, that's it for me. Time to curl up in front of the TV (if only the TV put out heat too. Two birds with one stone there) and get to work on finishing that sweater. Happy Monday all!

PS - there was an etsy update this weekend. Just so you know :)

3rd Annual Blogger's Silent Poetry Reading

While I've had one of my own floating around in my head today, I'm going with the poem I had to memorize in college for German class:

Lied des Tuermers (Goethe)
1. Zum Sehen geboren,
Zum Schauen bestellt,
Dem Turme geschworen
Gefällt mir die Welt.

Ich blick' in die Ferne,
Ich seh' in der Näh'
Den Mond und die Sterne,
Den Wald und das Reh.

2. So seh' ich in allen
Die ewige Zier,
Und wie mir's gefallen,
Gefall' ich auch mir.

Ihr glücklichen Augen,
Was je ihr gesehn,
Es sei, wie es wolle,
Es war doch so schön!

As far as I can remember (and translate), it's about a guard sworn to stay in a tower and look out on the horizon. Rather than being bored with this monotonous job, he's really rather pleased with the opportunity to look out on the world (this is where my German is rusty).

Here's to a more positive outlook on the job :)