re: spinning

Oh god, you guys. Last night as I was falling asleep I kept having this swaying feeling and it was a little confusing until I realized that I was remembering treadling at the shop yesterday. I think I kind of love spinning.

So, I took a small youtube break and found this video of the woollen longdraw. Not going to lie, I'm a little in love. Also, I like the way that this video shows plying (really simple, could do it right away with very little jostling around of bobbins and I wouldn't have to worry about splitting my roving in half to spin both to different bobbins like I have been doing) but I'm kind of cringing at how she's knitting the plied yarn without setting the twist. Set the twist! Set the twist!

(See, I was going to make a joke about how plying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off but apparently I can't watch that video because I'm in Canada. What the fuck ever.)

I have not gotten as much done today as I had originally planned. Sadface. :( Tomorrow, then.

Today's been an interesting day. Mom took the day off from work to go to the dentist in the morning, then I packed up my bag of knitting for the afternoon and we set off to get our passport photos done, and then went to lunch at the Fusion Grill on Academy.

Mom dropped me off at the shop and I started working on my vest until I realized there was no way I could concentrate on the decreases with the conversations going on around me so I put it down and pulled out some fiber and started spinning, and dudes. I love to spin. I really want to take the spinning workshop the next time it's offered because I want to learn some technique (like I told Dorian, I don't have much technique, but I have enthusiasm.) I'm getting better- I have a bobbin full of single ply and half of the roving left. If I get my project done tomorrow I'm heading back to the shop on Sunday to spin up the other half and possibly ply it as well. :D

Seriously, I keep looking at this single and thinking "you are going to be a sexy, sexy yarn. I am so clever!" so of couse, the next time I spin I'm going to be dreadful at it. c'est la vie.

After knitting I wandered over to the Neighbourhood and had a London Fog and thought of liketheroad and halflinen and stared at this single ply some more. Then mom came by and we went to St. Boniface where she had her first appointment with a new chiropractor and during that time I wandered around the Forks, debating whether to get dinner in the form of a cinnamon bun from Tall Grass Prairie (spoiler! I didn't.) Went back to St. Boniface, picked up mom and swung back around to the convention centre for the craft show.

Honestly... I remember the craft show being so much better when I was a kid. However, I do think that some of the quality is better, as well as variety and originality. I stopped by Sheeples, but decided not to get more fiber (no more until I spin up the fiber I got from them last year.) I did, however, get a ring (not from Sheeples). It's a really sort of basic copper ring in a loopy knot. I was debating buying it- I don't really wear jewellry, ever, but this is exactly the thing I would wear if I did, so I got it and we'll see how long it stays before I either lose it or it migrates to my jewellry box for safekeeping, never to be seen again.

I'm more than 15 inches into the vest- I've done all the waist shaping and started the neckline and armscyes. I'm just smoking along.

I admit, I'm a little worrued that it may be a little big. Someone else who knit it said that it grew a bit after washing/wearing. I added about 2 inches extra than I needed. :| Oh well. I can't see myself not wearing this.

Augh. The closer I get to the end, I find myself procrastinating in more inventive ways. Augh. Hate this habit.

:(

Seriously, now is not the time to start going through the box of Gramma's recipes, planning to put together a small booklet of them for family members. NOW IS NOT THE TIME.

Dudes, I have a question: what's the feminine version of a bromance? I've been thinking about how I characterize a lot of my relationships, and quite a few would, if we were guys, fall into the bromance category. But we're not. And I can't think of a term for some of these friendships that gets the gist of that without falling headfirst into something that's completely the wrong term.

(You know me, I like words.)

The more I think about it, the more I'm getting into a whole lot of tl;dr thoughts about gender issues and sexism and stuff that normally I wouldn't mind thinking about, but I still have inventory files to clean up and pictures to label and such. I have a latter and my Paperbacks cd and a deadline (yay, deadline!) and I don't really want to be distracted by wondering if I can get away with characterizing some of my friendships as bromances even if we're both women.

Steadily working through the project and problems. Have a phone call to make tomorrow about it, and hopefully within the next few days everything will be finished and handed in and over. *breathes*

And this is the point where I wish I had my Paperbacks CD on my so I could have it on repeat. :(

On the bright side of things, today is rosie_riviter's birthday. Jevne and I have been friends since we were infants (seriously, infants) and now she's a mom and it's strange how in some ways she's this totally new person but she's still essentially the same kid I've always known: smart, funny, kind and caring while still willing to verbally kick ass when required. <3 We're totally going to be those little old ladies who get together for tea and biscuits, and who talk shit about everyone and everything. ;)

You know what's terrifying? Crowds of children spontaneously chanting "SANTA! SANTA! SANTA!" as he goes past in the parade.

creeeeeeeepy

Hey, you know what I haven't talked about for a long time? Curling. Oh yeah.

This week it's been the pre-Olympic trials qualifier. So far Stoughton (MB) and Simmons(SASK) have qualified, and later it'll be another Manitoba team, either McEwen or Gunnlaugson. And dude, while I think McEwen might be better prepared I'd love to see Gunnlaugson at the Olympic trials, against Martin and Howard.

The Wikipedia article for the Oly Trials has a pretty good rundown here.

You guys, I seriously just spent half an hour clicking around on wikipedia looking up curling stats and info. :| I blame this on the Buckleys. Still sick, but feeling better than yesterday.

Also, still have not touched the pullover. At this point, I'm seriously considering scrapping the lace pattern and just going back and doing Margot or something simple, with the same black garter stich/black&green body+arms that I was planning with the pullover. Hrm.

At some point today my cold switched over to a scent allergy and dudes. I don't get allergies (at least, not nasal) so this is all very upsetting. Also upsetting because it is the holidays and all of the little shops I went into today had scented stuff going. Also, I'm currently soaking something in lavender Eucalan and my nose is unhappy.

But I'm happy because there's curling on television, and I get to cheer for team Stoughton. *cheers* Srsly, you guys, I'm so happy to see them. :D

Also happy: all the new MCR interviews and such at tothetune.

ETA: JEFF!!! woo! (and holy crap, 11 ends. sleepy.)

Seriously, whenever I described this song/sequence to anyone they always look at me like I'm crazysauce. Proof! It does exist.

I'm still sick, but it's a dry cough and I'm not "producing" (ick) anything, so apparently that's good? Stayed home from knitting tonight to be safe. I keep falling asleep, but I don't know how much of that is me being sick vs. me normally.

So, what started yesterday as a scratchy throat has bloomed into a scratchy throat, headache, cough, fever, and now dizziness. And so, to bed.

(Please don't shoot! It's just a cold! Not the plague!)

I put my pullover onto a waste string and tried it on. At first I tried it on upside-down so I was upset that the waist shaping didn't work at all, but once I figured it out, it looked not bad. I could conceivably do the pullover an inch or so tighter because of the negative ease that makes the lace cling nicely, but... no. (Also, I've been debating ripping it back to the increases for the shaping and trying it again since there's a bit of a blip there, but I can easily fix that when finishing the sweater by sewing a small seam. I looked over the pattern and at what I had and... I followed the pattern. I don't know how I ended up with those few extra stitches there, but I can take care of it after.) I'm hesitant to go back that far for something that I might not be able to fix by reknitting, since I already need to rip out two and a half inches of lace.

~~I wrote that yesterday. It's been a weird few days, due largely to the aforementioned craziness. I took out the waste yarn and ripped it back, but I still haven't finished putting it back on. Mostly, I'm kind of... the initial "omg, this is awesome and I can't wait to finish it!!!" has worn off. Also, I missed working on the vest. I downloaded some podcasts this morning and knit along to one of them, and I have about 5 hours or so of the most recent Massey Lecture series (about language and cultures disappearing) to listen to and just... I want to start getting ready for Christmas- baking, decorating, planning, etc. I don't know, I'm normally not sogung-ho.

I think it's largely because I'm procrastinating on everything else. :(

The first week of the month is always a little crazy-making for me. Tuesday nights are my usual knit nights, the first Wednesday night is my other knit night group, Thursday afternoons are for heading out to the shop for knitting and now the first Thursday nights are for book club.

For someone who hardly leaves the house, it can be a little overwhelming. Also, last night was kind of crazy- chavvah is a superhero who puts out fires with the force of her awesome (and a fire extinguisher) and protects Wolsely from flaming community notice boards. Then I tool Shyla home and had tea and helped with ideas for organizing her stash and collecting patterns and such (I know! When did I become this person?) and I helped cast on for her sock.
Eventually I wandered home, stopping at a Tim Horton's. I was hoping to get a pumpkin spice doughnut, but settled for one with sprinkles and friends, it was not nearly as satisfying as I had hoped :( and then half of it fell on the floor of the car and mom said she got in the car this morning and knew something was up because of the sprinkles on the floor :( sadness.

But today is the middle of my crazy week, and I'm heading out later to meet mom at work and then we will head to the mall for dinner and picking up random things (I need more shampoo and maybe some soap.) Then more knitting and I may make an exception to the caffeine thing for a holiday latte. Two days and I'm already breaking rules.

Starting today I'm switching to decaffeinated teas after 6 PM. This has to do with my horribly messed up sleep schedule and the fact that I realized I normally drank a pot of tea between dinner and bedtime and was awake for hours. Luckily, I have a huge tea stash, and more than enough decaf tea to try this out for a month or so to see how well I take to it.

Also, I'm about 6 inches into my new sweater, and... I don't know. Maybe I should have altered the waist decreases in some way because this seems very short-waisted and I'm not. Hrm. However, I'm now fully on board with my yarn colour choice, as well ad having memorized the lace pattern. Woo!

I've been trying to read The Memory Keeper's Daughter for bookclub and I just can't. It's depressing enough and the first action in the book makes me hate one of the characters and the prose is overblown and it's just not worth it for me. We're choosing new books for December and afterwards and I'm going to make the very serious suggestion that we choose something fun because after this and The Book of Negroes, another depressing book might just put me off entirely. :\

I'm up to ten or so inches on the fair isle vest and halfway through the waist shaping, and I'm taking a bit of a break. I'm taking a break by starting NaKniSweMo- it took me several tries but I cast on this morning and I'm now mostly done the garter stitch hem.

I think this other project will help get the vest done sooner, actually, because it means it's less likely that I'll get sick of it and abandon it for months (or years) (hopefully) and I'll be able to get a quick sweater done for the holidays and I think a dark green/black lacy sweater will be nice to have for winter.

:D

I had a really interesting group discussion about felting at the shop today, and then this was posted when I got home.



I love how they emphasize that it should be a new, *clean* plunger. Also, I'm glad that all of the points I made at the shop were covered here- I know stuff!

An hour until I can cast on for NaKniSweMo. Tempted to cast on ASAP, but also tempted to just go back to bed and try to get some sleep; I'm overtired, exhausted but too wired to sleep for a while yet. :\

Holy crap, you guys. Work was awesome. It was busy and kind of crazy with learning the register and hauling clothes around and then teaching and helping people get sorted with yarn, patterns and needles and then cleaning around and everything, but it was awesome. I can't wait until next time.

Also, had a lovely time working with chavvah's mom and oh. She was lovely for teaching me stuff. And I gave her a ride home afterwards and man. I'm really glad I turned the CD player off because when I turned it back on again the first song was about dudes making out in a club and I'm kind of glad I didn't play that for her. /o\ Embarassing first impressions! I am about more than dudes making out in clubs (although that's still a part. Dudes! Making out in clubs!)

I may be a little overtired and punchy. I am excited that there is a new Cast On podcast to listen to (four year anniversary! Woo!) And I had an excellent dinner almost as soon as I got home, and now I have delicious, delicious tea and knitting. Win!

See honestly, now I see where The Young Veins came from.

I'm working at the shop today. I'm a little nervous- it shouldn't be too bad, but I kind of feel like I have to really know what I'm talking about.

Okay, this cheered me up this morning:

Attempting NaKniSweMo again this year. I've chosen the February Fitted Pullover, in Cascade 220 Northern Ladnscape for the lace bits and black for thegarter stitch bits. I think it'll look spiffy, and looks simple enough.

Opera still isn't working, and I'd forgotten how much I hate IE. :( So... this may make me spend less time online, which should be a good thing, but still. :(