mamacate

Afterglow

(This post was written in an airport over a margarita on my way to California, so before the post below.  This whole travel thing makes me a little discombobulated.)

Ahhhh.  Did I finally get off the screw-up bus?  Because, you know what?  Things are looking up.

The shawl did not self-destruct when I tried to wear it to a festival.  Thanks for all the kudos—it’s nothing spectacular, but I made it and I like it.  And I appreciate hearing the kind words, especially those that were S-P-E-L-L-E-D out.  For those who asked, it’s the Shoalwater Shawl pattern by Evelyn A. Clark, published by Fiber Trends.  I believe it was also in the October 2000 Piecework magazine as well.  I was inspired by CeCe and Greta who had two very different versions of this shawl on at Maryland.  The yarn is handspun by moi from fiber purchased at Maryland from Persimmon Tree Farm.  They’ll be at Rhinebeck.  You’ve been warned.

Not only did the shawl not self-destruct, but the sun actually shined on Saturday and the rain held off for the better part of the day Sunday.  The way the weather in New England has been, this alone is a small miracle.

It was truly a wonderful weekend, at least in my estimation.  My house was full of bloggers and fibery folk and short people of varying stature, there was hollering and chaos and food being smeared around—and then there were the kids!  I was a little nervous about the number of people that I was trying to stuff into my tiny house, but aside from everyone being woken up by Eleanor hollering in the middle of the night, I think we had a pretty darned good time.  The kids all got along wonderfully, and when they went to bed we sat around and spun and talked and just had a blast.

I have to admit that I’m going to have a hard time conveying in words how much I enjoyed the company.  For one thing, Sara is one of my best friends of all time, and I just love her and her kids.  It makes me sad that she lives so far away but I am so glad that there are festivals that give us an excuse to hang out together.  And who knows, maybe someday we won’t live so far apart anymore.

It was simply wonderful to spend time with new friends Risa and Kristen as well.  Risa and her kids, well, they’re just fabulous.  You know, she is the picture of strength and unflappability (is that a word?), and her kids are wonderfully well-behaved and equally poised, but having twins is grindingly hard work when you have a partner.  She does it solo every day.  All I can say is “wow.”  But it’s not just the mom-thing—she’s a fabulously knowledgeable fiber lady, and Sara and I hit her up for information at every turn.  She helped me get started on my new Louet drum carder with a Border Leicester lamb fleece I bought at Rhinebeck last fall.  (I know a lot of people who hate drum carding, and I can understand that, but wow, do you get a big ol’ hunk of beautiful fiber when you’re done!  I’m a convert.)

Kristen, what can I say?  She is just as sweet and wonderful and smart as you’d expect from reading her blog.  The kids would really like to have her move in but I think we’d have to fight Risa for the right to house her for as long as we can make her stay.  She’s a sweet, quiet soul and I loved having her there, talking fiber and enabling a new spinning habit hobby.  We tried VERY hard to corrupt her and make her stay Saturday night as well, but I made the mistake of giving her iced coffee, which woke her up enough to make her feel up to the drive.  If only I had known—there would have been no caffeine for her!

The breakfast party was a small gathering, but some great friends got to come including Marcy (who has now realized that if she keeps getting mentioned on blogs she’s going to have to scare up something to link to), Helen of the NETA list, and Lynn from Mindful Moderation along with her very lovely daughter.  Everyone was itching to get to the fair, so it was a short affair, but we were all well-fed and ready to shop and that was the goal, after all.  At the fest itself we met up with Amysue (a wheel changed hands, hooray, and I believe some carded wool made its way to her house as well), Laurie and her very nice DH, Deana from Sheep Thrills, Dave Paul (who complained that he didn’t get a personal invitation to breakfast—next year it will be engraved), all-too-short meetings with Katy and Teresa (nap-deprived children do not facilitate good conversation, I'm sad to say) and found out that Sara and I know people in common from completely different parts of life.  A good time was had by all.

For those who think that Cummington is a cult, I don’t know what to tell you.  All I can say is that at the potluck dinner on Saturday night, this was served.  You can draw your own conclusions.

Pictures to Start

I had a lovely time.  I just got off a cross-country flight and am settling into my snazzy hotel room, still feeling the wool high but a little disoriented.  Thanks to the lovely friends who came to stay and play.  I'm sorry I missed the "grassy knoll" gathering--it sounds like great fun.  More details to come, but first some photos of the insanity and the festabalitivities.

I'll hide the photos in case someone is on dial-up.  I have a run-down of the weekend written in an airport, but it needs links and I need sleep.  So here are the photos to get you started.

Shhhh

Shhhhhh.  Don't look directly at it.  But the handspun shoalwater "mini" (well, okay, it's actually not that small, but it took very little yarn, less than 300 yards) shawl?

It's D-O-N-E.

(Ignore the water spots on my shirt, please.)

I'm not tempting fate here, so, please.  Don't say anything out loud.  It's not too late for it to spontaneously combust.

I also hear rumors that there might be S-U-N, at least in small quantitites, tommorrow.  Let's not speak of that either, shall we?

FULL HOUSE

The Cult of Cummington is upon us.  My house will be about as full as it can get this weekend with wool junkies knitblogging friends and their children.  Risa and twins are going to come up so that Henry & Eleanor can teach Alex & Kat how to card wool.  Kristen is coming, sleeping bag and board review materials in hand (don't worry, we won't let her study).  Sara, finally converted convinced, will be toting both Hannah and Toby.  We have a very small three-bedroom house, but I think I've figured out how we can do this.  It will involve a bit of a slumber-party-type setup with the kiddos, but I'm sure they'll be thrilled.  H&E idolize Hannah and Toby, and then to have Kat & Alex there too, well, they'll just be thrilled.  What with the bagel thing in the morning (come on over, join the insanity--email for directions!), it's going to be a crazy day or two.

I can't wait.  Is that wrong?

See you there--or at the fair!

PS: Shoalwater mini-shawl in persimmon tree handspun is done and will be blocked tonight.  I know that if I say anything about wearing it to the festival, it will burst into flames, so I won't.  I have been victim to blocking accidents before (there was an incident with a lopi sweater and my dog and her collar and a giant rip; someday I'll post the pictures of the damage and subsequent repair), so I know better than to get cocky.  I'm sure something desperate will happen.  Not to worry.

Absent-minded without the professor part

Do you ever feel, um, like your brain is a bit....wooly?  I feel that way a lot these days, and I often feel like I'm the only person who is walking around in a bit of a fog.

So, while I'm really sorry for the incident that spurred this on, and I do hope that the gremlins return the tax refund check to Karen, can I just say that reading the comments recounting absent-minded things people have done are warming my heart?  Thank you, people.  I really do have a different perspective on life here.  Other people's houses are messy!  Other people forget important, obvious items they really need!  I am not the stupidest person in the universe (well, maybe it's a tie, but at least I'm not alone out here). 

Of course my brain is so foggy that I can't even think of the obvious stupid things I've done recently short of completely spacing important telephone messages and whoops, calling my boss (a VP) and colleague (a dean in her busiest season) to a meeting and then playing hooky that morning to wait for the DirecTV guy to install my satellite.  Because, you know, priorities. 

Got any good ones?  Or are you not in the running for the endowed chair of the absent-minded department?

Hey, at least I cleaned up around someplace!

Am I the only one who gets this?  I mention, in casual conversation, from time to time (not often, but when it comes up), that I spin and knit and blog about it.  People usually also know that I have twins and a job (okay, three jobs, I'd rather not think about that part).  And then they say "how do you do it all?" in a combination of awe and some mixture of disdain and bewilderment.

So, I shall now share with you my great secret, the reason why I am able to "accomplish" (other mothers of young children and people who have seen my many knitting disasters may now snicker at will) "so much."  You ready?  Here it is.

Housework?  Don't do much of it.  There it is.

My house is a bit of a disaster.  It's small.  It's cluttered.  None of you will be shocked to hear that there is wool in pretty much every nook and cranny available.  You can pretty much look in the telephone directory and find our address under "deferred maintenance."  The home decorating, never a strong suit, has turned to a feng shui-like balance between Fisher Price Little People and yarn.  The living room is decorated in "early spinning wheel" and when a door falls off a cabinet in the kitchen, we consider replacing it to be a low priority.  Hey, it's easier to see when we need more spaghetti.  Forget Martha, this household does not contain a happy homemaker.  If you don't count wool and dog fur, it's reasonably clean, but there's no house beautiful going on here.

So, I did the dishes tonight, but I didn't declutter the kitchen counter with all the junk mail.  Ah well.  But I did spruce up the blog a bit.  That whole purple thing was just supposed to be temporary while I figured out how to do this html stuff.  Yeah, I didn't get around to that.  But I think this will do.  And hopefully I won't hurt your eyes anymore.  Sorry about that.  If you can't see it, hit reload a couple of times.  My computer is very unwilling to let go of the evil lavender.

Okay, so I have an ulterior motive for telling you how messy my house is.  I'd like to invite you to visit it, and I find that things go best when I've fessed up in advance.  A little coffee and bagel stop on the way to Cummington.  Knitters, spinners, wool.  You know, the good stuff. 

The deets:

Coming to Cummington Breakfast Party

When: 8 am to 10 am, Saturday, 5/28
Where:  Chez mama, just a few blocks from Rt. 9 on the way to Cummington from the east. Email me for directions at party@mamacate.com .  C'mon, don't be shy, it'll be fun.
What: Bagels, lox, etc., coffee, tea, juice.  Potluck additions are welcome but there will be plenty to serve if no one brings anything.

Hope to see you there, and if not, at the fair!

The Wheel Deal

Sold!  The ST Lendrum has been sold.  Amysue and I are still working out the details of passing money and the wheel back and forth, but we have ourselves a deal.  I wasted no time (actually, I got it before we finalized the deal, don't tell) getting a DT Lendrum at Webs this weekend, and I am just so much happier.  I'm spinning up a storm and going so much faster now.  Sara and I are going to do some sort of  trade for the Saxony and her Mosvolt wheel, which neither of our partners will be impressed with since it in no way reduces the wheel population in our houses, but we'll both be able to try out something new, so that's fun.

Thanks to everyone for the support about our not exercising our newly-earned right to choose about marriage (except for Marta, who is the reason we can't elope, because she'll get all mad that she didn't get to come to the wedding--she's not understanding or supportive at all, yet I still brave the tent sale crowds to buy her yarn at Webs.  Go figure.  Some friends you love unconditionally.). 

For you worrying types (you crack me up, people), we have all our paperwork signed, sealed and delivered.  The kids have two legal parents, we have designated goddess-parents, our property is owned jointly, we are beneficiaries on each others life insurance and retirement plans, and we have medical directives and living wills and all that good stuff.  The thing that I want to stress, though, is that marriage in Mass. wouldn't change our need for all that stuff.  Until Massachusetts marriage is recognized federally, we still need to adopt our own children, have wills, etc., in case we happen to cross state lines.  And for us, there are no monetary benefits to marriage--well, we would be able to file jointly for our Mass. taxes, but since the federal government does not recognize Mass. marriage, we still file as single for federal purposes (which, actually, is a better deal right now since we're both earning), we pay taxes on the portion of Rhys' health insurance that covers me and the kids (grr), we do not get social security survivors benefits or any of the other federal benefits of marriage, whether we marry or not.  If there were any tangible benefits to marrying, we might do it, but for now, it's just a symbolic gesture, and we're not sure the symbolism is right for us.  We're so, so happy that it's available though.  The bribe idea of quiviut for a wedding gift, well, I'll take that into consideration.

I plied the rest of the persimmon tree roving and the shoalwater shawl is about half done.  It's very big and loopy.  The pattern is for lace to sport weight, but this yarn is a little thicker.  Well, I suppose it's sportweight, but it's a mohair blend so it can knit up a lot bigger than that.  I am doing it on size 10 needles so I will probably only do one repeat of the pattern.  It's one of those things where I look at it one way and I think it looks goofy and you can't see the old shale pattern at all, then I look at it another way and I think it's just right for the yarn.  It's completely different than the way the pattern is written, but I think it's more interesting than the simple mesh that they had as a sample at the persimmon tree booth.  In the end, I hope I like it.  And I hope I don't run out of yarn before it's big enough.  It's hard, though, to tell how big it's going to be when it's blocked.  I have about 285 yards total, and halfway through it's probably almost 4 feet wide.  I'll just stop when I stop, I suppose.  Of course that's what I said about the fleece artist FBS...

The new wheel has also had me flying along finishing up spinning the bunny roving from The Woolen Rabbit I got at the SPA.  I thought I'd use it for a FBS, but now I'm thinking something else.  There really isn't that much--it's very possible that a batt is sitting at the bottom of a pile of fiber somewhere in my house--so I think I'm going to have to go with something a bit smaller.  That yarn might have to sit for a while while I think.

So Marcy gave me some really good advice about the shetland fleeces I bought.  I was kind of confused, well, I still am, but I'm now confused in a more informed way.  I was thinking of combing them because the locks were so nice and it seemed a shame to card them up into a big jumble.  But she pointed out that combing would actually take out the softest stuff.  So now I'm thinking I might be lazy and send these babies out for processing.  If I can get Sara to drink the kool-aid come out for Cummington this weekend, I'll have my new Louet drum carder, but Marcy points out the danger that the Louet carding cloth is a bit on the coarse side.  So I'm a-thinkin.

Things I've Been Meaning to Tell You

I always remember things I want to blog, or email, or write, or do when I'm a) in the shower, or b) driving.  Despite the article my mother sent me about how motherhood is supposed to make you smarter (dude, feminism aside and all that, uh, NO), my brain cells seem to be so utterly unstable and, well, flighty, that by the time I'm in the actual presence of a computer, my mind is an utter blank.  But today, I'm going to try to remember.

The first one is actually one that I totally couldn't possibly forget.  An embarrassment of riches, really.  Look what arrived in the mail day before yesterday:

That's four bags of camel and one bag of cashmere, a pound each.  Sara, in an act of true friendship, thought of ME when she was presented with the opportunity to buy an obscene amount of luxury fiber at a truly insane bargain price.  A drum carder too.  Louet full-sized for $50.   Oh my goodness.  Is that friendship, or what?  In the context of my extreme SEX encounters over the past few weeks, this just makes me feel like a total glutton.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Sara brought samples along to Maryland, and I spindled both the camel and the cash with pretty good success.  I was disappointed, then, when I sat down at the saxony wheel to spin the camel and  couldn't even keep a thread going.  It may well be that I've been spinning the Persimmon Tree romney/mohair for the last few days and I just need to get my short-staple chops back.  But I was kind of surprised.

Sara had a great idea, though: she's going to blend her camel with the Cormo she got in Maryland.  I think the caramel camel and the white Cormo will look great together, and it will be a whole different ball of wax, spinning-wise.  So I'll have my eye out for a Cormo fleece (because yeah, I need more wool), or maybe a rambo or a merino (any other suggestions?).  I'm not going to look too hard, though, since while I may not be approaching SABLE, I think I have my work cut out for me, at least for the summer.  So if I wind up looking for a fall-sheared lamb fleece or something at Rhinebeck, that'll work too.  It'll keep.

Sara.  Thank you.

I'm knitting the Persimmon Tree handspun (yeah, the stuff I brought to work, thanks for making me feel less freaky less alone about that) into a shoalwater shawl.  I confess I don't love it as much knitted up.  I'll love it no matter what (it's my baby!), but it doesn't have the same elegance as that nice little skein.  I am coming to understand how some people spin just to have yarn, not to knit or use the yarn in any way.  I need to get out more, I know.

So, back to the things I've been meaning to tell you.

1. Fleece Artist?  What amazing customer service.  I spent Wednesday calling and emailing all over Canada (they have like 3 U.S. retailers), and no one had the color (or should I say colour, using the vernacular) I need.  But Jana at Fleece Artist got right back to me.  She said that since there wasn't a retailer local to me, they could sell it directly to me, and that I should, get this, send in a sample of the yarn I have so that they can MATCH it for me!  Wow.  Needless to say, the yarn is in the mail.  Hey, I have a chance of actually finishing that project some day.  How about that!

2. Happy anniversary to all the couples who celebrated their first anniversary this week!  It has been one year of real-life gay marriage here in Massachusetts and you know what?  The sky has not yet fallen.  I saw a preview last night for Fear Factor: Newlyweds, which had a gag with some disgusting thing in the wedding cake at a straight couple's wedding.  Because, yeah, the whole desecration of marriage thing, it's a big problem.  Can't have none of those committed, hardworking, loving families doing it.  It will spoil it for Britney.  Not that I'm bitter.

By the way, despite the fact that I have taken to the streets to fight for our equal right to marry, Rhys and I have decided, at least for now, not to exercise that right.  I know, it's kind of weird, but we've been together for more than 13 years, and it just seems completely silly.  There are actually no monetary advantages to it; you still have to do all the legal maneuvering you had to do before, taxes get more complicated, etc., etc., and, well, I'm just enough of a freak radical feminist to have some questions about whether the tradition of marriage, with its history of women as chattel, is something that I, personally, want to participate in.  Plus, if we don't have a big party everyone will be mad at us, but really, we have other uses for a couple of thousand dollars and a whole lot of planning time.

But no, don't get offended, because I really do support equal marriage and I'm totally happy for everyone who wanted nuptials and had them.  And even I have some sense of perspective on the fact that the whole radical political view of marriage is a little bit over the top.  But really, some of my best friends are married.  And now that I've managed to probably offend everyone I am trying to congratulate, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!  And happy anniversary to me of the right to choose.  It's all good.  Go give HRC some money to celebrate.

3.  Hey, the person I talked to on the phone at NH was Faery Crafty!  Hi!  Thanks for commenting.  I'm telling you, the wool is taking over my brain.  I was actually talking about breed conservation at work yesterday.  It's bad.  Bad, bad, bad.

4. Oh yeah, duh.  I finally took pictures of my wheels for sale.  So, the ST Lendrum is $225 with the standard package, $325 with the complete package.  Trades considered, make me an offer, all that stuff.  I've had the Lendrum for less than a year--I just realized I really want the DT.

I think there's more, but a) I need to go to work, and b) I posted this half-finished a minute ago by mistake so I'd better put the rest up too.  Hopefully more, and more links, later.

Most excellent, mama.

Milky!  Knitting!

http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/PATTpeekaboob.html

Knitty, you slay me.

If only this had been out there 4 years ago, huh?

Props to Heidi for the scoop on this one.

More pictures of stuff

I know all of you folks who do not live in a central location to every wool festival on the planet are just dying to see more wool.  I'm here to oblige.  Be warned, though, that the pictures are pretty big so it might not be the most dial-up friendly post.