So I dreamed I went to Rhinebeck...

That's a little sad, isn't it? M was a little taken aback when I told him I'd dreamed of a 'going to a yarn show' (his dream was a much more impressive affair of post-apocalyptic spain or something)

Rhinebeck was quite nice in my dream, though replete with odd spectacles like a lan-party full of high schoolers throwing pink balloons, and tossing second cuts over the crowd like confetti that I doubt were accurate representations of the festivities.

Really, though, Rhinebeck wasn't something I gave much thought to, it's a long way away, we're busy now, and I'm much more in a 'finishing' groove now than a 'stashing/starting/buying' one, and have only been to one fiber-fest-type ever before now. The only reason I even knew about it was everyone blogging about their exploits. So I'm a bit surprised it was on my mind enough to feature full dream.

Apparently though, I want some brooks farm yarn, as this featured prominently. Honestly, I can't believe how accurate my dream memory of this was when I looked it up this morning. I both dreamed an actual yarn company, remembered their lines (though I did transpose the fiber content of some) and had a valid reason for wanting to buy it at a festival. (I'm sensitive to mohair, and wanted to know if it was soft enough).

The way my dreams normally go, I would be fruitlessly searching for the special parrot-feather-and-rum yarn from scurvy pete's yarn booty or something equally outrageous (see lan-party with balloons, above)

in which I fail (again) at ordering yarn.

So, remember back last winter when I thought I ordered from webs, but hadn't?

Well, I recently tried again at online ordering. First, I forgot that while I entered my new married name at the yarn site, they used paypal for payment, and my account there still had my maiden name - imagine what a mess that could have been. But apparently my credit card remembered who I used to be, and took the payment anyway. Phew. Disaster averted.

But then! I get an email from them: the USPS says your address doesn't exist, but we noticed you listed something different on the paypal. Should we resend it there? Ohmygosh. Back in the day when I registered on that site, I entered my then college dorm address (apparently partial/incorrect - who gets mail at a dorm anyway?). Somehow. I neglected to update that when I decided to place an order and told them to ship it there.

Note that this company is in the uk. So in order for the post office to tell them I'd entered some monkey poo instead of a real address, it presumably had to cross the Atlantic - twice!
I cannot believe that by this point someone hadn't thrown the darn thing in the trash as said to heck with this person who can't figure out her own order! I would have.

I've ordered on the internet before! I swear I have! I don't know why I fail at doing it now. But I think I should be banned or something. Only allowed to do so under strict supervision.

But in any case. If you're thinking of ordering from colourmart. Know that their customer service is *phenomenal*.

Wearing shawls in public

I wore my fps to a concert the other night (and yes, I wore more under it than I did in the first pictures - a black camisole to be precise)

It was wonderful. It was light and warm-but-not-too-warm and really really perfect. I was astounded, and honestly, I didn't figure on it being too terribly practical, despite what I've heard from everyone else. Because really, it didn't *look* practical.

I ended up sort of crossing the ends over one shoulder without actually tying them, since tying looked a little frumpy. It was a *little* short for this to work quite perfectly. I'm not sure whether a shawl pin would help, or be to heavy and ruin the effect. It would be worth looking for a lightweight one at least.

Or I could trying using a bamboo dpn ;)

I tried to wash it afterwards and just push it into shape rather than going all out with wires and pins. We're in a strange in-between state with living and washing arrangements currently - not much space to stick pins in, and I don't even know where my wires are. I do not think it was a success. Too bad. Blocking takes so darn long I was hoping I wouldn't have to do that step every time I wore it. But I worry more about ruining it if I don't wash it every time, since it was next to my bare skin, and I don't want the oils to sit on it and cause it to deteriorate or discolor. Would this really happen, or am I worrying too much?

So moral of the story: I do like wearing shawls. I must make more shawls. The shawls must be larger. Blocking is a bear.

woolgathering

My first fiber-fest!

It was a gorgeous day, and I must say I enjoyed the drive down nearly as much as browsing the exhibits (which is good, as it took about as long)

It was also perfect sweater-weather. Just the right side of cool. I've resolved that I need to make a better sweater for wearing in public like that. I felt a little embarrassed of my not-quite fitting felted tweed. FPS would have been great, but it was a bit nippy for that.

I didn't come home with anything (other than half a rootbeer float), which wasn't completely the plan, but not really unexpected either. I didn't plan at all to get things I actually needed, and the focus of the exhibits was spinning material, not knitting.

This was, honestly the first time I'd seen people actually spinning. It was fascinating. The techie in me is embarrassed to admit that I was paying so much attention to their hands I didn't even look at how the wheel was working - it was just magically twisting and sucking up the yarn. Too bad, I'm sure the wheel mechanics were fascinating too.

I was hoping a bit that I could get a basic 'learn to drop-spindle' set and enough instruction to set me on my way, but pretty much everyone was using wheels, though I did get to try one of them (fun! and not as hard as I thought!). I *almost* went over to the kids area where they were doing hands-on CD spindle lessons, but chickened out. There wasn't a heck of a selection of spindles to begin with.

Caribbean Bubbles?

Proposed name for new stole. Pictures pending.

I did pick up my beads this weekend, and finished winding the lace (at last!) and cast on for my new shawl.

The beading was a little rough to start (ha! The first row took me forever and I stabbed myself a bunch and hated it - it was *agonizing* to start) but I am getting the hang of it, and things are much smoother now.

I also forgot to read the fine print on the bead site, where it said that 'a 1.10mm crochet hook is the appropriate size for size 8/0 beads if you string them first. If you want to put the hook *through* the bead, you will need a .75 or mm hook'.

Needless to say my 1.10 mm hook does not fit through the beads. So I improvised with guitar string (again). It works pretty well, though the ends are sharper than ideal. I can store about a row and a half's worth of beads on it without worrying about them falling off, which is convenient, and seems I wouldn't be able to do with the hook.

The hook does seem a reasonable size for repair and utility work though, so not all is lost.

I feel a bit conflicted about this project and the source of the design. Allow me to expound:

I started with the inspiration from The Baltic Sea Stole (ravelry) - essentially I saw a picture of it worked in variegated yarn and thought 'oh, that pattern (which I recognize as 'Japanese Feather' from Barbra Walker) looks decent even with the fairly heavy variegation. I think I'll try it.'

So I did, and, it did, and I began place to make a shawl with that yarn and that pattern. I decided I didn't want to follow the Baltic Sea pattern, since I didn't like the squared off edge - much prefer to keep the natural curve of the lace.

I also discovered that there wasn't very much distinction between the panels to show of the curves (I'd already forgotten that Baltic Sea Stole worked an extra yo there to create negative space between the panels). Instead, I figured a column of beads might make a nice divider.

Unwittingly, I ended up with almost exactly Beaded Lace Scarf II (ravelry). I didn't *mean* to reverse engineer it, it just sort of happened.

*Ok, I looked a little closer and feel a little better. 1) I think it uses a slightly different stitch pattern, not Japanese Feather. 2) the beading is done differently. I'm not sure how, but theirs sit sideways, and mine sit vertically.

Beads came!

My mum let me know my beads have arrived. (I had them shipped there since our accommodations are so topsy-turvy right now).

But

I can't go get them!

We're making another offer on another house this evening (third time's the charm? I'm so jaded on this now you could make a bracelet out of me). So not tonight.

Then tomorrow there's *the football game* with M's work people. Much fun.

So, who knows.

I guess that means I should finish winding the rest of that laceweight. (would you believe the first thing I dug out of my yarn box in the garage was my paper-towel-tube nostepinne?)

sore

So, I started 'working out'. I put this in quotation marks because I am doing really, really, pansy things that do not count as a workout in any definition of the word I believe.

Why am I writing this here? Because I'm sore and want to whine. Because supposedly, documenting things is good for keeping up at them. and finally, because I find it amusing the sorts of pansy-wuss things I'm doing that actually make me sore.

I started with situps (well, backwards situps where you lie on your back and lift your legs - they were easier). I could do five of these at a time. That bad. I did three sets of this, for a total of 15 situps before becoming completely exhausted. That was my 'workout'. See why I used the quotes?

I was really surprised that in three days of doing this, I was able to do ten at a time. I mean, that's still really pathetic (don't real people do 100's?), but I actually made progress by doing 15 situps for three days in a row. I think that's crazy. 15 measly situps?

So, it's been about two weeks, and I can now do 3x20. So, I started doing toe-touches. Or more realistically, toe-looks. Because about the only thing that I'm worse at than being strong is being flexible. I can get my hands a little past my knees. Bad. And really, toe-touches? Standing up and bending over? That's the sort of 'exercise' you do in 2nd grade gym. So I did 100. Because It seemed like a good round number.

Apparently those 2nd grade gym teachers were onto something, at least for wussy grown-ups.  By about 50, I could actually reach my toes. (hey, combination of working and stretching muscles at the same time. Effective)  But for the rest of the night I kinda felt like I was gonna fall over. I wasn't tired anymore, and I wasn't sore yet, but I didn't feel like I could trust all those 'stabilization muscles' you know.

Today I'm sore. From touching my friccin toes.