Summertime Blues . . .

I feel like I'm humming along just under the radar lately.

More than a month of never having a weeknight free really has taken its toll on me. Now, however, it's looking like I might be released from physical therapy next week! Yay! I have a followup with the foot doc, and although I'm not pain free yet, I actually got to walk on the treadmill a little (as mentioned before) and that's pretty major.

I've been spinning - tried to do the "Tour de Fleece" (that's where you spin every day of the Tour de France), but although I did get a few days in a row in, work, working out, PT, life - those things took precedence this week. Oh well - I'll know next year to join the Lantern Rouge team (those who can't spin every day). I did finish some merino - it's got major twist but I like it . . . This is wool that I picked up a couple of years ago at Missouri. I bought it to spin up to do some continuous strand weaving. I've got some other bumps that go with it that will be next on the Saxony when I finish the giant bag of fiber I'm spinning for Tour de Fleece. I've been working with the Saxony wheel to get to know it better - and then I plied this on the Lendrum ST. Maybe not the brightest idea . . . also it's not a good idea to ply at night. The light just isn't good enough in my sunroom then.

I also had to finish off this before I put another Tour de Fleece fiber to finish back on the Lendrum ST - This is Fiber Optics Merino/Nylon superwash pencil roving in the Sunset Colorway. I got it from Toni, at The Fold - but not at the shop, last summer at the Michigan Fiber Festival. I think I have about 309 yards . . . not sure if that's enough for socks, but I managed to spin it thinner than usual so I'm going to give it a try - probably a short cuff ;-) This was done all on the Lendrum ST. I like to spin the kind of yarn that I like to knit with, which means high twist, worsted style spinning. It also means that I'm not sure I'll ever get 400 yards out of a 4 oz. bump of fiber. The twist takes it up. I suppose, however, that practice makes perfect ;-) So I'll keep on keepin' on.

But I'm restless and exhausted at the same time . . .I'm trying to cut back on all the stuff I keep seeming to do, and trying to listen to my body in all areas . . . today I stayed in my jams all day. I'm thinking some of this is residual travel backlash - does that happen to you? When I take a trip of the awesome proportions of my Morocco trip, there's sort of let down that lasts awhile . . . if you ever worked in the theatre, it's like when the run ends and all of a sudden you don't have to be there every night. It takes awhile to decompress from that.

And there are things and I want to be doing that I'm not right now - the universe seems to be doing its best to teach me patience. I'm not the best student . . .

But I had a quiet day today and I guess I really needed it - I was scheduled to go to a NASCAR race with my friend, C (she loves it!), but the ticket situation did not work out, and so although it would have been awesome to see her, when it didn't come together, I blocked off the day to just spend with myself. I did manage to put down leaves this morning. I ordered some from Bluebird Greenhouse - and Libby is always so generous, sending me a couple of gift leaves along with the stuff I paid for. I did put probably 14 of these down on Tuesday (and there's a plantlet of Champagne Pink in there that needs the shelter of the dome until the leaves get a little more chlorophyll), but all the rest I did this morning. Took me about an hour. That's going to be a LOT of plantlets . . .

Decided to make an absolutely awesome coat by Kaffe Fassett - and of course the Rowan yarn is all discontinued. If you have any Rowan Light Weight D.K. lying around that you want to destash, PLEASE let me know how to contact you :-) I managed to get quite a few of the yarns already - which was pretty amazing - but a number of shades of the Light Weight D.K. are proving a little more difficult. I'm actually thinking that once I have a skein of it in hand that I might be able to replicate/approximate it and spin it myself - PatsyZ's class in Decoding Designer Yarns that I took in Missouri could come in handy after all!

What is it? Is it that the summer's on the downward trend? I never even got my hammock or gazebo furniture out . . . nor the grill . . . all are still resting in the garage - and it seems sort of fruitless to mess around with them now. Normally I would have done all that during the time I was in Morocco, and then when I got home, it was cold and rainy for weeks, and now, as an old friend of mine used to say, "it ain't hardly worth it." Wow - I'm thinking I'm just kind of blue . . . it will pass. It always does :-)

Oh - my last wonderful thing came from Morocco - an amazing, inlaid box. I think I might have mentioned that it was damaged in transit, but a little bit of wood glue fixed it right up. I'm handy that way :-) It's sitting on the dining room table on some amazing fabric I bought in a Meknes souk until I figure out the best place for it.



Here is the inside of the box. I guess it's sort of a jewelry box, but I'm thinking of it as a kind of memory box - you know, where you keep your personal treasures - stuff that means nothing to anyone but you, pictures of your old lovers, souvenirs of days gone by - you know, stuff like that . . . ;-)



I'm figuring out a Moroccan corner in my living room, but for the time being, the lantern continues its residence on the potrack in the kitchen. Amazingly, it looks totally at home there - not out of place at all - maybe I'm just used to it :-D Still, I'm looking forward to having it hanging in the corner in the living room, and having it electrified to cast its shadowy light through all those cutouts . . . going to be awesome!

I'm looking forward to next weekend - I'm headed up to the Midwest Fiber & Folk Art Fair. Last year, Darthknitter came up on her way to a class, and she and Knifty Red drove up with me and we had big fun meeting up with other friends and, of course, shopping.

This year, I'm going by myself. I signed up for two classes on Friday morning, so I'm taking the day off, and I'm going to stay up there overnight to have a little more time on Saturday to stroll around their new digs at the new Lake County Fairgrounds. I'm really looking forward to it. Kind of a mini retreat for me :-) It's not like I need yarn - but I so enjoy going, and I think it's important to support the fair. We just don't have many of these types of events in Illinois and I want it to stick around!

Guess that brings me up to date. The content here has been a little prosaic lately - I guess there ain't no cure for the summertime blues . . .