I feel like I have a lot to talk about!

Ok...My mind is just spinning. I have so much to say! I will try to be concise.

First of all, I went to the Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Festival up in Crystal Lake. I had a great time shopping, but that was all there really was to do there. I heard about this at the last minute, so I didn't register for any classes, which would have made things a little bit more interesting. There weren't any woolie-faces there, excluding a few hippies (lol, j/k...I love hippies, really). I thought I could buy some fiber and see the sheep right there...but no, it was a bunch of tents with people selling stuff...wonderful stuff...that I bought.

I bought myself a new drop spindle. It's a beautiful Kundert and I feel it is much better than the one I had already. My old one is too heavy and chunky. My new one is all streamlined and has a wonderful craftsman feeling to it:


I bought lots of fiber from Opalessence (and she was super nice, btw):


The blueish is 4 oz of merino tencel in the "Clover" colorway, and the pink (I bought two) is 4 oz of merino in the "Cassis" colorway. They are soooooooo soft and soooooooo pretty!

I also bought 4 oz of merino top in the "Tiger Lily" colorway from Winterhaven Fiber Farm:


I have no excuse to not start spinning...especially after listening in on a quick lesson from one of the ladies at a booth. I learned that I wasn't really controlling the twist when I was spinning and she showed someone (and sneaky old me) how to do it. Easy! My spinning is looking much more normal and regular now, but not completely. I'm still a beginner! ^.^

All in all the Fiber Fest was a good time shopping...but shopping was all there was to do. Hopefully future events will be better...next year?

Moving on, I ordered a pattern for a stole from a LYS in Wheaton. It's this one, called Estonian Garden. I bought a skein of Alpacas with a Twist Fino in white, which is a whopping 875 yards for only $20!!!! Guess what! This is going to be my wedding shawl/stole thing!!!! Isn't it pretty? I know it's kind of simple compared to what people usually do for wedding shawls, but I don't want it to take away from my gown at all. I decided that I wanted a stole instead of a triangular shawl because a triangular shawl would hang down my back too far and cover too much of my gown. With a stole, I can just wrap it around my arms and let it hang at my sides, hiding less of the gown, which is gorgeous if I can say that. So...isn't this freakin' EXCITING?! I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. I hope that pattern arrives soon! PS, I went all over the place and no one had this pattern in the store, which I can't understand because it is SO nice! At the final stop, I just decided to order it...and now I'm waiting, waiting, waiting...

But good news...I've started another pair of socks from my queue! No, I haven't finished the two pairs I'm in the middle of yet...or the Lace Blouse, or Rusted Root...but these are short little socks that probably won't take me too long, AND I'll be knitting them both at the same time on two circular needles...so leave me alone!

Ok, one more thing...and that's it, I swear. I have sewing news. I have cut out the pieces for a chemise. It isn't the right period, EXACTLY, but I don't care. I'll wear it to RenFaire if all goes well with it. I also bought supplies to make this RIDICULOUS collar...seriously...ri-di-cu-lous...I'll show it to you sometime...stupid as all hell, but I love it.

Ok, that's all...happy knitting!

Woo-hoo!!

Woo-hoo!!

Oh, Lord...

The girl who has yet to finish a complete pair of socks in the whole of her knitting career has just joined a freakin' sock yarn club. It's through Hill Country Yarns. I've heard good things about their yarns, but have never used them...or felt the thrill of their strands through my fingers.

Ok, before you get all preachy-preach-face on me...here's the thing. It's not a full year; I am not making a serious long term commitment to sock knitting. It's six months long, but I get a shipment every other month...so that's a lot of time in between and I won't be overwhelmed with a monthly shipment of a yarn and a sock pattern. And the last reason is completely social in nature. I want to be a part of something somewhat exclusive...I want to have a pattern that only a few people will have. The patterns that are sent with the yarn are chosen from a sock pattern contest...and I like the idea of giving a great designer props and recognition for their creations. Who knows? This could become the tiny spark needed for one of the winners to get going on a designing career, if you will. Kind of cool to think of it that way, right?

So, I am doing a service. ^.^ Now, I'm going to do everything I can to find as many forums and groups on the club to stalk and lurk around! Yay! Maybe I should make a goal to finish those socks before the first shipment in September. That's plenty of time, right? Maybe I'll try really hard to work on a sock tonight...maybe.

Rusted Root looks like this:


I'm finally to the end of those sleeves. Sheesh, this is taking a long time.

But really, why am I so impatient? Is it summer?

P.S.--I'm going to twist Max's arm and convince him that we should do this, as soon as I'm off work tomorrow!! We won't have much time there, though...so maybe Sunday would be a better day.

Jeez

A word of advice...don't do business with these people, unless you don't want to get any responses to emails and want wait FOREVER for your package to arrive. Oh, and when you do send emails, you specifically state that you would like some sort of notification from them WHETHER OR NOT they can cancel your order...they still don't respond...

Oh...and weeks later, you check your account and the money is about to come out and then the doorbell rings and you have a box of yarn that you tried to cancel but BECAUSE OF POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE you were UNABLE to do. Oh and, by the way, STILL no responses to your emails.

So...now I have more Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Candy Apple than I know what to do with. Jeez. It's not that I had to wait...that's not why I wanted to cancel the order. The reason was that I was not responded to. If I send an email about the status of an order...it is NOT crazy to expect a response, even if that response is a "no, I'm sorry, but we cannot cancel orders." If that had happened I would have just waited...I would have been annoyed...but I would have waited...I WOULDN'T have assumed that the store was a joke/not real/closed down and went elsewhere with my business. But I did...and now I have tons of really red yarn...whatever.

You've been warned. Do with that what you will.

I've been working "hard" on my Rusted Root. I think it is going to be really cute...once it's finished. Right now, it is just an odd blob that is slowly overtaking the circular it is on. Today was a day of laundry and knitting...but all I worked on was Rusted Root, because I want to get done with the arms before I work on something else (the fronts of the purple Lace Blouse).


Oh, I bought another knitting book:


Believe it or not, I actually bought it because there are two sweaters in my queue that are NOT FOR ME in this particular book. They are planned for Max...can you believe it?? I let him browse the book and choose his next sweater and he picked one of the two!! This one:


It's Jarret...It's sexy. Of course in browsing the book, I found about a million sweaters for me too...but I can't think about it right now. I have too much on the needles right now.

Let's talk about that:
1. Rusted Root
2. Lace Blouse
3. Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern
4. Gentleman's Fancy Sock **not technically on the needles...I have to start sock two.

Yet...I can't stop thinking about new projects...that I don't have the yarn for.

What I DO have the yarn for:
1. Butterfly dress (Alpacas with a twist fingering)
2. Child's Sock in Miranda Pattern (that Regia Bamboo Color)
3. Breeze sock (Panda cotton sock yarn)
4. Hanami stole **still deciding if I really want to make it...it's gorgeous (Pink AlpacaWare fingering)

So...that's two pairs of socks that I have yarn for...a dress and a stole. ALL LACE. Part of me thinks I need to work on something non-lace for a while...but I guess Rusted Root is mostly stockinette. Oh, I really want an FO someday soon...I really, really do...If only to have something better to blog about.

A possible lead...

I'll return their call tomorrow sometime. A little (a lot) of encouragement might be nice...and keep me from chickening-out. Jobsy-wobsy truly desired here.

So...I have started Rusted Root. It's great fun, but I haven't had a lot of time to work on it. I want to make sufficient progress (like getting the arm increases finished) before I cast on for the fronts of the Lovely Purple Lace Blouse. I mean, I could cast on for them anyway...it's not like the needles are in use or anything...but, well, you know...




I'm excited about doing something new!! Oh? What's that you say? Why, yes, those are new stitch markers...



Thanks, I made them myself!!

Onto socks......that never end. I mean, I just need to pick up those heel flap stitches and go to town on the gussets...then it's smooth sailin' from there. But it sits in my nifty swirly IKEA basket...with it's Adam patiently and longingly lying next to her, his Eve...his only chance at becoming beautiful...


A little too poetic for socks, eh?

...and Miss

So, I walked into a room of about 30 people. "OK, just take a seat...we'll start in a few minutes." This seems fishy...I don't like this. Then, I hear another woman come in. "Welcome. What was your name?" "Before I even tell you...is this for selling insurance?" "Yes, it is." At that the woman threw up her arms and said quite forcefully, "Forget it! Nobody mentioned that before!" and walked away. With that, about 15 people that were waiting with me up and left...muttering things like "forget this," and "no way, girl."

I stay...I came all this way...and I might as well just listen even if I have no intention of taking this type of job.

At the end, which came slowly, I passed that application right by...stood and left...and four people followed behind me...without applications...most likely thinking the same thing I was: "I'll go to hell for having listened to this. For sure."

One who wishes to see the complete annihilation of our crooked insurance/healthcare system cannot and will not sell insurance. The commie in me twisted and turned uncomfortably in my chair the entire time.

Soul intact...heart a shambles. I am still without full time employment, but at least I'll go to heaven.

I know it's silly to feel so strongly about this...

Hit

Job interview on Monday...I hope it goes well...soul-selling as it may be.

I still intend to go back to school...

Living...and that's all

I wish i could say that I'm doing this or that. I wish I could tell you that I've found a full-time job and my life is finally pulling together.

I would tell you those things, if only they were true.

I keep thinking of things I can do with my life. I've got a hundred different options flopping around in this underused brain of mine. I want to go back to school. That's simple enough. That should solve a problem or two...put a few things into perspective. Actually, it doesn't at all, because it opens up a whole new can of fermented eggs. Where do I go? What do I study? How do I pay for it? How will I get in? Who will write my recommendation letters? How will I pay for/pass all the requires standardized tests and entrance exams? What should I do in the meantime to save some money? How will I get to class? Should I choose a different degree? How can I be who I want when everything around me seems to be trying to stop me?

How can I do all of these things that I want to do when there is always some other obstacle?

It's because it is me...I know that. I take things too seriously. I freak out. I panic. I have a negative attitude...and a whole lotta self-loathing. The hardest part of all of it is that I don't even know where it comes from, or why it pops out from time to time.

I feel like staying home...I feel like sleeping...I feel like doing absolutely nothing. How's that for angst? Shouldn't I be over this by now? After all, I'm not a fuckin' teenager anymore!

So, I guess I'll just share my current hair-brained plan. I want to go back to school and get a Master's...in some sort of social service field. Honestly, I'm leaning toward high-school guidance counseling because I really feel that is an important job, when it's done right. I'm going to fill out the FAFSA as soon as possible...I'm not sure when the next deadline is. The problem is finding a good degree program...and then getting into it...and then paying for it...oh yeah, and finding a way to class everyday...and deferring my current loan payments...and EVERYTHING ELSE.

Working basically full time at Starbucks is really getting to me. I feel like I have wasted so much time procrastinating there. It is getting in the way of my future, and I can't have that. I have to take control here...but I'm so afraid...I've always been so afraid. And the worst part is that I'm thinking of everything all at once. I just can't seem to focus on things step-by-step...which leads to the panic. If I could just do things one thing at a time, this would be so much easier. People do this ALL THE TIME. It isn't like no one ever goes to Graduate school. They do. They really do!

Knitting.

I've finished the back of the Lace Blouse, the heel flap and heel turn of the second Child's First Sock in shell pattern, and I'm about to pick up my yarn from the post office so that I can get started on Rusted Root.

Maybe I should just knit myself a cocoon...

Funny clever you-tubers...

I found this to be quite amusing. Even though I'm not into all the politicking and prez-bashing anymore (it really is ineffective...let's find another way other than poking fun)...but it's still pretty amusing...and nicely put together.