A change in plans

For the last few weeks, I've been making a concerted effort to be more consistent about my training. Part of this has meant starting up yoga again - before Devil was born we went to yoga twice a week. When she was about a year old, I started going at least once a week, running from our house to the gym. And a couple of weeks ago I finally got my act together to start up again.

So Tuesday mornings I now get up at 0:00 dark-thirty and run 4 miles to the gym, where I arrive, dripping sweat and thoroughly awake, just in time for yoga class at 6:00. Then the fambly picks me up, we drop the kids off at daycare, I shower, cram some food down my gullet and hop onto the bus for a nice long nap on the way downtown. It's something that is only possible if I do it every single week - the habit is the only way that training ever happens for me.

However...I suspect that tomorrow it is not to be. You know, given that that little blip in the Texas coastline - the one right smack dab in the path of TS Edouard - is my current location.

Ironman's company has already announced that their campus will be closed tomorrow, which means no daycare for the kidlets. So maybe we'll all hang out at home and play in the rain. Maybe I can finish off the 2 oz of Maldives left and free up that mixing bowl again. Or maybe Devil and I could dye a bunch of yarn. Some many things, so little time!
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July FOs:
H^4 spinning - finished 7/31 and not yet blogged because I need to send off the package
Spiraling Coriolis socks
Brambler (finished knitting, but not yet blocked/blogged - does it still count?) (probably not)

I won! I won!

Back in March, I joined the Sock a Month knitalong. It's been a great group to be a part of, especially since one of my (unstated) goals for the year was to knit a pair of socks every month. The bonus of doing the knitalong is that they have prizes. Every month, they draw out a winner from the people who finished a pair, and at the end of the knitalong (June, although it's now running for July-December), they draw out the monthly winner, a winner from the folks who did a pair every month, and a winner from the group of people who knit at least one pair during the six months.

I was one of the winners for June! And last weekend my package arrived.

The prize as posted was a skein of sock yarn and some stitch markers, but when Prize Lady Zonda sent off the package to me, she included one of her gorgeous box bags. So what I got was this

with some lovely green and purple sock yarn

and some gorgeous stitch markers (extremely well timed, since I've now lost two of my sock set and needed some more).

The box bag is really gorgeous - I got to pick out the fabric, and Zonda did a great job. When I was growing up, my Crafty Aunt Laura used to make marbled paper that looked just like this fabric, so I had to pick it.

If anyone is interested, she has an Etsy shop where she sells needle cases, and she will make up box bags to order - you can also email her at zknitter @ gmail dot com.

Now I need to find a pattern for that yarn. Any suggestions?

Shhhhh! Secret spinning

While I haven't been blogging very much of late, I have been busy with projects. On Sunday I finally finished the singles for my H^4 swap pal (Hush Hush Handspun Hootenanny). They're now resting so when I ply I don't end up tearing my hair out, but here's a peek:

Fiber - Handpainted Targhee in "Winter Sky"

I split the top lengthwise into six more-or-less equal sections, did a bit of predrafting, and spun away.

Six of these

turned into this.

Like my previous experience with this fiber, the singles are pretty thin, so I'm hoping for a fingering weight when all is said and done. But it's lovely soft stuff. I'm going to have a hard time parting with it, but I've got 2 lbs of undyed Targhee sitting in my spinning stash, waiting for the right project. Since this stuff seems to spin pretty thin, I've been thinking that I could spin it up and dye it for a colorwork sweater - maybe this?

Oh yeah, knitting

Sort of. I've been out of commission the last week dealing with loads o' work stuff, and a lovely summer cold that knocked me out for most of the weekend (exhibiting the equisite timing for which disease and various other useful roadblocks are known). But today I came to the realization that 1) I'm going to a wedding in a week and a half and 2) while I now will have something to wear (having ordered 4 dresses from Patagonia in the hopes that one will fit and be a good color), I don't have an appropriate wrap/shawl type thingie. So tonight I spent way too much time winding this

into this

so it can become this. If I work on nothing else in the meantime. Project Monogamy, here I come!

The haul

While my unspoken pledge to not buy yarn has been going pretty well at home, something happens when I go on vacation that blows my inhibitions out of the water. I guess it's something along the lines of "well, I'm on vacation, so it doesn't count!" Just like cookies that you eat standing up have no calories.

This tendancy coupled with the fact that my parents live around the corner (I'm not kidding) from Windsor Button means that trips home are rough on the plastic. And since my in laws are up the hill (again with the not kidding) and a 20 min drive from Grafton Fibers and Green Mountain Spinnery respectively, going up there gives the bank account no respite. But I do come away with some cool stuff.

I've already knit up one of my purchases into the Spiraling Coriolis socks, so I'll skip the Fixation and Cat Bordhi opus description. But Boston also yielded

Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in "Blueberry Hill" which I couldn't resist, because one of Devil's favorite books is "Blueberries for Sal"

and a skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk in "Mineral" for Tuscany. Or some other wrappy type thing. We're off to a wedding in Colorado* in a couple of weeks, and if I put down everything else and cast on tonight, I might get this finished by then. Or I might not.

That was the total damage in Beantown. But then I went to the Spinnery and, after a tour of the mill in action, felt obliged to drop a large hunk of cash on two hanks of sock yarn.

GMS Sock Art Forest and Meadow. Forest (the purple skein) is 70% wool/30% tencel and absolutely the softest yarn I've felt in a long time. Meadow (the blue-green skein) is 50% wool/50% mohair and should make some really well wearing socks. I've got plans for the Forest for a watery type sock for Project Spectrum - Water which starts next month, but that lovely purple is going to marinate for a while. Becuase there is a lot to be said for high potential energy in the stash.

* Hmmm...maybe an opportunity for further stash enhancement? Bad Porpoise, bad!