Second Wednesdays

The second Wednesday of the month means it was the morning of the board from |-|311. Therefore this week started badly, as my stomach ache gradually increased until 8 am today. The meeting was actually not that bad. Several new board members are questioning the same things I questioned. The others held their tongue and are participating fruitfully in the quest for a replacement for the ED. And I recently found out that my board term expires in September. I was under the impression I was committed through next summer at least but I have no intention of serving another term. As I am supposed to be chair through December (funny that the ED who was the only person who knew when my board term ended did not alert us to this fact last December during officer elections [and ironically, if she had told me I could exit gracefully this Fall I would not have questioned things that got her so pissed off in the first place]) and as our vice chair, an older retired fellow, is seriously ill, looks like they will be electing a whole new slate in October. I wish them well.

So onto a happier afternoon. I ordered the next in the series after Desolation Island, so we will have something to read aloud in the evenings. We finished DI about a month ago, but I didn't enjoy it as much as its predecessors so was just not that motivated to get the next one. It was more depressing, too much disease and death and heartache. And Jack can be such a fool on land, it is painful to hear about it, I get so embarrassed for him.

TVwise we have been Lost ever since finishing season 1 on DVD. I just checked and season two will be available Sept 5th. Renting movies is fun, but hard for a school night. A surprise in today's mail, my brother in law sent us the whole season of the new Dr Who on dvd.

And I have been contacted by my dye-o-rama buddy. I have not been abandoned and should expect a package tomorrow. More mail goodness!




My gardens are happy too.

Another Monday

Courthouse steps log cabin is coming along. I am loving all the colors I dyed.


Given that two of these socks are second socks, it really isn't that bad that I have three cast on at once, is it? I have to finish one of these before starting a new one though, since there are no more DPNs available.

Also this weekend we watched The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill which was fascinating and easy to knit to and Travelers and Magicians, a movie set in Bhutan, so subtitles and no knitting. It was beautiful and interesting. Didn't have a typical plot resolution, but I suspect that reflects a different cultural and religious (Buddhist) view of time and closure.

Everybody's doing it.

What to do with my handpainted yarn? Well a couple things came to mind. This 4 ounce skein is earmarked as a prize in Claudia's fundraising for the National MS Society. I know it doesn't rank along with an Alice Starmore book or the Yarn Harlot's handspun, but as a consolation prize, it's not bad. As you can tell, I am still working on a Pacific Northwest colorway. They don't call Seattle the Emerald City for nothing. All the yummy greens that surround me, I just want to capture them.

And I really wanted to knit with all these colors, something besides socks. So how about a log cabin? The colors are much richer than this photo shows.
I am also thinking of selling some. I feel embarrassed to admit that. Seems like everyone is selling handpainted yarn. Why would anyone buy mine? While I have dyed some actual well known sock yarn, variegated in Gems Pearl (above, 3.5 oz) and striping in Gems Opal (below, 4.0 oz)


most of what I have dyed is not a traditional sock yarn. I just stumbled on a small supply of yummy, soft, lofty DK weight superwash 100% merino that dyes really well. I am wearing my sock and working on a mate. The first sock is a bit short, but weighs only 1.6 ounces. So 4 ounces, about 290 yards, ought to make a nice pair.

I also suspect it would make a nice CeCe as it is spot on 13 wpi and has a nice drape, but I haven't tried it yet. That would require about 8 or 9 ounces of a single dyelot. I could do that. Wonder what sort of colors would work well? I may swatch something up, but will feel guilty about that since I haven't worked on my existing Silky Wool CeCe in weeks.


Faded blues. 4.4 ounces in two equal sized skeins.

Butternut. 4.2 oz


Rose 4.1 oz.

So how about it? Would anyone buy my babies yarn? $20 each plus shipping (which is $4.00 for priority mail, yes?). If interested, email me at dorothy AT amadorneville DOT us. Cash funded paypal only for now please, I haven't made that much of a plunge into this venture yet. Who knows, maybe an etsy shop is in my future.

Cupcakes

I made cupcakes yesterday for this author event. Nancy (still blogless) was one of the writing tutor volunteers for the teens and she volunteered to provide refreshments for the author event --- that is, to cajole dozens of people to provide dozens of cupcakes.

I discovered a whole world of food bloggers -- no surprise -- and a whole world of cupcake bloggers, something I would never have guessed. I used this recipe for the cake, but didn't end up filling them with lemon curd. They had a nice crunchy sugary top which I didn't want to cut into. So I just dumped a lot of (store bought) lemon curd into the cream cheese frosting.

As my family doesn't really like cake, I haven't baked a cake in years. We have pies and cobblers, even for birthdays. Will I make cupcakes again? Perhaps, but do not expect a cupcake blog from me!

Monday with camera

Franz is back from Utah and so is the camera. He had a good time, maybe I'll throw in a raft photo sometime, but meanwhile I have been dyeing to show what I've been doing lately.

The blue/purple yarn I dyed last week has become a sock, a ball for a second sock, and the left overs are becoming a ??? (swatch, scarf, log cabin blanket?)



I've been playing around with color. What to do with all this yarn?