Random Bits of Fluff

1 Announcement:

I am scheduled to teach twice in California at the end of this month.

Green Planet Yarn  in Campbell, CA on Saturday, April 30
and
Piedmont Yarn in Oakland, CA on Sunday, May 1

Both classes currently have openings, so please come and play with me if you will be in the area!

1 Silly Picture:

The dogs were there first; Lindsay decided to join them on their chair.

3 Tantalizing Teasers:

Lest you suspect that the Knitwear designer writing this here blog doesn't do any actual knitting lately, I just thought I'd share a wee bit.  These are for the new book.  And it's about Color Knitting.  And I really love them.  And there are more still to do.  Many more.  My final deadline is September 1, so I'm pretty much a knitting fool.  Not that I wasn't before.

And finally;

1 Dog Grooming Update:

The Good News is that no one has been physically injured.  The Bad News is, well:

Paisley and Bailey and I are in agreement:  Dog grooming is NOT as easy as it looks.

We three have much to learn, in the ways of the clippers.

Daydreaming

Now that I'm back up off the floor, it's work work work on the book, and its associated book-y projects.  I wish I could show them to you, but like me, you'll have to wait till it's all done...

While I work, my focus constantly drifts off to other projects I'm not at liberty to pursue at the moment.  Here's where it goes today:
 

The Cormo.  Yes, I'm still thinking about it.  Not spinning it (Epic powers of self-restraint, Engage!).  Just wishing I were, and then imagining what I would knit from it, and wondering how much finished yarn there will be (I think it's a lot - the fleece is lighter than air and still weighs over 3 pounds), and thinking about all the colors I could dye it, if I were to dye it, or maybe the creamy perfection of the natural color is all I really need...

Phillip is correct:  Spinning is an absolutely great fiber art, because you only pay for a fleece once, but you get to play with it at least three different times:  Spinning, dyeing, knitting.  If you are on the fence about starting spinning, allow me to offer you this gentle shove off it:  You'll get more fiber fun for your money.  It's just being fiscally responsible!  Now go buy a wheel.

The new lace issue of Piecework is available, free when you subscribe, in which this lovely bit of flotsam is published.  It's called The Dragon Scarf.  And while I'm not usually a lace knitter, I think one day I might like to be.  The geometry of this piece really grabs me.  I like the way it's all diamond-y.  And what if it were made in some yarn with a big halo that blurred the sharp edges?  Or a slinky silk with gobs of shine?  Or a crunchy linen for summer that really holds out the sharp corners?  I'm NOT going off in search of a ball of hemp yarn to play with, just to see what happens.  I'm Not.

My friend Sivia is a gifted artist, in the same way that Lance Armstrong is sort of good with a bicycle.  Her brain is absolutely huge, and she's just full of surprises.  Here's a necklace she made.  Another friend of mine brought one like it to knit night a couple of weeks back.  Blew my mind, and now I can't quit thinking about it.  You can get the kit in various colors, and I'm dying to make one to wear to my brother in-law's wedding.  Which is Saturday after next.  As. If.  It's not reasonable at all, unless I stopped all profitable activity.  To the voices in my head: "Shut it.  Book writing = Groceries."

And in case all of the above weren't distraction enough, I still keep thinking about looms.  Stoopid weaving.  Why won't it leave me alone, anyway?  What did I ever do to looms that they will not now get outta my head?  Don't know, but there they still are.  Really?  Just how many ways do I need to be able to play with string, anyway?  I know: How many are there?

So what's on your minds, Gentle Readers?  What's got you distracted?  Weigh in, won't you, so I know I'm not alone in the wistful soup of Project Lust...?

Floored

For those keeping track, after my last update, the score stood thus: Evil Spirits of Homeownership 1, Mary 0.

The good news is that the floor-in-a-box I brought home the other day did its best to live up to its "Easiest Floor In The World!" promise.  I have no yardstick for the difficulty of flooring installation (thank God), but since I lived to tell the tale, I can only assume that "Easy" means something like "This may not suck as badly as you fear".  And Lo, there was a bathroom floor:

Here's a somewhat more traditional view:

Of course, the packaging on the Box O' Floor failed to contain many helpful facts.  For example, while the admonition to let the flooring reach room temperature was nice and all, more useful would have been "Warning: If you are older than 25 years of age, crawling around on your hands and knees to install this product will probably hurt. A Lot."  So much for truth in advertising.  There may have been a time in my life when rolling around on the bathroom floor for the better part of two days would be no big deal to my body.  But this is not that time.  My knees hurt.  My back hurts.  I'm tired of breathing in various fumes. 

But at least it's over now.  And while it wasn't precisely what I had in mind, I did manage to find peace and seclusion from my Spring Break-ing family.  For some reason, they all went quite scarce.  It was around the same time the boxes of flooring came into the house.  While I had hoped that the bathroom painting project would get them out of my hair, I didn't know when I conceived it that I would be the one in the bathroom, while they did other things.  Like run away as fast as their little legs would carry them.  DIY Weanies.

They did come back, though.  About the time I was lying on the floor trying to straighten my spine out again, and wondering how traction really works.  They all said they were really proud of my work, and glad that I had done it.  And then I went downstairs, where I noticed that when Mommy spends two days in the upstairs bathroom, the rest of the house gets destroyed in inverse proportion.  The place was such a wreck that I realized the only clean place to eat dinner was back in the new bathroom.  Campbell thought a picnic was a great idea, and joined me without hesitation.

Now that's dining atmosphere.  Cam and I agreed that the only things missing were some candles, and someone to serenade us with a violin.  Just as well, though. 

They would have had to stand in the bathtub.