A New Chapter..

It's sort of weird when someone close to you passes. This is my first experience with losing a parent but I think it makes you reflect a little bit on your life and where you're going with it. I'm sure the next few months will bring out even more emotions and changes. I just hope that I don't go in to a full blown mid-life crisis, although Mr. Larj claims that I'm already there with my Apocalyptica obsession. Speaking of which, 9 more days WOOT!!


Given the events of the last few weeks, I've tried to squeeze in a little time for calming my thoughts which of course includes spinning and a little knitting. I spun the most gorgeous and amazing batt from Frankie Love. She is one of my Saturday spinning pals and has great taste in belts :-) I've also been working on a little spindle spinning. I still probably spend about 50% of my spin time on my spindles. I even crafted a CD spindle this last week. I had wheel spun 2 full bobbins worth of chunky funky wooly goodness only to realize that there was no way that I'd be able to ply it on my wheel without a jumbo flyer. I came up with the idea that if I had a really large spindle I could use that. Off to Lowe's where I purchased a 3/8" dowel rod, corresponding electrical grommet, and small cup hooks. With a little sanding and assembling I was able to ply all of the wool in to one skein without any difficulty and it plied beautifully.


As for knitting I've been picking away at the "Fornicating Deer" hat, it's coming along. I'm not too sure about the finished size though. As I was knitting along it seemed that it was unusually long for a hat so I checked a few Ravelry projects and it looks like most people finished their length after completing the deer portion of the chart. Of course this meant a little frogging to get back to where I think the decreases should start. We'll see, color work is still fairly new territory for me. As for the intended recipient.....think I'll keep that one under my hat. ;-)

As for other going's on, I know people have been wondering how Maude is doing through all of this. All I can say is that she seems to be doing well at this point, however, she's had a lot of company and my sister Gus was in town until yesterday. I think that now is when things will get complicated, after all we are your typical Irish family, we put the fun in dysfunctional.

As for fun stuff...of course Apocalyptica is coming on the 16th and on the 17th Iron Maiden! I've never seen Maiden but I've always been a fan of their music and of course Bruce Dickenson is amazing on so many levels. Not much after that as far as events. I might have to lay low for a while, Mr. Larj's work is slowing down and given the state of the economy who knows what will eventually transpire. The best news of all though is that my tendinitis is finally starting to ease up, the exercises and icing has really really helped and now my days are for the most part pain free. Yay! I have also been timing myself as far as hand work and trying to break things up. I'm afraid my days of marathon knitting and spinning are over with. Oh well, it gives me more incentive to get back in to other things that I really need to focus on like my metalwork. Stay cool everyone!