I didn't even get a crappy t-shirt

And I survived! What the heck? They were tossing those ugly orange t-shirts around at the track meet from (earmuffs - you know what to insert here), and they didn't look my way once. And they made me pay for my lunch! What is that nonsense? Was I not working? Was I not helping to make the track meet happen? Boo track parents, coaches and athletes. Should have spent my time over at baseball (they were at least able to win).

Alright, my whining about track is over. I meant to post earlier this week, but it's been a crazy week. At the clinic 2 mornings, watching Kaylee one morning, and a performance appraisal with my boss in Sagamore Hills yesterday meant that I didn't have much time to myself this week. That and the fact that I didn't get out of work before 8pm, except on Friday. I'm not complaining. I'm going to have a smile on my face when I get the paycheck. But I'm wiped out.

Haven't really gotten much knitting done this week. See above if you wonder why. But here are some update photos. This is the Mystic Waters shawl, at the end of chart C.

I think there's charts through F, in case you were wondering how much more there is. And this is the Woodland Shawl.

Here's a close-up of the leaf detail. I love the leaves. It's so fun to watch them grow as you knit.

And the Clapotis. So pretty!

That's it on the knitting end. Like I said, not much getting done. This is the new spinning project. 4 oz of 100% superwash merino from The Dyeing Arts (purchased from the Loopy Ewe) in "Mother of Pearl".

I can't tell you how proud I am of myself for the thinness of the single. I am loving it. It's going to be beautiful.

I took Thursday night off from fibery things. Spent it up in the craft room working on scrapbooking. Been feeling the scrapping lately. Will probably do some more tonight. And here's some more flower photos. The first tulip of the spring.

It was so wide open and happy looking. Here's the hyacinths, they smell so great.

A Spinning Disaster

Remember that very pretty red/pink/brown merino I was spinning last post? I kept spinning. Finished it Sunday night after Part 2 of the BBC's "Sense and Sensibility" on PBS. Yay! Then, on Monday, I decided that I would start plying it. No problem. Got it going, Was thinking to myself how much I love the way it's coming out, it's so pretty, and all that kinda stuff. And then, this happened.

Do you see the problem? Yeah, one of the strands tangled all around the other strand, and in the gentle tug/untwist maneuver I was doing, the strand came unspun and therefore broke. Now, the range of emotions that a beginner spinner can feel at this moment is huge. Unable to be certain that I could control my emotions, I quickly put the spindle and yarn down, into a nice plastic box, shut the box, and put the box away. And proceeded to knit on my new Woodland Shawl, occasionally glancing at the box with the spindle and yarn, and fighting the urge to cry.

So, on Tuesday, I take the box with spindle and yarn to SnB, so that Meagan, spinning superhero, can fix it. And she did. But the day hadn't gone well, and I didn't feel like knitting, let alone spinning. But, when I got home, I decided that I calm myself down by plying some more. So I did, and was still having issues with the strands tangling, so I enlisted Mom's help in holding the ball and not letting them tangle. Yay, happiness, all is going well until...

A strand comes undone again. Through no fault of mine or Mom's. It's inexplicable. Boo merino. So once again I quickly shut the yarn up into the box and walked away from it. Eventually went and got some Noro Silk Garden to start a Clapotis for myself. Because, as everyone knows, when you're down, Noro makes everything better.

I mean, how could something that gorgeous not make you happier? And so I was knitting along on the Clapotis, and things got better when Travis Hafner hit a 2-run HR in the top of the 9th to give the Indians the lead, and they eventually won. Yay!

So yesterday, I called Meagan and asked if I could invade on their house after work so that she could fix and then finish plying. At that point I really didn't trust myself not to take scissors to the merino and hack it into tiny little fluff bits. She, being a wonderful friend, consented and did finish plying the evil, but very beautiful, merino for me. So, today, I have a hank of 115 yds of 100% merino from Copperpot Woolies in "Oh Cherry Baby" and I am happy with it. Maybe more happy that it's done and all I have left to do with it is knit.

As for other knitting things, I've given up on the Sock-a-Week. My sock knitting mojo is on hiatus at the moment. And with the way my knitting has been going, I don't want to force myself to knit anything that's not making me happy. And socks aren't happy right now. Oh well. And that Woodland Shawl I mentioned? I'm knitting for the Earth project of Project Spectrum, in a little mini knitalong with some of my SnB buddies. I ripped it out on Tuesday night at SnB. Grrr. I was unhappy with the fact that it wasn't going to be a shawl, more of a wide scarf. So I cast on enough stitches to add 4 more repeats to the original pattern (which is like another half of the width). And I haven't gotten far enough to photograph it yet.

My Log Cabin bag? I took it to show Kate when I went to KotS last, and found that my unfelted piece was the same size as her felted piece. Hmmm. Not good. So I need to restart with bigger needles. Haven't gotten around to that just yet. I spent most of last weekend focused on the Mystic Waters shawl, I'm 4 rows shy of being done with chart C. I'll try to get pics as soon as I finish the chart. It's so pretty. But time and concentration consuming. I also need to take pics of the Pi Shawl that I've started for Mom. It's hopefully going to be done in time for her birthday, and definitely not a surprise, I had her pick the yarn, and I started it while she was in the room with me. I get pics when there's more done.

To distract myself from the disaster the other day, I went outside and took pictures of all the pretty flowers that had magically appeared. So I'll distract you with them.