sigh of relief

This three-day weekend has been a godsend for me. I'm finally feeling like my batteries are recharged, and I'm ready to go again. Since the start of school in September, I feel like I've been going nonstop. The days and weeks are flying by at lightning speed, but the months are crawling at a near standstill. It's so weird how that happens. All around me, people are amazed that it's already October, and all I can think is that it's only October? There are still four more months of this interminable deployment left, and time keeps dragging ever so slowly.

Anyway, I went into the weekend with very little in the way of plans. I took the kids to the local pizza joint/indoor playground on Saturday for a few hours, but that was about it. I had planned on taking them to the zoo today, but A told me this morning that she didn't want to go anywhere today, that she preferred to stay home. Who am I to argue with that? She had a friend come over to play, so while they were otherwise engaged and K was napping, I spent some quality time in the kitchen. Spaghetti sauce with meatballs that spends hours simmering on the stove, and apple pie with homemade pie crust. Yum.

Weekends also seem to be the only time I get any spinning in. During the week we're so busy, I don't have time to sit down at the wheel. But on Saturday and Sunday mornings, after we've eaten breakfast and the kids are entertaining themselves, I get some time to sit and spin. This weekend I managed to finish up some merino that I've been slowly plugging away on when I get the time.

This is 920 yards of DK weight two-ply merino, spun from roughly 10 ounces roving dyed by Erica, in the color "Ice Princess". I had seen this color spun up on Erica's blog, and thought that the colors would be perfect for A. I emailed Erica and asked if she would be kind enough to dye up enough for me to spin to make a Tomten jacket. I'm sure there will be enough for the sweater itself, but I was hoping to put a hood on it, but I'm not sure how that will work out. I'll just wait and make the decision when the time comes.

As for knitting, I did work on several of the socks in progress that you saw in the last post. It seems like some of you would be a little antsy having that many WIP's at once. Sometimes it drives me crazy, but most of the time, I don't really notice how much is actually on the needles. I keep projects scattered strategically throughout my house, so I work on something different depending on what room I'm in. I also have a mindless project ready to go at all times, to take with me to dance classes and the like. I can't sit still, and always need to have something to work on. The socks I made the most progress on this weekend were the ones I mentioned that I had started, even though there were many other socks on the needles.

This is the yarn and pattern from the first installment of the Woolgirl sock club. I've resisted joining a sock club up to this point, but when I saw the signups for this one, I caved. The price was right, and I managed to sign up before all the slots were full. Though I have more sock yarn than I'll ever be able to knit, I am really glad I joined. This first month was a sportweight yarn, which is something that I don't normally use for socks. I know they knit up much faster than fingering weight socks, but I don't find them to be all that comfortable in shoes. However, this yarn is incredible. It's amazingly soft, and the colors are gorgeous. These may not become my favorite socks, but I think they'll do a lovely job at keeping my feet warm this winter. The pattern name and yarn color are both "Waterfall", from Miss Babs. As you can see, I'm already past the heel turn on sock #2, and I imagine that I'll finish it up by tomorrow.

 

Comments

[Dani]

Beautiful, especially the spinning. I'm plugging along getting better every day, and you can catch some of the adventures at my Queen of Socks blog. I'll be hosting a stop of the Ethnic Knitting Discovery blog book tour on the 18th, too, and will use some of my homespun in ankle warmers I designed using the book's techniques. More on that at http://www.squidoo.com/booktours . Be sure to visit me for the interview! You and Faith D. are my inspirations in the spinning arena. :)

[Carole]

I'm so glad that you're feeling recharged. I made an apple pie yesterday, too. Mmmm!

[Suzanne V. (Yarnhog)]

I wish I had some sage advice for you on the deployment, or parenting, or school, or something...

That pie made my mouth water, as did the spinning! Now that I'm learning to spin (and not necessarily well), I'm more in awe than ever of those--like you--who make it look so simple and lovely. Beautiful yarn. I hope it's enough.

[Beth]

I'm glad that you had a little breather over the weekend! Your yarn and socks both look beautiful. And that pie looks so yummy. By the way, I have projects spread all over my house (and car), too. :)

[tiennie]

Glad you're feeling recharged! Beautiful handspun, socks and pie - all are delicious looking!

[JenW!~]

Food is making my mouth water. Love that Ice Princess you spin. I wish I had a wheel. It's in my future. Great progress on the socks and color is very waterfall like.

[Danielle]

Rachel, your spinning is beautiful! This is not a color I would have picked for myself, but it looks so lovely I must remember to try things outside of my "safe" zone. Glad you had a good weekend. Me too!

[Karen]

Oh, that pie looks so yummy... as does your handspun! I have to make myself a pair of socks in sportweight so I can see how different they feel compared to sock weight. I have a skein waiting in the stash for just the right moment.
I'm glad to hear you had a recharging weekend Rachel!

[keri]

What beautiful yarn, Erica did a great job dyeing it and you did a wonderful job spinning it!

[Erica]

Yum! That pie sure does look good! The Ice Princess turned out fabulous and I can't wait to see the Tomten.