On the Road Again

We are leaving on our annual pilgrimage to Grandparentland tomorrow so I am of course too busy, to buried in piles of laundry, too trapped by luggage to really blog.

We spent last weekend at the wedding of our cousin M and her groom A which was both lovely and interesting, as it was my first Buddhist wedding. Congratulations, kids! Have fun in Mexico!

Some of our plans for our vacation this summer:

Maybe take a day trip to Gettysburg. Family is very busy and we've never been.
Actually climbing up to the crown of the Statue of Liberty.
Spend more time at the beach.
Ravelympics: My event is the Handspun Heptathlon and I will be spindle spinning 4 ounces of yarn for Team Obama in 17 days. Think I can do it? Yes, I Can! You will have to forgive me for not having pictures of the fiber tonight, too much to do. But since I can't start till August 8th during the Opening Ceremonies, I have plenty of time to shoot it before then.

Summer of Socks continues with an imminent (lots of plane time tomorrow) finish of Spring Forward
Perhaps they are hideously ugly but I don't care. Handspun is handspun!

And knitting Hypnosis from my Perfect Storm yarn:

I'll also be spindling some black for heels and toes, but that's not interesting enough to take a picture of.

Mostly we will be spending time with family, relaxing, hanging out and having our last hurrah before homework, piano practice, church choir, scouts, et al. starts up again August 25th. Hard to believe!

I will try to post, if only from my phone, but we are in an internet black hole unless we drive somewhere until I get to New Jersey on the 7th. Have a lovely week!

Peace.

Speaking of blogging...

I haven't done any for a bit, have I?

Spinning, knitting, swimming, all continue on apace. Vacation, wedding mini-vac, competition results, girl scout camp all looming on the horizon.

It's weird but I feel like the summer is almost over. Whereas it's a little over half. But since we finish swim lessons and leave town in a week and a half and when we come back it's two days till school starts, it really is close. Luckily, the last bit is the most relaxing. My friend C was saying yesterday she needs a vacation from her vacation, but I will get one when the kids go to school.

Anyway.

I finished the Rivendell socks and they are lovely!

Handspun, I think South African Fine but as I have admitted everywhere, I cannot for the life of me remember really what this is or where I got it. But I finished the yarn and knit it right up.

Rivendell by Janel Laidman from The Eclectic Sole, knit on 2.25mm (feet) and 2.5mm (legs) needles. These are the second pair for Summer of Socks and I may actually manage a pair every two weeks. I'm more likely to run out of handspun than not knit the socks, but you'll see that I'm trying to remedy that as well.

Next socks up are Spring Forward from the Summer 2008 Knitty. These appear to be the "new Monkeys" and who am I to buck a trend?

Red is for heels and toes, crazy stuff for the rest. I dyed this fiber in a test to see what the most saturated colors of my food coloring would be.

On vacation, I plan to take the Goblin Eyes singles yarn for Bellatrix (again):

Loribird's beautiful purple yarn, whatever I start on Sunday and this weekend's yarn, Wensleydale from Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club in Perfect Storm:

A big photo because I love closeups of singles, why I have no idea. Still with the bad pictures but the new camera should arrive by Monday.

I'm planning to do some superwash something after that one so I have one more set of sock yarns for vacation. This 10 Minutes a Day thing has been working out beautifully, since I get a lot more than 10 minutes in if I just sit down and do it for a while. I even managed to clean the bathroom, wash the kitchen floor and mostly catch up with the laundry this week.

Hope you're having a lovely summer so far! Knit on!

Peace.

A good reason for champagne!

No one who reads here probably knows that my husband and I are screenwriters, among all of our other pursuits. We have (with others) a script actually in development right now. However...

Yesterday we found out that our script written by just the two of us, Forsaken, has progressed to the Quarter-Final Round of the Page International Screenwriting Awards.

DH writes:

That means that out of 3,865 entries we've moved to the top 900. The next round is announced in August.
Just a small honor, shared by many others, but nice.

I write: Woo-hoo! A great reason for champagne! Congratulations, Dearest!

Monday Random Post

Does everyone else do these on Wednesdays?

Just stupid stuff.

1. Finished some yarn for the Tour de Fleece:

Making more of the same.

2. UPS is taking FOREVER delivering my daughter's Half Birthday present and even the tracking just says it left Illinois on Thursday. Blech.

3. Second Rivendell sock is going very well, turning the heel today.

4. My friend J is back from her business trip to London, yay! Missed you!

5. OTOH, it turns out my camera will be as expensive to fix as to buy last year's model, so I'm doing that instead. Ho hum (except for the fun of a new camera!).

6. I have just turned off the TV and given the children sugar-free popsicles for a treat. I wonder how long it will be before someone says "Ow!" It's too hot to send them outside in the yard. Even the dog is too hot to play. Timer starts...NOW!

7. Why am I so tired?

Back to work!

Have a lovely!

Peace.

Guest Blogger: My DD with a Film Review

Kitt Kittredge: The Movie

1. I would give it an A.

2. You would love it.

3. It is the best American Girl movie you will ever see.

4. You might not like the classics, but it is great.

Can you see me doing the Happy Dance?

We got our health insurance back!!!!!!!!!!!

Whew!

Peace.

So many groups, so little time!

I am officially following too many threads at Ravelry! Then again, I'm having fun so who cares!

I'm participating in the Tour de Fleece again, which started on Saturday. My goal is to spin Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club stash, so of course I did the most recent one first:

This is the first bobbin of Flowering Weeds, Merino/Mohair, which I'm spinning to make a 3-ply sock yarn. But this will be a true 3-ply, not Navajo, so I'm moving on to another bobbin today. Second ounce is predrafted and waiting for me to get off the computer!

At the same time (of course) I'm in Summer of Socks 2008 and did finish the Marigold socks at the pool on Thursday: I love being able to post photos from the phone, even if the photos are not great! Of course, since then my phone charger has ceased to work (ordered a new one) and so I am internet free at the pool for a few days, woe is me!

Loved the pattern, very easy to memorize and carry out, and am looking forward to wearing these if it ever cools off again.

As soon as I bound those off, I started Rivendell: Since this photo was taken I have turned the heel and decreased the gusset. I also changed needle sizes and skeins of yarn about halfway down the heel flap, which you can see if you know it's there, but is much better for the gauge on the harder wearing parts of the sock. The cuff fits loosely but not slouchy with all those twisted ribs and will work perfectly. I'm not sure how well these socks will wear as the fiber is very fine and soft, but they will be beautiful as long as they last. The yarn is handspun, I think South African Fine, I think from a fiber club offering but for the life of me I can't remember or find it online anywhere so I don't know for sure. I need to keep the little slips that come with the fiber in a notebook or something!

In non-fibery news, T-ball is over but for the celebratory events. A parade on Saturday morning, a party the weekend after. DS improved ENORMOUSLY and had a great time. We will be Ryan Dodgers again next year for sure!

We had a lovely 4th of July, swimming, picnic with friends, local fireworks, home by 9:30. Only flaw was DH had to work, sorry, honey, we missed you!! No pictures, though, since the Nikon is not working. It's going into the shop today or tomorrow (whenever I get up the gumption to drive that far). I'm having this terrible aversion to driving farther than the swimming pool for any reason. But I don't want to send the camera off in the mail, either, not knowing how soon I will get it back and all.

The rest of the weekend was quiet. We made a return visit to our local Historical Society museum, which is cute and fun and has an original house from our city's founding years. DS complained about going but really enjoyed himself there.

Sunday was church and a quick trip to the grocery store before settling in to watch "John Adams." Wow. Can't wait till tonight's episode. Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney are both giving very nuanced performances and are super fun to watch. I may very well buy a copy of the book this week for my summer reading (what, not a knitting book?!?!?). OTOH, there should be a YouTube of my solo at church very soon, so I will put that up when it's available. I thought it went well!

Enough?

Booked our airline tickets (ouch! Thanks, mom!) Friday so we are officially off on our way at the end of the month. Coming back two days before school starts, but that should be okay. Our school starts so early, there's a very limited window of opportunity this summer.

Have a lovely day!

Peace.

Ooh, Not really tagged but here I go anyway!

Amy Boogie of Spunky Eclectic fame has tagged whoever wants to be so I will take her up on it. Love her blog, love her fibers! And I believe she has a pattern in the new Knitscene, congratulations Amy! Here goes:

1. Where was I 10 years go.
Pregnant with DD and working full-time as a legal secretary for a solo practitioner in L.A. When I took the job he only came into the office three days a week or so but by that summer he was coming in every day and crazy busy. I was pretty close to telling him I needed every other Friday off 'cause it was taking the joy out of my summer. And that worked out. I worked for him until I went on maternity and never went back to an office job (so far).

2. 5 things on today’s to-do list
Swimming lesson
Summer Reading Club show
Finish transcribing tape of lifestory of HUGE drug addict (rather overwhelming)
Spin at least 10 minutes
Finish second Marigold sock

3.Snacks I enjoy
I am a low-carb girl and have been for almost six years, so lots of snack foods are off limits, like chips, which I love. Nothing like the smell of a new bag of Ruffles! But what I eat are peanut butter, pickles, peanut butter, mangoes, peanut butter.

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire.
Buy a house. Buy a Hybrid car. I'll go with Amy, spin and knit and travel. Pay back (or forward) all the money everybody's ever lent me or given me or anything to help out. Make an endowment to my church. Go to SOAR and pay for scholarships. Mostly I would stop worrying, which would be a great thing and billions are not even necessary for that.

5. Places I have lived.
Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Minnesota, New York (Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan), California and summers in Illinois, Alabama, West Virginia. We always talk about moving back East to be close to our extended families, but the film industry pulls us back in. Maybe next year! The kids are extremely ambivalent about this.

6. Jobs I have had.
Start from the beginning? Fast food worker, Movie theater cashier, Temp Legal Secretary, Singing Bumble Bee, Actress, Soloist, Legal Secretary, freelance Transcriptionist. I like what I do now, sing and type, just wish it involved health coverage...

7. Who would I like to know more about.
Whoever is reading this, there aren't very many of you. Let me know if you do it so I can drop by!

In knitting news, I have almost finished the Marigold socks and will surely finish them today. Good news, they are lovely! Bad news, they are totally different sizes. My two skeins spun up one right after the other are really different gauges. Now that I have more bobbins, I'm going to start real 2-plying instead of Andean all the time to even it out. But both socks fit me and the colors are just right. Thanks again, Amy! I will be casting on Rivendell as soon as these are done with my newly finished yarn, which probably has the same problem, so I might do more knitting from both skeins, but that's no big deal. I can spit splice.

In spinning (oh, some of that was spinning, huh) 10 Minutes a Day has been great and I have moved on to the last 2 ounces of Dandylion to Navajo ply for socks. The first two skeins are VERY fine for my 3 ply so trying to match that is taking a while. But, hey, those will be some happy socks! Here's a picture of the first skein that won a Blue Ribbon at last year's L.A. County Fair:

This year's fair entries are rather sparse but they will go out soon. I think I'm mailing to avoid the gasoline for driving back and forth two extra times. I will attend the Fair itself at least twice so this is a good idea. At least for my carbon footprint. I have two yarns for sure and one pair of socks. I was going to send Marigold, too, but the size issue is bothering me regarding judging. I will figure this out once they are blocked. Of course, there is a sock contest this year that Joy (!) and I will be attending and competing in so if I end up with something gorgeous that's where it will go. I should start the new Spunky Club fiber and see if I can get it nice enough to enter, since it's a blend and will fall into a different class than the others. Or some silk. Or something.

I started out the year all excited and ambitious about the Fair and have fallen into a malaise. I just don't feel like getting all het up about anything. Having a nice time not being het up, I guess, not dreaming about stuff I have to do that doesn't exist and all. Didn't come close to finishing the sweater, am not obsessively spinning yarns, just sending in socks that I made for something else. I've even thought of not entering at all, but since I have some stuff already done, why not? Can't wear the wooly socks till fall anyway.

That was a seriously too long post with not enough pictures! Thanks for sticking with it!

And Wes Clark did not impugn McCain's service. He merely said that his experiences do not have any bearing on whether he would be a good President. Which they don't. I wish the news cycle had been all about McCain's property tax delinquency instead, mind you, but this is ridiculous.

Peace.