Canine Yoga Helper?

Took Windy with me running this morning for the first time. It was great, her excited exploration pace is a bit faster than my running speed, and she wouldn't hear of slowing it down. Any time I felt tired I just had to look at her effortless stride and it helped keep me going. Once home I pulled out my yoga mat and started stretching. I was also using a tennis ball as part of one exercise. Windy came in to watch, and once I sat up and she spied the ball, she snatched it up and started tossing it around. For some reason she loves laying on my yoga mat, so during a practice I'm constantly shoving her aside. It's not really a problem, but now my exercise tennis ball is soggy and I have to find a new one. Still, she was so cute attacking the ball I can't really help but smile.

Braveharlot Inspired Me

I was talking with my fellow handspinner and gardener Lawre (maker of the famous "Stuff for your Fluff" custom bags and needle books) this weekend while pulling weeds in our garden. I said I haven't spun much in 2008, that I just don't have anything interesting worth spinning up in my pitiful stash. This is a sign that it's been TOO LONG since I've been to a fiber festival, and we immediately ran through the dates for the upcoming shows. Lawre said her stash had more than enough to go around, and we should dig through it once we were done digging in the dirt. She pulled out bin after bin of different fibers, and it was as much a revelation to her what was in the boxes as it was to me. I found several different bags I wanted to take home and just couldn't decide which to choose. I was delighted when she said I could have it all. Here's part of what I got:

This is a blend of mohair and border leicester. Not my colors normally, but something about it just grabbed me. I started spinning this as soon as I got home while rewatching Fellowship of the Ring (which I haven't seen in years). It glides out of the hands and is really dainty as yarn. There's not a lot in the bag, not sure if I'll ply it on itself, with wooly nylon to make a gimp (bumpity) yarn, or with a solid color wool for a stripey yarn to make it stretch further. It's just fun to be spinning again.

This next one is also mohair & border leicester. I learned to spin on a mohair wool blend and didn't like it at the time, but things are quite different now. The fiber has a particular smell that is very reminiscent of when I first learned to spin (egads, 11 years ago). I think this will make a really richly colored yarn when plied on itself. I think there's enough roving for something like a vest or cropped sweater. I've always wanted to knit a vest for myself, maybe this will be it. (God only knows why - I don't wear sweater vests, but it's an odd compulsion I think I should listen to).

Here's another small batch I got, very earthy and masculine. It would definitely be enough for a hat and maybe scarf or something. Also mohair/border leicester blend. Border Leicester is not usually one of my preferred wools, a bit too coarse for my snobby tastes. But this is really nice and soft, no scratchiness at all. All the photos look like they have white/lightly dyed sections, but that's just the flash reflecting off the lustrous mohair. All of these blends came from Kid Hollow Farm, and if I'm in the market for a mohair blend I will definitely see what they have up for sale next time.

All of this fiber is outside my normal realm of spinning. I normally work with naturally colored merino and blue-faced leicester wools. Color, luster, long staple length, mohair -- it's been so long since I dealt with these adjectives, it makes me feel like a new spinner again.

Phone calls -- a fun pain

The phone ringing always cuts through whatever I'm doing and fills me with a need to answer it. It's hard to ignore even though you logically know voicemail will handle it. I think that's why wake-up calls are so effective--no matter how poorly you slept in an unfamiliar place and how exhausted you are, the phone ringing will drag you awake. Do you ever answer the phone reflexively, even though you are busy or don't want to talk to the person on the other end?

I was driving home from a hike with the dogs, just pulled up to the scary-busy intersection, windows down, dogs panting so hard they're dripping drool all over me. My only thought is which one to bathe first, and how thirsty I am. Ok, I guess that's 2 thoughts, but they both involve water. My phone rings and I see it's my mom, who I know is out of town visiting extended family. I answer it without thinking, and before I can explain that it's not a good time to talk she hands the phone to my great aunt. I tell her that I'm driving but will call back in a few minutes. I call back and try to explain to mom that I have 2 filthy wet dogs to deal with, and I just walked in the door. I can tell she really wants to pass the phone around for everyone to talk to me. I'm afraid I got a little testy, but the dogs were eyeballing the couch, and I still wanted to get to a store that was closing in less than an hour.

So she called back a few hours later and started passing me around. It actually ended up being really enjoyable talking with everyone, and I think I spent about 20 minutes with each person. I particularly enjoyed talking with one cousin I haven't seen in probably a decade. We just clicked back then, and even moreso now. I'd love to visit in person, I think we could fill an entire evening chatting. I told everyone we'd be in Chi-town next may for business and were planning to take time to visit family. I think some other out-of-towners might try to come at the same time so we can have a bit of family reunion.

7 weeks without shampoo

You read that right, I haven't shampooed my hair in 7 weeks. I still "wash" it every day with water and conditioner, and use products to scrunch the curls. Two sources recommended this to make curls lusher, scalp healthier, and hair better overall. They warned the first week would be bad as your scalp adjusted to the new state but to struggle through it as the results are worth it. And they're right. My scalp feels so much better, my hair looks good, and always smells like fresh conditioner, never a dirty hair smell even after being out at a bar. I didn't believe it at first, but it really is the shampoo stripping natural hair oils that makes hair dirty and the scalp dry, and it's ok not to use any. Shocking? Horrifying? Thrilling? Give it a try!

1 hour sweat = 1 jar jelly

The wild berries are ripe--I think they're black raspberries, although they're a bit smaller like wineberries. There are briar patches all over town loaded with berries, but you have to be quick because by next weekend they'll all be done. So I set out the morning of the 4th with my wooden berry bucket to gather all I could. I was able to pick about 3 quarts of berries, which is half a grocery sack. They go bad within a couple days of picking, so today I made seedless jelly. Squeezing the juice from a cheesecloth sack of fruit is always oddly fun, with the dark red juice it looked like a giant heart bleeding. Ok, I have problems, I'll be the first to admit it. I used Pomona's Universal Pectin this time, which allows for any amount (or none) of sugar you want to use (Hooray!). It gelled really hard, which is difficult for non-sugared recipes normally, but I want to taste it before I totally jump on the bandwagon. After I was done I decided to put up corn relish too, since we've already gone through half the jars I made last week. I was looking at the jars of cooling jelly and realized that the number of jars was equal to the number of hours I spent out in the sun picking berries and standing over boiling pots of water making the jelly. I definitely am a process not a product person. I love trying to explain conversions like that to people who really don't get it.

Townies in town are awesome

I've had such an amazing day around town today (Saturday). I've done a ton of small things -- running, deck-building, gardening, erranding, wine-tasting, booze-run -- and at each one I've been overwhelmed with how genuinely nice and friendly people are. Everyone I encountered was so personable, happy to chat, and just enjoying their own day. It's kept a smile on my face the whole day.

It's hard to describe details, but some things do stick out. During deck-building we were also watering plants, and the kids had a waterfight with the hose that drenched everyone within reach; after which they made mudpies while we went back to work thankfully cooled off. It's great to see kids playing like we all used to. I swear, give a kid a stick and a bucket of water and send them outside -- there's no end to what they'll find to keep themselves occupied.

After my run I was stretching and met a woman gearing up to run. She wore a Fuel Belt (fancy-ie expensive-water bottle carrier belt), and I asked her how she liked it and expressed interest in getting one in the future. She reached in her car and handed me the top-line model to try on. It fit, and she told me to keep it. Now, it still had tags on it from the store, but she didn't want a penny for it. I'm thrilled, and definitely looking for ways to "pay it forward".

At the wine tasting I met another woman named Darcey (boy it's hard to write it like that) and really enjoyed the company during the tasting. Even the ABC employees were really friendly and helpful.

Who knows what else the evening will bring? However you look at it, today's been a great weekend day.

Tattoo Finished!

I got my autumn leaf tattoo finished last night. If you remember it had to be done in stages, and I got the initial part inked back in early April, which was the first 2 leaves and the outline of the 3rd.Shaun figured we could get it finished in one more sitting and we did, although it was a solid 4 hours of needlework with only a 10 min. break. I was at the shop for almost 5 straight hours. This was really too long of a session, and if I'd known what that last hour would feel like, I would've broken it into 2 sessions. For the most part I don't mind the coloring, it's just the outlining that hurts. And when the skin is already sensitive from hours of tattooing, it starts to really hurt. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, but this just never ended. A few times the skin/muscles contracted reflexively, and I had to focus on my breathing to try and relax and hold still. By the end I tried singing to myself as a distraction, but kept stumbling over the same few lines, unable to ignore the work being done. But I really believe all of this was due to the length of time it took and how sensitive (ticklish) the area was. A couple hours of work is done quick enough it doesn't really hurt much. Still, it's totally worth it. The tattoo is gorgeous, and it's exciting to have it finished.

Oh, would you like some pictures? Here's one of Shaun working on the 2nd of 4 leaves of the night. He just finished coloring in the white oak leaf and outlining the cottonwood. Now he's applying the base yellow to the cottonwood leaf.As each leaf was finished I'd get up and we'd stencil on the next one. For the final 2 leaves I was sitting on the bench hugging my knees, which is an oddly uncomfortable way to sit for hours, but gave the best canvas for Shaun to work. So here's the front view of the leaves. There's no way to get the whole tattoo in one photo. There's also no way to give a panned back view without an R rating.These are:
Sweetgum (liquidambar styraciflua)
Tulip tree (lyriodendron tulipifera)
White oak (Quercus alba)
Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)

The wind isn't actually red, once it heals it'll be just like the grey swirls around the first leaf. Here's the leaves on my back. They stop right at the edge of my spine, which looks really cool. Shaun did such an awesome job shading the leaves. I think the final one turning green to brown is my favorite. And there are nice details, like shadows where the leaves overlap, that don't really show in photos. He also left a small bit of the final leaf (the left point) unshaded, which I thought was fitting since I never seem to finish anything :)So after the yellow cottonwood leaf, these are:
Sugar maple (Acer saccharum)
Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis)

Each leaf is from a tree special to me in some way, I'd be happy to go into details in person if you're interested. It's hard to believe these photos are pictures of me. It almost doesn't look real. This is the end of my tattoo adventures for a long long time. I have an ultimate plan of getting a tree of life on my upper back shoulder and continuing the leaves up to it, so it looks like the leaves are blowing down off the tree. But that's far in the future.