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Email me at:
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I wasn't born with wings, so I'm trying to make my own
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Saturday, November 25, 2006
What has two thumbs and loves long holiday weekends? This girl (you have to imagine me pointing back at myself with my thumbs now. I think this may be funnier in person).
Anyway, since I had four and a half days off (yippee!) I decided to Get Some Stuff Done. And I actually did! Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you. Wednesday was pretty much about relaxing. I love to read, but since I've gotten out of school I mostly read popular fiction-type books. Lately I've been wanting something a little more substantial and so I decided to start reading some of the classics. I finished reading Pride and Prejudice on Wednesday and I was surprised to find that I absolutely loved it. I do a lot of my reading while on the treadmill, so it's nice to have fast, exciting reads that you don't need to think about. I thought Pride and Prejudice might be too much for the treadmill, but I really found it to be delightful. It will be added to the stack of books I read over and over again.
 On Thursday, between cooking, eating, giving thanks, and enjoying my family, I also managed to do some fiber stuff. I have a stole that I finished knitting about about a year and a half ago, but it needed washing, blocking, and the ends needed to be sewn in. I can't block it at my apartment because the kitten has access to all of the areas that have carpet. The only places we can shut her out of (bedroom, craft/computer room, bathroom) have hardwood or tile floors. So I took it over to my parents' house to block it. Unfortunately, this monster is so huge that there was no untrafficked area large enough to block it, so it just got washed and spread out. I'll have to figure out some other way to block it. Maybe I'll have to invest in some of those foam floor pieces I've seen around on blogs. Washing alone did make a big difference - it's so much softer and it straightened out all the lumpy-bumpiness of the unwashed lace. I still want to give it a good blocking, though.
I'm not really sure I even want to keep it as it is, though. The reason this has sat in  purgatory for so long is that this knit has a lot of very sad, painful memories wrapped up in it. I knit this for something that didn't end up happening and I can't look at it without thinking of that. But part of me wants to try to "reclaim" this, to move on. I put a lot of hard work into this and I don't want it to be spoiled by what happened, but right now it still is. But I don't even know that I could really reclaim the yarn, even if I frog this and knit it into something else. It's still going to be a painful reminder. And beyond all of the emotional baggage tied to this stole, I'm not sure I like it for what it is. The fabric is pretty dense - this is knit from koigu on size 4 needles in Feather and Fan. And I just don't know that I'm much of a stole person. I love stoles on other women, they look so fabulous and elegant, but those are two things I'm not and I think it's the woman that makes the stole, not the other way around. So, really, I'm no further than I was on Thursday. I still need to block the sucker and I still need to make decisions about it. Oh well. I tried!
On Friday, there was a lot more relaxing and a little more fiber fun. I washed up some handspun that had also been languishing in the almost-finished-but-not-quite pile. Here is actual proof that I am capable of spinning something other than froghair! This is a very fun lumpy-bumpy thick and thin yarn that I love an unreasonable amount. I dyed the fiber with left over Easter Egg dye in the microwave, and I loveitloveitloveit. It's so soft and it squooshes so nicely. I'm not sure what I'll make with it, but it will be something fun. There's not a lot of it, so something small. I almost want to knit a teddy bear or something with it so I can sqoosh it forever. But maybe a tiny little keyhole scarf/neckwarmer type thing. I'd say a hat, but unfortunately, my curls and hats just don't mix. I'd love any suggestions, but I'm not in any rush. Until I pick a project, I still get to squoosh it, and that's good enough for me.
I've also been sock knitting and froghair spinning. I think once I'm done with the blue/hand-dyed spinning project I have going now, I'll be ready for another big huge giant project. My mom had the shawl this week so she could take it to work and show her coworkers, and when I was reunited with it, it was like "Wow. I can't believe I really made this." Of course, I still have to finish it, so I might change my mind about another big huge giant project after that, but right now I'm feeling inspired. I have some lovely stuff calling my name. For tonight, I'll leave you with my new favorite picture of my spinning. This is the blue wool/silk I'm spinning to go with the hand-dyed sample. I absolutely love this perspective! 
# posted by Jenni @ 11/25/2006 08:53:00 PM
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