You know those weeks during the summer when it's so humid you feel sticky/slimy all the time and there's a quick lightning storm almost every day and the tension/misery is so thick you could cut it and everyone wishes they were somewhere else or someone else just so they didn't have to go into work on another summer day and the feeling that your life is going on without you is palpable? Yeah, last week was one of those weeks. I wasn't really feeling it so much, but it seems like everyone I work with was definitely feeling it and had their crankypants on in a major way. It only took a day or two of that for me to get my crankypants on, too. Woo, was I glad to see the weekend arrive. Hopefully this week will be a bit more pleasant. There's the holiday right in the middle of the week and a lot of people are taking a day or two off in addition to the 4th, so even if they are as grumpy as last week, I won't have to see them as much. It's a very crazy busy time for my deparment right now, so it ought to all blow over in a couple of weeks, but it's not fun while it lasts. Here's hoping a couple of days off cooled everyone's tempers.
At least I've had lots of fibery goodness to distract me when I wasn't at work. I got to enjoy a good deal of spinning on English Gardens this week and that was very nice. It was great to be back at the wheel for more than just sampling. And I've been daydreaming about what to do with the finished yarn while I spin, so that's a good distraction, too. I don't have a plan yet for the yarn, but I have plenty of time to dream something up. I'm a very slow spinner. In other spinning news, Beth's comment last week got me to thinking about one of my other wheels, a Jensen Tina II, so today I pulled her out, dusted her off and get her all ready to spin. I even gave her a brief whirl with a small bit of roving and she hasn't suffered from her disuse. The Ashford Joy was my first wheel and I find it so easy to use that it is really my default wheel. I got the Tina II about a year after I got the Joy, and it was a present from my mom. I was wanting a prettier wheel than my Joy and my mom bought the Tina II and finished it herself. It is really a beautiful wheel and it means so much to me because my mom put so much work into it. 
At the time I received it, though, I was not a very experienced spinner and I was working my way down to laceweight. The Tina II spins very well, but it is fussier than the Joy and it was just easier to stick with the Joy while I was learning, so the Tina II has been pretty well neglected. But, I'm a lot more comfortable with my spinning now and it would be silly not to use such a great wheel. So, sometime this week I'll be digging through the stash for something to spin on her so that we can get reacquainted. In addition to the spinning, there's also been plenty of knitting. This week, Fleurette reached five hundred rows (I am unable to say this without sounding like Dr. Evil asking for one million dollars)
Fleurette is now actually 512 rows, but there's no cool way to say that. Sorry for the crappy picture, but there was no way I could do a quick block on this baby with a pouncy kitten hanging around. I kind of stretch-blocked it on the carpet, but it's nowhere near as open as it will be when I really block it. It's probably a couple of inches over three feet at this point. The ball of yarn is getting kind of small, so I'm just hoping it will end up being long enough to qualify as a scarf. *fingers crossed* The stripe pattern is kind of reminding me of the DNA profiles we would do in biology in college, all those little bands marching up the agar. Good thing I don't mind stripes, but I think I'll probably be the only person who loves this scarf :-) But, that works, because it is for me.
There was also a bit of *cough cough* fiber acquisition *cough cough* this week.
Two batches of tussah silk from Abby's yarns. I can't wait to dive into both of these!
And, I think that's about all the news that's fit to print for this week. I've gotta go catch some z's so I can pretend to feel human tomorrow. Have a safe and happy 4th (or just a safe and happy Wednesday if you aren't in the 'states).
# posted by Jenni @ 7/01/2007 09:40:00 PM
