It's only just the beginning.

It's finally here.

I got caught in the rain going from a visit-teachee's home to my visit-teaching-partner's car. Absolutely drenched; my hair curled, my sweater was damp and I did not feel terribly cold. It was a balmy 70 degrees outside with the sun down, very comfortable.

Today it was overcast, no surprise there but what did surprise me was that by about noon, I heard the distinct tapping of what else, hail. Daisy and I went outside for a walk and I ended up walking like a little old lady, hunched against the wind and taking small, careful steps on the slippery, frozen hail.

I have then decided I needed some mittens. This while I'm knitting me up two different socks. And an alpaca scarf.

It's a manifestation of the fact that I have been very weary of knitting. The yarn desire is still there and all. Maybe it's the fact that I want so much. Maybe I haven't found a project that has captured me like the stole. I loved that stole. I loved the color and the lightness of the yarn. And now I'm dreaming of another Mountain Peaks. One to replace the one that soared out the window of my Honda Civic when moving back to Kansas. It's somewhere out in the desert, being its own really terrific story. I need me some lace. I need to find me my lace-knitting circ.

But in the meantime, my Thanksgiving was marvelous. I stayed with my sweet and quite pregnang sister and her darling family. Her babies are my babies, such sweet kids. I visited my friends and had an awesome time watching X-men with Riff Trax. If you are a MST3K fan and miss them, go for this. Trust me, MST3K lives on through Mike Nelson! I'm curious to watch The Grudge with RiffTrax now. Not curious enough to actually do it though, The Grudge had me staring at the hole in the wall of my room at my uncle's in suspicion. Brr. But I definitely want to see xXx with it, ha! I hope they do Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, too, following the fine arse work of Vin Diesel.

Thanksgiving dinner was at my grandparents, which was marvelous. I had, I believe, a little bit of everything. Except for the pies. Too many!

And the next day I went through five hours of dental work, whee. It was a root canal into dead tooth...long story. Sadly, I couldn't knit through it. It would have helped. Ah well.

All in all, fine holidays. Not everyone seems to have had them and I'm sorry. I do hope Christmas makes things better but of all holidays, I do believe that Thanksgiving is my favorite. It's the underdog of holidays and it doesn't focus on anything but hard work and family and friends. It's being grateful that you're alive, that there are good things in your life and that there are challenges to make you strong to better appreciate the good things.

Thanks Christina, for letting us stay. Thanks to all of you who visit and subscribe to my little blog. Thanks to everyone who comments and those who just lurk. You are all special to me.

Sheep Are Roadkill On Route K-10

The title of this blog is a shout-out to AFI. It's not a band I would normally come to really feel much fondness for, but it's kind of lead me back to an old friend and reconciling differences. But we won't go into that. Let me take you, instead, to Kansas City.

I knew of one (1) yarn store in Kansas City before I moved to Utah. It was a small shop in an almost impossible to find spot (I found it once and never again) and it carried beads, eyelash yarn, some stuff I couldn't quite remember and that was about it. Then I moved. Then I moved back.

I figured in the past two years I had been gone, there might be maybe one more yarn store (other than the one in Olathe which I do not consider to be Kansas City...yet). And I was going to meet Karina and Alex--a guy friend from California that I've known for years through LiveJournal but never met in person before--for sushi. Well, I figured I would see what Kansas City had now.

Who sneezed on the map? (You might have to zoom out, when I first looked, it showed me one of yarn store and really, there's far more than that).

Well, I decided that the closest one to Sushi Gin was Yarn Shop And More. For you Mason Dixon Knitting fans, you might recognize this one. And, well, it was adorable. And upon walking in, I was cheerily greeted with a "Hello! If you need anything, let us know!" before my eyes even adjusted to walking in.

Let's just say that it was SO REFRESHING to walk into a store where I felt welcome. I don't get that reception over at the Yarn Barn. I felt completely at ease walking around, snapping fuzzy, poorly-lit pictures (laaame) and walking in a miasma of silence (I scared the proprietress, she thought she was alone when I walked up to ask if I could take pictures). I do believe my favorite thing second to the really nice shopkeeps was this:



Yarn organized by shade and color instead of manufacturer. And lots of skeins of it, too. I was blown away. So much fun! I want to go yarn discovering again. I guess it's time to close my eyes and jab at the Google map again.

Anyways, I think I should show off a little from some of my walks since I really have a lot of pictures that I've taken lately.


Can you tell I adore autumn?

Still no knitting here.

After a bit of work, experimentation, screwing up, screwing around, and finally getting the hang of it, I made me some yarn. It's not plyed yet (I'm gonna go for that Navajo ply, this yarn needs to be 3-ply) but hey, I'm just not feeling altogether humble about my work. This was hard!

Fiber: Bonker's Merino/Tencel in Dragonfly. Very soft!
Spindle: Journey Wheel's Featherweight spindle in Cherry with a Birch shaft. I looove this spindle. It just keeps spinning and spinning and I can spin so nice and fine on it!
Time: A very, very...VERY long time. But less than a year, I think.
Weight: Er...well, it changes thick and thin but no thicker than about fingering and no thinner than the occasional cobweb before it snapped because I was an idiot.

I have to say, I mostly taught myself. I spin while watching MST3K on Shoutcast (on WinAmp!) and though it's not at all mindless work, it is rather simple work and I enjoy it. I encourage anyone who wants to give spinning a try to pick up a spindle, some wool, and give it a whirl (har har)!

I can't say what this may become but it's soft and silky and pretty and may end up in a hat or scarf as embellishment. And I will definitely spin with Bonkers stuff again, it's high quality and not tricky at all to work with in my opinion.

LOOK! FOOTPRINTS!

Alright, yes, this is a knitting blog. And if that's all you want, please scroll down, I just thought I should flash my political colors for a second.

I wish I were articulate. For all my writing, I really don't have the patience to sort myself into words. But there are a few authors who published articles concerning the US and Bush's War On Terror that have really struck me.

Orson Scott Card wrote about The Only Issue This Election Day. He says a lot about our current president and I have to say that I agree. I am for the war. Not because I'm a war-monger, I HATE war. But I know that like the body's reaction to infection - fever, malaise, nausea/vomiting, and all the other unpleasant stuff - you have to endure the unpleasant to recover.

And then an opinion article Seeing The Unseen concerning disproving myths that are brought up on bumper stickers. It's amusing and thought provoking.

I suppose my stance is not one that is considered popular to a lot of people I know and love. I am sorry if it makes you uncomfortable, but I am not sorry that I believe what I do. I hold to truth and hope and I believe that everything works out with patience, endurance, and tenacity.