I am still here

I have a beautiful new spinning wheel, but no time to spin. Instead, I am frantically getting my classes ready for fall semester. My online classes start tomorrow. My classroom class starts next Thursday. My consulting gig starts back up Monday.

Here's a thought - instead of a posting a syllabus to my class website, I'll post a picture of me spinning at my new wheel. I am sure my students will understand.

The good news is that nothing horrible has happened, my new real job seems to be OK, and the nervous breakdown has been postponed until further notice.

Just no time for spinning. ergh. Don't unsubscribe yet, though. Exciting new knitting content should be coming soon. It will be pink. With big honkin' roses.

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The last couple weeks of my new job have been fine - so far my job involves attending endless meetings, nodding, and smiling. At some point I am sure it will become challenging, but at the moment, it is a bit brain-numbing.

I have scheduled a small nervous breakdown for later in the month, when the new semester kicks off and I don't have my course materials ready. Here's hoping that the interminable meetings will continue at the real job so that I can get through the days, nodding and smiling, for a few more weeks.

So if the blog entries are a bit thin for the next few weeks, you'll know why and send me chocolate.

There is exciting stuff going on - I get to go to the Michigan Fiber Festival tomorrow, I found an eggplant that looks like a penguin, and I think I may have just bought a new spinning wheel from a drama professor in Milwaukee. More on those stories as they develop.

In the meantime, here's my latest pair of socks, finished last night:

Posting photos is easier tonight than putting words together in coherent sentences, so here's some merino sock yarn I spun awhile back from a small roving Kim gifted me with:

And here's Brian bonding with sheep at the Michigan State Fair yesterday:

Babelicious!

Check out my new loaner wheel:

That elegant PVC and plywood wheel is a Babe Fiberstarter. I wasn't allowed to continue monopolizing the Ashford Traveler, so I thought I would give this one a try. I haven't yet bonded with it - in fact the appearance of this, plus an annoying wobbliness make me more determined than ever to get the wheel of my dreams. But at least I will not be wheel-less for the next month.

That would be a tragedy, considering that this came in the mail the other day:

Clearly my secret pal loves me, AND understands my fetish. Would it be sacrilege to spin this amazing, luminescent Corriedale on the PVC wheel?

of pompons, hazmat, and fuzzballs

I hate to steal Jessica's thunder, but I simply can't wait until Thursday to share my excitement.

The new Rowan is here! The new Rowan is here!

When bad pompons happen to good people

In the all about me department, I started my new real grownup job today. By grownup, I mean I can't work in my jammies or at the cafe as I am wont, there's no yarn discount, but I get health insurance and a retirement fund. There's benefits and there's benefits, y'know?

This job is so grown up, there was even an HR orientation. The highlight of the orientation was a short film, a summary of which follows:

A woman discovers a puddle in a campus parking lot. She locates the nearest emergency telephone and contacts campus security. Within moments a hazmat team in PVC suits and gas masks appear on the scene. They dump bags of kitty litter on the puddle, suck up the gunk with a shopvac, and drive off before the woman can thank them.

I was so stupefied I had to knit a bit on my sock to stay focused and calm.

On the walk home I kept an eye out for puddles, but could not locate any emergency telephones. I will have to find a different route home during the rainy season.

Once home, I engaged in a bit of fiber therapy, transforming this:

into this:


and then this:

I think I'll try navajo plying again since the colors are so purty. But once again, completely at a loss for what to make with this yarn.

The yellow/brown bits from the original roving (Interlacements wool/mohair) were cast aside for another project - they just didn't seem right with the jewel colors. Any ideas for what to do with those?

Another zucchini saved from the compost heap

Has this ever happened to you? Note the large green object on top of my children.

I do not seek out zucchini, but they have a talent for finding me. This was one of two humongous suckers thrust on me over the weekend.

I am not in a zucchini bread state of mind. It's just not that tasty, y'know? But I felt guilty about chucking these on the compost pile. Here's what I have come up with so far:

That's Ersatz Okra, spicy corn-meal dusted, deep-fried zuchinni inspired by Stella's creation at last week's shrimpapalooza. It turned out pretty darn tasty, but we still have enough zucchini to feed everyone in this zip code, so I am casting about for more zucchini ideas.

While on our honeymoon in Greece, we had some fabulous zucchini fritters, laced with feta and mint. I'll give that a try tonight, and will report back tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a question for you to ponder:

Is frying the only way to make zucchini yummy? I don't mean palatable, as in a stir-fry ingredient or zucchini bread. I want a zucchini dish that will activate the yum center of my brain.

Although I don't grow zucchini, I do grow as much of this as I can in my postage stamp garden:

Hmmm.... Basil, pine nuts, parmigiano reggiano, olive oil. What could I possibly make with these ingredients?

But of course. 2 quarts of this:

We'll be gorging on farfalle al pesto the rest of the summer. With bread and a tomato salad, you've got the world's best 10 minute dinner.

Grits Redux

Evan ordered this for breakfast the other morning:

Purple grits - it's what's for breakfast

I have a sinking feeling this is the beginning of a family tradition.

Continuing the purple theme, I finished this today:

Yes, a single sock. I would start the second sock, but I can't for the life of me find the second skein of yarn. Argh. Maybe the fairies took it? I sent Evan downtown to investigate. Is it here?

Evan waited patiently, but no fairies emerged bearing yarn.

But Evan is not one to give up easily. After searching high and low (mostly low), Evan found another tiny door, this one surrounded by giggling little girls. We watched and waited, but again, no fairies.

So, what to think? Are the fairies on vacation? Are they invisible? Are there doors we have overlooked?

Waaaa. I want my yarn.