Rain, blessed rain

We got rain today. I woke up to a distant rumble and by the time I got downstairs, it was crash after crash and a deluge. My rain bucket was filled up in minutes. I must get a barrel or something.

This wee guy is the boss of me:

All seven pounds of him. He's a chihuahua/pomeranian mix but out of two litters, he's the only shorthair.

He's even sitting in my knitting seat.

Got some spinning done today. I may be a total loser at this. Or I could just be dealing with evil wool. I decided to knit up my homespun (I'm laughing here to call it that) so I could have a "diary" of my spinning. I'll use it to line the pet bed this winter. Professor gets so cold.

Here it is:

It actually doesn't look too bad. It varies from laceweight to pencil roving through. LOL

I've decided the Fortissima wants to be Monkey socks and that's why I've had so many problems with it. I'm convinced yarn knows what it wants to be and if you don't connect spiritually with your yarn it will bite you in the butt until you do.

Jesse's Flames is coming along nicely. I might post some pictures of it tomorrow. Up until now it was just a black sweater but I have some red in it so the contrast will make it look a bit more interesting.

I have toyed with the idea of working somewhere in the fiber industry but I have no self-confidence. That's one of the reasons for taking the Master Knitter course. I do need to hone my skills. I'm totally self-taught and a lot of that teaching was wrong, wrong, wrong. I never understood gauge until the past few years. I'm such an idiot. For years I made things that didn't fit and never understood the differences in yarns (having only Red Heart available.)

Didn't go to Knit Night tonight. I just flat out didn't feel like it. And I didn't have anything on the needles that compared to what they had on theirs. I don't know that I could have walked in with Lion Brand to a LYS. I definitely couldn't walk in with Red Heart Symphony.

I'm dying to do a lace shawl. I need to sit on my hands and not succumb though. I have so much going on now, I don't think I could enjoy it. I'll wait until things calm down a bit.

Finished Deathly Hallows last night and handed it off to Zach. He did a marathon and was up all night so I let him sleep this afternoon. Excellent book. I think it was her best.

Off to do dishes and clean the house before I can sit down and knit. I worked on my swatches for TKGA today. I thought I had pretty even knitting until I tried to knit a swatch that would be evaluated.

TTFN

Life in the slow lane

StuffMart was a madhouse last night. I stood in line for about an hour (with my green Slytherin bracelet) only to find out when I was third in line that those who prepaid had to go to customer service. Nuh-uh. I made them sell me a book in that line. They apologized for not letting me know ahead of time and I got my book. I didn't mind waiting in line though. I was knitting on this:

My needles aren't the same color because I pick them up at the thrift store in pairs or singles. I got a few compliments on the sock, mostly for the colors in the yarn. Several high school girls looked at me with really strange expressions on their faces. I have no idea what they were thinking, but it didn't look like they "got it."

I'm only about three chapters into Deathly Hallows. I'm not in any hurry to finish it. I want to savor this last book, but staying away from spoilers is hard. I don't want to stop reading blogs but I may have to.

I should be washing fleece today. We're looking at several days of dry weather (which means my flowers need my help.) But I got my Master's level one course and I want to study the syllabus for that, and I want to knit on Zach's sweater for Christmas (Jesse's Flames.) And I have three socks going (different socks, not part of a matched set.) And I should be mopping floors and cleaning. I did get some organizing done this morning but it's especially hard on weekends because dh is home and hard to clean around.

I found a bicycle in the garage that someone had given Zach (my 18 year old baby) about 10 years ago. It was way too big for him at the time and since we forgot it was there, he inherited Stephen's (my firstborn) a few years ago. It's about my size so I got it out but it's rusted and needs new cables and brake adjustments so it will be a while before I can ride it. I did buy a basket for it though. I'm ready as soon as it is.

I also should be carding wool. I only have about 5 rolags (and they are bitty) and it won't take me but an afternoon to spin that. Not that it will look very well yet. I've got the spinning down, but the drafting is difficult because of the inadequacies of my rolags. But I do improve each time I do this.

I also have books from the library to read on spinning. I am off to accomplish something today. Maybe I'll even find time to walk the dog. My weight loss has slowed down to a crawl these past two months. (Down 59 pounds.)