Ponderings, Qiviut, and more ponderings

Okay, so I was sitting on my rose covered veranda, basking in the long rays of the early morning sun, sipping my morning Earl Grey, thinking about Qiviut wool, Qiviut yarn, Qiviut roving, Qiviut raw fleece for sale ... I need it.

I am contemplating starting to spin wool, and apparently, this stuff is THE STUFF to have. I saw teeny spun balls of it in Columbus last weekend going for HUGE amounts of $$$. As we don't have the muskoxen down here, it is kind of rare to find.

I then thought "hmmmmm folks up in the seriously cold climates must have this stuff popping out of every corner ... oh, hey I KNOW some one up there!"

I got my first break from the boys last week. I went home for a week of classes at a techniques conference (knitting). It was so wonderful being home. I actually felt as though I looked good (dare I say haaaawwt?) for the first time in a long time. Wow, I actually had time for myself in the mornings! There was something so soul grounding, walking the very streets that every generation has walked since my great great grandfather. This vibration in my soul then took me down to Xenia Ohio, and I did a little family tree researching for another branch of my family, and I was able to find the resting place for my (get this) Great-great-great Grand mother and father. We all knew where to find the Great-great ones, but finding the Great-great-great's was a total kicker. Armed with my information, I drove around town and found their original homestead land, and a house from one of their sons (still standing there in Xenia!). It was seriously soul shaking, standing there on "their land", that had been forgotten about for almost 100 years. It is not our land anymore, but next time I go I am going to look for the house foundation. And one of these days, I would love to build my own house on it! I went to the cemetery, but could not immediately find the g-g-g's. That will be for another time as well.

I am starting to find such solace in simple, simple things.

One thing I am NOT finding solace in is the fact that I STILL have shitty dial-up.

Good times

KC2008 was a blast! I met so many nice and wonderful knitters there! I also re-met someone that I went to middle school with! I blew the whole wad, and took "the Whole Kit". Next year, I think I will do the Whole Kit and Kaboodle, which includes a reception and the talks by the "who's who" in the knitting world. This year though, I had to get my hair cut instead of going to the Ravelry Talk! I know I know, how could i DO that? Well, my Hair Lady is only available on Thursday nights, and she just recently got through a bout of battling cancer. I have been going to this woman since I was 4 years old. She is like a part of my family, how could I NOT see her? I figured that maybe i will get lucky and be able to see Casey at Stitches in Chicago? Who knows.

I have not mentioned knitting for a while. Not because I am not doing anything, just mainly because I have been uninspired by what I have been doing. I was/am making a blanket for Little Boy. Talk about mindless knitting ... it is the sideways knitted washcloth design. You know, knit every row, with one YO increase at one side. Woooo Hooooo! Now THAT's excitement! I have been sticking hard and fast to my "knit one item at a time, finish, start another" mantra for a long time, until now. I came home from that conference TOTALLY inspired. So inspired that I am right now working on a lace swatch from A Gathering of Lace. And not only am I going to do the lace, I am going to heavily bead it. I had been planning on starting Feather & Fan after I finished LB's blanket, but here is my justification for starting another project ...

1) Even if I bust my butt and finish the blanket this week (which will not happen) he won't be USING the blanket until this fall/winter.
2) I need to have a mindless project to take on long car rides, and to S'n'B. C'mon, when I go to S'n'B I spend most of my brain power talking to the other ladies, and could you imagine the mistakes that I could make on a lace project?