After a pretty insane month at work that culminated in a heinous week and a particularly heinous day yesterday, my boss informed me that I was “working from home” today. In other words - I’m on call in case of emergencies, my work laptop on & at the ready, but I’m really just taking the day OFF - and she wouldn’t allow me to use PTO. Yes, I do have the best boss in the world. I knew that already, but yesterday she was really something. I’ve never had a boss that is so good at what she does, so hands-off-yet-helpful, so incredibly smart, and so willing to go to the mat for her staff when someone picks a fight (and let’s face it, there will always be some people out there who just need to do that and will find a reason if one doesn’t readily present itself). She’s the greatest!

Enough about work - I’ve got other “work” to do as I catch up on some of my favorite blogs & do some blogging of my own, finish up the charting and sizing of my MagKnits pattern today, and finish spinning the fire roving!

While doing just a bit of blog-surfing this morning, I had a few fortuitous & well-timed findings that made me smile:

Anne from Knitspot’s musings on pattern-writing

Marnie’s exceptional Excel usage for pattern calculations.

And, Dipsy Doodle’s site and new sock pattern, which coordinate so nicely with the fire roving!

Now, if only I could find a good tutorial to help with the schematic!

Here’s a few more pics of the fire roving/sunset yarn in progress for you - I’ve been predrafting in the car to & from work and spinning in the evenings (as anyone who saw Tad’s little stealth video of me knows!), and I think I may actually finish & ply by the end of the weekend! This has been my escapist activity this week - hopefully it’s not twisted beyond belief!

AND one from the catch-up vault! Elizabeth from Trailing Yarn’s interview!! I’ve been sitting on these questions for toooo long now, coming back to them, thinking some more, writing some more, and eventually coming back to the same answer. Really, I have no excuse for not posting this before now!

If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you like to be, and why?

I have a friend who once made comparisons between dogs & cats & people. She thought that cats were like humans can be - calculating, sometimes manipulative, thinking ahead, pondering that bird outside the window. Though I found this to be a bit of a pessimistic view, I have to agree at some level. Her theory extended to dogs - I think to quote it, it would go something like this, “Cats are like people, but dogs are like people SHOULD be.” So, not too terribly original, but I do agree wholeheartedly on this point. I would be a dog. Always living in the moment, no worry for the future or lasting regret for mistakes of the past, loving undconditionally, excited about just about everything (food! mommy! walk! water! sleep!) and wagging seems like such an appropriate expression of happiness.

Please share a defining moment from your childhood. Change the names to protect the innocent, if you must!

There was a book that we were assigned to read in high school, sophomore year maybe. My best friend’s dad was a pastor and was outraged because it covered some pretty adult topics (sex, drugs, violence, no happy ending if I remember right); he worked together with some other like-minded parents and tried to get the book banned from our reading list. I spoke at the school board meeting where this was under debate - on the opposite side of the issue. My memory being as shitty as it is, I remember very little about the book now except that I related to some of the characters and felt that it had some valid lessons although depressing. Given that fact, it’s hard to say whether my actions were a result of true moral feeling on my part, loyalty to my teacher, or (most likely) an act of teenage rebellion - but I’d have to say that it was worthwhile for the impact that the debate had on me. My best friend was still my best friend, and her folks were still good to me. And I remember my parents being proud - whether or not they agreed (or exchanged winks at my exertion of independence), they thought it was pretty great that I spoke out of my own volition on the issue.

Now, maybe I better go re-read that book and see if it was really worth all the fuss

What is the thing you like most about yourself? The least? Extra points if it’s two sides of the same coin!

Like most: I just like that I’m ok with myself, that I even like myself now. I feel like I’m finally coming into my own, and I don’t know whether that has to do with turning 30-something (whatever number it is now!), getting through some difficult times or what but I just feel calmer & less anxious about who I am, and where I think I’m going. Not so quick to judge (myself and others). Not so worried about what other people think of me and my plans. Not so ambitious in the generic definition of “success”. Re-defining what success means to me in terms of my relationships with people and with the world & my place in it, and what I hope to accomplish in this little life o’ mine. Not so ready & willing to be walked on, with a greater respect for myself and my instincts. Stronger and more aware of what’s important & necessary in my life. Less shy (though still painfully so sometimes). More willing to put myself out there and take some risks, whatever the outcome. More ready to take on the challenges that life throws at me. Long-winded way of saying I like that I’m the most comfortable with myself that I’ve ever been, and that’s pretty cool. I may not be exactly the kind of person that I want to be or think that I can, but I’m on the path.

Feeling philosophical I guess - Just bear with me!

Like least: I can be a self-righteous little shit sometimes. I’m working on it.

Is there a sport or adventurous hobby you’ve always wanted to try but haven’t? If so, what is it?

My original answer on this one was rock climbing. But actually, after sky diving, rock climbing might not be all that I think it would be. I was convinced that I would love sky diving and want to get liscensed, etc. Hmmm, not so much. I’m so glad that I did it and it was an awesome experience, but I’ve also never been so scared - and I mean truly frightened. I have a good head under stress generally - I’m good to have around in an emergency, but when I jumped out (tandem), I quite literally forgot everything that I was supposed to do and being bigger than my instructor, we just spun around and around and around until I heard her yelling and got my head back. We were fine, no issues, and after we pulled the chute it was even really enjoyable, but not worth the free fall to get there. So glad I did it - NO desire to do it again.

I might still like to try rock climbing though - at least you have a rope!

If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world, money is no object, where would you go and what would you do there?

This is kind of a cop out answer, but there are just too many places on the list right now. Tad and I really want to travel - almost anywhere. The choices that we’ve made have restricted us a bit in this area (though we don’t regret anything - we have a great life) - we went to Ireland for our first anniversary which was amazing, but aside from that, we haven’t done much real traveling. Top on the list are Kilimanjaro (which we are actually hoping to do in the next year or two with a couple of like-minded friends), Peru, Iceland, New Zealand…… etc. etc. etc. Within North America too - Alaska, Canada, the Midwest. I have to admit to feeling a bit, well, narrow-minded at times - I read about all these places, different cultures, governments, ways of life, but all I really know is my own little life right here, and I think there are some things that are just better to see and experience for yourself.

Thanks Elizabeth, those were some great, thought provoking questions! I had fun with it and thought and wrote about all of them before deciding on these 5. Despite the lengthy amount of time it took for me to finish & post, I enjoyed it immensely! I’ll follow your lead here - if anyone would like to play, leave me a comment, and I’ll come up with some good questions for YOU!

(Picture Heavy - click for big versions!)

This roving that I got at Maryland Sheep & Wool reminds me of fire - warm like the sun or a campfire, bright and happy. I spun up a bit at the last guild meeting, which as per current practice then sat on the bobbin for almost two weeks until I freed up some time to do something with it (hey, that’s actually good given my track record!)

So, this weekend, having finished the knitting on the Magknits project (and spent a good part of the weekend working on styling, etc.) I rewarded myself by sitting down to ply up a sample skein. I’ve been dying to ever since I saw Heather’s mini-skein and swatch of her merino-tencel - she got me totally inspired to see what this colored roving would look like plied and knit. And so, I jumped in and learned to navajo-ply (using this tutorial)!

I started with a bit of black single that I had spun up for practice ages ago and has been sitting on the bobbin for god-knows-how-long, and that went pretty well, so I jumped right in on the Fire single. It’s not perfect, and I definitely had some, ahem, SNAGS along the way (I broke the thinner single two or three times, and I knotted up a couple times too). But what fun! And I’m happy with the product, over-twisted though it is. There wasn’t much active twist left in it, after having sat around - Interesting and a good learning experience. I think I would prefer to ply with active twist. That would mean that I need to have a lot more time to dedicate to spinning than I actually do right now though. In the future I’ll follow Nancy’s instructions from Spinning 201 and make a quick plying sample as I go, so I’ll have a guide to work from. I was so pleased with the fact that I actually navajo plied (and it wasn’t that hard! Though I certainly need practice) that I knit most of the baby skein into a little swatch to see how it would look. It knit up at @ 8.5 stitches/inch on US1 needles - slightly tighter than I might normally knit it, but it might be good for socks no? Fire socks! Actually, it looks a bit more like sunset than fire now, the process having muted the color a bit - Sunset socks, then. Any pattern suggestions? Our girl Nicole from the design workshop has a good one that she’s just posted - go check it out (and give her kudos while you’re there)!

Now I’m chomping at the bit to spin & ply the rest of this fun stuff!

Is it bad to trash your hosting service on your blog?

We’ve been experiencing some frustrating down-time here at tadandmel & purlingplans, which we’ve been noticing every couple of days recently, and which a couple of readers have reported to us as well (thanks!). So we’re looking for a new host - we’ve gotten a couple recommendations for ICDSoft and Bluehost - Anyone out there have any other input or have a hosting service that you’re really happy with? We went with Globat initially after researching online, but would really like to go with a company that comes recommended. Thanks for any thoughts or input!

I have so much that I want to post about right now, unfortunately blogging energy has been a little light due to other inevitable life stuff recently (work - ACK!, family, walking, knitting, etc. etc. - not the least of which were some incredible gastrointestinal pyrotechnics from Mathias which sucked up the better part of this evening and christened my spinning wheel bag <cries>), but expect some updates on the following soon!

• The MagKnits project

• An interview from Elizabeth (I haven’t forgotten - I’ve just been distracted putting a lot of thought into my answers!)

• Spinning (believe it or not!)

• Goals check in

• 3Day training (we did a 14-miler yesterday!)

• Concerts & other fun life stuff

• The wonder that is Ravelry (Love it! Just haven’t had a chance to tell you about it, though I’m sure you are hearing about it everywhere - it really is THAT good! Come say hi if you’re on!)

• The Garden (with a capital “G” - I was kidding about the whole hostile takeover thing, but now I am actually getting a little Concerned.  With a capital “C”.

And there it is folks - I’ve killed yet another night that I should have spent knitting.  Unfortunately cleaning up poop, comforting the Little Man and saving my spinning wheel bag took precedence.  And then of course, I had to “unwind” with this meager blog post and an adult beverage.  Thank goodness he missed the vents in the floor, can you imagine the horror?

Cross-posted to tadandmel.com.

Our garden is doing so well! I’m a bit afraid that the squash is plotting a hostile takeover. And look how tall the tomato plants have gotten! I swear they grew another 6 inches over the weekend while we were gone (in Pennsylvania for my cousin’s wedding - congrats Matt & Natalie!) with all the rain that we had (leftovers from the first tropical storm of the season). All that sneaking out in the morning to water them and whisper “grooow! GROOOOOW!” surely helped too. Click on the pics to go to Flickr and see the details of what we planted. Hopefully in another couple weeks we’ll have ‘maters. And squash - and peppers - and cukes! Holy smokies look at the cuke plants!! They are totally outgrowing the box! And if we have anywhere near the amount of tomatoes that I think we will, we may have to have a salsa-making party!

We’re definitely doing some better planning for next year’s garden - we’ll add one more bed and we’ll put in some salad greens, snow peas, beans, and maybe some broccoli and cauliflower. More herbs too. You can’t have enough basil and parsely, dill and cilantro. And mint for mojitos!! While the garden has been growing, we’ve had such fun watching our little budding ecosystem and all the creatures who have arrived to take advantage of it - meet Friend Toad, Friend Chameleon (I think?), Friend Dragonfly, and Friend Ladybug (who, BTW, ate every last aphid off my mom’s rose bush - good little ladybug!) There is also a Black Skink who doesn’t show his face too often - and disappears super quickly, so we haven’t been able to catch him on film.

There’s an egg which I found in one of the herb pots when I was transplanting too - I carefully buried it again and tried not to disturb it - what lays eggs in the ground? Turtles? I haven’t seen any of those. The chameleon maybe? I had a thought that it was Toad, because that’s where he likes to hang out; but don’t they lay eggs in water (tadpoles??) I know, I’m showing my ignorance here! I hope it hatches - I want to see what it is! Here’s another of one of our friends hiding in the salvia in mom’s garden.

I love this shot - can you spot him (or her - sorry little one, I can’t tell!)?

And here’s a shot of some blooms a week or two ago:

Which have since become this:

How exciting!!

I do have some questions though, for those of you who are garden savvy (because really, I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here. Help me please!) So here’s a beautiful zucchini, about ready to be picked, I think. But what’s the deal with the flowers-on-the-stalks versus the flowers-that-seem-to-be-actually-growing-zucchini? I don’t even know enough to know if that’s a dumb question, I just wondered. The blooms are huge and beautiful, but only some of them are attached to baby zukes. What’s the deal?

And then there’s the cucumber plants (burpless, or so it says on the plant tag. Do cukes cause burps? That’s not my real question - I’m getting sidetracked.) My real question is this - the two fomerly tiny cuke plants are growing like weeds - overflowing the box, crawling up the hanging tomatoes, and even threatening to take over the compost barrel in the corner. There are tons of blooms, both past and still blooming - but no baby cukes to be seen. Where are the baby cukes?

Ok, and just one more, but I think I might know the answer to this one. The peppers aren’t doing nearly as well as the tomatoes and everything else. I have a theory - fact one is that the squash plants are almost totally covering a few of them, so they aren’t getting nearly as much sun as the other plants. Fact two is that the ones that aren’t covered by the squash plants probably still don’t get as much sun, because of the tomatoes on the right blocking the morning light, and the fence on the left, which limits the afternoon/evening light. Am I on the right track? There are a few growing peppers, and it might be that the plants are fine, it’s just that compared with the big dreams of their neighbors, they can’t possibly compete. Maybe they have smaller, less grandiose ambitions. Grow a just a few tasty peppers for some stir-frys or salsa and leave it at that, no need to go for full-on garden domination (did I already use that joke? Still not funny? Sorry, it’s the best I can do on an almost Friday morning after a long week!)
As for the knitting, well.

Pride comes before a fall. Never fear - I am winning (I think).