I amar prestar aen.

Moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:22:00 +0000

You can find me now at:

http://justoneanna.com/blog

And now, a list of suspects...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:43:00 +0000

We've narrowed down the suspects in the couch fiasco to two...

Charlie - newkitty, and prime suspect, though with possible mitigation of fault:

Possible Aliases: Chuck, Trouble, and Scrawny

Max - our first cat, and likely prime motivation for the couch incident, as he's rather a bully sometimes:

Possible Aliases: Maxo, Maxmo, Chubs, and Bucko

It would, however, appear that these two are much like teenaged brothers. When there was only one litterbox, it was a point of territorial contention. Max, being both larger and stronger and the "more established" cat, seemed to cause Charlie enough stress that he'd avoid the catbox and preferred the couch. However, now that there are TWO boxes, they don't have to fight over them...

So they both use either box interchangeably.

Much like their food bowls.

Do not ask me to explain cats.

and it's only tuesday....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 22:59:00 +0000

So I"m sitting around this morning in a terry bathrobe and a pair of panties, having woken up late and feeling lazy on my day off, and I sit on the couch to see what's on TV...

[sniff] [sniffsniff]

something smells funny.

So now here's me, not wearing much in the way of clothing, crawling around on my hands and knees in the living room sniffing things

[sniff] nothing. [sniffsniff] nothing. hmm... [sniff] vague something - maybe the couch? [sniff] nope. [sniff] not there. [sticks nose in between couch cushions] [warm and wet] eeeeeeeeeeeeew.

I begin to dismember the couch. throw pillows? fine. blankets? fine. back seat cushion thingies? fine. pull off one of the seat cushions.... not fine. so one of the cats has been peeing in the couch, between the two seat cushions near the back of the couch... and not just like little oops pee. like pee stains all the way through the sofa bed. the more i dug, the worse it got. No idea which cat, either.

So I look at my little 8oz bottle of kitty enzyme stuff... and I look at the totally dismembered couch... sit down on the floor and have a good cry. and then go to petco.

I've now cleaned and neutralized everything in the damn couch that had pee on it and everything else too; the couch cushion covers got handwashed in the tub (don't ever do that if you don't want to be grossed out. couch cushions get NARSTY), the cushions themselves have been soaked in stuff, the sofabed matterss is soaked, I have it pulled open and spewed all over the living room with a box fan blowing on it to help it dry. I set up a second cat box, and Charlie was in it and peed IMMEDIATELY - like - i almost couldn't get the box put together. He's been in a better mood since then too. so I'm guessing it was territory stuff.

From what I can tell, the couch covers smell of orange and woolite. The mattress smells like orange and vinegar. the cushions may have to get treated again, because they're still too wet to tell. The living room looks like a tornado hit it, and I just finally got a shower for the day.

It's been a long day.

Mr. Earnest Twinkletoes

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:38:00 +0000

I found out some more about Ernie, our outside kitty, that I had a picture of recently. His full name is Mr. Earnest Twinkletoes, and there's a lady here that's adjusting him to inside, getting him vet care, and thinking of adopting him. (she'll have him neutered) He and an orange and white tabby that are strays here used to live in one of the apartments, and the lady moved out and just dumped her cats. Unfortunately, the orange tabby isn't friendly, and is hiding out. Unlike Mr. Earnest Twinkletoes, who loooooves people and attention.

I have decided that Mr. Earnest Twinkletoes is one of the best cat names I've ever heard.

We are, however, still considering adding a 2nd cat, and will be meeting with our local foster kittymom tomorrow afternoon to look at three of the cats that she's currently fostering. Max has some serious attention issues, and with me working more, he's becoming really really loud all the time - and he's overeating (because he's bored). We play for several hours every day, but I can't physically spend every one of his waking moments playing with him, sadly.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:48:00 +0000

The person who invented scoopable, flushable kitty litter is made of win.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:02:00 +0000

Just went this past weekend and got my hair cut (at a real salon! gasp!) by a long haired lady. She did a really nice job - I asked her for a 1/2'' trim. she combed out my wet hair and then pulled it forward, showed me 1/2'', and then said that she thought that taking closer to 1.5'' would result in a better hemline, if that was what I wanted, since the ends were split - but that it was up to me.

I took her suggestion, and I'm glad I did - the ends of my hair look much better, even if I'm still crawling towards waist, it seems. She also suggested doing more conditioning, which I needed to hear, since I've been rather lax in the "hair extras" dept.

Max is doing great - we finally resolved his tummy troubles with a new food, and since then things have been good. He's very attention hungry though, and I'd like to get another cat to keep him busy and give him a companion, but K isn't so keen on the idea. We'll see (I think he wants the cat to be like baking - add 1c food, 2 bowls fresh water, 1 clean cat box, and 2 hrs playtime = happy cat, and doesn't realize that the cat has a personality and needs and such).

We also have a semi-addition - Ernie, a local stray, has been hanging around. I've been feeding him Max's old food (the stuff he doesn't get to eat anymore, since it makes his tummy upset), and he's very sweet. He and Max have met through one of the windows, and he's incredibly personable. He's polydactyl (hence the name Ernie), and a medium sized Tom. The rumor is that he's unowned, too. I'd love to bring him inside, but again with K and not being sure about another kitty. Either way, I'm really becoming attached to him. He's quite lovable.

I'm SO happy it's fall too - and I've been cooking and baking more. I wish the leaves would turn, but I'll take cooler, more temperate weather.

laugh-out-loud cats?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:07:00 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/apelad/sets/72157600296941365/

KnitWars and Finished Socks

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:26:00 +0000

So, I finished the first Hedera sock (the green ones I posted before):

And it came out pretty good! *very* soft, and I really like the way it fits my foot. A nice toe - not too pointy.

I also happened to come across (through Lime and Violet) this Chore Wars business... it's like D&D, with housework. Now, I think this is a fabulous thing. It's like FlyLady, only with XP and monsters and gold. Lime and Violet found it and, in their cleverness, thought "ooh! I bet we could do that for knitting!"... and so they did. And I'm involved. Finishing a sock got me 50XP (if I finish the second one, I get another 100XP). I'm a level 1 Sorcerer (Annalira), and at 200XP I'll get to be level 2.

Yeah, it's dorky. *really* dorky. But hey - it's fun, it'll keep me on my knitting, and I may just sign up to motivate myself about the housework too :)

LIONGLOMP!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 18:04:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr1pWzoLvT8

Meet Max!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:06:00 +0000

Meet Max!

(Though we thought of calling him Satchmo, his voice is waaay too high pitched to be a Satchmo. So he's named Max instead. and yes, he talks a LOT!)

Max (who came with the name "Flamepoint" but lost it quickly... neither of us is keen on a cat nicknamed "Flamer") is mostly flame or red point Siamese, as far as we can tell, and has a TON of personality, a very loud diesel-engine purr, and likes to chat, even if nobody is listening. He is a "young adult" cat - from his coloring and build probably between 9 months and a year old. As he gets older, his nose, ears, paws, and tail will deepen to a dark golden color (we hope!).

We adopted Max a week or so ago and picked him up Sunday evening. He's a very good cat, completely comfortable with us and the apartment. House trained, friendly and affectionate, doesn't get on the counters/table (well he tried once, but a face full of water from a spray bottle convinced him quickly to get down), and *very* playful. Right now the laser pointer wins as his favorite toy with Mouse2-on-a-string coming in at a close second.

Mouse1 met a quick demise due to poor construction. Mouse2 is faring better (so far).

Currently, Max sleeps underneath my side of the bed at night - he seems to like being under things, and fits in some pretty tight spaces (like under my chest of drawers!) His very short coat doesn't shed much at all, and he's currently very much enjoying a catfood/yoghurt mixture treat as a way to help with some rough patches on his back/tail. He was in the pound before Second Chance Pets got him, and his coat didn't take well to the pound OR the baths he's had since then.

As I'm sure you can tell from the photo, he's not exactly easy to keep still when not sleeping.

He's pretty cute when he's asleep though

Lots of Washcloth patterns!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:01:00 +0000

http://dishandwashclothmania.wordpress.com/

I'm hoping to do a few knitted cloths, now that the shawl is done and has been given away. Lots of cool patterns here too! We'll see how that goes :)

Old Friends.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:57:00 +0000

It's always good to get to talk to old friends, especially out of the blue (:

Dread Gazebo?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:03:00 +0000

http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/98/Jul/gazebo.html

The Tale of Eric and the Dread Gazebo.

Finally!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:29:00 +0000

I got in to Ravelry today! Find me there as sentineledfirs. I spent way too much time there this afternoon, joined a pile of groups, and found about 15 things that I want to knit. rightnow.

But I'm still working away at the Luna Moth shawl for my grandmother, so that's going to take up my knitting time for now (and my housework time, it seems >.>) I've finished three and a half repeats of the four and a half that I"m going to do (I think - I may do 5 and a half... still not really sure on that one), and it's moving along well, but as with most triangular lace shawls, the longer you work, the longer the rows, the more slogging it takes to keep going. I'm doing the shawl in the yarn that that particular pattern also used, but in the colorway "Atlantic Mist" - it's a grey blue, with iridescent green and purple tones in it. Gorgeous, and soft.

I don't have any good pictures of the knitting itself so far, but I'll take some when it's finished. Of course, even in worsted weight, it looks like a rumply tangled mess of nothing, so it's not really all that much to look at.

I also still need to finish those Hedera socks... I'm turning the heel on the first one, but I can't seem to get into them right now. Probably shawl fever and a serious case of startitis. That and my love of bags are conspiring against me. Though I do have some of the wool left from finishing the Cozy throw, so I have to find *something* to do with that, right?

ravelry

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:12:00 +0000

there are only 150 people ahead of me in line for ravelry.

[squee!]

also - shelfari is an evil wonderful time vaccum. fun stuff. (find me there as amarprestar)

Harry Potter Knits?

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:18:00 +0000

As usual with such things, I end up about half in Ravenclaw and half in Gryffindor. This test was actually pretty good - lots of questions, and I ended up with 89 points in Ravenclaw and 86 points in Gryffindor. (70ish for Hufflepuff, 50ish for Slytherin). Which is cool, because then I get to pick which colors I make stuff in, depending on what I particularly feel like doing :D I've always most identified with McGonagall (who is, of course, a Gryffindor), but oh well. Now that I have my Charmed Knits book, I can totally get started on stuff. Not that I have any idea what to start with - but I think I have some red and yellow wool around here, so perhaps a hat, or a "book scarf".

The sorting hat says that I belong in Ravenclaw!

Said Ravenclaw, "We'll teach those whose intelligence is surest."

Ravenclaw students tend to be clever, witty, intelligent, and knowledgeable.

Notable residents include Cho Chang and Padma Patil (objects of Harry and Ron's affections), and Luna Lovegood (daughter of The Quibbler magazine's editor).

The sorting hat says that I belong in Gryffindor!

Said Gryffindor, "We'll teach all those with brave deeds to their name."

Students of Gryffindor are typically brave, daring, and chivalrous.
Famous members include Harry, Ron, Hermione, Albus Dumbledore (head of Hogwarts), and Minerva McGonagall (head of Gryffindor).

Take the most scientific Harry Potter Quiz ever created.

Get Sorted Now!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:54:00 +0000

http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2007/06/this-piggy-bank.html

Dishrags

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:11:00 +0000

Turns out LTKQ is also making dishcloths! Small world :D

Names!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 16:03:00 +0000

So I puttered around some more yesterday, looking at name stuff and doing conflict checks. Turns out Elianora/Eleanor/Alienor/Ellenor and all 15 other spellings are very popular in the SCA. So popular, in fact, that getting one registered that didn't conflict was going to be a serious issue. I think it's probably because of Eleanor of Aquitaine, and the fact that for the 150 years after her half of the queens were named Eleanor, along with at least one daughter of most major English and French and Spanish nobles.

Anne/Anna is much less common - in fact, there are only 5 other people with Anne or Anna names that have R- last names (and most aren't English). The name Anne is found in every major European country for most of the Middle Ages and Renaissance (including Russia), probably because it's a major Saint's name. But, even with all that, not many SCAdians seem to pick it - my only guess can be that it sounds too normal/mundane, where Elianora is something of an old-sounding name, or late-period sounding name. Either way, Anne is documentable to England from 1218 onward, and was pretty popular starting in the mid 14th century, so it's a good fit. (not to mention that several of my Warcraft characters have Ann or Anna names, so I'm used to being called that!)

The kicker, though, was the monogram. E's are not that fun to write for me, I can never make them look good. A's on the other hand, are rather easy... and AR is... well look:

Isn't that pretty?! I want to use it as a sort of "device" - a way to mark and distinguish my stuff.

So anyway, I went to fighter practice last night to meet with our herald, Brian, and get this done, and look at the last name book. And I was successful! The name "Anne atte Rydeforde" is on its way to Kingdom to be approved! yay! (atte Rydeforde basically means Anne that lives by the reedy stream - it's a byname, rather than a surname)

Instant Gratification Knitting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 16:51:00 +0000

So I've not been feeling so well for the past few days - the allergies are winning. On top of that, yesterday I had a fight with the health insurance, and then proceeded to lose my driver's license, credit card, and health insurance card. Followed, of course, by scrambling all over town looking for it, tearing apart my car and my purse and my desk... it was stressful.

(Karl did find the cards in my car last night though - no idea how, as I'd torn the thing apart, but he found them!)

So I've been knitting dishcloths. They're contagious too. Instant gratification - you make them, they only take a few hours to knit up, and they're just so useful. I'm hooked on using them, which means I'm now also hooked on making them >.> So far, only two made (a ballband dishcloth, and a "nubbins" dishcloth), but I have lots more cotton for others. The stuff is dirt cheap and comes in such bright pretty colors! Nubbins has some other variations, and I've found another waffle/slipstitch pattern that I want to try. I have lots of dark blue cotton, so I'm trying to pair that with brighter colors so it doesn't get too crazy (:

I also just received the Charmed Knits book from amazon - Harry Potter Knitting! I'm not sure what to make first, but I think it will be some "book scarf bookmarks" in the house colors, since I think I have enough scrap yarn around here to make them. I know LTKQ is making some Ravenclaw socks too. Such a fun book, and fun knits - there really is a good bit of knitting in Harry Potter. After that, I may try a house sweater... or I have no idea. Too many patterns that I want to make right now.

In other life stuff - I'm getting ready to register an SCA name. I've used the name Elianora for the last few years (which is documentable, and from the right time period 1325-1400, Southern England). However, I'm... well just not sure how fond I am of it. I'm thinking of looking at other first names. Fortunately for me, there are lots to look at online (as well as my local Herald letting me dig through the books). Currently pondering the name Anna. No clue on last names. Should be fun though. One instance of the name Elianora is from the book of English surnames, and her last name (according to the website) was Thimblebee. Which I happen to think is a fabulous last name, if a bit silly.

Coronation approaches quickly though, and I need to get my new wimple/veil sewn up. I may just make a new wimple and use the old veil (to save time), but the material I have is a 60% linen/40% cotton lightweight and it's very drapey and nice. My old veil and wimple are made of 100% cotton, so smoother and less troublesome to iron, but not as period. I guess it'll depend on how much I want to hand hem.

Gardening, upkeep and bugs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 17:57:00 +0000

I like growing things. Particularly things I can then eat. Herbs are nice (since they aren't quite as maintenance-hungry as fruits and veggies) so I've had a nice sized flowerpot herb garden since we moved into this apartment. Also, my most recent additions were a set of six tomato plants from Karl's dad (a farmer) that are just about done producing - they're plum tomatoes (about the size of an egg), with thick skins since they usually are for canning, but great flavor. My current herb list is: variegated and regular mint, spicy basil, curly parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, oregano and dill. Oh, and the Jalapeno plant - which is approaching another harvest; time to make more salsa!

I live on a second floor apartment with a north/northeast facing covered balcony, so sunlight is at a premium - the plants tend to stay clumped in the eastern corner to get the most sunlight. This places them right over the landscaping bushes down below us. The bug infested, moth infested, fungus infested bushes. (Can you see where this is going?) So we've had a bit of trouble, particularly with mealy bugs. Normally, they're mostly just a pest, but they've attacked my sage and tomato plants in droves, causing the leaves to die. They look just like the picture - so imagine my sage and tomato plants, only with those little guys literally peppered all over the stems and leaves, with bundles of them in waxy sticky piles at the joints. ick!

Now, Karl's dad is a farmer - aka a bug-eradication-specialist, particularly when it comes to plants, so we called him and asked for advice.

Suggestion 1: soak them. They breathe through their skin, so suffocate the buggers and they'll go away. This worked pretty well when it was a minor infestation and I could get to all the bugs. That lasted about 2 weeks.

Suggestion 2: Neem Oil - a contact pesticide and safe for humans, also suffocates them. Worked better than just water, but not that great.

Suggestion 3: Pyrethrin - ooooo... this works good! you can spray them and watch them shrivel up and die! except... there's still more of them. and more and more and more.

Ok - so apparently the bastards lay eggs on the undersides of plant leaves, where it's hard to get them off. So now I need to find a pyrethrin pesticide (safe for food-plants), and add some dishsoap to it, and drench my plants with it. Of course - I keep getting re-infested from the plants downstairs, so it's kind of a losing battle.

So today was doom day on the porch: I totally axed the three worst looking tomatoes, and kept the two best and the one with three tomatoes still ripening on it. Also took out the totally eaten nasturtiums and pruned the sage pretty heavily. The rosemary also needs pruning, but I think I'll wait to do that. Found a spicebush swallowtail caterpillar on the dill (that's probably a good thing, since butterflies like healthy plants, but he still got relocated downstairs), and generally gave everything the onceover and then fertilized and watered well.

Have some of the sage currently soaking in soapy water to kill the buggies so I can dry it and use it. Will probably give the rosemary prunings the same treatment. Damn bugs.

Dinner tonight will be mustard pork chops with baked crispy cabbage; there's frozen fruit that will hopefully be "semi-thawed" for dessert with icecream.

The Orange Monstrosity

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 20:52:00 +0000

So I went to Michaels this morning to kill some time (anyone else think of The Phantom Tollbooth every time they say that?) and grab some more paintbrushes for scribal stuff. And I noticed there was a bag on sale, for about 60% off. It was called the "Knitters tote" and was rather nicely packaged. I grabbed it and carried it around with me, contemplating, and grabbing some Royal mercerized cotton in the process (i want to try a new lace pattern... aka I'm gonna make a dishcloth).

I sprung for it.

as you can see... it's quite large. It is 15'' tall by 14'' long, the base is 5'' on the inside, plus the huge skein pockets. It has pockets everywhere. the exterior project pockets will fit several skeins of yarn (I have two sockotta skeins in one pocket, easily, and about 5 balls of Kathmandu Aran smushed into another) and have grommets going to the inside of the bag so you can feed the yarn through. Right now I have to projects on the needles so they're not fed through, but you can see the grey Kathmandu Aran for my lacy throw in the above picture.

Pockets!

there are at least this many pockets over again on the other side. The scissor pocket is particularly well made and lined with double canvas - since scissors are pointy, you know.

Six skein pockets are on the outside (3 on each side) as well as a small pocket on the outside of the main compartment:

On the needles: green Hedera sock; dove grey Kathmandu lacy shawl; and future dishcloth.

Not on the needles yet: Regia Silk for Clessidra cabled knee socks; Sockotta "fawn" variegated sock yarn; Regia Classic Cashmere - two balls. not sure for what yet. :D

It's huge. It's orange (I hope nobody assumes I'm from UTexas!) and I now, for the first time, have all of my active knitting (plus a few extra needles and such) in ONE PLACE. ONE! I have yarn in the closet, and some yarn in the living room. And knitting books on the shelf. But the knitting I need - everything I could possibly want for making one of my current projects is all there, in the Orange Monster.

(No, I've not shown Karl yet >.>)

Quick Update

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:40:00 +0000

Thanks to some searching on the internet and a friend with good ideas, I was able to tone down the hunan hand and still have a functional day yesterday. The end process? I made a very weak bleach-water solution (big bowl of water, small splash of bleach - maybe 2 Tablespoons), and soaked/rubbed my hands in that for a minute, and then washed them VERY WELL with cool water and dishwashing detergent (cuts oil). I then coated my damp hands in baking soda, to try to draw out the oil.

And in the end - it worked! My hands were still a little warm/tingly on and off, but NOTHING like they had been.

YAY!

Today I'm doing laundry and knitting. Started this sock pattern yesterday, and so far, I really like it...

So I've done a lot of dumb things in my life...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:24:00 +0000

but this one seems particularly so.

Anyway - this all starts yesterday when I notice on my back porch that I have quite a few ripe tomatoes as well as a pile of ripe jalapeno peppers. my pepper plant in particular has been producing like crazy! so I think... hmm... tomatoes and peppers... I can make salsa! yum! I had some more tomatoes around too, and a red bell pepper, and garlic, and limes, so I figured why not - and I was excited to make something out of my little porch garden.

see! yummy. So I washed them up and got to work

You can see in the last picture a good shot of my little fireballs as well as about half of the tomatoes I ended up using. The final count was kind of unknown... I just added things until it tasted right, but there was one white onion, the juice of one lime, four cloves of garlic, and one bell pepper in there too at the end. Karl helped me taste test, and we came up with something that's pretty tasty and not too spicy, though the kick it has is definitely late in the game - it doesn't burn until after (how prophetic this was)

So anyway, I got done with this, scrubbed my hands with dishsoap, and figured I was good to go.

Now, let me preface the rest of this story by saying that I've witnessed my mother's 2nd degree chemical burns from the first time she made salsa and the oil got under her wedding ring. I should have known better. About half an hour post salsa making, my hands started to tingle.

twingey tingling, kind of warm, not too horribly bad. Both hands, though I'd been very careful to only handle the hot stuff with my left hand to avoid too much issues. so I scrubbed them down again, and they felt better - for about 10 minutes. Then they started to burn again. a lot. So I soaked them in milk for awhile, which was both cold and seemed to do some good - then they started to burn again. I busted out the aloe, and that helped for a little bit too. but not for long.

so I went to bed.

Woke up this morning... hands still burning. grumble at husband, who thinks it's kind of silly, and go searching on the internet. I've tried vodka, and I've tried bleach. I've tried yoghurt. they all help, but at this point I've gone past having oil on my hands, and into the realm of "hunan hand" (yes, this has a name!). mild chemical burns all over both of my hands - concentrated on the fingertips and back of the fingers. it hurts.

so wear rubber gloves. at this point, I'm not even sure I want to so much as *look* at my homemade salsa. ((the only fortunate thing at this point is that I have avoided Jalapeno Eye. No, I won't be wearing my contact lenses today))

I learned something new today...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 22:43:00 +0000

http://www.amar-prestar.org/images/day1.jpg

Also... I learned how to spin today. I've wanted to learn how to spin with a drop spindle for a long time - and I found a shop about 20 minutes away that has classes and materials, so I just up and went! Walked in to what turned out to be their Wednesday afternoon stitch n bitch, and asked to see the drop spindle stuff. The lady who owns the store gave me a nearly hour long private lesson and then just let me sit and spin for awhile using "tester" rovings. I bought a spindle, two "pre drawn" rovings (that are already partially separated out so they're easier to spin) and two BRIGHT coral colored 2 oz merino rovings for my second project. I've spun up a bit of the pre-drawn and plied it, and it's super bulky, so I"m narrowing out the pre-drawn stuff slightly to make a thinner strand, so I can get more yarn out of it >.> It's lumpy, and not perfect, but it's recognizably yarn! yay!

Also working on getting stuff together for this weekend's SCA event (King's College - I get to go take classes yay!) and making K a tunic so he can go too. I've been in the SCA for 4 years now, but he's just starting to get involved. We both go and help the scribal guild every other Monday, which is a lot of fun, so hopefully he'll come with me this weekend. It's "messy" arts - so it's outside, with cooking on open fires and vat dyeing and stuff. yay! I scored some 50% off grey-blue 100% linen fabric today at JoAnns so I'm going to make that into a simple tunic for him. Good field garb, especially for TX in the summer.