Summer's here!


I am dancing between the blissful feeling that comes with the lack of schedules and requirements, and seeing my children's lovely faces throughout the day, warmed by the sun (or in aquaboy's case, sunburned) and the jangled "how will I do this?" thoughts that invariably come during times of transition. I am having a double transition; still figuring out how to work my days and weeks to get the best out of my tome for the business, and managing the transition between summer and school. I see it in my kids as well. Boychild alternates between yelling at me about what he's not going to do (dinner, swim practice, you pick) and plunging headlong and with joy into those very same activities. The mermaid is either roiling around in the water, giggling with her best summer buddy, or laying in her bed, which i've discovered contains enough food, electronics, and reading material to sustain an army for the rest of the year.




Even the puppy is having his moments. Having failed miserably at crate training, we had abandoned the scheme in favor of gating him in the kitchen. When Cody began to vault the gates with ease and devour our furniture and our house, we bought him a big boy crate. So far so good.
Luckily, he is also enjoying sitting in the yard on a long lead, watching the world go by and barking at it:) I think he'll be thrilled to sit in bed with the girlie and eat her food and toys all summer, too.





I have been spinning like a crazy woman. This loveliness is the Knitwitch's bfl roving in melanza (that's "eggplant" to you and me) and I have a sweater's worth. i'm planning to three ply it. I accidentally bought some merino and some bfl, so i'm planing to ply each fiber together. I decided to make Veronik Avery's Offset Raglan from Simple Style, and am now having Brittany dye a bit more merino for me so i can be sure to have enough. Love the sweater and LOVE this book.

I am still knitting away on my very boring High line cardigan;l down to the last 6 inches of the last piece. Hopefully, I can get it done soon. Swim meet coming up; that should help:) Wayne's socks were put on hold when "Stinky" (can you guess who that is?) ate my knitting needles. this dog is too smart. one minute he's sleeping innocently in a chair. Next minute, he's knocked my purse on the floor, has taken out my project back, and has pulled the needles out and eaten the tips off! Aarggh! I made it into my LYS to buy new needles, so we're back to work. Not only did i get needles, but a lovely Kromski spinning stool, followed me home too:)


Our Summer colorway inspiration contest is on its last day today. Even if you don't want to play, you really should go look at the great images. There is clamoring for a fireworks color; should be fun to try to do. As usual, i am down to the wire (June 21st is next week!), so I will get busy developing new colors as soon as i finish dyeing miniclub. Almost done, believe it or not, even with the strange green spots that wound up on most of the first round of Arctic Pearl (yep, that's the new name for the blue one in the Pearl series). No worries, no one will get ones with green spots, but we will be discounting that lot in the next update:)



Speaking of updates, the next one will be NEXT Sunday, the 27th, probably at three. My summer life rhythms are dictated as usual by the swim and dive team scedules, and that is just fine with me. Tomorrow is a big day: the Mermaid's first really big A meet (after a long winter of hard work, it's really nice to see her reap the benefits), followed by her first Bat Mitzvah (her friend's, that is). Not surprisingly, she has a cold:)

Soon you'll be suffering through multiple swim and dive pictures of my beautiful children. Oh well; might as well sit back and marvel over how big they are and such.

Other than dyeing for updates and wholesale orders (did you see my Djinni go up at the Loopy Ewe?), I'm planning to do Stitches Midwest. Okay, I haven't officially sent my money in yet, but i will. it's a huge step for me, as it is far and none of my other vendor buddies will be doing it, but it's a great time for me, and I think my husband may drive one way with me. And Karen, as in "make it so Number one", is going with me. We are having a Thelma and Louise-style yarny road trip. (But don't worry; we will be back:) I may also add the Shenadoah Fiber Festival to my schedule because it's near, and the Mermaid should be able to assist me without missing school.

Now, I shall leave you with a few lovelies I have up in my shop, just because. Above is Poseidon merino silk spinning fiber. This is Smoky Mountain Naiad sock.


And, fnally, Velvet Underground Naiad Sock. Happy June!