Random thoughts on a Friday night...

I'm starting to miss knitting. Spinning and crochet has been my fiber life for several weeks now, and I really want to get back to something on two needles soon. Absence makes the heart grow fonder...apparently true!

The coming week is going to be buuusssssyyyy. I'm tired just thinking about it.

There is one more week in Tour de Fleece. I won't say I'm glad, necessarily. It's been fun to spend time spinning daily. But I'll be glad not to have the "have to" aspect looming over me when it's done.

When TdF is over, I am taking a break from any other KALs, challenges, or what-have-yous until Soctoberfest in October. I need a rest from these things, enjoyable as they are.

It is raining. I love the sound of rain.

I've been thinking about goals and accomplishments lately...the ones I've met, the ones I haven't. I'm trying to celebrate the former and lighten up on myself about the latter. Over-achievers R Us, I'm afraid. :::sigh:::

Going for dinner tomorrow with Amy, whom I haven't seen in ages. Mad Mex! Fish tacos! Olé!

The kids leave for camp in nine days. Yeay! A free(ish) week for me! Ack! Things to do this week to get them ready!

I want to go kayaking.

But not tonight. Tonight I want to go to sleep. Tiiiirrrreeeed. :}

Anton Strout and thoughts on writing (mine, not his)...

On a recent bookstore jaunt, I found myself in the fantasy/sci fi section, waiting for Christopher to pick out a new Star Wars novel. A book on the end of the shelf where I was standing caught my eye. Dead to Me by Anton Strout. It was categorized as "urban fantasy," which is a sub-genre I hadn't actually heard of before, but the blurb on the back cover sounded intriguing, so I picked it up. (And paid for it. Really.)

I'm only about halfway through the book (not a commentary on the book, but on my limited reading time in the past few weeks...spinning has been taking up most of my free time), and I usually don't recommend books before I'm finished with them, nor authors I've not read before until I've finished one of their books, but I've got to give a shout out to this book and Mr. Strout. This book is so not what I was expecting...in a good way. Not so much the storyline itself, but the humor. I love the sense of humor with which Strout has endowed the characters. It was totally unexpected for me. Maybe it shouldn't have been, but it was.

I've been following Strout on Twitter lately, which is how I came upon the entry on his blog today that talks about something I know a lot of writers can relate to...the need to write around a day job. I've been fortunate to not have to juggle that in the traditional sense of a 9-5 job, but I distinctly recall from my freelancing days the struggle of balancing the SAHM thing, homeschooling my kids, and trying to make time to write. 

After a fairly lengthy hiatus (about six years...wow...), the desire to writing again has been growing in me. (Fiction, that is...beyond my blog, I have no immediate plans to revisit non-fiction, and the thought of returning to the freelance world makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and whimper.) 

So, what's holding me back? Well, aside from the usual writerly neuroses of little voices telling me I have nothing to write that anyone would ever want to publish, let alone read, I also hesitate because of the time factor. For me (and probably most writers, I'd guess), writing requires entering deeply into another world, and that isn't something that is always easy to do if you know you're not going to be able to stay for long. It would be like having 10 minutes to go to the beach and wanting to swim as far out into the ocean as you can, but knowing you won't have time enough to make it back to shore before the bus leaves.  

There are a lot of important priorities in my life right now. My kids and homeschooling remain at the top. My dedication to kickboxing has become integral to getting myself healthy, and I won't be giving that up. Knitting and spinning provides the sanity break I need here and there throughout my days. So I ask myself...where does writing fit into all of that? Can I make the time to do it justice between the other priorities in my life right now, or will it turned out to be a half-assed effort, or will something else suffer? I'm not sure yet. And I probably won't be sure until I dive in and give it a try. 

I know the bottom line answer, though...if writing is important enough to me, then I will make time for it. Simple as that. (Riiiiiight.)

Pictures of life lately...

...because they are easier than words...and more fun...LOL

From the 4th of July...sparklers!

Also from the 4th...family gatherings at my in-laws' house usually involve tractor rides...and here are all the kids who enjoyed riding in the wagon. So many little ones, and ones who aren't so little anymore!

One of the things I love about my in-laws' place is the crazy amount of old stuff that is laying around the buildings, which I find curiously artistic to look at.

Last Sunday, I went on a hike with my friend Angela in the countryside near her house...there were cows...moooo...

And there was lots of simply beautiful scenery...I love the country...

Look at that sky!

Angela had one of her Italian Greyhounds along for the hike...isn't Ethan cute?

And lastly, I'm still spinning for Tour de Fleece. It's taken me four days to finish one bobbin of my next album cover yarn...this is represents The Creepshow. It is the Happenstance Roving I bought back in March from Serendipitous Ewe at the Homespun Yarn Party. I'm adding in some dark purple curly locks to get the color scheme closer to the album.

So, there you have it. Life in pictures.

Can I just say that I can't believe it is mid-July already? I've been enjoying my summer so much. The temps have been unseasonably cooler, but not too cool. Just right for me, actually. We've done a lot of fun things already, had some good family times. They kids still have their week at camp coming up, which I look forward to as much as they do, frankly. LOL But I have this summer to-do list sitting here, which hasn't seen much crossed off. I really need to get on the ball before fall gets here and I want to kick myself for not getting more done before the school year starts up!

Fiber-related progress...

I realize I've been a slacker with regard to Tour de Fleece updates, but rest assured, I have been spinning every single day of the race, and pretty much all of my bobbins have looked like this once they were filled...

Team BKG decided to spin yarns to match various album covers. The first I chose to do with Joan Jett fiber (singles pictured above), which I finished plying today...

...I totally love how it turned out, even if the colors didn't match the album cover quite as well as they did in their original fiber form. The fiber was 8 oz. of Scarlett Fleece 100% Australian Merino Wool Top in the Raisin Berry colorway. It is so soft and yummy! I got just under 600 yards of a 2-ply light worsted weight yarn from it.

In the land of crochet, the Silk Garden granny square afghan continues to grow...

...I am in love with this project and never want it to end. Ever. You might think I'd be bored doing that same crochet thing around and around as the blanket gets bigger, but no. Not with Noro. The colors just keep pulling me along, like Bugs Bunny following a carrot.

No knitting news to report. Spinning and my Noro blankie have been taking up all of my crafting time. That and learning how to process RAW images from my camera, something that I've been successfully ignoring now for several years of digital SLR ownership. I'm still not sure how much I like working with them versus the JPG images I'm used to, but I'm going to continue to play and see how it goes.

And apropos of nothing fiber-related, I took this cool picture of the newly waning moon last night...

I love the moon.

Because I'm such a follower sometimes...

...I'm doing this meme that Stephanie posted on her blog the other day. I think I've done it before, but seeing as it's about music and my iPod (two things I love so much!), it's worth doing again. :)

The rules: Turn on your MP3 player. Go to SHUFFLE songs mode. Write down the first 15 songs that come up--song title and artist--NO editing/cheating, please. Choose some people to be tagged. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about your musical tastes, or at least a random sampling thereof.

(Note that I'm not tagging anyone, but if you want to play along, please do and let me know in the comments so I can see your list!)

1. (F)lannigan's Ball - Dropkick Murphys

2. Drown - Three Days Grace

3. Every Morning - Sugar Ray

4. The Riddler - Kent Schoch

5. Tu Vuo Fa L' Americano - The Puppini Sisters

6. Moon Shadow - Cat Stevens

7. Man in Black - Johnny Cash

8. Handle with Care - The Traveling Wilburys

9. Lola - The Kinks

10. Voodoo - Godsmack

11. Hoodwinked (A Suspicious Tale) - Kent Schoch

12. No Sleep Till Brooklyn - The Beastie Boys

13. It Don't Mean a Thing (If it Ain't Got that Swing) - Michael Maxwell and his Orchestra

14. Go All the Way (Into the Twilight) - Perry Farrell

15. Citizen CIA - Dropkick Murphys

LOL Interesting list...a moderately representative of the types of music I tend to listen to, if not the exact artists (though to be a truly representative list there would need to be more alt rock and some psychobilly...but what can you do when you're only allowed 15 songs?). And there is only one truly embarrassing tune to admit (#3). And just to note that while #2 and #14 are on my iPod, they're actually from my daughter's music collection. :}

So, what's on YOUR iPod? (Said in my best Viking-a-la-Capital-One-commercial voice.)

Weezer and the anti-knit...

Before this post will make sense (well, as much as possible, anyway), you must first go and watch this Weezer video. Embedding has been disabled on YouTube for this one, so I can't insert it here, but go ahead...go watch it, listen to the lyrics, and then come back. I'll wait.

...Dum de dum de dum...

Ready to continue? Cool.

I heard this song on the radio last week for the first time in eons. I mean, it came out in 1994, so I'm sure I've heard it dozens of times. But...I wasn't a knitter for most of those years. As a knitter, I heard this song with new ears. I have since dubbed it the anti-knitting song, for obvious reasons. Let's review the four main lines of the song...

If you want to destroy my sweater...

What?? Why would someone WANT to destroy his sweater? Is it ugly? Is it some horrible, cheap, acrylic sweater bought on sale at Wal-Mart? Is the person just mean and spiteful? Perhaps did a former girlfriend knit it for him and, being a clueless guy, he doesn't realize he should not wear it around the current girlfriend? Or, is the "sweater" a metaphor for something bigger? Some aspect of his deeper being?

Pull this thread as I walk away...

OK, clearly no one consulted any knitters when these lyrics were being written because typically we do not refer to it as "thread". Unless maybe it was a store-bought, machine-knit cotton sweater. That could indeed look like thread. But really? Sweaters are made of yarn. I suppose "Pull this piece of yarn as I walk away" doesn't sound quite as rhythmic. 

Watch me unravel. 

Unlike cartoon animals whose fur unravels with ease, I don't think this will work with a sweater on a human. Even if the sweater was knit in the round, maybe a raglan, you're only going to be able to pull so far before the freed yarn wraps uncomfortably around him. To truly unravel it, he'd have to be spinning like a top, know what I mean? 

I'll soon be naked...

Naked? Seriously? This can only mean one of two things. One, the wearer is drastically under dressed and could be cited for indecent exposure. Or two, and possibly more likely, it is a hand-knit sweater whose maker failed to check gauge, thus instead of being a traditional sweater, it is more of a sweater dress. Still...he's a guy. Why is he wearing a sweater dress? Not that I'm judging. 

Or, if we go back to the metaphor theory, then perhaps the unraveling of the sweater is meaningful in some other way. It could represent the ripping away of some dysfunctional part of his psyche, leaving his soul bare and naked to be reborn into something new and beautiful. 

Or maybe he's just into being naked on the ground.

...lying on the floor. I've come undone.

The person who is truly going to come undone is the poor knitter who put all that time and energy into that sweater! Sure hope she doesn't find out, know what I mean? 

I thought perhaps watching the video would give me some incredible insight into the meaning of this song. But no. No insights. Near as I could tell, none of those guys was even WEARING a sweater! And what was with the dogs? That was just random.

P.S. A spinning update: I have indeed been spinning every day of the Tour de Fleece so far. I'm nearing the end of my first batch of fiber and cannot wait to begin plying. I'll post more soon with pictures!

Happy 4th!