Eyes - Check!

Remember Me?

Well, well, well. We meet again, old friend.

I am talking, of course, about the Cuddlefish, who decided to hop into my knitting bag this morning and insists that I get his eyes down and cease this silly procrastinating, and who am I to argue? He's got a razor-sharp beak, and he knows how to use it.

So tonight, I'm finally finishing up this old project, or at least getting to the part where it's all coasting from here.

Projects Old & New

Well, I finished something this past week. A scarf, more specifically, that I hadn't thought was even serious enough to list on the sidebar. A few stitches here, a few rows there. Next thing you know, it's done!



And since I now had those needles free, I may have cast on for a sweater.



I also started adding in rows of the darker yarn into PSS Prime, and so far so good. It's hard to tell which rows are which when I'm staring right at it, so I figure it'll work just fine once I'm actually done with it. Hooray for nearly-the-same colorways!

Winter is Coming

Well, after all of the Yarnharlot's talk about mittens, and the actually CHILLY weather that we've been having all week, I've decided that Texas just might go ahead and get cold again this year, so I should probably be prepared. I already have my handspun socks ready and waiting to warm my feet when I get home, and my frilly green Beetons that I made last winter (when it snowed! It actually snowed!), and Galveston does double duty as a lacy silk scarf, so I figure it's time to perhaps actually make myself a damn hat (I think we all know how that's likely to turn out - how is it that I've made so many hats and STILL don't own one?).

So tonight I'm going to pull out my DPNs, and some sock yarn, and start making a hat that will be TOO GOOD for me to give away. I'm thinking colorwork, and fingering weight yarn in squishy, lovely colors. I'm not sure what all else will be involved, but I know I want a damn hat already, so it's time to suit up and get to work.

In PSS news, I've decided to knit on, working in the slightly-differently-colored yarn as I go so that hopefully the color difference won't be too noticeable. If that fails, I think I'm going to have to hire someone to dye it.

Not Enough Yarn for PSS Prime!

Well, I did the math today, and I definitely don't have enough yarn for my Persian Star Shawl, or at least not all in one skein. If you'll recall, I'm using a cone that's 2200 yards of cashmere from Colourmart UK, in an undyed fawn color. I do have another cone in a slightly darker fawn, but it is definitely a different color.

Right now, I'm just over 50% finished, at 90800 stitches, and there are 83968 stitches to go. I weighed my cone (3.4 oz), my shawl (4.0 oz), and the full cone (7.6 oz), and then checked the website to see how much of the cone weight was actual yarn (5.29).

That means I have a little over an ounce left, and need three more to finish. Obviously isn't going to happen, and I'm more than a little miffed at myself - in fact, it would be fair to say that I'm pretty fucking pissed at myself for not swatching more carefully, not getting a second cone, and blithely assuming that since Galveston (knit on 4s) used around 2200 yards, that of course I would be able to knit PSS with that same amount, on 2s.

I am clearly a moron.

So, I'm debating on what to do now. I'm coming up to an area where I could possibly do intarsia, big chunks of it. Does that work in lace? Is that a stupid damn idea? Should I really divvy up my remaining ounce into one-eighth balls, do the same with my darker fawn cone, and go to town that way? Or should I go dig out the cashmere yarn from that Old Navy sweater I recycled a couple of years back, whose color matches fairly exactly but which is an entirely different yarn? They seem really similar, enough that were they I given samples I couldn't tell them apart. I want to not have to do any extra weaving in, but I'm worried the intarsia option would be both insanely complicated (I'm not very good at intarsia - in fact, I suck), and the only way to get a consistent drape through the whole project.

This is going to take some major thought.

Spinning, Socks, and Socialization

Lately I've been spinning more. I got in a 5oz piece of roving from Fat Cat Knits (75% SW merino, 25% nylon), and it's the first thing I've actually finished spinning in quite some time. It's refreshing to remember that hey, I really would have free bobbins, if I just finished spinning what's on them now. I spun this up as a sock yarn, chain plied it, and last night gave it a good soak and let it set the twist of the yarn. Today, I'm starting on the first sock, and I have no idea at this point what it's going to be like.

I'm also about halfway done with the Nudibranch that I owe Hastur from years and years back, which once I started actually working on has been going really fast. In between these two projects, I've been working on PSS Prime, but not nearly as much as I should be.

In other news, I have become completely hooked by Plants vs Zombies. If you have not tried this game, go try it. Right now. I got it from popcap games, and it's amazing. You'll thank me for this later - it's almost as addictive as knitting.

Bring Out Your WIPs!

So, the moving process has been an interesting one for me. Yes, yes, I know, I should already count as moved because I'm actually living here in the new Casa del PenName and have been for a while, but I am still bringing stuff over from Mr. Ex's house, so bear with me.

I have found so many works in progress, just by moving my stash over. The most recent, which I am working on right now, is a sock knit up in Cherry Tree Hill's overdyed Louet Gems yarn, with a picot hemmed cuff and what was a half-finished twined-knit heel, which I have since completed and turned.

So, yeah, other than those two small points, this is a completely plain, stockinette sock, which I don't think I've done often. No stripes, no holding yarns together, just a stockinette sock with pooling stripes, and an interesting heel that I'm hoping will hold together well. I went up a needle size (1 from 0) for the heel, to keep gauge, and I'm about to pick up the stitches for the gusset. I considered trying to go and dig out the second ball of this from within one of my big boxes o' stash, but eh. I'll work on this one in the traditional manner - get one done, get second sock syndrome, eventually find first sock again and think why didn't I ever finish these?

You know. The usual.

The Halfway Dance!

Whohoo, I'm 50% finished with the Persian Star Shawl! It's an awesome feeling.

I didn't think, this past January, that PSS would take so long. I figured, yeah, I took the better part of a year on Galveston, but really, I slacked on it so much, surely I can knock out a completed shawl in four months or so.

Hahahahahaha. Hahahahahahaaha. Hahahahahahahaha.

*Wipes away tear* Yeah, that's a good one.

So I started this in January, January 20th to be exact, and that was almost 7 months ago. I'm not sure if that date was when I cast on the first stitches, or when I started sketching it out, but that's the date I put into Ravelry. So far, the PSS has been with me on the Rav February Meet-Up in Austin, has been with me while we planned our trip to Iran, and when that trip was canceled. It has been with me while Mr. Ex and I went our separate ways, and has been with me as I build my new life. The shawl has seen many changes, both in its design and in my life while I designed it.

May the next 50% be entirely less eventful.

40% Mark!

Whohooo! As of this afternoon, I have hit 40% on Persian Star Prime!

It's a good feeling.

Organizing

I spent most of today organizing things in my new apartment - more specifically, the yarn stash. I took pictures, wound and re-wound balls, and updated my Ravelry stash as I filled the yarn cabinets from the boxes and bags that've been sitting in my bedroom for the past few weeks.

I found a bunch of unfinished projects, but I know I haven't found all of them. I put some aside to finish, and some aside to frog, and all in all I think I have less than a dozen projects left on the needles right now, mostly scarves. I don't know why I keep starting scarves, since they take forever and I never finish them, but I've got at least 6 scarves in my WIP pile, most less than a quarter done.

Irish Miss is no longer missing, which is nice, as it's also the project that's farthest along of all my works in progress. It's about half done, if I stop at 36", but I have enough yarn left that I could probably make it twice as long. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do with the rest of the yarn for it, either continue and make a very long, very lovely cabled scarf, or use the rest for something lacier, perhaps another Anya or Emma or some totally different new design.

Persian Star Prime is about 37% done, which is pretty awesome. I'm 25 rows into the last chart, so I have 103 rows left (and, of course, the edging) to do, and then I'm done. I worry still about running out of yarn, but there's not much I can do for it at this point. I'm trying to make myself do at least two rows a day, at which rate I'll be done by the time September hits, which would be nice. 6 months isn't a horrible length of time for a shawl this size, from start to finish and writing up all the charts. It's half the time Galveston took, though of course I finished the second half of the knitting on Galveston Prime in the two months before my wedding.

Ah well. It's still the fastest shawl I've knit to date, out of all two of them, and that's not too bad. Once I get a television, I'll have something to occupy my brain while I knit, and that should make things go a lot faster.

Weekend, and New Socks

It is the weekend, hooray!

This has been a hell of a week, but I feel now like I'm finally settling down into my new life, and that's good. A friend of mine is coming up with her son (my godson!) for his fourth birthday party, and we're going to hang out all day and have fun.

The day I took Grue back to her foster mom, I came home after hours and hours in the car and needed to unwind. I picked up Persian Star Prime, but I just wasn't feeling lace right then - too much brain work. So I grabbed the square DPNs I got last time I was in Austin, and some sock yarn, of course, that I got to test out the new needles (Cascade Heritage Paints, in the Feathers colorway) and started making a toe. I haven't done socks in... months. Since the Bayerische socks, which remain half-finished in a box in my bedroom, waiting for me to rip the heels out yet again so I can reknit them in the right size. That was around christmas, wasn't it?

So I started on these socks. And I'm doing a garter stitch short row toe, because that's my usual fallback, and for some reason the garter ridges reminded me of this stitch pattern I'd seen on the bus one day, I'm thinking on someone's scarf? I wrote it down in my Idea Book (I love my idea book) thinking to make a hat of it, but you know, that would make a pretty sweet sock pattern too. So I did the math, and hey, what do you know, my usual 80-stitch sock just so happens to fit the pattern perfectly!

So I've been working on those, and I'll probably post the pattern up when I finish them. A simple, textured sock, for some near-mindless comfort knitting.

Dizzy, Dizzy, Dizzy!

Okay, so remember how I told you that the prozac was giving me some side effects? Well, the worst ones are of course the depressive episodes and suicidal thoughts (none since Monday, yay me), but the most annoying are the very light sleeping, and the vertigo.

So, Tuesday I went and saw the doctor, and she told me to take two of my pills until my current supply is empty, then to get the doubled prescription filled so I can take one twice-as-large pill. So, okay, I took my second pill that day when I got home, and two each morning since then.

Now, yesterday I did drive Grue back to her foster mom. Hastur came by and helped me load Grue into her crate (two person job, I tell you) and by 10 a.m. I was on the road. I dropped the dog off, then had lunch with some friends who live in the area, hung out with them for a little while to recover from the massive drive, then made my way home again. I got home at 9 p.m., tired, eyesore from concentrating on the road, and certain in my bones that I should not make a huge trip like that in one go until I get this vertigo thing beat but good.

Today the feeling of vertigo is worse, much worse. Worse enough that I'm feeling it with my eyes open, sitting at my desk at work, and I'm swaying a bit in my chair. I am so, so glad that I did my driving yesterday, because I do not feel that I would be safe on the road today. It's like the feeling you get standing somewhere high up and looking down, where you lose your sense of balance and feel like you're falling even though you haven't moved. I have that, sitting down, wide awake (though tired, I slept only lightly again last night), with my eyes open and my feet planted firmly on the floor.

I do not think this prozac is great for me. Eventually, I will have to drive again, if only to get groceries or go to the laundromat or visit family during the holidays. I can't afford to sway like this on the road, it's like being drunk only without all the pleasant actual drunkness or tasty margarita flavor. I'm hoping these side effects go away soon, or at least get back to their previous levels. I'm going to keep a record of them, and if they persist until, say... the 15th? I'm going to call my doctor again. I know these things take time, and I want to give my brain that time to adjust, but this is not a good sensation.

In more happy news, since I don't feel up to working on Persian Star Prime while effectively high, I started some socks. I had picked up the yarn and needles (those nifty square DPNs) up at the Knitting Nest in Austin last weekend, and last night it occurred to me that the stitch pattern I'd jotted down in my idea book (was it from a scarf someone was wearing on the bus? I don't recall) would make a pretty nifty sock. So I cast on for a garter stitch short row toe, my perennial favorite, and this afternoon I hope to get into the actual patterned portion of the foot. It's ribbing based, but interesting, and I think it'll complement the dark blue colorway I got nicely.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Well, folks, this is going to be a bit of a long post today, but it should usher in an era of shorter and more frequent posts, for reasons that will soon become evident. I know I've been largely MIA for about a month now, and the reason for that is...

Mr. Sweetie and I are separating.

First, the barrage of answers to the usual first barrage of questions: The details of what happened are between me and Mr. Sweetie, it's not anybody else's business. Yes, I am holding up okay. We are trying to remain friends. I have found a new place to live, and I move in next Friday. I have been sleeping on a friend's couch for almost a month now. Yes, I am still taking the prozac, and I plan to keep doing so for at least the next year (doctor just approved my longer prescription).

Heed of course is going to come with me to my new place - but Maggie will be staying with Mr. Sweetie. She is first and foremost his dog. She needs a stable environment with a loving daddy and a grassy yard to play in, and he needs his little piglet. Since I will have lots of time on my hands, and no longer want to live in a dog-free home, I will be getting one of my own - a one-year-old corgi/basset hound mix that I shall name Grue. I hope that she will be spunky enough to run Heed around, but laid back enough to chill on the couch with me while I play Warcraft. Since nobody expects the spanish inquisition major life changes, money is a little tight with me right now, so I've asked the dog rescue to please hold Grue for me until mid-June, when I'll have saved up enough for another pet deposit and her adoption fees.

Logistically, almost everything has already been worked out. I signed the lease for my new place last week, the security deposit has already been paid, and there is enough in Mr. Sweetie's account to cover my half of the rent on the old place for the remainder of the lease. Mr. Sweetie has agreed to hold my things until I can move them out, and has even offered to help me move the larger furniture, which is very considerate. I'll be within walking distance to work, which will be handy, because that way I'll be able to go home and walk Grue during my lunch hour.

I've been knitting a LOT lately. Like, have-to-make-myself-stop, tingly-sore-arms amounts of knitting. I've knit up to about 30% of the Persian Star Shawl, and written out the pattern for the entire thing. It's going to be a bit before it's PDF-ready, of course, since my actually-mine computer is still with Mr. Sweetie, and it may take some time before I can get internet at the new Casa del PenName. I can still post plenty from campus, though, so no worries there. I plan to put it up for sale via Ravelry once it's completely ready, and then start on probably another large lace shawl pattern.

I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands.

It's going to be weird living alone, I'm not going to kid myself about that. I've never lived entirely by myself, but in the end I think it will be a learning experience. I plan to cook more, which will of course require the number to poison control courage and creativity, but I think I can do it. I expect to be blogging a lot more, and playing a lot more Warcraft, and of course posting tons and tons of pictures of Heed and the new dog. Unfortunately, I can't have any alcohol now because of the prozac, so I won't be drowning my sorrows in anything stronger than a case of Dr. Pepper, no matter how much I might want to. I picked up Crazy Aunt Purl's book, "Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair", and let me tell you, she is one awesome lady.

So, yeah. That's me as of right now. Take care of yourselves, everyone. I'll be taking care of me.

Rrrrrrip!

The other night, I ripped out 23 rows of the Persian Star Shawl. Almost 1500 stitches.



That's a dime I used for scale. I didn't have a quarter handy.



It damn near broke my heart to do it, but the chart as I had written it in that section just plain sucked. There was too much empty space, too strong of vertical elements (and I don't care for strong vertical elements in circular shawls - makes 'em look like wagon wheels), and the whole thing was repetitive and boring. I don't want my shawls to put people to sleep, and I know that Galveston suffers from enough of that. It had to go.

So that section, like all that have gone before it, has been re-sketched and re-charted. It's a wholly different beast than it was before, and now I am enamored of it. I start to worry, though, whether I should change the name of this shawl? Because honestly, it bears absolutely no resemblance now to that original ceiling tile. I mean, I definitely like the pattern as it's written so far, it's just a very different beast than it started out trying to be.

And yet, it will be star-shaped in the end. Or star-shaped inside a round shape, actually, but you get the idea. Either way, it's time for me to pick up my needles again. I want to see how this next section looks when it's finished.

Henna OK!

Remember my freakout last post? Totally unfounded. As someone on the hennapage forums pointed out to me, "henna grows in the desert, is harvested in the desert, and sits is a warehouse in the desert until it gets to you. A few days in your mailbox won't hurt it."And right she was.

So I mixed up 100g of CCJ's Rajasthani henna, and let me tell you, it is NICE. I used only a pinch of sugar (it said I didn't have to use any, but I am nothing if not paranoid), and it is very stringy, but I think I'm going to go ahead and add a little more in anyways, to make it retain moisture a bit more. The unsealed paste, left on for maybe an hour or so, left a good B4 stain on the back of my hand (I drew a Murloc). I doodled on my palm as well, then almost immediately wiped it off because I had gone in without planning and the result, as happens, was not so great, but I'm getting about the same level of stain so I guess I'll have to live with that for a while.

In dog news, I'm starting to get a little concerned about Maggie. A few times now she's growled at Heed, once tonight, always around food, but while I know Heed doesn't really want to get to her food at all, I also don't want her to become food-aggressive at all, and don't really know what to do. So far we've yelled at her when she does it and sent her outside, where she can't do fun things like be pet and sit on the couch... but it does worry me. I've had Heed since the day he was born, so if it comes down to it, I know who we're keeping, but I'd really like them to be able to get along well enough to continue having them both.

Anyways, next weekend is my godson's 3rd birthday party, so even though I know I should be working on the Cuddlefish, I'm going to get started on a gift for him instead. No, he's not getting the Cuddlefish. Boy's too young to have a proper appreciation of cephalopods.

But he can get this really bitchin' humpback whale.

Variations on a Theme

So I've been working on the Cuddlefish's eyes, and it's been tricky.

First, I thought I would just, you know, do buttons or something. That looked like ass (so much so, that I didn't even sew them on, the ass was apparent from just holding the buttons to the unshaped head).

Then I thought, hey, what if I add in some short rows? Eh? Eh? Everybody loves short rows. So I sketched for a bit, got a W-shaped pupil going, made a chart, and got going on it. There were minor mistakes (such as knitting from the wrong end of the chart, and making M-shaped pupils instead), and I ended up redoing the knitting a total of 5 times, and the chart a total of 7.

So I start the 6th round of knitting using the 7th chart, and I'm following it, and it's going well, and then BAM. It hits me.

This eye? Is too shallow. It is an almond, and not a bulge. It's too symmetrical, and the W will be pointing to the butt-end of the mantle and not up to the sky, as actual cuttlefish eyes are oriented. Ergo, the sort-row eye has got to go.

So I started thinking, and I started sketching again, and I think I may have come up with something that will work. I'm going to be bringing back some of the color patterns from the mantle, but not in ways that you'll expect. It's going to work. It's going to be interesting.

It's going to be asymmetrical.

If you know me, you know that I have a really hard time with asymmetry. I'm not good at creating it, my gut naturally roils when I try, but dammit, this time I am going to do it. It's going to be awkward and counterintuitive the whole time, but as Dog is my witness* I will make this eye by monday!



* Seriously, Maggie. Time to step up.

(Minor) Cuddlefish Disaster

So. The Cuddlefish. Adding the mantle ridge in was a complete success - he is full of ridge-y goodness. I was full of arrogance at my mad knitting skillz, yo.

[picture]

So I began to do the same for the eye bulges - stick in some 0000's, snip snip, unravel.

[picture]

Oh what's that you say? I wasn't supposed to cut THAT thread?

[picture]

Well, what's the worst than can happen?

[picture]

[hint - it's not this, but this is what I got]

So, I lost about a half-inch of knitting on the top of the cuddlefish, which requires losing the bottom tentacle, and dis-attaching the mouth, in order to fix. On the upside, I do still have the mouth, and now the eyes? Should be cake! Plus I can now rip them with impunity, if they don't turn out right the first time.

[will be putting in the pics for these after I go gets food]

Fixing a Cuddlefish (cutting in)

Okay, people. It's go time on the Cuddlefish rehabilitation project. The top two tentacles (which were the wrong sizes) have been ripped back, and 0000 needles have been slipped into the stitches above and below where we are going to make our first incision. Let us first take stock of the patient.

Dorsal:


Ventral:


Beak:


Innards:



So now let us begin.



We have placed the needles three rows apart, so there is room for the new mantle ridge in the overall patterning. Begin by making two incisions in the middle of each row, to cut both yarns, and unravel each of the 3 rows to the ends. To make things easier on yourself, braid those loose ends.



You should now have a good-sized opening in the middle of your Cuddlefish. This is terrifying. You may wish to lay down. The wrong side of the mouth-pocket and beak are clearly visible.



This, right here where we are? This is an okay place to be. Unravelling 3 rows of fingering-weight stranded colorwork is no mean feat. Plus, it's late, and you're tired, so make a quick blog post and then go to bed.

Of Yarn and Harlots

I have seen the Yarn Harlot

And it was fantastic. The Cuddlefish is still incomplete - true to knitterly type, I thought that the space-time continuum would bend around me, allowing me to finish the fin (which needed to be re-done), the siphon (which just needs grafting, really) and all the remaining tentacles during the two-hour car ride from College Station to Spring. As it turns out, Twisted Yarns isn't that far from my parents' houses in Houston, which means I will definitely be going back if I can wheedle Sweetie into it next time we're in the area. I also got tips on locations for a few other yarn shops in Houston that are supposed to be a little more helpfull than Yarntopia. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some Yarntopia (I think they're the only Fleece Artist-having shop in texas?), but they do seem to be not as offering of assistance as many shops I've heard of. This, of course, makes me want to save up for a month or two (I will have that interim between when I'm paying off Galveston and when I start paying off my actual student loans) and hit every yarn shop between me and the coast. Must find friends to accompany me in this. Perhaps bribe Hastur with cross-stitch shops?

At any rate, I saw the Yarn Harlot. Sweetie and I left BCS around three, and since we were going to be traveling all day and I didn't want to be rude and break my fast while Stephanie was talking, I had food on the way over. This is the first time I've intentionally broken Ramadan, even though you're not supposed to fast while traveling anyway, so I'll be feeding someone some time this week to make up for it. Lucky for me college towns have no shortage of starving students.

So we arrived in Spring at around 5:00, found the school and settled down for a bit of a wait. We met two girls from Austin, one of whom reminded both Sweetie and myself of an old friend of ours; we (the Austin girls and myself) spied on other knitters to see what they were making; I got volunteered to go and ask about a few projects that looked especially interesting.

There was a lady working on the Print o' the Wave Stole from Victorian Lace Today, but I swear to you, she was using cobweb-weight yarn and what looked like size 0 or 1 needles. It was awesome. She didn't remember what brand the yarn was.

There was a girl around my age (which is 25-ish, if you wondered) wearing the Breakfast Hat. You know the one, with the eggs and the bacon and the peas? She was wearing bacon on her head! It was fabulous. We chatted together at the yarn shop later.

Then there was the girl in the Venezia pullover. When she walked in the room, fashionably less-early, you could hear all the murmurs spring up. She was gorgeous, the sweater was gorgeous, it looked just like the model, she looked just like a model, ohmygoodness, how long do you think it took to make, can you believe in this weather? So, yes. Instant street cred. Even Sweetie noticed. (as a side note, one of the Austin girls asked, and it took her five months to complete. Worth every minute. I hope she doesn't change size.)

And then, of course, was the Yarn Harlot.

She was smart, she was funny, and even Sweetie not only had a good time; he said that she was funnier than most stand-up comedians (which sounds bad, now that I think about it, but he listens to a lot of stand-up comedians, so that's high praise indeed from a non-knitter. He was even telling some of her jokes at work this morning, and wants to borrow my copies of her books. He already likes tatting and macrame. I may have to casually leave some needles and a how-to book in his cubicle). I know whenever I've read blogs in the past talking about listening to Yarn Harlot I've been frustrated by their lack of detail (and sound recordings, to be honest), but it really is so much fun and audience participation that I know I couldn't do it justice. I knit through a lot of it, as did much of the audience, but it was just the fin. Just garter stitch. Hardly knitting at all, and I often had to stop and double over laughing, or clap, or wave the Cuddlefish around in the air (if you've heard her speak, you know what I'm talking about). It really is an experience, and I highly recommend it.

After the talk, at Twisted Yarns, I picked up a mere two balls of yarn, one jojoland Harmony in yellows and oranges that'll make a nice, bright lace scarf, and one earthy red Hempathy for fixing a co-worker's sweater (I'll need to call this yarn shop and have them mail me a few balls of queensland Kathmandu; they had colors I can't usually get, and I do need to get on those baby sweaters before the kids are born). We stood in line for only a little while, having got there early, and the Venezia girl was right behind us. Turns out she'll be moving to Aggieland soon!

When we got up to see Stephanie, she signed both my copy of her book, and my Idea Book, which if you'll recall was also signed by Amy Singer and Jillian Moreno. It's got good mojo. Sweetie asked her if she could recommend a good Canadian beer, which she did, and which I'm going to try and find for him while he's gone fishing next weekend. I showed her my Cuddlefish, explaining how I'd somehow thought he'd be done in time even though that was obviously impossible, and she laughed and took a picture. When I explained that he was in fact going to be as anatomically correct a cuttlefish as I could manage, she told me, "you're crazy, which is not to say I don't like you a great deal, but you're a complete lunatic."

So I'm really hoping she happens to link to me. I'm going to post the patterns tonight for the Anya scarf, and link to finished photos of Galveston, just in case. I'd post Emma, but my sister never has gotten around to getting pictures of herself in it, and I made her promise to be the model. Seeing Emma this last weekend reminded me how much I really love that scarf; I may have to get working on one for myself.

In non-harlot-y news, and speaking of last weekend, after taking LittlestBrother to the museum to see Lucy (which was sold out when we got there, so we went to the regular exhibits, and will go again sometime soon; they had awesome "I love Lucy" shirts in the gift shop), I stayed the night (Sweetie went home) and my dad, LittlestBrother and I went and saw PrimaryBrother in Austin. What this boiled down to was about four hours of driving time where it was me and my dad talking, which led to the dreaded "what are you planning to do with your life" conversation. I told my dad my plans, which are cautious but optimistic, and mentioned as a side note that it would be amazing to start a woollen mill in Texas. He was actually interested in why this was, so I explained as best I could.

There's a lot of sheep and goats in Texas. Texas is the biggest producer of Mohair in the US, and we make a lot of wool as well. Much of this is in the Hill Country, as in Austin, where Sweetie and I would one day like to live. So far as my (admittedly internet-based) powers of research can find, there are no operational woollen mills in Texas. Ergo, folks have to ship wool out of state to get it processed, which is expensive and takes a long time. If there were a mill right in the middle of Texas hill country, I figure, people would have a shorter turn-around time for processing, could even drop it off in person to save shipping entirely, and the mill would have good business, what with all the sheep and goats. You could do it in a small space, like a barn, and it doesn't take a lot of people to run a mini mill, two or three can (and have) done so successfully. Plus, of course, I already know a lot of the venues for advertising, such as the wool festivals, and magazines, and Hastur knows a dyer in Houston who's been thinking of getting into yarn anyway, and I could design patterns for our yarns, which is a good draw, and if you put solar panels on the roof you'd have most of the energy you need, etc etc.

My dad thought about this for a while (I may have surprised him with how much information I'd spewed at him all at once; this has been known to happen on occassion) and said that in a year, his friend Hussain would have paid off a loan my dad had taken to help him start a business, and if I'd run all the numbers by then and it looked like a good business idea, he'd get the loan and we'd get some land and try this out. He recommended I try to find used equipment, and talk to other mill owners.

I'm super excited. I've already contacted the guys from Wooly Knob up in Indiana, and they told me to give them a call and they'd chat with me about starting a mill with two people and what it's really like. The thing I'm most concerned about (aside from financial feasibility, of course) is recycling the water from scouring. I found an equipment manufacturer (www.minimills.net) whose scouring machine recycles 40% of the water used, which is great, but I wonder if there are other ways that could be better than that. Austin is right over the Edwards Aquifer, and water is a Big Fucking Deal in that area. You can't use too much, and you definitely don't want to be contaminating the aquifer. I read about a mill that was able to recycle 90% of its wastewater as lanolin and various forms of organic fertilizer (the pesticides being caught up with the lanolin, which the cosmetic companies then de-poison-ify), so I know it can be done. All in all I know I've got a lot more research to do, but luckily I have a whole year in which to plan both a mill and a wedding.

And with that, I guess I'd better get back to my day job.

Chugging Along

on the cuddlefish. The head is done, the mouth/beak is done, the siphon is done. I just need to pick up stitches around the mantle for the fin, and do the tentacles. I think I can have it done in time for Yarn Harlot. Expect photos (actual photos!) on Monday.