Spinning and a Kitten Break

This is the new spindle I got a couple of weeks ago.



I loves it. It's so lightweight, balanced, and spins like a dream.

I'm working on some superfine alpaca on it.



It'll take me forever, but whatever. I'm in no rush.

My next door neighbor is fostering a momma cat and her three kittens, which were born 16 days ago:











I'm on a campaign to get my parents to adopt the momma, because she's so awesome. She's beautiful and she loves to be petted -- what more could you want in a cat?

Hopefully I'll get to take more pictures as they get bigger.

I'd be smiling too

Took that picture on a vintage crawl with Lindydiva and her hubby.

Things are going well here. I got my mojo back, a little, and am working on a feather and fan scarf for a Christmas gift. Baby steps, you know? I've been spinning a bit, but the spindle spinning doesn't work well with the fan on and shit. I purchase a huge vintage hatbox on said vintage crawl which current holds about 75% of my sock yarn. I just can't open it or it will explode. I can now get into my stash hutch without fear of bodily harm. I've been working on spinning, and beer greatly helps with that <=burp!=>

I really fucking miss New Orleans right now, to the point where, if the opportunity presented itself, we'd be moving there. Ever feel like that about any place? The hot summers do that to me, because I know they won't last here, and I know there I'm guaranteed 95 degrees, 95% humidity from mid-May til mid-October. I just love that wet hot blanket that hits you in the face when you walk outside. I miss the anoles. I miss the FOOD, oh my fucking God, the FOOD. I miss being able to buy hard liquor at Walgreen's. I miss ABITA IN EVERY FUCKING BAR IN TOWN, as I seem to have to go to Allston to find it. I miss to-go cups. I miss that sickly-sweet smell of peaches and rotting vegetation that seems to be there, all the time, but especially in the summer. I miss houses falling down under the weight of the cat's-claw ivy. I miss that weird metallic sound that may just be some kind of tree frog, or cicada -- I never figured out which. I miss the sea of frogs on the sidewalks that one encounters in the late summer. What's up with that?

Summer will be over in a month and a half. I need to use my time wisely.

Have you seen my mojo?

I seem to have lost my yarny mojo.

I got second sock syndrome on my October socks -- well, it's third sock syndrome, really, because the first sock I made was too small and the second one was just right. I started another "just right" sock to make a matching pair, seem to have dropped a couple of stitches on the cuff while waiting for the Devo show to start (knitting in dim light is a little tricky), so frogged it and don't feel like starting again.

I tried using the Noro Kureyon that's been sitting in my stash since 2005 to make the crocheted Square Hole Hat and Wristlets from 101 Designer One-Skein Wonders, and discovered there is a mistake in the hat pattern and the errata has been removed from the publisher's website. The wristlets didn't work for me either -- I don't know if it is my bad crochet skills or an error in the pattern, but they just kept getting smaller and smaller. I'd really like to make these things too; I wonder if there is a similar pattern that isn't fecked up?

So, I'm not knitting on my commute this week. I started Stephen King's Cell instead, which may make me miss my stop once or twice. It's really compelling, so far (first 30 pages) -- very gory and WTF? The people in the story act like zombies, so it may start up my zombie nightmares again.

My spinning has been going well, though! I spin for about 15 minutes before dinner last night (on that gorgeous turquoise fiber that Bezzie said looks like forget-me-nots). I also purchased a new spindle from Spinsanity. I purchased and paid for it on Friday, and it got to me on Monday! I stood in the kitchen in my gym clothes and spun the sample fiber she sent me (already started in a nice thin laceweight) while ZMrK was making dinner. I just couldn't put it down. It's freakin' gorgeous. I might try to spin a tiny bit of alpaca I bought at Rhinebeck on it as laceweight, just to see how much I can get. It's only a couple of ounces, blue and purple and wonderfully soft.

My secret pal gift is packed up and sent! Have you sent yours? My downstream pal is blogless, so you probably won't see pictures of anything I sent her. I hope she likes it.

Time to leave for work! My niece is coming in today with her fiance and baby to see where I work. Yup, I got some cute baby pictures recently. I'll share them.