Movin' On

There's not much going on here these days besides getting up, going to work, coming home to a cat-less house, eating dinner, knitting (if I'm lucky), going to bed, then getting up to do it all over again.

The sadness is abating somewhat. It's getting harder to remember what it felt like have Jez rub my legs, or to hear her little feet coming into the bedroom precisely at 5:30 a.m. to wait for us to wake up and feed her her breakfast. But I still wish I had her warm, furry, purring body to pick up and hug.

How much do you want to bet we get a kitten (or two) before Spring rolls around?

Yarn Shop News
Well, there really isn't much news on the yarn shop front, other than Tom said last week that maybe I could open a yarn shop only on the weekends. You know, just to make sure that I like it and learn the business before taking the total plunge. It's an interesting concept, but I'd have to bring in a lot of money in a total of eight days in order to pay for rent and utilities (not to mention the initial capital outlay for yarn, books, accessories, notions, and fixtures). A friend has been looking for retail space in town and has been sending me listings that she thinks might work. I haven't followed up on anything yet, but the ears are beginning to perk up. I give the excuse that I'm not ready (my plan is 3-5 years), and we can't afford to lose my salary, but those are simply excuses. It seems like the universe is presenting options to me. I really should follow through.

Knitting and Spinning News
I think I can realistically have three projects going, as long as I don't have a deadline. The sock is the purse project; I'll knit on that during lunch, while sitting in traffic, or any other time when I'm forced to wait. Then I can have the morning knitting project (which requires me to get up at 5:30 a.m.) and the evening knitting project (for after-dinner knitting). So we'll see. I need to start working on the Jenna sweater again. When I stopped it to work on the baby blanket, I was almost finished with one sleeve.

And (drum roll, please) I actually managed to get some spinning in! A little while back, I acquired a bag of roving that had been used as shipping packing (from Brown Sheep). That's my practice fleece. I'm trying to create a light, airy yarn. And I came closer to that goal this weekend. I'm on the second bobbin now, but I seemed to backslide and am back to producing a hard, slightly overtwisted yarn. I'm also going to use this yarn as practice yarn for dyeing. It's white and I've wanted to try Kool-aid dyeing. Why not?

One Skein
Just when I thought it was over...I got an email from my One Skein giftee and she has not received the package yet! It appears that her local post office has misplaced the package. I've got the tracking number that shows that it was delivered and received, but they can't find it! I told her if worse comes to worse, I'll recreate her final gift. If anything, the scarf will probably be better with the second knitting. Sigh...

Let that be a lesson to me: always get a tracking number and always insure the package (I didn't do that).