It'll do

The cleaning of the office continues and though it's not perfectly spotless and efficiently organized, I was actually able to vacuum. The office is quite perilous for the likes of vacuum cleaners, even young whipper-snappers like my new bagless Dirt Devil. The Hoover kicked the proverbial bucket, threads and wool still stuck in the brush that, though I pulled many a string from its rotating bristles, eventually spelled the demise of Old Yeller's poor overworked motor last September. The vacuum is dead. Long live the vacuum.

I also put up a picture I've been wanting to have framed since forever. I still haven't gotten it framed, but it's just too cool to leave in limbo. There were some old illustrations of liver fluke anatomy that I found while doing work study as an undergrad and I took this one home because I thought it was pretty. There's a warmth to the older biological illustrations that you just don't see in late 20th, early 21st century work. While it's important to create accurate representations of the object of your study, that doesn't mean they should be deliberately devoid of soul. Sure, it's just a liver fluke drawing, but the level of patience and care that went into the illustration could only have come from a love of the subject matter. Ask me about radial veins and I will tell you about patience.

Speaking of patience, happy Theogamia and may those who are married or who want to be married be blessed by Zeus and Hera in their matrimony.


This is all that's left of the cake. The icing consisted of about a stick of butter, two cups of 10x, a splash of half and half, a bit of vanilla, and yea so much cream cheese - just a little for consistency. I don't know if that's proper buttercream icing, but it was darn tasty. Tip for the wise: when making baked goods, make sure you look at the label of the bottle so that you do not put Balsamic vinegar in the mix instead of vanilla.


This finally came back to me and is some of my earlier work. There's something about an ugly crocheted afghan that makes me think of home. Even though it's Red Heart, even though I'm pretty sure this is what homemade sin looks like, it's just cuddly. It's not a delicately crafted heirloom, but perhaps someone a long time from now will see this and remember "Oh, golly, what was Granny ever thinking!? Was she crazy?" and someone will say, "Well, yes, but that's why we loved her." Perhaps not, but I see it and remember my friend that I loved because it had been in her possession for so long. Anyway, I make stuff to be used and loved and this certainly will be.



So will this. This is my new knitting fling and what I believe to be rather a good use of handspun sari silk yarn. I might just be keeping this little gem for myself to wrap around my neck on days that are just a little chilly, but not cold. The open work makes for a nice fabric that drapes beautifully and I just love the colors. O drop-stitch scarf, you have won my heart. Be not jealous, sock.


Does it look jealous to you? I made it past the heel to the top ribbing, so I don't know why it would be.

In other news, the third hat I cast on last week was a bust and the yarn wasn't good enough to try to recover. Consider it flung in the spirit of February is for Finishing.

I've also managed to do quite a bit of plying and so much so that I've had to take a few days off, lest my calves explode. Here also, you will see some yarns that were sitting about like the lazy bits of wool they are, waiting for me to measure them and put them up in the shop (Etsy link) - which is in dire need of updating. I still haven't done so, but I've moved these yarns on to the next stage. One of them is the lost 13th colony or, rather, the 4th skein of Eye of Jupiter (Etsy link) that never got put up. The green one hasn't got a name yet, but I'm thinking "Other Side of the Hill." There's a two-ply and a three-ply in the same wool. The grey is the Lincoln Longwool from Peaceful Pastures that I've been working on and it's turning out to be a fantastic worsted. I'm quite pleased with it.


I can't wait for spring. This nice weather won't last and it's going to get cold again soon, but I'll enjoy it while I can. I'll leave you with this moment of Zen: