The War Rages On

I have dealt a severe blow to the troops of the living poop. Still they manage to rally new members and attack the home front of the lily plants. I have stepped up my counter attacks by grabbing at the little shit disturbers bare handed. My battle cry of "Gross! Gross! Gross!" has been heard by neighbours and beetles alike. It is really a shame that the beetles are so destructive. They really are a very pretty beetle. Lovely red with very pleasing beetle proportions. I only feel a small twinge of guilt when I crush their bright wing cases beneath my shoe. No guilt is felt by crushing the disgusting larva which, if you had forgotten, cover themselves in their own feces. Gross! Gross! Gross!

Yesterday was the first market for me this summer. I did sell a few things. Mostly some hand spun yarn that I had marked way down. I actually didn't expect it to sell the yarn at all and had considered it an experiment. The result was that I felt rather ill at the price that I got for my work. After the second sale, I quickly put my prices back to where they had been before I discounted them. But by that time 5 of my skeins were gone. I won't tell you how much I sold them for, it is too embarrassing. Both people were from out of town and had stumbled upon the market (well, I led one there when asked on the street corner for a recommendation for a good place for breakfast.)

I have three skeins left and I think that they are going to be for me. I am also almost finished plying my fine yarn in the mermaids dream colourway. I think that it will be somewhere between a fingering weight and a sports weight. Once it is plied I will give knitting my first lace sample a go.

Sara, I'll be knocking at your door! I think that you can come over and dye the second half of your roving in exchange for lace knitting tutorials!

I had another dyeing workshop today. It was just my former students who wanted to have me available to answer questions while they did the dyeing. It was in a different location because school is over for the year and when we set up the date for the workshop, I was unsure if the new stove was going to be installed in the dyeing kitchen by then. It actually was installed and it is a beauty! It is a glass top industrial range that will fit 4 large pots. It also has what is called a bridge between two burners so that you can use a really large pot or a roaster. We needed to get a new stove because the last time that I used it, sparks flew out of one of the burners. I have gotten so many shocks that I finally stopped changing the fuses that blew with amazing regularity. I just went and found Joe, the maintenance guy. Wonderful Joe would come and change the fuses and eventually explained the situation to the powers that dole out the cash, who decided that a new stove was in order. In any case, we had the workshop in Karen's back yard, which was fine, except that it just wasn't like home. Or school, as the case may be.
I have dreams of my own studio. With lost and lots of shelves.....
I still have to clear some bobbins and get that cochineal silk plied. I really have no idea what it shall become. Could I be so decadent as to make some silk socks? Probably not. But what a lovely thought!