07.21.08
Posted in sewing at 1:49 pm by wendy
This is my maybe my favorite thing made so far:
I was in one of our two local local quilting stores (two! yet we have no yarn store) and saw that they had two different comics-themed fabrics: one very busy print with the “POW! Aaargh! To be continued…” and one with panels on it and I thought of Lionel and Heidi and making a Comic-Con outfit for Sophie.
Originally, I thought I’d make some super-girly type pinafore dress with satin ribbon accents just for a little bit of irony with the generally violent action in the fabric and use the only woman in the panels as a centered pocket for the dress. Because I love pockets.
This:
was the proto-type for the comic dress, cutting out a full circle for the skirt and with the girly satin ribbon accents…but I didn’t leave enough room for the panel to be a pocket, and well, I started thinking I’d like something else and did some different sketches.
I would have liked the straps I made to have ended up wider, so I’ll just have to cut wider strips if/when I make this again, since I made my own double fold bias tape.
I made template pieces and wrote down some of the process, so if I get around to putting together a tutorial, I’ll update this entry and post a link to it.
I ended up using a plain black cotton as well because in my mind the busy fabric as a whole dress looked too busy and would have overwhelmed the pocket panel, which is my favorite part. Unfortunately, I decided that for sure kind of last minute and bought the black from WalMart, and it was so thin in comparison to the heavily printed comic fabric that I knew I’d have to line everything, which made the whole dress a bit heavier and less drapey. But worked out in my favor, since instead of lining it as a separate inner dress style o’ fing since I wasn’t completely sure how to do that, I just sewed the lining fabric and the panels right sides together and turned them right side out, which while it made for bulky seams it meant less finishing of edges. Whee.
Anyway, so that was fun, and I really enjoyed making it.
I do eventually need to get over my fear of patterns. To that end, I went on a shopping spree–
(listed in no particular order)
Simplicity 3774 (inspired by Rachael and to be made in this fabric from Reprodepot, which must have sold out as it isn’t listed on the site anymore)
McCalls 2213 (various fabrics already stashed)
Amy Butler:
- Anna Mini Dress
- Lotus Mini Dress
Oliver + S:
- Swingset Tunic & Skirt
- Tea Party Sundress + Bloomer
- Bubble Dress
Plus in the queue are oodles of stuff from the books I already have, that I’ve put in a sewing queue photoset on flickr so I can access it while I’m out and see how much fabric/ which notions are required.
I’ve started with the Anna Mini Dress from Amy Butler as everyone says the directions are very thorough (and they are right, the directions do seem pretty clear, well illustrated and explained, at least at this point) and I like the simplicity of the shape.
I have thus far been a little confused by the sizing issue though. On the pattern packet, it defines the sizes, and I picked the xs size since the measurements of bust 32.5-waist 26-hips 36 most closely matched my 34-25-35, but when I cut out and sewed together the panel pieces, it didn’t look right.
I asked a few people and the general consensus is that the yoke would change it a bit and that yes, her patterns seem to be cut a bit big. I measured the dress at the narrowest point and found it to be 17 wide, i.e. 34 inch waistline, which is a heck of a lot of ease.
Are all patterns like this, or is every maker different with how much ease they put in?
It makes me miss the knitting pattern standard directions of “size x to fit bust measurement z, finished measurements of garment are y” so you can decide yourself if that’s the right amount of ease, or depending on the material, calculate negative ease if need be.
Anyway, so I mocked up the dress in muslin, just to be sure I wasn’t fussing over nothing:
and I definitely want to take it in a bit.
Nick and I will be attempting to make a dress form later so I can experiment with fitting, and Heidi has suggested almond shaped darts to tame that poofy small of the back area or just making the “damn belt” –certainly using the belt would continue the gathered material theme that is at the yoke top between the breasts, a detail I quite like because it makes them look all lovely and pillowy, and would fit with the 70s feel of the design and fabric choice (I just love that fabric, and since the end result will look so much like a 60s/70s air stewardess, I’ll be using some little airplane buttons from my Mom’s stash as the closure) not to mention make it more versatile, comfort and shape-wise, what with adding yet another sedentary hobby to my list of butt-width expanding habits.
But still, I’m gonna be stubborn and try to make the waist shaping more pronounced. So if you never see this project mentioned again, you’ll know it didn’t work out.
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07.08.08
Posted in natural dyeing, sewing, spinning at 11:25 pm by wendy
I was talking to my Grammy on the phone and realised I haven’t posted the apron kit I finished, or the disaster of a reversible wrap skirt.
I’m very happy with the apron, although of course it’s not perfect. I had some trouble easing in the ruffle, I think because my seam allowances are always so inconsistent. I don’t think there was originally supposed to be any easing in needed.
(click the pic to view more in the set)
The pockets came in handy when I wore it during the dyeing workshops at BSG for keeping my tissues in for my constantly dribbling schnozzle.
For one reason or another, I’m fascinated with aprons lately. They’re not too intimidating to make, and I like the pretty vintage lines. And, since I’m still learning and trying to be better and more consistent in my sewing, they’re a good exercise. I’ll be doing some more, from this book A is for Apron.
But this:
was supposed to be a reversible wrap skirt. But it’s awful. I love the fabrics, but together, the bubble fabric is just too thick and the skirt has no drape. So, I’m going to plan out some pockets for it and give it to a friend up here as an apron. Ze circle of sewing and apronage, she continues.
I haven’t sewn anything since that devastating blow to my fragile sewer’s self-esteem.
No, it’s just been hot, and I disassembled the sewing portion of the room to take the table to BSG and haven’t reset everything up. I’ll do it tonight, maybe plan out a couple projects.
On spinning:
July 5th was the start of the Tour de France, and I figured I’d do the Tour de Fleece this year again. There’s actually two different groups–I love Katherine’s philosophy of it, but I also joined the newer organiser’s Ravelry group because it was there and easy to do.
Other than that, the only official joining of all this is in my head, since my goals are loose and vague and don’t necessarily conform to the rules well. Essentially, my goal is to finish up the projects I’ve already started, to put a serious dent in my stash, and to try to do something different and improve on skills outside my usual comfort range. So, really, I’m just going to use the group thought of the Tour as an impetus to be a little more spinning-focused this month, and a little more goal oriented and end product-minded than usual.
I had three goals last year and only completed one, and I’ve already failed out this year by not doing any spinning on Sunday.
But I’ve got a darn good reason.
Nick and I had the World’s Worst Day of Fishing–seriously, we got up at 5 am and went to Trout Lake, which was gorgeous, where I used my early birthday present (a great whippy rod and new reel setup from Nick) to not catch any d@mn fish, but a lot of weeds. And occasionally reeds. I was a danger to myself and others (as long as they were not fish).
Nick was equally skunked, with only two nibbles between us and again, no fish.
This was our first time at Trout Lake, and we didn’t realise that at this time of the year, it is really only set up for boat fishing. There’s a relatively weed-free area by the boat ramp, but that’s about it.
It was still relatively early and cool, so we went to breakfast and then fished at Greenhorn. There I managed to really spaaz in my casting, catching lots of branches and logs and reeds and more lakebottom. I had no idea how lazy I had become with the Zebco reels, which are pushbutton, one handed dealies, but needlessly complicated inside and snag like the dickens and can be fiddly to fix.
We left, went home and napped.
Because that is how we deal with disappointment in this house.
We snuggle up in a tangle of blankets and dogs, each with an iPod earbud in and fall asleep listening to some Terry Pratchett book we’ve heard a bazillion times before.
We woke up, we puttered.
We thought about going to see Wall-E at the Broadway Twin, but I didn’t want those stupid fish to think they’d won so we went to Greenhorn again. And fished and fished (and actually, can you call it fishing if there are apparently no freakin’ fish involved?) and snagged more reeds and Nick lost his second lure of the day and I lost my first, and then, since I’d just spent the last twenty minutes carefully retrieving that lure from the reeds and untangling all the line I’d fed out to it…I flopped onto the bank crosslegged like a little kid about to tantrum cry in utter frustration and said, “f#ck it, I’m done.”
So we went to the grocery and video store, got Death at a Funeral, Beast with a Billion Backs and The Golden Compass, a six pack of beer and a frozen pizza and slunk home. We drowned our sorrows with pizza and beer and zany comedy and dealt with the next morning’s headache as the logical aftermath of the World’s Worst Day of Fishing (Hopefully Ever).
So obviously, there was no room for spinning in there.
Anyway, though, I turned the silk top I dyed during the Nancy Finn workshop:
into a bobbin full of singles while waiting in the mechanic’s office while the wagon had its 100,000 mile service:
And then, put into a center pull ball, I navajo plied it into a teeny little skein: 2 oz., 124 yards, approx. 14 wpi. I knew I wanted to spin it with texture, so I hadn’t been too careful about consistency when spinning the single, because originally I thought I might do a coil yarn, spinning the silk single over a some fine thread.
But then, when I finally finished spinning up the dark BFL Nick bought me from Copper Moose way back when I first started spinning,
I ended up with a spare ball of singles and no other balls to finish plying it up with as a 3 ply yarn. So I navajo plied it.
But first, I used some leftover singles from another project.
My texture and consistency was all over the place, but I loved the way it looked, all the unexpected coils. (I wasn’t pinching back the twist, just doing it one handed. Oops, that’s what working from memory using a technique you only know the theory of and not the practice will get you–and not logically transferring process elements…) Then I did it on the BFL.
I liked the texture so much I figured I’d do it with the silk. But I fired up youtube and watched this video in the interim and pinched back the twist and…blech.
Boring.
It just looks like bad spinning, badly plied.
Which I guess it is, really, but I had envisioned a much more interesting effect and shouldn’t have changed the game plan. Kind of ironic I suppose, that an impulsive change in process created a yarn I dislike for its mundane predictability revealing its poor textural planning in an uninteresting way.
And of course, this ordinary 3 ply thing was the effect to be expected by controlling the twist: the elimination of coils, so why the heck did I do it?
I guess I just got caught up in practicing this new-to-me technique and forgot about what I had wanted and envisioned as the end product. I don’t know what I’ll do with the yarn now.
Another disappointing aspect is that the color seems to have fled from it. Such strong fantastic colors in the single, even though plied to preserve the blocks of color, have become nearly pastel.
Perhaps a combination of some color lost during the wash to finish the yarn and the 3 ply breaking up the way the light reflects from the yarn? I had thought it was the opposite however, where the smoother the yarn, the lighter it appears because of the greater surface reflection…ah, I dunno.
Speaking of disappointments in color, I did a lightfastness test on the natural dye samples (well, pieces, at any rate) and turmeric is definitely not lightfast.
Unfotunately, I’d already wound out, mordanted, and plunked a whole bunch of yarn into the turmeric dye pot:
If you click on the really yellow one, it has notes as to all the samples’ fiber contents.
It’s a bummer, but oh well. Some will be overdyed in the indigo vat, including that skein of dark BFL. I’ll either figure out a usage for these yarns that will take the light sensitivity into account, and/or just deal with the future fading. Fortunately, yellow is not that hard to get in the world of natural dyeing, even such a strong lovely orange yellow. I’ll have to plant the weld seeds I got, and of course, I have some osage dust. Different, perhaps, but better in the lightfast category.
On the knitting front…meh. Knitting is boring.
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06.24.08
Posted in travel at 2:29 pm by wendy
I had a lot of fun at the Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene, OR.
Although not as much fun as some, ooh la la!
Obligatory What I Bought/Got pic:
(if you click on it and go to flickr, it has notes that you can mouse over to read details)
I took classes all three days again: on Friday, Lanaset Color Wheel Workshop, on Saturday, Rainbow Dyeing, (both with Nancy Finn) and Natural Dyeing with Diane Bentley-Baker. All fun, although I think my favorite was the Natural Dyeing class. Amazing what was done in such a short amount of time and with just three pots.
I really didn’t take many pictures; I only have 8 posted to the set.
I was busy playing Ravelry Black Sheep Bingo, meeting new people and catching up with people I hadn’t seen in way too long, although I missed some too, being in classes for most of the days there. And it was great to be camping near the Siskiyou Spinners group, to wander over and hang out and spin and eat with friends, the whole weekend made me feel like I wasn’t far from home and surrounded by friends. My allergies went absolutely nuts though. Gotta do something about that. Apologies to everyone who had to listen to the strange assortment of snuffles, sneezes, snorts, sniffles and honks emanating from my swollen-schnozzed personage.
In housing news: we’ve decided to walk away from our favorite prospect. The counteroffer was ridiculous given the issues involved with the property, perhaps someone would accept those terms but it won’t be us. There are lots of beautiful places here, we’ll just have to wait and see.
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06.13.08
Posted in food, love, woohoo! at 5:18 pm by wendy
My Dad came up and visited us; it was awesome.
He took the Amtrak up from San Diego, a nearly 24 hour trip/adventure with a sleeping car. It sounds really cool and the line he rode goes all the way up to Seattle. If only they allowed dogs, it would be a perfect traveling option, as the route is beautiful and he said the food in the dining car was excellent.
He took some great pictures while he was here, I’ve uploaded some to the flickr album: click any of the pics in this post to see them bigger and see their neighbors in the albums.
We drove around the county a bit and showed him a small portion of the beauty that is this area, and Tuesday we drove around with “our” realtor and looked at a few places for sale, including the ones on our short list.
Seeing them again really helped us make a decision about which we wanted, and I’m really excited. I do hope we can get an offer accepted and financing secured, but my heart will not be broken if it falls through…because frankly, it’s all a bit scary.
So we celebrated Nick’s birthday, we napped, we played frisbee with Tahoe, and basketball at the Y, and together Nick and Dad put together a shortlived Supercub r/c plane. (Note to self: Do not go into a dive and then attempt to initiate a loop when flying inside a foam plane. But it was kind of awesome to see happen from the outside and on the ground. And not directly underneath.)
Generally, we just enjoyed the peace and quiet of the small town life with sighthounds together. Dad marveled at the quiet, while at the same time missing his rowdy little pack, I know.
Mostly though, we went fishing.
It was a lot of fun. I haven’t been fishing in years, since the last time Dad and I fished together I think, and it was great to relearn or learn new stuff.
We caught a lot of little blue gill at Bass Lake at the nature preserve in Montague, but we dropped them back.
We fished at Greenhorn Lake here in Yreka yesterday and the fish mostly ignored us during the afternoon, although there were some fish being hauled in not thirty feet away from us, so it must have been something personal the fish were holding against us…then after Nick went to work, Dad and I went back to give it another shot and I caught a rainbow trout on my first cast.
It was awesome. But seemed pretty small. I know now though that it’s a good size for pan frying.
We deliberately left the camera in the car, because NOT having one means we would catch some keepers, and this strategy totally worked because Dad caught a rainbow trout immediately after I did, about the same size.
I caught another, about the same size but maybe smaller, and it unhooked itself right as I got ready to lift it out of the water.
Oh well.
I was relieved–my fishing with Dad before has all been catch and release bass fishing at the Jamul lake/pond and a couple deep sea fishing trips where we didn’t keep much ( I caught a lot of mackerel, which we didn’t keep, and a rockfish, which we did, and I can’t remember what Dad caught in between keeping me from accidentally smacking the other sportsfishermen with my fish and/or pole) so in comparison, these trout didn’t look like keepers.
Dad got lots of hits, but the fish were tricky and kept getting off the line really fast. I hooked one of a good size (trout are strange, there’s really not much pull from them, just a stuttering of the line and a little extra weight) and got it up, walked over with it to show Dad and tell him smugly that he had some catching up to do…but when I went to put it on the stringer, it got away. I even stepped into the lake to chase it, felt stupid, and let it get away. D’oh.
I hooked another relatively big one, but it got away just as I went to pull it up. The hobo next to us landed a giant trout, maybe fourteen inches long and fat. We fished on with renewed determination as the last rosy-fingered remnants of the sun slipped from the sky and the darkness descended.
Dad hooked, landed, and successfully placed on the stringer the biggest one of our catch and I was right proud. 
I suppose it doesn’t look that much bigger but it was significantly fatter. And 10.5 inches long or so, whereas the others were around 9 and flatter.
The best part was bringing them home when he taught me how to clean them.
Really cool. We cleaned them together (oh, and how Tahoe whined. He wanted one so badly, but there’s a bacteria carried by a parasite that can be carried by our freshwater fish that can kill dogs so as much as I wanted to watch Tahoe chomp on a fresh fish head, it was not to be.) and rinsed them and packaged them for later eating. And of course, we had to take pictures.
A fish horror film.
I had to relinquish Dad at the train station this morning at 2am, and this afternoon, I fried up the trout for lunch. They were good. I’ve never had trout before, let alone fresh local rainbow trout caught and cleaned by ourselves. So really, better than good. I love the pretty translucent bones.
I used this recipe. Simple. Good.
I’m really looking forward to the next time Dad visits, hopefully with Juana, and maybe we’ll be in our own home…which will undoubtedly be smaller and in the process of fixing up, so we’ll be doubly happy to see the extra pairs of hands ;)…so we can show them Ashland and we all can do more touring. We didn’t even check out the dam! It is just so gorgeous up here and I love seeing the area with fresh eyes.
So that’s the biggest of recent goings-on; I didn’t mean for there to be so much trannie time on the blog.
We also had a really nice couple over for dinner whom we met through the local fiber group to talk about real estate; I totally messed up the timing on getting dinner ready and poor Cindy ended up helping make the dessert and Rick carved the chicken because we still don’t really know how. We just kind of hack bits off usually. I’m glad I didn’t know they’ve got professional chefs in the family before, I would have been so nervous! They brought great wine, which we drank more of than we have in ages, and had a wonderful time hanging out here at home.
It’s so nice to have space to have people over. While I like going out to restaurants, I’ve found I really love making meals at home, as bad as I am with timing and planning and all. Now that we have space to enjoy the experience in, and time to keep the clutter at bay, it makes me very happy.
Anyway, this summer’s shaping up to be pretty busy. On Monday is our anniversary, next weekend is Black Sheep Gathering, next month a family reunion in Redding, my birthday, and Jessica and the boys coming up to stay (we’re definitely going fishing and hiking and I hope we can do some camping too) and who knows what after that. And likely, buying a home and moving. Eek.
I’ve started up an indigo vat. (Dad was so grossed out when he found out what was in the beer brewing bucket outside. Later, when I accidentally hooked my Bubble Pullover with my lure, he untangled it, asking, “Now, this isn’t one of those sweaters you peed on is it?” And I had to reassure him that no, no I hadn’t peed on my sweater. I think I’ll have to spin up some of my indigo dyed fiber and knit him a hat…just kidding!) The weather hasn’t been consistently warm enough for it, but it will be soon, so this should be an interesting summer.
And schtinky.
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05.30.08
Posted in d'oh, sewing at 8:18 pm by wendy
(edited to say: this post is about transvestites and sewing. Needless to say, some links may be NSFW. Also, needless to say, since I know anyone who reads my blog is a lovely positive tolerant thinking person who recognises internet flaming for the weak-minded cowardice it is, that I am not linking to these guys to have them razzed at. If someone razzes them and I find out they came from my blog…I will feel guilty. And I will block your IP. Ooh, what punishment that would be, eh?)
Sewing has opened up a whole new flickr world for me. June in a comment suggested that the Sew What skirts might need some darting and I should take a look at flickr for examples.
I have to admit, I don’t think I’ve ever really used the flickr search function for much beyond “greyhounds” or searching some random thing I’d seen out and about and wondering what it was, or just had someone else been captivated by this image too? Like the Iraq War Exhibit in Ashland (linked pic is when it was in Portland).
But searching for Sew What Skirts yielded a ton of results to sift through, and it seems like a lot of people had trouble with choosing or achieving appropriate hem lengths for their body types. I have to admit, I struggle with this too. I’m so short, the skirts should probably be shorter, but I have a comfort zone that is very jeans oriented. (BTW, the section of that book mentions specifically that they use 45″ fabric…they just didn’t expect someone 6′3″ or thereabouts to make it without taking the fact that the average woman (aka the woman the sew what skirts book was written with in mind) is 5′4″ into consideration and modifying accordingly. The whole book is about adapting to fit you…a great concept, but not that easy for us n0oBs.)
Anyway, so while searching for pictures of projects I’ve been thinking of making or looking for ideas, I keep coming across photos that make me go, “Lady looks like a dude!” and invariably, they are.
I had no idea the transvestite culture was so into sewing, but it makes sense, I mean, it’s got to be hard to find stuff that fits and looks good. Except there’s very much a theme of over-idealised femininity, lots of lace, satiny fabrics, ruffles and such, which on a girl I find ironic in a third wave feminist sort of way, and on a man, a little sad.
Anyway, I was looking for pictures of pinafores and was reminded of this new-to-me phenomenon. Every single sewing related search I’ve done has turned up one or more results of men wearing their homemade girly gear–this guy looks a bit like the dad in Punky Brewster and I love the stuff he makes, it looks pretty complicated and well-executed from where I’m sitting.
And it seems a pretty big culture on flickr. There are photo pools/groups and as far as I’ve seen, they leave supportive, appreciative comments for each other and while I may be surprised every time I run into one and I’m still not sure what I think about it all, exactly, they aren’t hurting anyone that I can see and it’s an interesting peek into a subculture that could be everywhere and anywhere.
These guys look like dads and brothers, some of them practically scream “I work in IT!” 
Some of the comments and piccies are maybe a little icky though…funny, but kinda icky.
And I guess I’d never looked at an “unsafe” photostream before: Flickr (after warning you that the photostream of the user you’ve clicked on is outside the safe filter and do you still want to click through?)has a header on the photostreams page that says “If you’ve changed your mind about wanting to see this content, you can ESCAPE.” And then a blue box that says, “TAKE ME TO THE KITTENS!”
So freaking cute, these kittens. Anyway, I found it a cute bit of site programming.
“I’m feeling uncomfortable because of these images and I don’t know what to do to get away!”
Sure, you could just close the browser window/tab, but it’s funnier to wash the taste out of your brain with cute kitten pictures.
(And of course, all this means that when I stumble across my own pictures in the jumbled skirt search pile…I look at those bird legs in those twee socks and trampy cheap Target shoes and I can’t help but shout “tr@nnie alert!” ;))
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05.26.08
Posted in naked & guilty consumerism at 3:36 pm by wendy
I’m going to have to block Ravelry and Craigslist as well as Etsy.
I’ve bought two wheels off Ravelry, a drum carder and a rocking chair off Craigslist.
I already had 2 spinning wheels, a rocking chair and a drum carder, I don’t need any more…but I loves the preciouses…yes…
But that’s it.
No more shopping for anything but edibles! If I can’t eat it and excrete it I shall not buy it!
I should probably just go ahead and block Amazon right now too while I’m at it.
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05.23.08
Posted in entertainment at 7:55 pm by wendy
Eeek!
see more politics and fun!
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05.22.08
Posted in entertainment at 9:18 pm by wendy
[I wrote this long ago, when we lived in the upper story of a La Mesa Duplex. Now that we are well out of the area I feel safe enough to confess that I Dealt It.]
Somewhere I once read that the average person “farts” an average of 13 times a day.
What this means to me is that there are about half a million people out there who toot perhaps 3 times a day and I pick up the slack.
Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration there.
Anyway, one time, while going through my morning routine at a quarter to six in the A.M., I farted so loud and long that I earned a “Woooo-hooo!” from the downstairs neighbor.
They may have thought I was Nick, the Big Man of the House Who Cannot Hold a Candle to Me in the Realm of Fartasticness (well, he’s afraid to, I’d burn his dang eyebrows off), but I woooooo-hooooed back anyway.
Because, heck yeah, it was an anal eructation worthy of a woo-hoo.
There was no further response.
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05.21.08
Posted in entertainment at 1:28 pm by wendy
I love you.
Now stop torturing me with your goodness.
I’m going to block your site if you don’t stop it.
Really I will.
It’ll hurt me more than it’ll hurt you, but I don’t want to have to tell Nick I blew our economic stimulus check buying custom made swimsuits, dresses, pottery, jewelry, art, fiber, and other random kitschy obets d’art/d’tritus supplied by independent artists.
It’s probably not what Bush wanted us to do with the money, so I’m not gonna.
(I think we’re supposed to buy a big flatscreen made in China from WalNart, pretty sure that’s the stimulation expected.)
So just freakin’ stop it already.
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05.18.08
Posted in love, sewing, spinning, travel at 1:45 pm by wendy
Bet you didn’t even know I was gone. I’m veddy veddy sneaky that way.
(click on any pics to go to flickr and descriptions with more info)
I went down to San Diego to see my Grammy the Friday before Mother’s Day (I never knew the holiday has partial roots in the States as a war protest before this year) and hang out with her for a week, and I was able to meet up with Hilari, Jessica, Cheryl, Heidi, Nancy, my stapler, and Cristina (and Peter and Jason and Lionel and Sami and Sophie and Amalia) and except for me smashing a jar of sourdough starter so the kids could have some jagged glass to play with, it was great.
I got to see my Dad and Juana, and their dogs and that was great.
I went to the Wednesday spinning group and everybody’s doing great and that was great.
And it was great to spend the week just being with my Grammy, and I cooked a bit and we talked a bit, and I flirted via text messaging with Nick like mad and it was all just…great.
But it’s really great to be back.
I love it here, and I don’t miss San Diego at all.
I wish I could get there faster, in case my Grammy needs me, I wish we had Tabu Sushi in Yreka, and I wish all my friends could be here and be as happy as we are, and I wish we had Balboa Park here, but being in San Diego is to miss my mother so fiercely it’s like anxiety. Coming back to a place you’ve lived is to re-live and my mother is in everything I feel and see in San Diego, especially Coronado which she loved with a muleheaded stubbornness. It was like an echo of that terrible time after she died, where everywhere I went and everything I saw was painful because I used to go there with her or was something about which we would have talked.
I hope it won’t always be the city I lost my mother in, but I think it’s easier to live with all the memories and reminders and feel them with fondness or mild wistfulness in a place that doesn’t press those memories physically into you with all its concrete landscape and smells and sounds. I will always hold my mother in my heart, but in San Diego that hold squeezes my heart tight and sometimes it is hard to breathe with all the childish feelings of unfairness and regret.
Anyway. I didn’t mean to go into all that. It was a great visit, it really was. Really, really great.
I’ve got a lot of sewing and spinning and knitting stuff to catch up on in updating this here blog, but I just spent a ton of time editing the descriptions in flickr, so I’m done for today.
Well, one more thing.
I’ve been doing a lot of sewing, and I’m even getting a little better, a little more confident.
I’ve done two bags, two dresses and finished a hat. And still haven’t sewn my finger into anything. Woohoo!
And one more thing.
And I went over to a local shepherdess’ and got two fleeces, despite the seven or so still in the room. Madness.
And another thing. Really, the last thing for today, my bottom hurts from sitting on it and it is a beautiful day outside. Again.
The lawn was getting crispy and Nick mentioned that he was thinking he might go and get a sprinkler.
I mentioned he might want to call the landlords and ask about all the sprinkler heads already in the lawn and the automated water station in the big hole in the wall we keep covered by a horse picture first.
So while the landlord was over turning it on and making sure it was running all right, he told Nick that they are putting this house on the market. They’ve offered to sell it to us, and we do love this house, but we want land most of all. So, that’s kind of a bummer except that I doubt it will happen soon, for various reasons (#1 being there isn’t even a real estate sign on the lawn yet) although this is without a doubt the nicest house on the block.
But we expect to add more pictures to the housing browsing flickr set in the next few weeks. The thrill of the hunt and the scent of paperwork is in the air…
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