the quacking fiber addict

I spun this today as the demo skein for our "give it a whorl" workshop:


I have no idea what I'm gonna do with it, but it'll end up somewhere. It's a little under half shetland with a bunch of mixed wools.

Mom was high as a kite when we left the house and no one wanted to deal with her, honestly. So, tonight she called a family meeting, and declared in tears that she was going to call the insurance company tomorrow and arrange for rehab.

This was met with silence, since Em and I aren't stupid. We've heard it before and have learned to go, "uh huh." But, she and Dad swear they're calling tomorrow. We'll see. I excused myself after a while, cuz "I'm crap at this touchy-feely stuff." Which is completely true. I hate talking about my feelings or having my personal space invaded. Forgive my doubts, but I think they're well-founded. Everyone can just deal with it, since I put up with them all the time.

So, that's that. I was working on blocking this:


... when Mom sent my brother, Em, up to collect me for the family meeting. I told him, rather tersely, that I was busy and they'd just have to wait. I mean, c'mon - it's a lace shawl.

Okay, I can see how some people think my priorities are a bit skewwed...

Today at Guild, I tried for the third time to cast on the lacy border, and realised that the reason I'm having so much difficulty with it is because I don't want a lacy edge on my shawl. Aaah. Sometimes it takes me awhile. I showed the finished pic of what the shawl should look like to the other knitters, who (being young and hip) made weird faces.

"No. Without the edge! Without the frills."

Okay. Strangely enough, Kristen, our resident jock knitter (k, I love her, but it's true) thought that this was sacriledge. Too funny.

I really do like the clean lines of the shawl as it is. So, I wove in the loose ends and proceeded to block it when I got home. It's currently pinned to a heavy comforter on the bed in the spare bedroom/ sewing storage chamber. This thing looks like it'll be huge when done. I mean, two of the edges are as long as a double mattress is wide.

For those of you interested in tips, I suggest blocking lace using quilter's pins. They're 2x longer than regular sewing pins and always have a really bright head on 'em.