Evilsciencechick

Day 22 – going the distance

Today we had a full day planned. Lunch out, followed by a quick trip to the international farmer’s market, and ending with the last Harry Potter movie.

Well, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, as they say. By the time we got to the theater, the movie was sold out. Dammit! Spent too long at the market. The farmer’s market is a little…busy on Saturdays. Which I knew, of course. I knew. I should have gone after work on Friday, but I didn’t. I figured I just needed a few things, so it wouldn’t be that bad.

Ugh.

Don’t go on a Saturday. Ever. If you can help it. They’re like animals there. ANIMALS! And I become one of them. OUT OF MY WAY, KIDS! I NEED RED PEPPERS!!!!

I needed to go, though, to pick up ingredients to make some mango slaw for a party we’re going to tomorrow. A PARTY! Kev and I will be socializing! With PEOPLE! People I work with!

Uhh…risky!

I tend towards not mixing work and not-work time. Of course, that’s because I’m always a contractor. I don’t want to get too attached to people, because it’s not a permanent situation. Like I’m a foster puppy!

THEORETICALLY this job will become permanent. Eventually. At some point.

This is me. Holding my breath.

*sigh*

ANYWAY…

Actually, my biggest anxiety about this party is that I will have to introduce people to Kevin, and I’m probably supposed to know their names, and I AM TERRIBLE WITH NAMES, especially names of people I should DAMN WELL KNOW because I work with them, but only actually SEE once in a while. This is when I wish work email was like facebook and had PICTURES in people’s profiles.

My only hope is impressing them with my MAD SLAW SKILLZ. Thus, the mango slaw.

With spicy dressing!

It’s pretty good, especially after it sits overnight and all the flavors meld together. It’s spicy and sweet and delicious. Tomorrow before we leave I’ll grab some mint from the pot outside, and this will be ready to go.

ALSO I bought drinks. DRINKS! Alcohol smooths over much social awkwardness.

I did manage to find some time to spin today.

That’s 1 bobbin done. Unfortunately Sunday is the last day of the tour, and we’re going to that party. So I don’t think I’m going to be able to do the entire second bobbin and also ply. SO this is going to be a Tour straggler.

SHE’S GOING THE DISTANCE! SHE’S GOING FOR SPEED! SHE’S ALL ALONE (ALL ALONE!) IN HER TIME OF NEED!

Now get THAT out of your head!

Day 21 – did I black out or what???

Every morning I wake up Sadie so that she can eat breakfast and go out for her morning constitutional. Every morning I get the GLARE OF DEATH from her, because bitch is LAZY. Well, she’s 13, so I guess I can cut her some slack. But seriously, I’ve been getting the GLARE OF DEATH from her every morning for years. It’s pretty funny.

“If you call me Sleeping Beauty one more time, I will poop in your shoes.”

Since it’s not fair that I took pictures to show off how rough my poor, abused dog looks in the morning, I took a quick picture of me.

Of course, I had benefit of makeup. Though I think I need to start wearing lipstick more often.

No post yesterday because it was knit night and I worked on the baby blanket instead of spin. So NO DAY 20! I know you’re all disappointed.

Today was CHALLENGE DAY on the tour, so I decided my challenge would be to finish off the silk hanky that damaged my flyer last week. I finished spinning all 0.3oz of the hanky.

And then I thought, well, that’s not SO much of a challenge, since I had already started it last week. So how about I try my hand at navajo plying? Basically you make a 3 ply out of a single bobbin. I haven’t ever tried it before, so that should be a nice challenge.

SUCCESS! Though let me say, when you navajo ply, it seems like your yarn is more prone to snapping. And when silk snaps. you have no real good way of attaching it back together again. And when you CAN get it back together, it’s difficult to remake the loop and resume plying again.

Pain. In. The. Ass.

But there wasn’t much of it, so it didn’t take long.

It’s a tiiiiiiny little skein

61 yards from a 0.3oz hanky

Day 19 – Distracti….OOOO SHINY!

I feel so distracted lately. I’m having a hard time focusing on things before my mind starts to wander – and it’s not wandering anywhere productive or useful. It’s downright irritating. That combined with complete lack of energy and other weird things going on physically…let’s just say…I was…concerned.

Thank god for SCIENCE. My…concerns were unfounded.

But that means I’m distracted and annoyed for no good reason. Humph. Come on, brain. Get with the program.

Spinning helps – it’s meditative. The rhythm of pedaling the wheel is soothing and it really helps to clear the mind. No distracting thoughts, no anxieties, no brain wandering into pointless directions. Just the feel of the soft fiber in my hand, pulling through my fingers, keeping careful watch on the twist as I keep a steady rhythm with my foot…and focus. It’s a mental relief.

Why do I spin yarn? What’s the point when you can go into any craft or yarn store and buy yarn of every kind and price point imaginable? This. This is why I do it.

Wow. Deep. You’re boring.

Who let you in here? Shut up.

FINE! Not everyone is into it. You don’t have to be. But you probably have something you do that clears your mind and helps you relax. If you do you can start your own damn blog and post about THAT.

Damn punk ass kids!

I’ll just post my picture and you can go back to looking at porn or kitties or kitty porn or WHATEVER valuable thing you were doing with your time.

It’s got a bit of shimmer in it that’s difficult to see in pictures. It really is lovely.

Day 18 – Halloween in July

What is in the air this week? My eyes bugging the crap out of me – red and itchy and URGH! all day, in spite of drops and allergy pills and such. I look like shit. Like I’ve been smoking CRACK!

Note: I’ve never actually met anyone who’s smoked crack, so this observation is based SOLELY on some episodes of Law and Order I saw once. And my best guess. I’m sure smoking crack has other effects besides red eyes. Twitchiness? Or maybe that’s meth. This is what happens when you get a job and can’t watch the Law and Order marathon during weekday afternoons. USEFUL INFORMATION LOST FROM MY BRAIN FOREVER!

Today was not a total wash, though. We had EXCITEMENT and DRAMA at the office! It was quiet and boring until someone rounded the corner by my desk and asked me “ARE THEY COMING AROUND THE BUILDING YET? THEY WERE WALKING THIS WAY!!!!” And I thought WOW I’m not the only one smoking crack around here!

HAHAHA! Just kidding.

No, actually I wondered if someone important had shown up and if maybe I should have worn nicer shoes. But NO! It was not people. It was a deer! And her two babies! Here’s my shitty phone pic taken through our tinted office windows:

One of the fawns – you can see the other to the right of the shrubbery at the top.

Someone tried to shoo them away from the road, and managed to separate the doe and one fawn from the other fawn on opposite sides of the fence. NICE ONE. So for the rest of the day, I was distracted by DEER WATCH 2011. I don’t know if mama and baby were ever reunited – I’m assuming so, because deer aren’t THAT stupid and it’s not a very big fence.

But you did not come here for adorable baby deer. You came here for a spinning update, right?

Hey, where are you going???

I decided to pick something that would be fun. So I decided on some 50% superwash merino/50% tencel from Knitwitch in the All Hallows Eve colorway. I got it as part of their christmas gift in the swap we did at last year’s christmas party. I don’t have a good picture of it, but here is a shitty, blurry photo of me at the party with satanic eyes and the fiber shoved down my top: