Making do

I'm not done with even one of the three baby sweaters that I need to do pretty much right now, if they're going to get here before the babies' arrivals. Maybe I need to let go of (in two cases) finding The Perfect Baby Sweater and realizing that "finished" trumps "ideal and still unrealized" almost every time!

That attitude helped me get out and run today. Raining -- again, and I wasn't feeling overly motivated, but it just doesn't matter. Since I'm not running for time, except in the "more time to live" sense, I can just call it discipline practice, and it counts.

That whole idea of discipline is relatively new to me -- I didn't get it, really get it, until I started having children. Along with some other shifts (hey, I do need some time alone or I go crazy! Who knew?), I began to deeply appreciate the beauty of just doing the work at hand, just showing up over and over and over. So in my world, that ends up looking like running in the rain. Even though I claim to be capable of regular exercise without concomitant increase in fitness, it's not true. Three miles wasn't terrible today. So. Something works sometimes.

I felt a little tight when I got home, so some yoga poses seemed called for. There's only one problem in my house:


Fred thinks that anyone on a yoga mat needs repeated "bonks" from his very hard (and possibly empty) head. Nothing quite as relaxing as easing into a deep Down Dog, hanging your head there, eyes closed, focusing on breathing, when "Bonk!" right against my forehead, my elbows, my legs. Between him and Caterina doing yoga under me, well, it was enough just to show up.

Change of the guard

Last year, I grew Japanese Indigo in my garden, and did some dyeing experiments with it on Sheep Shed Studio mill ends.

The first filled bobbins are now all plyed -- 295 yards of about sport weight three ply:


The lighter side is probably truest to color; it's cloudy today.

Because I am not the kind of person for whom details work out, one bobbin finished before the other two. And they looked so even! Anyhow, once I wind those two off to make another one again, I'll finish plying and end up with a bit over 300 yards. I spun this as worsted as I can, and it's crisp -- no bounce, lots of shine. It should make something nice and intricate. Now, if I can only think of an appropriate pattern. Maybe Koolhaas? But who needs another hat?

The really exciting part about finishing this yarn is getting to switch from my Lendrum's stock slider option to the Woolee Winder that Eric gifted me for Christmas. I can't wait to just spin without stopping. And it fulfills my weird flat filled bobbin mania. There's some orange fiber with my name on it upstairs. . .

Running around

After my injury hiatus followed by enthusiastic holiday reading, training starting at the beginning seemed like a good idea. Now I'm at the end of the beginner 5k training, and doing okay. I'm not setting any land speed records, but since the real prize I'm heading for is "middle aged discipline," I'm doing great.

Next, speed work! Sprint until you want to throw up! So. Much. Fun.

Something else that came from discipline (and redoing until it was right)? That's right!! The ribbed sweater is done, done, done.


I got to indulge in Extreme Blocking (which should so seriously be a spectator sport). The teeny tube of ribbing that was this:


Had a date with some water, soap, and pins:


And opened up to fit quite well:


It's an "Action Sweater" (apologies to Mr. Izzard) -- I can run the obstacle course that's the yard:


I like how curvy it looks from the back. All in all, I'm really satisfied.