The title says it all.

Last week was pretty rough, exhaustion, stress, etc. all piled up in just the right way to make things… ick.

So, the weekend kicked off with a much better… tone. Heh, tone.

I went to a concert with my parents at the Iron Horse in Northampton. Great place, I’ve been going to since I was a little kid. This time, we saw Kris Delmhorst, who I love on CD but is brilliant in concert. Her voice only gets richer as time goes on, and her dynamics are amazing.

And, I always love spending time with my parents.

Saturday, I stayed at my parents’ and went with Mom to help with the Hampden Garden Club clean up of the small gardens in the local middle school, Thornton Burgess. I’ve been a member now, for over 14 years. Wow. Amazing thought. Still enjoy it, and still love getting to see the people. Hope to make it down for their Memorial Day Plant Sale.

Sunday morning I dyed some more (photos up tomorrow) and spent most of the day with good friends up by Boston, playing games.

And Monday… aaaah sweet Monday.

It was a holiday here (Patriot’s Day) but not elsewhere, which served my purposes perfectly. I got up bright and early… and drove 3 hours up to Maine.

Where I was reunited with… him…

So after wandering around the shop (a horribly dangerous place, I assure you) and getting some fiber for him and some spindles and books and such (spindles later in this post) it was time to head out again…

He’s a big boy! Too tall to fit upright. I was a little nervous, but he’s rugged. Then, time to drive back south again, to meet Lynn and Marcy for our spinning date, where Lynn kindly took two photos (one with my camera and one with hers).

Isn’t he handsome?

Then, I got to spin on him. It took us a bit to get reacquainted, but once we did. ::sigh:: Love.

Monday, I spent all morning cleaning my living room. Then I had to go to a traffic hearing (I won), came back, and finished up. So that the poor guy could have a clean room to move into.

And there he is, doesn’t he make the little Ash look so tiny?

He seems happy. Someone mentioned on Ravelry, and I agree so far that he seems to be muttering about Teutonic names. Someone suggested Strider as well, which also fits. We’ll give him some time. I’m sure he’ll let me know.

Also while I was at Spunky’s I got two spindles.

On the left, A Jenkins Turkish Delight of Amboyna burl, that weighs one ounce.

On the right, a Greensleeves, Damsel Monique, out of Redwood Burl and Bloodwood, that weighs 0.7 ounces.

These were purchased, not just because they’re gorgeous (which they most certainly are) but also because the big wheel is (obviously) not pocket sized. These spindles are, and they are to remind me how awesome my friends and family are, and that they’re always with me, always caring about me and supporting me. ‘Cause when things are rough, it’s easy to forget. So these are to help with that.

And they’re gorgeous and spin like dreams.

Ah, right, you may have noticed (but probably didn’t) in the spinning photo, that I have orange feet. Nope, there’s not mystery knitting going on on my part. As if I didn’t have enough reminders of the fact I have the best friends and family ever, I got to spin on the big guy the first time, treadling with…

TIGER FEET!

Knit by the fabulous TwoBlackCats to fit like a glove! So soft and comfy!

And, because, really, my head wasn’t asploded with happiness already, my new wheel, got himself a new wheel buddy!

Remember this?

My first attempt at Navajo-ply? Made with Honeydew/Mint Mojito fiber from Holiday Yarns? Well, it came back home, after being sent out to KnittyBe

I don’t know how she did it, I swear I sent her that yarn as an example of how learning looks (a.k.a. not very good) but what came back looks great! Somehow, she made that… into this!

Meet Pickles, who seems to like the big guy. She’s a rather quiet elephant, but remarkably sophisticated, preferring BBC World News. She’s a little sad about the lack of Cherry Coke in the house, but I think she’ll like the tea well enough.

Pickles is also the first hint of a likely new project between KnittyBe and I. More on that soon.

Aaaand finally. Oooone more thing. You might have noticed behind the two wheels in my living room…

While I was at Lynn’s, she showed me how to weave!

She kindly warped it for me, but I did the rest. It’s awesome.

And she let my borrow the table loom. I love it! I think I’m going to use this fabric I’m making to make a small spindle bag for the Turkish Delight (since it’s very pointy and otherwise it will stab me when I walk).

So, I guess it’s time for me to get back to work on the fiber wall which keeps expanding…

Whew! See, busy weekend!

Excellent weekend.

I came, I saw, I squeed.

I’ve got a bunch of new dyeing to get up as well, but that will have to wait a bit.

Now, back to lab. Have to finish the paper up this week.

Will get the new fiber up tomorrow, along with updates on other projects.

~The Gnome