The afghan has been given to Travis. It was well received.

At the memorial, I said this (with some tears):

Jen wasn’t one, in my experience, for fancy words or flowered frippery, which is good. I’m usually verbose, and I feel like I should say something eloquent, something wise. But though I am someone who bases my life on word and description, I have nothing wise, nothing eloquent, nothing elegant, nothing that can truly do justice to her life. So I guess I’ll have to make do with heartfelt. My poor attempt at poetry, it’s all the words I seem to have right now.

I remember.
I remember “Morning!” every day as I came through the door,
and “See you tomorrow guys!” every afternoon at four.
I remember a light and a grin whenever the word “hike” was spoken,
And a laughing, “there’s no crying in science!” when another experiment proved broken.
I remember a quick smile and quicker offers of assistance,
And kind supportive suggestions of persistence.
I remember a kind heart, an open mind,
And strong opinions of the well informed kind.
I remember one of the strongest, smartest, best people I have ever met.
I remember someone who makes me happy to have known her, even if it was for far too brief a time.
I remember… Jen.

I’ve never been one to believe in angels or the like, but I did – and do – believe in Jen. Thank you, Jen, for making the world a better, richer place, even if you had to leave far before you should have. Everything you did, you did completely, with all you had, from football to science to mothering. You are an inspiration.

There are no words that can capture the strength of her personality or the depth of her character, so this will have to be enough… I’m going to miss you, Jen.

~The Gnome

So last night, I got home at 7:00 pm to start working on the afghan, which needed to be done for me to come in to work today.

It started at this

At 7:00 am this morning, it looked like this

Or, in lab in the light, like this

Yes, you read that right. 12 hours later. I fail at figuring out how much is left when I’m not seaming in easy to follow square order.

Which is why it doesn’t have a white border. Which bothers me, but most people won’t notice. And Travis won’t care. But it still bothers me.

Final listing (if you’re not on this and think you should be, let me know today if possible so I can add you to the list I’m giving Travis).

USA Kentucky C-Ville
Canada Manitoba Woodlands
USA Utah Logan
USA Texas Katy
USA Arizona Glendale
New Zealand Unknown Wanaka
USA New York New York City
USA Wisconsin Madison
USA Oregon Gearhart
UK Unknown Unknown
USA Florida Crestview
Norway None Bergen
USA New York White Plains
USA New York Endicott
USA Minnesota Columbia Heights
USA Washington Lacey
USA Maryland Columbia
USA California Redlands
USA New York Binghamton
USA Illinois Chicago
USA North Carolina Hendersonville
USA Pennsylvania Conshohocken
USA Washington Tacoma
USA Oklahoma Broken Arrow
USA Alabama Huntsville
USA Maryland Huntingtown
USA Georgia Acworth
USA Idaho Moscow
USA California La Habra
Canada Ontario Oshawa
USA Oregon Portland
USA Massachusetts Somerville
USA Massachusetts Worcester
USA Wisconsin Madison
USA New York Babylon
USA California San Francisco
USA Washington Renton
Canada Ontario Stouffville
USA Nevada Boulder City
UK None Bedford
USA Ohio Northfield
USA California Oak Park
USA Minnesota Chanhassen
Denmark Unknown Kobenhavn
USA Ohio Cleveland
Denmark None Aarhus
USA New Hampshire Belmont
Canada Ontario Oshawa
USA Waretown New Jersey
USA Dallas Texas
USA Washington Kent

So yeah, it’s finally, finally done. I didn’t sleep. Hopefully Travis will like it, and find some comfort there.

Squares that weren’t used (ended up with more than fit) will be made into a pillow to go with the afghan.

~The Gnome

Which is good, since I have to have it done completely by tomorrow. Whee!

I’m seaming, still. Almost all the green seams done, a few white ones left.

Here’s two photos of progress.

And one with the white spiral seam begun…

Memorial is at 4:00 tomorrow. Which is when I have to give it to Travis. I’m hoping to all that’s Holy that I remember to take a finished photo, since it will likely be very late at night.

~The Gnome

Things are busy and insane here. Can’t go into terribly much detail besides to say these things:

I’m nearing the light at the end of the tunnel
My boss is feeling the strain of impending tenure review
Finances are extraordinarily tight

So, Gnomespun will not be updated as often as I’d like. However, some things are getting done and are in the works. If I can manage to get home in the evenings, there will be some new roving, and I’m working on a new yarn.

This weekend, I got to hang out with Lynn and Marcy and spin a bit, and have some lovely beer. Mmm beer.

Lynn also gave me some lovely Romney which is spinning up really quickly. Yay. Maybe I’ll actually finish a yarn sometime.

The pink spinel has been a bust. I need to get some new fiber for it. Blegh. I’m not plying this fiber this way again. It’s too slick and so won’t stay in the ball. Plying from two ends of a ball… not good with this fiber. It results in tangles (note this tangle is less than half of the original tangle)

Also, I managed to get something small done. More stitch markers.

Yay. I’m pretty happy with them.

Labradourite – Lapis – Malachite – Labradourite, you can just see the gold flecks in the lapis.

And chalcedony (carnelian and sard are sub-genres of this stone) flower drops.

And now, back to my little yeast.

Oh right, and below, the list of square donors, had a few last minute stragglers come in over the weekend. Seaming is starting. Memorial is the 11th.

~The Gnome

USA Kentucky C-Ville
Canada Manitoba Woodlands
USA Utah Logan
USA Texas Katy
USA Arizona Glendale
New Zealand Unknown Wanaka
USA New York New York City
USA Wisconsin Madison
USA Oregon Gearhart
UK Unknown Unknown
USA Florida Crestview
Norway None Bergen
USA New York White Plains
USA New York Endicott
USA Minnesota Columbia Heights
USA Washington Lacey
USA Maryland Columbia
USA California Redlands
USA New York Binghamton
USA Illinois Chicago
USA North Carolina Hendersonville
USA Pennsylvania Conshohocken
USA Washington Tacoma
USA Oklahoma Broken Arrow
USA Alabama Huntsville
USA Maryland Huntingtown
USA Georgia Acworth
USA Idaho Moscow
USA California La Habra
Canada Ontario Oshawa
USA Oregon Portland
USA Massachusetts Somerville
USA Massachusetts Worcester
USA Wisconsin Madison
USA New York Babylon
USA California San Francisco
USA Washington Renton
Canada Ontario Stouffville
USA Nevada Boulder City
UK None Bedford
USA Ohio Northfield
USA California Oak Park
USA Minnesota Chanhassen
Denmark Unknown Kobenhavn
USA Ohio Cleveland
Denmark None Aarhus
USA New Hampshire Belmont
Canada Ontario Oshawa
USA Waretown New Jersey
USA Dallas Texas

How I’ve missed you.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Life got… complicated. *insert whining here. car tires blah, 15 hour days blah, bobbin broke blah, blah blah).

But here I am, still alive more or less. And thus, this will be rather colossally large.

So, lets see…

Squares. We have… depending on how you count, 128 or 134 squares. From all over.

USA Kentucky C-Ville
Canada Manitoba Woodlands
USA Utah Logan
USA Texas Katy
USA Arizona Glendale
New Zealand Unknown Wanaka
USA New York New York City
USA Wisconsin Madison
USA Oregon Gearhart
UK Unknown Unknown
USA Florida Crestview
Norway Unknown Bergen
USA New York White Plains
USA New York Endicott
USA Minnesota Columbia Heights
USA Washington Lacey
USA Maryland Columbia
USA California Redlands
USA New York Binghamton
USA Illinois Chicago
USA North Carolina Hendersonville
USA Pennsylvania Conshohocken
USA Washington Tacoma
USA Oklahoma Broken Arrow
USA Alabama Huntsville
USA Maryland Huntingtown
USA Georgia Acworth
USA Idaho Moscow
USA California La Habra
Canada Ontario Oshawa
USA Oregon Portland
USA Massachusetts Somerville
USA Massachusetts Worcester
USA Wisconsin Madison
USA New York Babylon
USA California San Francisco
USA Washington Renton
Canada Ontario Stouffville
USA Nevada Boulder City
UK Unknown Bedford
USA Ohio Northfield
USA California Oak Park
USA Minnesota Chanhassen
Denmark Unknown Magdelonevej
USA Ohio Cleveland
Denmark Unknown Skeiby Vaenge
USA New Hampshire Belmont
Canada Ontario Oshawa

The afghan layout has gone through a couple changes. Wasn’t sure the corner squares were going to come in, so I did a layout without them…

Then, yesterday, they arrived, so did a layout WITH them…

I’ll likely keep this one. I’m debating a bit on seaming. I can seam in one color (my off white) or I can seam in two colors (cream and a green) to emphasize the color spiral (yeah, didn’t notice that, did you?). Haven’t decided for sure yet. Yes, it needs one more square.

Extra squares that come in will be used either for a pillow or a small lap blanket.

Also with one batch of squares came these

Mmm cookies. They came at a good time, as my mind was melting out my ears from an approaching project deadline (for which I was running 13-15 hour days).

Oh right, another yarn commission. A small one this time, but one that’s been beset by disaster. Pink Spinel, a 2-ply worsted yarn in SW Merino/Cashmere/Nylon. Spinning the single was fine, though the fiber and my fingers really wanted to make frog hair.

No, it’s not dyed yet. It’s going to be a semi-solid so I didn’t see a reason not to dye it as yarn. Since it’s a small amount and I’m going to be dyeing it all one color I thought I’d be brilliant and make sure I could use it all. So I wound it off into a center pull ball.

Unfortunately for me, I wound it too tight, so it doesn’t come out without often dragging other bits of the thing with it. Annoying but not catastrophic. Just slowing me down a bit.

What was catastrophic was my bobbin breaking in the middle of plying. The end popped off, which pressed against the flyer, keeping the whole thing from winding right. Urgh.

After some delay for the aforementioned deadline (Thesis Committee meeting, by the way, it went well even if it did almost kill me to get there), I got some gorilla glue and managed to put the end of the bobbin back on and put it back on my wheel. Assuming (la la la la happy thoughts) that I didn’t glue the yarn to the bobbin, I should be good. Got a little more plied last night. The annoying ball failure is delaying me a lot.

Finally, I made these:

Stitch markers (as you can see). I’m rather pleased with how they came out. Aventurine, garnet, and labradourite. One thing I’m especially pleased with is the lack of edges. They’re made with a solid cast nickle o-ring, rather than a welded o-ring or jump ring. No catchy place. And the end of the wire wrap is also tucked in and protected. I have the supplies, I think I’ll likely make some more in various stones.

I’m going to try to get some dyeing done in the next few days. I have some blending noil, shetland, and bfl to dye. And at some point, some polwarth.

For now, signing off.

~The Gnome