Day of firsts, fits, and tears (all mine, I'm afraid)

If Wednesday is the hump, things can only get fucking better. The good news first, today is the Vegetarian Special day at Bahn's, my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Durham (cash only, small seating area). Lunch was spectacular as usual. Next up, Morgan's last visit to the orthopedist for his broken finger. I'm slightly concerned about the NINE x-rays he's had taken of his hand over the last month, but it all looks good. No more splint, except for soccer for the next two weeks. We've had our day, and we're on our way home. A mere two miles from our house, Bowen was talking to me in the back seat and I turned around to look at him and when I turned my head back the pick-up truck in front of me (without it's break lights on) was sitting there and we were approaching quickly. I slammed on the breaks and said, "oh shit!" because I knew we weren't going to stop in time... and we didn't. I hadn't been going 55 mph and the airbags didn't deploy but the front of my '98 Volvo with 161,000 miles was SMASHED TO HELL. The hood had that terrible angle that means doom, antifreeze was leaking all over the road, and those really expensive headlights? they really ARE glass! The car wouldn't start to move it off the road, it had to be pushed. I hit the pick-up truck AND the pick-up truck hit a woman in a rather new looking Toyota SUV of some kind. Sigh. I haven't ever rear ended anyone and the shock was pretty impressive. My mental capacities flew out the window for the next minute or so and then I came to my senses and started looking for my license and registration. Fifteen minutes later the police (state trooper) finally arrived. We each got to make a written statement and I AM FUCKED. I'm bummed about the citation (haven't gotten one of those before either). If I go to court the chances are pretty good they'll drop the charges if I prove I'm taking care of the accident. I'm bummed about MY CAR, cause there's only the one and I was hoping it was here for the long haul (I had money set aside to fix the air conditioning I haven't had for the past two summers) and now she (Inga) is probably gone. There are so many accidents in the area a claim representative can't get to my car until MONDAY! The insurance has arranged a rental which they will cover $30/day up to $900 but I worry.

The amazing news, the stuff that makes me cry ( from sadness earlier) but now from the kindness of virtual friends. Sarah is organizing a raffle to benefit ME! I can't believe it or even wrap my mind around it right now. Prizes include roving, hand spun, and commercial yarns. If you want to get into the action and help me out in the process, head on over to theytoldmesew. Tickets are $1 for ONE ticket and $5 for SIX tickets. I'll post more details as things get more organized.

I am also offering free domestic regular shipping for the month. There was a scheduled update happening this week anyway, but today I was a little distracted. I'll post more rovings tomorrow.

Weekend fun, fiber swap, and spinning

It's been quite a week. It started off at the beach (Wrightsville) with a little walking around and photography in Wilmington. There are old steamboat style houses, along with all manner of Victorian, and just some grand old houses. Almost every house down town has a plaque on the side declaring the year, style, and which person of importance formerly inhabited it. This tree is grafted and has two different flowers on it, I have no idea what they are, but they're lovely. (You can click on it to make it bigger.)



This house was for sale so there was some window peeping. Glancing up, here is some gorgeous design.



That gives way to some amazing cast iron around the porch itself.



Right next door is a Bed and Breakfast with garden. I can only imagine how enjoyable it will be when it's actually blooming.



Back here on the home front, Morgan's hand seems to be healing nicely. He has his check up tomorrow and another two weeks in the splint.



And some happiness in the fibery world, Sarah, and I are swappin' some fiber! My package arrived today:



The roving is superwash merino called Broken Yolks (LOVE IT!) and the yarn is her scrumptious handspun, Secret Garden. Plus, some Hershey Kisses and Peeps! The kids had no idea candy and fiber even existed in the same universe. They said that Sarah can come and stay at our house anytime.

Gratuitous Fiber shots ahead, avert the eyes of the young:



Broken Yolks up close and personal.



And Secret Garden. I'm giving some serious thought to what this should be knit into. The blues and purples are fabulous together. Can't wait!

In order to spin Broken Yolks, I have to ply some more random spun yarn. I've got one skein soaking and the other is on the wheel. Can I just tell you how much I love my tensioned Lazy Kate? Makes the whole thing so much easier, I can't believe I waited so long to buy it. I tried doing it myself on my old Kate and it didn't work out so well. Those Ashford people know what they're doing!

Dyeing, knitting, and spinning

I've got four more dry rovings - yea! More super soft, superwash corriedale! OK, so some of the colors I'm not so taken with, they look different wet and dry, so sometimes I'm not exactly sure how they'll turn out. "Flashback" I find the boldest. I still think the colors would be fabulous spun - not too overpowering, and great combos plied.



This is "Ruby" and is by far the most conservative color scheme I've ever done!



Mr Mustard. The yellow is actually more mustardy than pictured (that color is giving me fits trying to get it accurately).



Last is"Pam" - my favorite. If no one on Etsy wants it, I'll spin it up into something lovely for me!



I'm double knitting up some samples of the yarn I've been dyeing, so people can have an idea what the pattern will look like. That's the kind of thing I like to know when I'm looking at hand-painted yarns. Double knitting will imitate knitting in the round (I've only cast on 40 sts instead of the 58-62 I usually do for socks). It should give a nice idea of what will happen with color in the round.

There's more random spinning on the Ashford, but I'm contemplating cutting out one of the rovings. I hate "wasting" roving, but this one (I bought it) is pretty compacted and frustrating. I'm thinking of saving it for Chicky to spin, she tends to spin thicker and it won't bother her in the least, and she'll love the colors!

Morgan's finger is healing well. It looks a nasty shade of gray and we're de-funking it daily, but whooee! Stench! I'm glad we can take the splint off and clean it, or I think I would faint from the fumes by the time it had to come off. He's being very good natured about the whole thing. He thought it was cool until Day 2 and then he figured out he'd need to do some adjusting to basic daily tasks for a while. I tried to remind him that this was one of those times his stubborn nature should be helpful.

Still here...

There has been a giant pause in blog land over here. I've been doing quite a bit of dyeing, some knitting, and today it's been spinning. I've also been playing with the new camera. I was playing with the macro lens the other night and got this picture.



Then, this morning I found the rovings I dyed on Friday afternoon were dry. So, they've been finger crocheted for display purposes. There's one I'm calling Rosemary.



Sage.



Zinnea.



And Hyacinth.



I'm still working on random spinning and have almost a full bobbin. I'm pondering spinning another bobbin of one roving the whole way through and plying it with the random one, or doing another bobbin of random and seeing where the chips fall. No clue yet.

In family news Morgan broke his left pinky on the playground this week. He was playing tag and his finger got wrapped in another kid's shirt. The kid turned quickly and smacked his arm away while it was still wrapped in the shirt. The pinky has a transverse fracture and I am happy to report no special surgery requiring a pin was needed (this was the worst case scenario we were presented with). Morgan took a copy of his x-ray to school and got a cool fancy, custom made splint (gotta love the orthopedist - never go to the ER for broken bones if you have an orthopedist near by - quicker service, more qualified help, and they are nice to you). Bowen broke his arm a couple of years ago, so the boys were comparing stories at the dinner table. Bowen said, "Erin, all you have to do is break something and we'll ALL have had broken bones." She looked at me and said, "Mom's never broken anything, right?" I said, "Nope." She said, "I don't want to break anything either."