a smaller life

where I was a Flower of the mountain

 

Well, the poll was pretty definitive; fingering- weight sweaters are out. Not that I won't be making them, or possibly even designing them for others, but as of this morning, it's 80% for sport weight, so I've been swatching in Bugga!- which, while listed in Ravelry as a fingering weight is really more of a light sport and seems to me like a happy medium.

I've also begun thinking about color- something rich and red and joyful, which is where the photo comes in; I've got to start planning my half of our winter seasonal colorways, and this seems too perfect, the darker russet-y loveliness of these leaves, spotted while doing errands on Saturday. It seems the best bits of inspiration are always just sitting out in public, shamelessly exposing themselves in the everyday.

The test dyeing will begin in earnest once we're back from SAFF- we leave this Wednesday morning, gulp! I never feel as prepared for a show as I wish I did. Asheville is beautiful, though, and it's such a perfect time to head out there, which makes up for a lot of my last- minute flailing. (Where, oh where are my fancy- dress shoes?!?!?? And my travel kit? And my conditioner? Eeep!)

 

squeeeeeee!

We are here!!!!!!!

adventuring

I'm tracing our journey from Maryland to Portland over on The Sanguine Gryphon blog; we're taking pictures of a skein of Bugga! everywhere we go. It's a silly game, but lovely, and gives us goals throughout the day. We have to see the Giant Head Of Abraham Lincoln, I think; it'll be perfect for the blog! Then we go and see the G.H.O.A.L., and it's awesome. Completely, fantastically awesome. Things like that make this whole trip more of an adventure.

goodbye, Baltimore

I felt strangely conflicted when I went to leave this morning; I like my little brown house, and the life we live in it, very much. I went around and said goodbye to all the best bits this morning.

Goodbye, cats. Please be good for Will and Dawn while we're away. Please forgive us for leaving you for a few weeks, too, and don't try to eat our eyes when we return.

Goodbye, awesome pink flowers outside of my studio window. I didn't know you were there until we took all the ivy off of you. Please still be blooming when we come back. (Also, please smell better.)

Goodbye, first tomatoes of the summer. I can't wait to come back and eat you.

Goodbye, weird wasp- bee bugga. I'm going to find out what you are, already, and possibly give you your very own colorway. Maybe, in exchange, you could stop creeping up on Kiddo and freaking her out? I know you're only interested in the squash flowers, but the squealing, it's killing me. (Any bug experts know what I'm looking at, here? It's about one inch, 1.5 inches long.)

We've been driving all day, and we're only in Toledo! But we're here, and we're settling in for bed. It's not home, but it's comfortable, and air conditioned, and the coffee is free and plentiful. And it's fun! We talk, we listen to music (more accurately: we make fun of each other's music), I knit, he plays PSP, we take goofy pictures at rest stops, we make up stories about the other drivers. As reluctant as I was to leave my little brown house, this is good.

our big adventure

We are starting here...

... and headed here...

...and this is how we're getting there.

That poor van is nearly bursting with yarn, people. It is madness. Heaven help the trooper that wants to search this van. We leave tomorrow morning, bright and early, with six days and about 2800 miles of adventure ahead of us. Wish us luck!

nearly there now

I picked up Kate's yarn and fiber yesterday, and packed up my dyework from this week today; tomorrow I run to Gryphon's and we load all of the other yarn, plus everything for the booth and the show. Lilu goes to the kennel in the morning, Kiddo flies off to see her grandparents in the afternoon, and then Thursday we hit the road.

I will be so glad when we hit the road, really- because once we're driving, I don't have to worry about forgetting anything anymore. It's even stressing poor Inertia out.

Look at him, he's exhausted, the poor little guy. (Yeah, that's right. I blogged my cat.)

in which I am home again

I grew up in Naugatuck, Connecticut. I know what most people think when they think of Connecticut- yachts, loafers, polo shirts, lawn parties, private schools, the very word privilege. And to be honest, Connecticut has places like that. Naugatuck isn't one of them. I come from another small town in New England that was thoroughly trounced by the death of the Industrial North; we lost the factories and never recovered.

It wasn't always like this. It was a reasonable place to grow up. I spent hours in our library, a Mead, McKim and White building; it may not mean much to some, but to a Gilded Era geek like myself that's an amazing brush with celebrity. My middle school was a MM&W building, too; I've written about that, some. I like to drive by and look at these buildings every time I visit.

I went back this last week, to see family (it had been about eighteen months, how awful), to see friends, to eat sandwiches and to do some exploring. I had a lovely trip- it was exactly what I needed.

 

I spent a good amount of time with my very smart, super sweet nephew Dameon. Isn't he lovely!? (Trust me, he's even better in real life.) I took Dameon and his mother to Gillette Castle Park in East Haddam, Connecticut. Gillette Castle was one of those magic places when I was a kid- this gorgeous, strange stone castle built in the early 1900s above the Connecticut River. It was fantastic to get back. (Being here reminded me how excited I am to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie, too.)

Connecticut is full of spots like this- strange, odd places full of magic when you're a child. My sister Boo and I went exploring on Wednesday; we went to the Little People's Village in Middblebury, CT, which I hear may soon be condominiums, and we went to Holy Land in Waterbury, too.

I used to go to the Little People's Village all the time when I was a teenager. I'm surprised it has held up as well as it has. The throne is still there, too. I didn't sit in it this time around, though.

I'd never been to Holy Land before, though; after years of driving through Waterbury on I-84, seeing that glowing cross on the hill, I finally just had to know. Boo and I had a great hike through what is left of the place.

It is, of course, good to be home again. I have a garden to plant- finally, I think the seedlings are ready!- and a dog to wash, yarn to dye and a back room that still desperately needs my attention. I do so love working off a list.

in which there is ONE. DAY. LEFT.

In just barely over 24 hours, I will see Sam and Kiddo again.

I can't think of one other thing to say.

in which there are 3 days left

Nearly there, now.

Remarkably, despite having spent the last few days bathing, sleeping, and eating, I appear to be losing weight in Doha. How is that even possible? I'm not running. Hell, I'm hardly walking. Then again, I am eating a lot better- real food, identifiable food, food that looks like what it started out as. Maybe that's the trick of it- food that looks like food, as opposed to food that I'm taking on faith as food.

I'm off to bed, to watch more Bollywood and work on my sock. If I have to be waiting to go home, this is not at all a bad way to do it.

in which there are four days left

Before anyone points it out- why, yes, I AM still wearing the same shirt. Go ahead and judge me. Go on. It's all right. I'll just crawl back into this, where I've spent most of the last few days.

I sort of live in bed right now, with my books and my iPod and the room service menu. It's wonderful. I drag myself out of bed to shower and cruise the internet, then drift back to bed. I have literally left the hotel room only twice- once to ask the front desk for a power adapter for my laptop, the second time to grab coffee. That was before I found the little card in the nightstand that told me coffee could be delivered to my room gratis at any time. Now, there's really no reason to leave at all.

Billy and I will head out into the city tomorrow, I think- assuming either of us can be bothered to drag ourselves out of our rooms, which is a little questionable. I'm headed down to the beach this evening, once it's cooled off, just to be near the water and maybe read. But really, this part of the adventure isn't about adventure; it's about recharging and re- setting, about getting ready for all the work and change I have lying ahead once I return to Maryland. That is another post, though, and not nearly complete yet.