Friday was getting the old futon we cleaned out of the house to my coworker for his daughters sewing room. woot! We did a bit of shopping and then home to play with a new standing lamp. Which did not fit where we wanted but I move a few more of them around and it worked in another place.

Then I was busy around the house picking stuff up and putting things away etc and doing I'm not sure what. Honestly I can' t remember but I didn't sit down much and I was running around the house a lot and also working on a crochet project. Mel was busy in the shop but went to get Ben, I hit costco for things we needed for the weekend and then it was home for left overs for dinner. Ben had had a really good week and we watched some tv.

Mel and I sat up way too late watching Young Justice but that was okay. I got up at just before 6 and packed the car to head to 12th night, got Domnall and then headed to Ari's. We packed things in her car and were on the road to the event on the NW side of Phx. We arrived at 930am and kibitzed with people. It was cooler than I expected but snuggled up in my Hrafn cloak it was all good. Domnall got troll setup and Ari (dressed as the White Witch from Narnia) went to Laurel's circle. I worked on the crochet project and got to a point where I realized the stuffing was in another bag in the car so I pulled out a knitting project. The "men" were confused by me switching projects mid-circle. Sorry guys gotta keep my hands busy. But it was a good circle and there was laughter and mirth and some good discussions. Got done and then handled some good arts business with the Kingdom MOAS. She got the taste of stern but helpful peer. And got the Hrafnheim/BTY laurelate opinion on the competitions and what we need to do to fix them which is dust off and nuke from orbit and try again in a few years after we've gotten folks into making things and have a good time.

Got to sit court and eat a wonderful spread that Ari and I brought. Took care of Dom since he was stuck at Troll and chatted with public_shaylan and Bran. Good times. Throughout all of the afternoon I chatted with folks and worked on the crochet project which I finished. A cute bunny for Baby Cora Jade.



The pattern is fiddly but I like it. Then I worked on the baby hat which is the Moochi by Woolywormhead for another baby, Miss Virginia Anne. We left about the time they were going to start serving feast and headed to Uncle Bear's Brewery for booze and noms. So tasty.

We got home just about 10pm and I got home, unloaded, unloaded the cooler and then immediately took a shower and then parafin waxed my hands. Mel's been restoring his early 1800s Canadian Production Wheel and its a lot of hand scraping to get the old finishes off and well, I've been crocheting or knitting too much so yes, hands better. And then I collapsed into bed. Mel was amused but understood me being tired.

We got up early again the next day for war practice/polling. I woke up poorly but drugs and coffee helped that tremendously. Got to the event with more coffee and donuts for the household and then sat at court working on my knitting and then chatting with Mistress Cecilia in our tent for hours with other folks in the house. Benton was good and played around the tent or on the play ground with other kids. I finished the one hat and cast on another in the same pattern for another baby (as of yet unknown name/gender and still in uetero with their mama). But the first hat is cute and it needs a wash and block.




Polling was good and then it was the long slog for the knights circle to then have court. Sighs. The household packed everything up (we only had 2 men (a squire and a man at arms) and the ladies of the house did everything else. Sighs. But things were in the van minus the few benches we needed for evening court. Court ended a while later and Benton and I quickly jetted for home. I was done and tired and just wanted to not be outside. I was annoyed about a few things but oh well. Chatting with my apprentice made tings better.

Dinner was the most amazeballs pork ribs. That morning I had gotten the roaster out, poured in 2 bottles of Guinness and the then liberally applied Montreal Steak Seasoning and Garlic powder. I set the temperature to 275°F and we left for the day. I turned it off at 6pm. OMG! soo good. Mel had made some ramen the day before and we had a simple dinner of ramen and ribs. So good. Seriously. We are making that again.

Yesterday I finally made it back to the gym. I decided leg day was where the year needed to start and I did good. Didn't do squats since the room was full but I headed off to the leg press machines and switched off with another guy. Ran into some of my young engineers (we will all be at the gym at the same time Wednesday it looks like) but all good. I hit the treadmill and while I didn't over push I was amazed at how having working lungs helps with running. Seriously, my legs were pulling not my chest and that felt wonderful. Yay for a controller medicine.

I got home and Ben ahd his first Red day in a very long time. I think he was over tired from the weekend but we shall see. I had a quick bite to eat before heading to scribble where I got all of the names and did one full text for the awards for Sunday. Then I effed one up cause I tried to erase and it wasn't dry (headdesk). Then I headed (at 10pm) to Target for essentials like eggs and papertowels. le sigh but I got home and into the shower by 1045 so I call that good.

Today I'm feeling less sore than I expected but I'm sure tomorrow that will be different.

But all in all a good weekend though not doing anything I wanted to be doing like sleeping in and just hanging on the couch....oh well. I have to adult.

Work was work worky work work. I found some issues and now I have a lot of work a head of me. Oof. Luckily I need more things to do (LOL). Got done, got home and the boy had not had a good day at school and that made all of us tired. Plus a random no-sleep text from my mom made me in a further foul mood. Sighs. I ended up in bed by 10pm. I was so tired. The whole family was grumpy so nuf said.

Saturday morning I got up way before I wanted to since Mel and Ben were talking on the porch while mel got ready for his ride. Sighs. I got up though, had coffee and attempted to stay on task and get things done. Which I did, overall. But the one thing I wanted to figure out was a spectacular fail. Ooops. I made a choli and it did not fit and was not what I wanted for the Zatanna. Its not even useable for a pattern itself. Sighs. But that clouded my brain when I finished a skirt, finished putting trim on the sari, Finished a scarf and didn't kill people. It was an almost thing at the pizza place cause they were dumb. But I ate pizza drank beer and went to bed much happier than when I started.





Mel had a productive day and finished the entertainment center. He will shellac it next weekend so we can get it installed into the house the following week. That means I have 1 piece of my parent's furniture left and that is the curio cabinet. We are looking for an antique to replace it.



Sunday AM mel woke up early for his flight and I snuggled in bed until Ben kept banging on my door from 630-715am. I was not happy. I told him that I would not accept that behavior and sent him to his room after he immediately threw something I told him not the throw. I left him sit there while I drank a cup of coffee and then planned the day. After that he was right as rain. We had breakfast at Prep and Pastry, did errands and came home for snacks etc. He played well, watched a movie nicely and was in general just awesome to everyone. Willa came over in the afternoon to help me cut out crown clothes. I had to do fabric kung fu and was left with a tiny bit of scrap. My under is short sleeved due to fabric but I think it will be very comfy.




Had a wonderful dinner with Ben and we watched more Olympics. He really liked watching the skeet earlier in the day, we watched some golf, synchronized swimming and volleyball. He got a good shower and bed shortly there after. I was tired but I sat and was watching the Olympics until the cable went out so I turned on Hulu and started watching Sleepy Hollow and finished my socks.



( To Do List )

Work was dull. The drawing reviews I'm doing are tedious but necessary. I found the most ubiquitous note ever that had us laughing "Soldering shall be in accordance with applicable specification." So if the Barnam and Bailey Circus has a solder spec we could use that. Seriously. LOL. But by the time quitting time came I was toasty and my brain was soup.

Fought traffic to the knit shop, we had weather moving in again and while we were there the first pass blew through which took out power poles etc around town. Didn't loose power there or at home but things flickered. I got to show off my TDFleece spinning and the cat. I worked on the Chevron scarf that I blogged about Rule Number 3 breaking and its still effed up. But I'm making do. The comments from people on Ravelry also show that its effed up and the pattern writer is still being rude. I have about 2/3 of a second ball left and then will be done with it. I'm all about finishing old UFO's (unfinished objects).

Got done there and headed home. Mel was watching Minecraft stuff on youtube. I headed back to the studio and managed in 2 hours to get the second sleeve on the jacket, the armscye hem turned, the neckline tack stitched and all of the last of the fabric for the skirt ruffles cut out. I have no idea why I was so scared to cut into the sheer fabric. It was easy, just goes to show I don't trust my own abilities with things at times to the point of nerfing myself. Put everything away and stacked the fabric up for sewing tonight.


The trim is just laid around the neckline...not sure I will use that or something else yet.

Pile of fabrics for the ruffle booty!!!!


Weather was also nuts last night. I guess there were 61 mph winds at the base (1/2 mile from my house. crazy.

( To Do List )

Got a hold of the Doc for Ben and she is confused as we are on what the school is looking for. She is making the appointment for her being able to observe him and will help us through this. What I love about her is that she heard my brief on the concerns and then asked me how I was doing. I told her we were panicked which is true in many ways. I felt better and need to chat up her office today to see if she got a hold of the school for the meeting.

The day was long and I'm in between projects which doesn't help but I left about 5pm to head to meet Ari for sushi and knit night. When I arrived at Sakura I realized that Grandma's was closed due to them being out of town....so, just sushi for us. I got us a table in sniper position and got to watch the Tour de France. Our server was okay and our orders were slow but OMG the salmon melted in my mouth. We had a good time good food, drink and conversation. Then we headed to my house to work on things and watch the Tour wrap up. What a finish....first time in a long time the breakaway worked.

I spun the second ounce of the ramboulliet and then worked on the kitten for Julia's baby.





Ari attempted to cast on a shawl....it went poorly but comically. Then she got us hooked on Post Modern Jukebox" and Mel and I were up very late watching and listening to them. HOLY COW....I also got a plunnie (plot bunny) for a fic which I hope to get sussed out today as well. Seriously inspired. Darn you ARI!!!! (grin)

So got to bed way late but felt good for once and not too panicked. All good.

Work was work....I'm in the middle of some drafting mess and trying to fix things that the system has rejected. Yay fun. I was exhausted when I got to pick Ben up at the dojo....he'd had a good day and I made dinner of alaskan pollock burgers (thank you BOGO at costco) and brown sugar carrots. Ben liked the fish and the tortilla I served with it but did not like the carrots. Weird. I thought it was very tasty.

Got him a shower, texted for help to get cat litter from ashley since we were more than out...icky bathrooms are icky. Got Ben settled for bed, he read me the first page of the book we were reading (yay!) and settled myself in to watch Deadpool with Ashley and get projects done.

I managed to get Janelle's gift fully done (just needs a washing or 3) and got the gift for Brad done except for washing/felting. I'm really liking the elephant blanket. And now tonight will cast on for the ragdoll cat I'm making Julia for her podling.


We were up late and my side that has been killing me (pulled/knotted muscle in the back under the shoulder blade) wasn't any better after the shower. I forced myself to sleep on it to get it to stretch out after heat/biofreeze/ibuprofen and its still stiff to day but better.

Tonight will be knit night and i'm looking forward to seeing folks.

Thursday AM we left for the Fiber Retreat with Ashley going for her first time. We realized about half way through the drive that mel forgot the wheel to his spinning wheel which is hilarious in so many ways. We made good time getting to the Lake Arrowhead Ranch. Arrived at 345pm and traipsed around in the cool (to us AZ folks) mountain air. I took pictures of the beautiful purple flowers near the fountain which had a neato bee hanging in it.

We helped get things setup and people moved in for merchants etc. Settled in for dinner where I poisoned myself on the salad mix (effing kale). This was the first time I'd had raw kale before and well, it makes my lips numb and my tongue and throat swell. Awesome. Sighs. I read the labels on everything else....oh well. Lesson Learned. Stayed up chatting with folks and making sure that cayswan got settled from her car adventure up the mountain. Got to bed and snuggled down.

We got up around 8am or so. Benton was so happy to be up and attem' with his camp buddies. Ugh. Mel and Ashley hung with the dye pots all day and I ended up sitting in on an inspiration class taught by Ester (https://www.etsy.com/shop/BelleEstoile) and it was neat. I learned to use a new app to look at colors on photographs that I find neat/inspiring and then we talked about how we would create that feeling in textiles. It was neat and not something I would have taken as a class but I was sitting in the part of the lodge where the class was working on the present for the soon to be here Baby Wortman. Its turning out uber cute!

Benton had been hanging with Meadbhb (a young Irish girl was nannying for the event) and the other kiddos. He got to go swimming, see horses, play in the dirt, play with pinecones, color etc. He had a really good time with his retreat buddies.

I spun some denim colored wool that I got from To-ply (https://www.etsy.com/shop/Toplyfiberarts) and that spun beautifully after I let it sit in timeout on Friday night. I realized that Thursday night I had plyed up some yarn and then never switched whorls. Oops. Fixed that and then it spun like a dream for 3 bobbins. I need to ply that now to make it really awesome. Got to spin 1 whole bobbin of a red as well. So pretty.

Saturday I worked on teh baby project, spun and hung out near the dye pots putting in yarn that mel won at the raffle. Yes, he won yarn since he couldn't spin any....lol. Had a great time with that. Saturday night we got an archeological talk from Barb and that was faboo.

Hit the hot tub with Mel and Ashley and we did a run down of the event. Learned a bit, enjoyed time with friends we only see once a year and were envious that Barb has our resources for documentation on a first name basis. sighs.

Sunday we got up and moving and packing things and people up. I had to help back peoples cars down the twisty drive and I hate toyotas. Seriously. Ugh. Told Lynette that next year we are just hauling her stuff down....yuck.

But we got on the road at 1030 or 1045am and were in Tucson by 630pm. Stopped at Billy and Ashley's for dinner (homemade by Billy pasties!) and watched a monsoon come in. Got home, got the boy showered and tucked into bed but he was too wound up to sleep right away. He had napped in the car which was good.

We settled into things and then headed to bed. Mel was out about 10 seconds after his light went off. He drove from Indio all the way to Tucson. I had done the Tucson to Chiracao Summit on the way out and yeah. Tiring.

Today has been okay at work except that I either left my engineer's ring off or I have lost it at work today. Not sure. Very weird.


Pictures of the weekend - Click on the pic to go to the album.

The weekend that was awesome.

So I took of the 16th from work since it was my birthday and we already had the 17th off for our standard off Friday. The day before at work was crazy but I got a lot accomplished. I managed to edit a 47 page report and review 4 more reports for the customer/my suppliers. Then I left a bit early to get my taxes picked up. Yeah, I know, it was tax day. Got home to have mel sign them and write the check to the state. And there I screwed up and didn’t put the check in the envelope and it was sealed tight. I didn’t have business envelopes and that caused me to stress as I hit the post office which was closed (at 5pm) and was only taking mail until 530pm and their kiosk didn’t do envelopes. Sighs. I put the federal in the box, picked up envelopes at CVS and then went to knit night to relax before the Baronial Calendar meeting. I got to show off Lois’s Blanket to everyone before I delivered it and I got to sit and chat which was also nice.

The calendar meeting was good. I knit on Baby Malcolm’s prezzie #1 and chatted with people. Hrafnheim will be hosting an EPIC tournament in December of 2016. Right now the acronym is open to interpretation. I’m sure Icka and Elinor have plans. LOL. Got to give out the blankie to Lois! As you can see here….she loves it!


She especially the amigarumi sun that I attached:


Got done with the calendar meeting and then headed to the Cherrybell post office since it was open for post until midnight and then came home. Taxes managed! Got home and relaxed before falling into bed exhausted. It had been a long day/week.

I had hoped that Mel would take Ben to school but he didn’t so I got woke up at 630am by Ben asking for breakfast. Got him up and dressed and fed and to school by 730am. Then I sat and had coffee, trifle and some Dr. Who. Got dressed up for errands (skirt and cute top), scheduled my massage and got Elinor in on scheduling a pedicure for the afternoon. I headed to look at shoes at DSW which I have a love hate relationship with….that day it was both since everything I tried on fit…I may have bought 4 pairs of shoes. Then I headed to the mall and got bras and some nightgowns before heading to lunch with the girls at Takamatsu. Tasty sushi and a Tokyo Mule later I was on my way to a 1.5 hour hot stone massage and a pedicure. Soo good both of them. Got cute toes with Elinor who was also recovering from a massage. I’m so going back. Picked up Benton and relaxed with him for a bit before bedtime where he made me birthday cards and then read after he went to bed before mel came home from St., Felix practice pretty late.

Friday we slept in a bit, I got coffee in bed where I sat and enjoyed it and read while Mel and Ben played legos. Got up and we got everyone dressed. Dropped Ben off at school and then headed out to look at plants and bum around. We hit Mesquite Valley Growers and Lowes and I loved the bougainvillea. I’ve always wanted one and we figured out what we wanted to shop the next day. We also looked at a lot of appliances to see what is available. The dishwasher really needs to be replaced and the washer and dryer are getting older. So it was good to look at see what we liked. Then we went to Grandma’s Spinning Wheel where Mel finally got to meet Jimmy from knit night. Those two are peas in a pod with spinning. Seriously. He got spin on the wheel I’ve been looking at and he liked it well enough and agreed that if I wanted it I should order it….so I did. I will soon be the owner of a Schacht Sidekick which is a folding travel wheel. I had just gotten a bonus from work for my good deeds and I spent it on the wheel and its case. I’m pretty stoked. And it should be here in time for the fiber retreat….oh, it you want to go… Griffin Dyeworks Fiber and Dye Retreat its in late June. Lots of fun!

We had lunch at Yardhouse and then tooled around the mall a bit to walk off the beer we drank. Looked at more appliances at Sears and then we headed home to take a nap, cause we could. The nap was glorious but mel was woogy from it. I went and got the boy picked up and then got booking to get cleaned up and gussied up for Demtrius and Danny’s wedding. We looked good and didn’t realize that we had matched the theme. I 1940’s my hair and Ben all paperboy out, Mel wore one of his new shirts with a set of my grand dad’s cufflinks. It was fun and pretty in the little park downtown. We got home and were beat. Benton spent the evening either busting moves on the dance floor or running around the gazebo with the other kids.



Saturday we all slept in and had a nice morning. Got headed out to go shopping for plants and We got a fuchsia bougainvillea, some Arabian jasmine and some succulents as well as trellises for letting the jasmine and the bougainvillea climb. We got home and potted things up and mel started on on the hacking away on the rosemary. The bougainvillea looks awesome! Mel got eyelets put into the brickwork to wire the trellises to the house for safety.



Mel was still working on the yard stuff when I left for my hair appointment. I had a plan and it came out perfectly. I haven’t had true bangs in about 25-30 years. And then I had no idea how to deal with them. Well, I’m better with irons now and I’m able to keep them looking nice so I got Betty Paige bangs! Tee hee!



Mel wasn’t too sure when I got home about the new haircut but everyone else loves it. Benton thinks “its very pretty, momma!” Its rather freeing in a way and I think I look a bit younger than my 38 years which is a good thing. Got everyone ready for wrestling and when I came back out in a tight shirt, capris and heels Mel was liking the hair cut even more. Yay! Wrestling was fun and we had a great time. I had been invited out to go dancing afterwards and got changed into some cute Goth gear to go out. I stayed dancing till almost 1am and it was glorious and fun and the DJ’s from Revival were fabulous.

Sunday was nice and Benny and I ran errands for more pots for plants, groceries, new shoes and some grill stuff. I made Dickman’s 50/50 burgers on the grill and used a new grill pan to make grilled squash. So tasty. After Ben went to bed Mel and I tackled cleaning up the bedroom which had become the dumping ground for lots of things including cosplay stuff, various laundry bits and junk. We put away all of the wool stuff, reorganized my hats, shawls etc and lilac mothballed the containers to keep the damnable wool moths away. It looks really nice though I still have to tackle my highboy dresser and get my jewelry organized and put away.
So, all in all it was a busy 4 days and it was lovely. I spent some good quality time with the family and took some care for myself and had a great birthday.

Work has been stressful...millions of dollars on the line stressful and well yeah. But I did get everything done before I left. Hardware is shipping today and we should be good for when we get back. Have to finish laundry, pack and go to a wedding before driving to phx but all in all good.

I did manage to finish one thing this week which is a stuffy for little Leia who is theresa_who's newest. Its 6+ months late. Ravelry seems down but we can post it here. Its a bit lumpy and misshapen but its cute and snuggly and I can imagine it getting drug everywhere.



So, yeah. That is the state of the world I guess.

Busy and tiring week it has been. By Thursday at work at 1pm I was working pretty hard on brain drain extreme.  Got home with the boy a bit early and had mel home since he was busy working on his armor and taking it easy before dojo night which we were holding at St. Felix practice since they had just had their club fair. 

I did not want to go, I will admit but we had childcare and I needed to do something other than projects.  Now it so happened that what I expected to happen did.  I got onslaughted with questions etc from a myriad of folks and didn't get to warm up which was to my detriment.  I stiffened up really bad especially after the circuit training workout the day before. Oof. I couldn't even raise my shield above my shoulder about halfway through the night. Oh, well.  It was good though and my flap snap still sucks cookies.  Conversations with Mel the next morning helped a bit with that but my muscle memory is still the suck.

Friday we slept way in which meant Benton did not nap at daycare but we had a nice morning.  After I dropped him off I went to Joann's and scored bigtime with fabric and notions purchasing due to good use of coupons. I got more of the hrafn wool for cloaks and lferion got more last night so we now have enough for the next batch of cloaks inclusive.  YAY!

I then got us burritos at Filiabertos which has now become our fav burrito place versus Viva whose quality has gone way down .  Mel had gone to the wood store and got stuff for the new poles for the new sunshade and we go through more projects as the afternoon progressed. I cut out my dress and only had a foot left over and got a pedicure before picking benton up from daycare.  We had a nice evening in and I relaxed and worked on a blanket square I wanted to try.  It turned out awesome. It looks wonky in the picture cause it still needs to be blocked and was sitting on my lap a bit crooked.



Today will be sewing on my dress and hopefully getting everything to handwork.  The truck is in the shop getting a tune up and we picked up our new glasses too.  I'm uncertain if the boy will take a nap today or not. I hope he does but he's going to get some time in  the shop after lunch.

To Do List:
( To Do List: )

The last few weeks have been projects, projects, projects and nothing for me which makes it even more draining. I've lots a lot of sleep to these projects and mel's that even though I can see the end (sort of) in sight its hard none the less. I've been feeling very drained from all of the sickness in the house and I realized, rather esoterically that maybe I've been making too much stuff...putting too much of myself in things and its eating away at me bit by bit.

The scroll everyone will see on Saturday but the blanket most folks won't see unless the parents bring it out to events. Maestra Tatiana (Melissa) and her hubby Mike are expecting a boy in mid-November and I had an idea for a blanket and then went with it. Its not designed by me but I made some modifications and chose the colors to be bright and strong and not your average baby blanket. Its based on a quilt pattern and is 112 pieces crocheted all together. The finish work took me many late nights for over a week to accomplish and I was down to the wire on getting it blocked and having the acrylic yarn set but I was so happy with it. Here is a quick pic of it.
( Blanket! )

After being strung out on asthma meds for the last few days and staying up to finish it I was so toasted by the time the shower came around yesterday. So, I realized that today I needed to UNMAKE things. Now to unmake something does not mean to destroy it...rather get it back to where it started or get it out of the state of chaos its been in. I took time today to clean, to sweep, to put away to tidy and to organize multiple spaces in the house. The studio is usable (minus me wrapping xmas gifts), Benton's room is in top shape, the kitchen it clean and mostly tidy. The front room isn't too bad, still cluttered more than I like and in need of a good dusting but better. The vacuum's been run and things just look more tidy. I frogged two shawls. One of them I will start again with now a better understanding of the pattern. The other I will do the pattern in a larger yarn and larger hook but I UNMADE them and now they are just potential energy ready to start swinging in motion or start the build up to something greater. I swept the porch clean and got a circled candle burning to drive things out of the house. Get the chaos to settled and get back in line. Its cathartic, its zen, its necessary. Even though I'm now aching to make something I'm waiting until tomorrow. There are other things that are due that need my attention before I dive into my now stocked with two projects bag.

I've also been reading. I finished a 145k+ fan fic which I linked on my fic filter. I also finished #20 Small Favor which was completely new to me it seemed. I know I read it when it came out but I had completely forgotten things and when I've now read the most recent books in the series again...damn it Jim! You so set us up...OMG! Everything is obvious in the webs you wove! AGH!!! Thank you. Now I'm in Turn Coat and reading other fic.

So realize that if you keep putting your energy into making things you also have to unmake them to keep yourself sane. Mel and I sat and talked out next projects and how it will make the house better and easier and that made me happy. Keep moving forward.