Stuff, Stuff and Stuff

When I posted recently about the 100 grams of silk I had won, wondering what to ply it with, Benita came right back and said brown. Oh, and by the way, I have just the ticket, and if you'll wait a minute, I'll send it to you. Ian brought the package back from the mailbox this morning, and Benita nailed it, right out of the ballpark.
I picked this up on my last trip to Jimmy Beans. I try to keep those trips to a minimum, because things seem to come home with me. However, I was really impressed with this book because the patterns are so applicable to handspun yarns. The gauges are gauges that I spin. The downside is that they don't give yardage, only weights of Noro that you need to purchase.

This is the pattern that I'm eying for my finished yarn. There will be more of the brown merino than silk, so I'll use it for bands. By the time this is done and I can wear it in a year, you'll forget I ever talked about it. Just the same, this have just gone into my queue.
I had to be in town today at noon for Sandy's book club, where we met to talk over The Rose of Sebastopol by Katherine McMahon. It wasn't my cup of tea and when the discussion wasn't exactly going anywhere, I asked how many stars they'd give it. Jill gave it 2 1/2. I said I'm giving it 2 in My Library Thing. And then we trashed it soundly. I don't understand how editors send books like this through for publication.

Afterward, I went the Friends of the Library big sale and came home with nine books (for $9) that caught my eye as ones I've meant to read, but haven't yet. I met another reader in the process and when we saw that we were picking up and putting down similar books, we teamed up to narrow down refine our purchases. She's the one who put Shoot the Moon by Billie Letts in my bag. We had so much fun - I was sad to part ways. I stopped at the library on the way home - I know, I'm an addict. I called Ian to see if he needed anything before I left town, and he said that the party we were going to tonight had actually started 5 minutes ago - Miss Communication.
It was called a Bench Warming Party, the occasion being the dedication of the bench that Harry bought and had installed for Carol's birthday. We came an hour after the party started but we weren't late. Carol and Harry's daughter Emily is in the foreground and is headed to art school in San Francisco the end of June. If we get to go to Black Sheep Gathering, it's because Emily somehow juggled her schedule to house sit for us.
This is the view due north from the bench. Their driveway is a bit of an adventure in the winter, but they live up in the clouds. Harry works at the ranch below - isn't that the commute from hell?
I am literally tottering on the edge of the bank, getting teased about stepping back for a better perspective. Carol and Harry are in the middle of the bench. There is a lot of ranching history here in this photograph, hard-working, break even, skin-of-the-teeth stories that keep me riveted to my seat.

Ranchers don't party late because they don't get to sleep in. We were home by 8:00 and I've got all my stuff ready to go, to hit the road tomorrow morning. I'm going back over the Sierras for a dye day with the Foothill Fiber Guild. We each get to dye one pound of fiber. It will be fun - it always is.