Surprises

Ian thought it would be a good day to take Petey up to Sierraville for Mexican food and a drive through the Feather River headwaters bird sanctuary. I thought that it would be a good day to take my hat kits to Victoria at Wooly Notions in Graeagle - it meant a bit more driving.

I called and she said she'd love to see them - we'd talked about them when I was in the development stages. Here is her darling shop in one of the old lumber-company buildings that are the backbone of the town's character. Because of the golf courses, this has become a mecca for retirees and also a perfect opportunity for a cottage yarn store. She bought six kits! She asked me if I'd take a check. Let me think about it. You know I didn't say that. I said - YES!
Petey is a claw hammer banjo player and we've been watching Pete Seeger Rainbow Quest episodes on Netflix the past couple of nights. I've played guitar since high school so he was showing me how the banjo is tuned and then I twisted his arm into playing for us. He participates in a lot of big name festivals, and actually works at the one in Telluride. He forfeits Strawberry to spend that weekend with us at our Gathering. Yikes.
I finished the placemats just after Petey got here and so he com-
mented that he remembered his aunt in Michigan having a giant loom and weaving rag rugs. Something we didn't know. Petey is Finnish - first American born on his father's side, his mother was born here. While I was in town yesterday, he browsed through the book and found his aunt Jean Kangas mentioned throughout.
I've been tying fringe every spare moment I get. I'm down the the last few mats. I think it takes more time to tie the fringe than it does to weave the mat. I'm starting to feel relief that I'll make the deadline and still have time to read the book (that I haven't started) for the library book club I facilitate next Tuesday.

I have the soap ready to take in tomorrow but a trip to town is an automatic list of tasks, so I'll go to JC Paper and get laser paper for more soap labels and Sierra Chemical for another 50 pounds of lye. Man, I wish they'd sell it in smaller increments. That's some seriously toxic stuff but you can't make soap without it.