Life is Full of Surprises

I'm still experimenting with art yarn but I'm coming to the conclusion that the best use of it is in hats.

I'm really not sure which is the best way to present them either.  As Diane Varney points out in her book on designer yarns, the nature of the stockinette stitch is to put the thick areas and slubs to the back of the work.  I'm trying to decide if they are more interesting wrong side out.

We have a market twice a month out here in our valley.  It's advertised by the massive group email that Sandy McGill manages for us and astonishingly is well attended.  Mim has encouraged me to participate so I went my first time two weeks ago when it was 100 degrees.  We set up together under my Easy-Up.  Even with the meager attendance, I did as well as I've done in many one-day craft fairs.

Last week I sold out of rag rugs and got a commission for a runner and matching mat.  I'm down to four towels, and two scarves.  I took my wool hats, ostensibly to see if there was any interest in my art yarn hats before I invest any more energy into creating more and I sold three.  I have two weeks to generate more inventory, but I'm leaving in the morning for Grass Valley to participate in the Nevada County Fair.  It's confusing.  I live in Nevada, but we don't have a fair.  This fair is in California.

I've been experimenting with scarves from handspun yarns and this will be the last of it until after the local market season closes.  This yarn is from the indigo dyeing we did several weeks ago.  I put the end of a light blue skein back in the dye to create two shades of blue and used that skein as warp.  I'm trying to finish up so I can put some commercial yarn scarves on instead. 

I spent two hours that I probably should have been weaving in cleaning up the guest room.  Melissa  is coming for a visit in two weeks and I wanted to make space in the guest room closet so she can hang her clothes.  These four bags are what I removed.  I will never be that size or shape again - it's time to move on.  I dropped these off at Goodwill today.

I finally got an email from Kelly with how many soaps she will need for wedding favors in two weeks.  She's been waiting for RSVPs.  I cleaned them up a little and stacked them - I needed a bigger box.  Kelly is getting married on a peak in Yosemite so these will be for the reception in her dad's backyard. 

Kelly's mom is my long-time running partner Pam, whom I met before there was a Kelly.  We've been out of touch for way too many years but finally this year we've reconnected.  We ran together every morning before work, no matter what the weather conditions, sang Christmas carols while running in the snow, commiserated about the stress of returning to college as adults, carried each other through the traumatic years of our teenagers and ultimately our own divorces which led us in different directions.

I went to Pam's house this afternoon with the soaps and we talked about how we'll wrap them.  Kelly is on overload and we're picking this up to carry it to the finish.  We chatted about the soaps, sampled some wrappings and then fell into just being ourselves, like old times.  We going to get together after our different church services this Sunday, have breakfast and then tackle the soaps.  I cannot tell you how it filled my heart to hear that old laughter that I knew so well.  I didn't see this coming.  Life is full of surprises.