Tag Archives: boh

all before eight.

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6

I went to bed before eleven last night, which was heavenly. I’m an early to bed, early to rise kind of person, and I function best first thing in the morning. I love to sleep with the windows open, shades up, so that I rise with the sun. The craziness of the end of the semester, paired with the fact that I’m currently dating someone with pretty much the opposite schedule means that I haven’t really been able to do this for several weeks. (Not that I’m staying up til 3 or anything, but I’ve been trying to compromise. Hard to be social and go out for drinks with folks who meet up at 10 or 11, when that is normally about when I’m climbing into my bed.)

Anyway, I went to bed before 11 last night, and woke up feeling rested just before six. I made my cup of coffee, and curled up with my wurm.

Note the brokeknits-esque nature of this photo. I think I’m going to knit a few more sections before beginning the decreases. I am in love with these color transitions.

The parritch targhee 3-ply is still damp, but I’ll have finished pictures of that soon. In the meantime, I decided to put something else on the wheel. This is Hello Yarn Fiber Club corriedale in Seasick, and I’m planning either to leave this as singles OR to navajo ply this, depending on how it goes and what I want to make with this stuff. It has been awhile since I spun any corriedale, and whoa, this stuff is awesome. Just sayin’.

Here’s a glimpse of some of yesterday’s organizational progress.

And an early-morning, rather drowsy, pouting pooch. He has no idea that in about half an hour we’re meeting a friend for a nice long walk. Tough life, big dog.

the future is bright.

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8

At least, that’s what my dear friend P. said last Friday night when she looked at that tray o’ dumplings and slipped on her shades. It has been a week of visitors — meaning lots of extra puppy love for Boh. See?

P. made a quick stop-over on a cross-country drive, and then D. pressed pause on his whirlwind of round-the-globe travel/work to spend a few days in my smaller-town life. We also made dumplings (an homage to the vast number of dumplings we used to routinely inhale when we were roommates on the other side of the world), curled up with the dog — and made blueberry pancakes.

It is just us again. Here is Boh’s response:

I think he misses our house guests.

Today I did lots of laundry and end-of-the-semester apartment cleaning. The books keep multiplying, and while I foresee adding another bookshelf in the very near future, I decided to spend some time making more room on my existing shelves. (This is clearly code for further compressing my stash into my yarn containers to shift the ratio of yarn: books on my shelves…) Also, I finally sat down and plied up that gorgeous targhee from Hello Yarn in the Parritch colorway.

This may be a bit overplied. I am giving it a nice warm soak right now, and I’m hoping it will relax into a squishy 3-ply.

I even have some knitting to share! This is my citron shawl. The first few sections have gone quite quickly, though I realize I’m going to slow way down as my stitch count continues to increase. I am having a great time with this project — it requires just the right amount of attention, and the Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace is lovely.

Happy weekend!

classic.

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This is my dad’s caesar salad — a staple of my childhood, and an oft asked for part of my repertoire. (All credit to Dad — I’ve never had a better caesar salad. Ever.) We had dinner at the home of friends on Wednesday, and the salad was requested. I had quite a bit of romaine leftover, and this afternoon, after submitting my grades (see what I did there?) I mixed up another big bowl all for me. It was the perfect way to celebrate the end of the semester. (Shout out to brokeknits — this salad on a teal sidetable is, of course, a nod to your signature photo-style.)

Please allow me an awkward transition as we move from a classic caesar to Classic Elite. See, I’ve got this gorgeous purpley laceweight, and I’m kinda sorta thinking it would be perfect with this dress, even though there isn’t exactly purple in the print. What do you think? Am I nuts? I feel like there might be the slightest hint of purple in the transitions from pink to grey, but mostly I’m thinking that this looks nice against the pale pink and the coral. More advice, please!

Also, here’s Boh, post-walk.

And while he napped, I spun the third bobbin of this luscious Hello Yarn targhee in Parritch.  Can’t wait to ply.  Happy Friday!

delphiniums.

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So pretty. Also, a crucially important step towards completing a big pile o’ grading. (I’m making progress.)

Boh is not helping.

An idea — too orange, right? I had to check the handspun pile. Thank you for all of your shawl and shrug ideas. Right now, I’m leaning towards making a deep pinky-coral colored Citron. And then after that, I’ll make one in handspun. Got any leads on a really good deep pink/coral color in lace or fingering weight yarn? You guys always have the answers.

Also, I found some time to spin up a second bobbin of this Hello Yarn targhee in Parritch. I really have missed my wheel. Alright, back to grading!

boh, a book sale (do, a deer).

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At $2.50 a book, I did very well at our local, twice-annual book sale. We’re planning to head back next weekend to check out the fiction, which will be 50 cents a book on Sunday. Awesome.

This picture does not do the subtle colors of Parritch, Targhee from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club, justice. I’m planning a three-ply, and this is bobbin number 1. I’m hoping to spend a little time at the wheel today, perhaps in between bouts of working on my last paper of the semester and grading final exams.

Here’s a knits-in-action shot from last week — looks like the weather is going to be cool and rainy again today, which means I’ll be able to wear my Shalom!

Which will bring us back to Boh, Boh, Boh, Boh, Boh.

brainstorming.

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14

First of all, look at those eyes. Understanding that the last several days have been spent at the computer, Boh has been hanging out, looking forlorn, under my desk. The good news is that yesterday I turned in a big paper. Which means the worst is over, and while I still have a bit of reading, writing, and grading spread out over the next few weeks, I’m back. And happy about it.

And now I need your help! My cousin is getting married this summer, and I’ve been attempting to find a dress to wear. I’m thinking about this one:

(Forgive the awkward bad mirror picture.) She’s asked me to do a reading at the wedding, which is in a church, which means I need something to cover my shoulders. And here’s where the brainstorming comes in. Clearly, it would be awesome if I could knit myself something to go with this dress. What should I make? A shawl? A shrug? In what color? I’d love to hear what you think.

And I’ll have knitting and spinning to share soon — I promise.

pancakes/eggers.

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A lazy Saturday brunch.

This evening’s activities: prepping for my final sections, snuggling with Boh.

Boh responds unfavorably to my attempts at photo composition.

I’m itching to spend some time with my knitting needles and my wheel. A few more days filled to bursting with meetings and final class sessions, and then I’ll have big enough chunks of time to warrant focusing on my end-of-semester writing, which will likely require some dedicated time for thinking (read: knitting/spinning).

lack of motivation.

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I snapped this photo last night. Boh got halfway off the couch, and then seemed to either forget what he was doing or lose the motivation to continue. Oh Boh, I can relate. I am having a hard time staying focused and motivated to work on many of the things on my plate right now — April is just crazy.

I’ve had a few skeins of finished yarn sitting here next to my computer, waiting for me to blog them. I might not be done reading, planning paper topics, or (ahem) writing that conference paper for next weekend, but I can blog these skeins and check them off my list!

This is that lovely blue-green merino/wool blend that my dear friend H. picked up at a Maine sustainability festival in the fall from Friends’ Folly Farm. This is 257 yards of worsted weight (maybe light worsted in some places), in 2 skeins of 181 and 76 yards, respectively. This stuff was beautifully prepped, almost batt-like, and I spun it in sort of a modified long-drawish kind of way, which seemed to allow me to get a more even single. I have no idea what this will become, but I absolutely love how the colors catch the light.

This is a scrappy 2-ply skein of all the leftovers on my bobbins — a mixture of Hello Yarn shetland in Sour Fig, the gorgeous green stuff I just finished, and Crown Mountain Farms superwash merino in Albatross and Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds. 68 yards of surprising prettiness.

And now, back to the pile! I’m hoping to get caught up on blog reading and comments soon. Apologies for the radio silence this week.

ear up.

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Self-explanatory, right? For a brief moment yesterday, I was feeling okay about my piles of things to do. The sun was shining, so after we finished a book, Boh and I went for a run. Half an hour, nice and slow. Though this is the first run we’ve taken in something like six months, the second I got out my running shoes, Boh began to whimper. He remembers…and when he isn’t being lazy, he loves running. It was nice to see that he needs to ease back into it too. (In fact, we probably ran not quite 3 miles, and we turned towards home because Boh was slowing down! Don’t get me wrong, my muscles certainly greeted me loudly when I rolled out of bed this morning.)

He snored for hours after our run. It’s almost as if he just plain forgot to put his ear down.

Are you taking pictures of me again?

Also, late last night I decided to put something else on the wheel. (During break,  I was spinning every day, and this week I haven’t been able to find the time. So I made some.) This is 6 oz. of 50% merino/50% other wool in a gorgeous range of deep greens and blues from Friends’ Folly Farm in Maine. My dear friend H. (her last name initial, since that’s what I call her) picked this up for me at a sustainability fair of some sort this fall and surprised me with it. I was itching to spin a 2-ply, and decided that this might be just the thing. This stuff drafts like a dream, and part of the way through putting the first 3 oz. on the bobbin, I switched to spinning this in more of a long-draw type method, and my singles became even more even. Here’s a less than awesome shot of the bobbin. I blame the lateness and the harsh overhead light.

While I was working on this, emails adding to my workload/stress for the weekend arrived in my inbox. Isn’t that always how it goes? I’m glad I claimed some spinning time last night, and I’m going to aim to spin the other half of this luscious stuff over the weekend. Happy Friday! (And if you’re in the East, happy sunshine!)