what's new?

Even I've gotten bored with being under the weather, so it's no wonder comments have slacked off! So,ignoring the fever (yup, wee bit of fever now, and I'm leaving town in a few days for another festival, uh-oh), I'm writing about other stuff.

First, I should answer some questions. Peggy asked if I was spinning yarn from wool that she'd bought from me. The answer is, No. I have an excessive amount of medium-fine chocolate brown wool in my stash. Love the color, but alas, it is not all from the same sheep, so even if I spun up some other roving, it would not match the yarn I've already spun!

Mrs. J commented on what clothes I wear in our "extreme" temperatures. Well, good question. (btw, these aren't actually extreme for the United States, although it has been hot and dry a long while here and that's unusual.) I don't wear shorts all that often, but I probably wouldn't even consider it until the temperature hits 80F. (26 C) When it's hot, I wear a lot of loose sundresses, loose capri pants, tank tops, and skirts... but not all at once! I wear sandals almost exclusively during hot weather and go barefoot a lot at home. There is never an opportunity for sweaters of any sort in the summer here, although I may wear one in the evenings when we are up north in Michigan this next weekend.

On the other hand, when it's cold here, we don't overheat our house. With the thermostat set no higher than 20C (68F) and 15C(60F) at night, I have plenty of time to wear my wool socks, sweaters, and other woolies when I'm working and walking dogs. I find the winter weather here disappointing--I'm a fan of snow and cold. While it does get down to O F or -17C once or twice a winter, it's rarely that cold, and we have one or two ice storms a winter. We had more snow every winter in Virginia, North Carolina, and in upstate New York (of course), the other places in the US where I have lived. I like experiencing four seasons, within reason, and I miss real snow. For those in colder climes who think I'm falsely nostalgic for something I haven't experienced, I spent 4 years in Ithaca, NY and one in Buffalo, NY. In Buffalo, we had a long driveway and no plow contract. We shoveled snow on average about 3 times a week. I know what I'm talking about!

Janet asked if I was hot with lots of wool in my lap. First, I should mention that Janet is a writer/foodie friend of mine with a great blog. Check it out for wonderful tips, thoughtful ideas about food, and neat pictures! Now, back to the question...No, because I don't have any wool in my lap! I'm knitting a cotton tank top, and the socks, while wool, aren't big enough to bother me. Actually, I find wool breathes fairly well and I'm almost always knitting straight through the summer heat with no break. The sweatiest summer knitting? Last summer, I designed three sweater jackets for Knit Picks (http://www.knitpicks.com/) and each was 30 inches long. The most uncomfortable of the bunch was the wool/cotton blend yarn. Heavy cotton blends don't breathe well, and it made me terribly uncomfortable!

My illustrations for this post are literally the new things around here. My friend Marti of weebug knits sent me a present--I won it on her blog! This yarn, by Union Center Knits, is available at http://www.woolgirl.com/ and is entirely fab. It's not colors I would have chosen on my own--but it's great for me! I'm absolutely certain it will match things I wear once I knit it up! Thanks, friend!

The clogs, up top, are also brand new. Greenish gray suede isn't normally considered practical, but well, you can never tell. In college I bought a pair of green Doc Martens and I wore those for 10 years! On Saturday, I took a rare trip away from home (sniffle) and found Dansko clogs on sale for $57. That's half off. Yes, one clog is a bit sunbleached, and it's green suede. Such a deal, I couldn't pass up--It's in my size, and the other clog is having a sunbathe herself right now in an upstairs window! Once she's a little bleached herself, I'll put on the special "waterproof suede in the rain" stuff and we'll be off on a long walk together!

(I'd never consider a Manolo or a stilleto heel, but another pair of clogs? Absolutely!--and yes, I am sexy in my clogs...)