Yard Sale Swap, Wedding plans, Breathing Room

Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.
-- Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, in Irving Good, The Scientist Speculates (1962)

FINALLY, blogger and the internet finally let me add the package from Shelly that I received as part of Whoduknit's summer yard sale swap. This is a great package and the picture doesn't show the tea I received. The Last Templar starts off fast and is continuing that way. I highly recommend it. At Knit's End (Meditations for Women who Knit too Much) -- perfect, more about it later and the Cradle Will Fall . . . all designed to keep me away from my knitting. And many small skeins of things that will work well for my favorite one skein projects. Ha!

Thanks Shelly.

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After the initial rush of "let's get married" my daughter and her boyfriend have begun making plans, including the fact that they decided that my husband is an idiot . . . well, they didn't say that . . . what they decided is that she is supposed to be finished with school within a year. Also, his employer is closing and his job is disappearing. So, they have decided to wait at least until she finishes school (YEAH!). He is looking at his various options. His family owns a 250 acre farm and his extended family owns, as an incorporated entity, a 2800 acre farm. Kyle is actually looking at truck driving as a career. The biggest problem he has is that farming takes up much of his time. His family's farm is not big enough to make it a full time job, but enough to keep him relatively busy. His "paying" job provided lots of options, including insurance (health and life), 401k and pension. He also worked either evenings or nights which allowed him time during the day to help on the farm. He also took vacation time in the spring and fall for planting and harvest. It is such a different lifestyle than anyone else I know. Anyway, right now, the wedding is on hold for probably a year. A good thing. I think. The plus side is that Sarah has an appointment to discuss what classes she needs to take to be done. Nothing like postponing something you want to really get you to focus on an interim goal.

Anyway, this is breathing room. A shawl. A dress. Who knows.

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Getting back to At Knit's End, I was looking through it and came across this, on page 76:

"SWIFT: A twirling reel used to hold a skein of yarn as it is wound into a ball . . . To save time, sanity and my marriage, I will consider purchasing the right tools for the job."

Did I mention that my skein of yarn for MS4 is 1460 yards! So, yesterday, I ordered a swift and ball winder. Finally. I figured it was time AND my husband obviously never got the hint!

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I finished one of the purses for the Ravelympics (The Clutch You Won't Give Up). I felted it last evening. I really forgot how fast that it would knit up. Seriously, if only I would do it right the first time!!! It is now drying and needs some embellishments (buttons or a pin or something). The bowl is coming along nicely (I work on it on the bus). It seems shallower than the last one I made but the thing with felted stuff is that as you knit, often it is difficult to visualize what it will be like, cause it is just too big and floppy.