If you don't talk to your kids about sheep huffing, who will?
Yesterday was Cathy's birthday, and a group of us gathered at her place to knit and spin and have a good time. Good beer? Check. Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting in honor of the birthday girl? Check. Fleece being carded and spun into yarn? Check. At least one knitter patiently unknitting a section gone awry? Check. (Not me, for a wonder.)
At one point the newest spinner was sharing a yarn she had dyed and spun, and the first person to examine it sniffed it and found it sheep-y. So we all sniffed, and yes, it was, in a very good way; despite washing and dyeing it still had a gentle aroma of grass and hay and autumn. The scent brought me back to standing in the sheep pens at Rhinebeck in autumn chatting with a breeder of Blueface Leicesters. Another spinner then offered around a fleece she had recently washed and combed; because of the herbs with which she had cleaned it, it did not smell sheepy, but rather hinted of spices. Holiday blend fleece! Then Cathy pulled out a not-yet-treated fleece that smelled even sheepier than the yarn had, though again not in a bad way, just with a richer tang of lanolin and grass. We pronounced all of this "sheep huffing" and began to get giggly, though the barleywine may have played a role there as well.
Today I got up about 7, pulled on clothes and got to work on the computer, organizing my thoughts and writing. Made some progress on a character bible for my fiction project, and laid out a schedule for the other things I want and need to work on this week. I worked solidly through until 10:30, then headed for the gym. After that, lunch with Scott, and then laundry (time to wash the things we think are too complicated to drop off for the nice laundry man). Now I'm roasting chicken parts and brussels sprouts in a cast-iron skillet, and after I've eaten it will be knitting time; I'd like to finish the slipper socks while there still might be cold weather where the recipient lives. I will be repeating my writing and workout schedule all week, and expect great results.
At one point the newest spinner was sharing a yarn she had dyed and spun, and the first person to examine it sniffed it and found it sheep-y. So we all sniffed, and yes, it was, in a very good way; despite washing and dyeing it still had a gentle aroma of grass and hay and autumn. The scent brought me back to standing in the sheep pens at Rhinebeck in autumn chatting with a breeder of Blueface Leicesters. Another spinner then offered around a fleece she had recently washed and combed; because of the herbs with which she had cleaned it, it did not smell sheepy, but rather hinted of spices. Holiday blend fleece! Then Cathy pulled out a not-yet-treated fleece that smelled even sheepier than the yarn had, though again not in a bad way, just with a richer tang of lanolin and grass. We pronounced all of this "sheep huffing" and began to get giggly, though the barleywine may have played a role there as well.
Today I got up about 7, pulled on clothes and got to work on the computer, organizing my thoughts and writing. Made some progress on a character bible for my fiction project, and laid out a schedule for the other things I want and need to work on this week. I worked solidly through until 10:30, then headed for the gym. After that, lunch with Scott, and then laundry (time to wash the things we think are too complicated to drop off for the nice laundry man). Now I'm roasting chicken parts and brussels sprouts in a cast-iron skillet, and after I've eaten it will be knitting time; I'd like to finish the slipper socks while there still might be cold weather where the recipient lives. I will be repeating my writing and workout schedule all week, and expect great results.