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I went to spinning tonight and had a less than satisfactory experience trying to spin bamboo. It's a soft as can be and feels wonderful in my hands, but it's like butter and has absolutely no memory, so it constantly broke and I couldn't get it to twist. I'll keep practicing and hope that when I ply it the yarn will be stronger.

I continue with the ISE5 scarf. It seems to be the only thing I can knit - I keep ripping anything new out. I have about 2-1/2 feet now and am aiming for 5 feet, but I may run out of yarn. It will be close.

I discovered I'm allergic to Dream in Color Smooshy yarn. This is a blow. I love the colors, but the soapy smell has gotten to me every time I've taken it out of a package. I thought the smell would dissipate, but it has not. I tried to knit with it tonight and broke out in a rash and my skin felt like it was on fire. It's the detergent. I don't know what they use to wash the wool, but I need to avoid it.

So, pictures...I asked my husband to take pictures of the Ashiyu because we don't have any good ones. An Ashiyu is essentially a hot tub for feet. They're found all over Japan and are usually in beautiful settings, but you can find them in malls and public areas everywhere. We use ours as an garden feature on our patio. It's a great place to relax on a summer evening and a great place to knit! Here are a couple of pictures. It had been on the deck, but we moved it down to the patio so that more people could sit around it.



Here's another picture:



Here's a picture of the finished upper deck. My husband transplanted some bamboo and this is one of his favorite spots:



I've learned my nephew has a job maintaining a blog for an environmental group in England. Once I have read Blogging for Dummies, I'll try and put up a link.

A Work in Progress, Finally

My mother claims I only buy yarn and never knit anything. This post is to prove her mistaken. After obsessing over the pattern I was going to do for my ISE5 pal, I finally have gotten my needles, fingers, and mind, to cooperate with this dragon scale pattern:



I say this after having to unknit a few repeats a couple of times this week, but I've reached about 8 inches so it's a go. I refuse to change my mind again (although I have some rescue patterns in case I do - it's always a possibility).

DH has been home sick all week. He did manage to make it out to the garden to finish cleaning the vegetable garden. To his surprise he had forgotten he had planted these potatoes and found them when he turned the soil. They'll be a nice addition to a meal this week:



He also finished putting back the tiles that had fallen off the Ashiyu stand. He put water back in it and it's warming up. I'm looking forward to using it this evening. He made some other changes around the deck, and I'll take pictures and post them if it continues to be sunny. Those days are getting far and few between!

The Coffee Swap matches have been made and I've got a great swap partner. Due to allergies, she's a no animal fiber person and it's going to be so much fun to get to look for new-to-me yarns! I need to learn about this - there are so many people allergic to animal fibers these days (family members included) and non-wool is in great demand.

My time will be taken up this week photographing my stash and uploading photographs to Ravelry. I might even be able to photograph some more finished projects and post them here. I WILL finish E's shawl this week!

Coffee Swap 3 Questionnaire

1. Whole bean or ground? Whole bean
2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Fully loaded.
3. Regular or flavored? Regular.
4. How do you drink your coffee? Raw sugar and half and half.
5. Favorite coffee ever? Something my friend Amy made for me. She made it a special way and it was rich and dark. I'll have to ask her.
6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? Fussy enough to like a good local roast. I love fresh beans so any bean won't do.
7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? Quick breads, biscotti, fruit pastries.
8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? I like medium dark and dark roasts.
9. Yarn/fiber you love? Sock yarn: Wollmeise, Posh, Lorna's Lace. Blue Sky alpaca, Malabrigo, and beautiful dyed wools like Sundara. I also love Noro Silk Garden. If it's next-to-skin soft, I like it.
10. Yarn/fiber you hate? Acrylic, novelty yarn, and scratchy wool.
11. What's on your needles? Two scarves and a pair of socks - all gifts for other people.
12. Favorite colors? Blue (almost any shade except royal blue), green, light turquoise, plum, burgundy, fall oranges, browns, natural animal fiber colors, light salmon pink, rose pink. I like spring, summer, and fall colors.
13. Allergies? Crab and shrimp so no Tofutsies, adult mohair, and cigarette smoke.
14. Anything you really love, really don't like, or just need to get off your chest?
I'll have to think about this and edit later.

The Circle Game

That scarf below that was going to be for my ISE5 pal is not the scarf I'm going to make. I really did not like the yarn or the way the colors worked with the pattern. I have started 5 scarves now and have narrowed it down to 3 yarn choices and 2 pattern choices. One yarn would be a great color choice but it's all wool - merino wool - but wool. I have decided on a blue lace silk-merino blend. It's not as interesting a color, but is a color my pal likes and it will be more suitable for her climate this time of year. It will also drape more, which is what the yarn in the pattern I've chosen is supposed to do.

However, I also found a pattern that would suit my pal's interest and the softest lace wool I've ever felt. Seriously, this wool was softer than any cashmere in the store. This pattern would take more concentration and time than the other. It's a tough decision and I'm a little stressed by my indecisiveness and am having a bit of performance anxiety. I'm supposed to be enjoying this, and I will once I've made up my mind! My pal may get 2 scarves.

I was going to post pictures of my progress, but will wait until I have daylight because the light was too dark and the pictures didn't turn out well.

I joined 2 more swaps - a coffee exchange which sounds awesome, and a Loopy Ewe sock exchange. I'm not in over my head. The Loopy Ewe exchange is a Valentine Day exchange so I can get Christmas projects accomplished. The coffee exchange entails giving a partner (who will not be secret) coffee and other yarn gifts. It's also an international exchange and I really like that.

I gave up on The River Wife. This is sort of a spoiler, though I look at it as a warning. If you don't like to read about dogs or babies being killed, you will not like this book. It started out well. I thought the first river wife was an intriguing and unusual character. I was just turned off by a horrific incident and decided I didn't want to spend anymore time with these people.

My husband brought home The Sound of Butterflies by Rachael King from the library this evening. I hope I like it. The time of the book is early 1900s and the setting is England and Brazil. A naturalist takes off to Brazil hunting for butterflies and returns to his wife a very changed man. She tries to discover what happened to him there. I'm interested enough to start reading it soon. Apparently this is an international best seller - the author is from New Zealand.

In family news, Son #2 says he's moving home at the end of the month. I'm relieved, though it will be an adjustment for all of us. I guess this makes us Boomerang parents.

It's definitely Fall now - the rains have returned, it's dark and gloomy, I feel a need to hibernate, and I need to unearth my light box!

Another sign of Fall is harvesting the garden. Below is last weekend's final bounty that my husband picked. I was working as he did this, and viewing the pile of vegetables from my office window I thought they would make a nice picture.



I've been knitting. I am in an international scarf exchange and have had a hard time settling on a pattern. The person I'm knitting for likes feminine styles and lives in a warm climate this time of year. I've been through 3 patterns now and think I've settled on the one below. The yarn is an alpaca-silk blend from Knit Picks. The pattern is called The Friendship Scarf, which I thought was an appropriate theme for this exchange. I couldn't quite capture the nature of the pattern, but this is what it looks like so far:



I may change my mind again, but right now this is it. It's lace yarn and is slow going - I'm probably going to need every day until the deadline to finish, which may mean I change my mind again!

I've been reading Harry Potter and finally finished the last book at 5 a.m. I've had a love-hate relationship with these books and have not been as enthusiastic about the books as my children and husband. I did like the last book and think it was because most of the book was an adventure rather than a British boarding school story. I was quite satisfied with the ending. I'm glad the books are behind me and I can return to more satisfying reading. Next up is The River Wife by Jonis Agee - it's due back at the library on Sunday and I can't renew it.