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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.