Dainty Kitty

Spinning, Crocheted Cuffs and Unexpected Mental Vomiting

Here are the first few feet of my laughable first spinning attempt using Spin to Knit by Shannon Okey. 

Spinning is hard! Of course, it's all uneven but I think that's pretty normal for a first try.  At least I hope it is!  Actually, rather than getting big lumps, I had more trouble not letting it get super skinny.  The book helped a lot.  The websites I looked at said nothing about drafting  the fiber first and - holy cow - that makes a huge difference.  Luckily I have a ton of this blue stuff to practice with. 

The book doesn't tell you how to take it off the spindle without untwisting it so I'm going to do some more searching online and if I can't find anything I'll bet an email to my spinning expert friend, Delly Bean will solve the problem. 

I finished this Crochet Cuff last night in order to feel like I was getting something done.  I know it just kind of looks like a knot of yarn but it's rather pretty in real life.  The blue ribbon yarn was my very first Expensive Skein which I bought in Sanibel Island a few years ago.  My plan is to put a lot of time into the Hep Cat from the Doherty book tonight but I'm having problems with my inability to sit still or work on one project for more than a few minutes. 

I had loose plans to go drinking with a coworker tonight but it fell through.  Jake's having coffee with a friend.  I'm about to go mad, I'm so tired of coming home every night and staying here.  I need to get out more often.  I was talking to Jake about this in an email today, "Although, as usual, I have the itch to do something.  I don't know what's up with that."  He wrote, "I don't know.  Maybe you're on the verge of becoming another person; silly as that sounds, it happens."  And I replied, "Yeah, I know what you mean.  I wish I could move right now.  Not out of the city - just somewhere else.  Isn't that weird?  I've been thinking about it a lot recently."

And I have - although this confession was kind of the first time I put it all together.  I really do need some sort of fresh start.  I'm realizing that I'm, very slowly, becoming who I want to be even though I'm not really sure who that is.  I just think that maybe thirty-three is going to be a good year for me.  We'll see. 

My friend Aimee, of Vibrance Fitness & Nutrition, recently wrote something in her newsletter that really struck a chord with me, "Fall is a notable season for me.  Years of new school supplies and classes coupled with my birthday have always given autumn more a feeling of new beginnings than January does...September is naturally a time of transition, and with my birthday smack in the middle of it I can't help but stop and reflect at the events of the year and look ahead to what I can create in the coming twelve months."   

Yeah, I get that.

Making a Home

I realized last night that I've let a lot of things slip in my home.  I treat it as if it were a landing strip - touching down only to take off again - even though I spend lots of time there.  I've left a broken frame unreplaced (even though I have the replacement and it would take me three minutes to put the photo inside and hang it up)...and, as I mentioned two posts ago, my blinds and curtains are still on the floor (I'm going to hang them myself and not worry about the fact that the window spaces aren't painted - I don't want anyone in my apartment).

I know I'm not going to renew my lease but I'm still  here until February - no need to pretend that that's only a blink away.  It's six months.  My apartment can certainly be a home between now and then. 

It's posts like this from Soule Mama, though, that make me long to really have a permanent home of my own.  A home and a family and a kitchen table.  I'd like to have memories to write about just like she did.  And, by the way - her banner is adorable. 

So my goal is to make a list of all the little things that I've put off.  I'm going to post them here and cross them off - perhaps slowly but I hope to accomplish one or two a week.  I may not have a family per se but that certainly doesn't mean that I'm not my own family who needs to be taken care of as well.