I'm a genius

After several weeks of struggling and cursing I managed it. I discovered the right combination of the usb slot and the copy of my printer driver (it's been installed four times by mistake*) so that it prints. Sometimes the computer thought there was no printer. Sometimes the printer had the data inside but didn't print. Sometimes the hell only knows what was on their mind. Now I'm printing again although I have a HP Laserjet made in around 1998 with faulty paper feed but I'm printing, boys and girls.
Now I'm going to fill in the form I printed.
No yarn content today - then I'll go shopping for CZK 2411 worth of office supplies, I need to spend the rest of my grant.

Later on I went on knitting. I do not hope for finishing the shrug but I'm doing my best. Not now, sure. But, I nicely screwed a little thing again.

Screw up III. - slipped stitch and how to fix it.
If there wasn't already a row of pattern, I would plainly add the stitch. I first thought that knitting two stitches together would be okay but it would disturb the pattern. And me.
The yellow ring shows the k2tog and I assure you that it's much more visible in real than on the picture and even much more irritating. The most irritating mistakes are in your work, for that matter. So, this fixture just didn't look nice.

Since it was only around 20 stitches from the end of the row, I decided to tear off (it's not even ripping, the performance made) the previous row and reknit it so that the pattern would fit. I picked the stitches on a thinner needle so that it would be easier and just knit the end of the row. I did that (on a needle of the proper size, it's not shown on the picture, though. Never ever knit a repair with a thinner needle - 4.5 and 5 is no difference but 3 and 5 would be.**

And obviously, always try to use the same tension. Nothing sucks more than a loop of yarn left in the middle of the fabric because you somehow pulled a bit more. I usually end up with excess yarn - I try to be careful so that I'm not short of yarn. And, my purl rows (here it's reverse) are a little bit looser than knit rows (obverse) but the fixing was done in knit, not purl. However, the white yarn has many floats so I could just loosen them a bit and it somehow absorbed itself.
The usual advice is, try it fifty times and you'll figure it out as did I. I even cannot knit, I just pretend well so don't take my words too serious.

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*read lameness
**milimetres. I'm metric unless stated otherwise.

Out of ideas

Something to look at. Cashmere.
I'm reading some forums on Ravelry and knitting one of those long tossed aside projects, an idiotic skirt* because I screwed the shrug again and I want to finish at least something.
I thought about making a pair of gloves from that cashmere yarn for my mom for either Christmas or her birthday (Jan 8) but I'm not sure regarding her attitude.
















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*Should you not have noticed yet, idiotic knitting is that sort of knitting you can do without looking. Also called brainless knitting.

Mild progress, possibly in the right direction.

But these days any direction does, even if it leads directly to hell. It's still a progress.
I started working out regularly. Well, it doesn't really count as regular after only two days but I started. And on Tuesday, I didn't stick to my good ole rule that diets and similar things start on Monday. I decided to lose 17 kilos as soon as possible. Shitty goals like 'it could be done nicely and slowly in two years - no thanks. If I could gain that in about three months....
I started the second half of Jane's shrug. It's the smaller half (go on, mathematicians, kill me - then I don't have to keep the deadlines anymore. Pun not intended) so it goes faster and I get what I adore on Selbu knitting - the pattern growing under my hands. The area around the seam is not symmetrical which bugs me a bit. What bugs me more is that it is technically symmetrical, it just looks different. I hope to finish it today (high hopes) or tomorrow (more realistic), I'll give it a nice wash in some hair shampoo, the yarn needs it and off with it. There's more Christmas knitting to do, in some cases on the same needles.
Should someone be interested how the hell I knit these funky patterns that look complicated like hell, then see the second picture.
Sure, you can follow a detailed pattern. Feel free to do so.
I usually start with the 8 or 16 stitch module. I can make the 4 stitch patterns anyway and it enables me to use larget patterns. I have my own repertory of little patterns I use regularly and I guess it's nothing too original and I just put the patterns as I feel they might look nice. I'm okay up to 8 stitch patterns, in larger ones I need a bit of help too - either from a pattern book (I have one I got in Sweden) or I make a sketch. The flower was made in a cafe and since I do not carry sheets of graph paper with me, I sketched the grid. With a green pen on blue paper where green is for white and blue for black which practically means light and dark colour - as you can see above, it's cream white and blue. However, I warn you that if you do not have some experience and a some gift from gods, it may get totally fucked up and unbalanced. Same problems with the colours - I sometimes do not know whether they are plainly awful or whether it's my subjective opinion caused by something personal or not related to colours themselves. And one more warning, count five times. Just in case. If you are a raving lunatic, you will not use stitch markers.*
Should you want to use the above pattern, feel free to do so if you can read it.

Off to writing or something.
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*I don't have any. I thus cannot use them.

Family weekends should be outlawed.

First and foremost, could someone the hell be that fucking kind and take the dog to the vet? She has arthritis, she barely walks so it would be indeed nice. Yes, I would do it myself but there are several drawback, like the nearest vet being two kilometres away. Walking it with an old dog who has problems making it those ten metres to the back yard is out of question, taking her there by the tram won't work because muzzles are strictly required in the public transport and the dog never had any..... and neither pissed off howling huskis are allowed. And I cannot carry the dog all the way, she has like 30 kilos. Yeah, and I cannot drive.
Sometimes I think my father has no brains.

The cousin's wedding was just okay. I wouldn't want to have the groom's cousins as my neighbours but otherwise there was decent amount of food and fun. The only reason why I dislike weddings is that aunties and other relatives keep asking when I'll get married and I have some issues about relationships which are a bit difficult to explain even if I wanted to.

And, we had an argument with my parents. One of those killing stupid arguments that started as a series of mild misunderstanding and ended up in three people screaming about who offended whom. I didn't really get anyone's point although I did raise my voice when my mom accused me of not understanding on purpose and when she wanted that I admit that. I couldn't help being nasty and I told her that yes, if she wants to hear that I played stupid then here we go, Mommy, I played stupid on purpose to make you angry and added nicely that if she wanted, I could tell her some more lies that would be more entertaining. (As I mentioned many times, I'm not as nice as people often assume.)
Then the situation calmed down a bit, we went on talking and in the middle of my sentence Mom just walked away. She says that I'm impolite because I talk with my hands and that making gestures is offensive because she says so - and then just walks away without at least saying Good night. Holy shit. After a long time I cried. It was all the emotional overload of the whole weekend or something, usually I curse, kick a few pieces of furniture and that's it. When I ventured for a quest for tissues (do the people there blow their nose in pieces of toilet paper? Not everybody is allergic and thus having tissues dispersed all around but this is a season of colds and anyway....), I run into Mom and she obviously noticed that I had been crying.
In such situations, I mean when I see somebody crying or being otherwise down, I use something generally calming - an It'll be okay always does. My mother has much more original ways. She said "One shouldn't be overexcited, one should solve situations calmly." Thanks, Mommy for letting me know that I'm a hysterical idiot.
But, it wasn't that bad after all. I was told that I have no manners but it didn't reach the ultimate limits of mindless accusations which is You aren't grateful enough.


Sigh.
I'm back at my home, covered in cat hair again and I guess I'll take some knitting to bed along with a bowl of chocolates.

Descrewed

I ripped the two endless rows of Jane's shrug and I reknit them. Total productivity of the day is thus zero. And there's almost no difference overall - that's the joy of knitting. Only you know that it's totally screwed and nobody would notice... but it's you who would sleep badly knowing that there's something wrong.
I'm going to parents' for the weekend. Means that I'll spend three hours on the train today. I guess I'll grab some movie to watch on the train (need to print something from my laptop there anyway) and I'll knit something plain idiotic. The holiday sweater which I haven't touched since I came back from Italy seems to be the best option.

Screwed.

I was happily working on the shrug. Well, not really happily, the long rows are plainly boring. So I was happily knitting without thinking and guess what, I screwed it. I discovered it after two rows of some 288 stitches. Just now I§m in the middle of the ripping process. The little and negligible problem about Selbu knitting is that there are more colours in one row and the rows aren't always too straight so you might pick all the stitches and then the one in the middle is not row 3 but row 2... and back to the beginning. But, I can live with it. Yes, and I forgot to add that I hate the pattern and I hate the yarn and I hate the colours and I hate it all.
I got somehow frustrated and turned to the Pink Earth sweater. It's a raglan knit from the bottom. And I found out that the parts over the sleeves are just different. So I have to rip half of it . Thyarn is damn nasty slippery and I hate it. But it'll be easy to reknit at least.
I gave in and went to read some exciting book on the 16th century. My publisher is becoming a bit annoying, asking me twice a day how I'm doing and stuff and I'm telling her to let me work and that I have no idea how to explain the Stone age to the kids but that I'll see to it later and... anyway. Publishers are evil. I know it, I worked in publishing for a while and I was bossing people like this as well.
Yep, and I'm starting with a new job after the New Year. Well, new job, I was the art director in the company before I started studying so I guess I can still use my old business cards.
There's some Romeo and Juliet themed programme on the radio. The Prokofiev's suite is much cooler than that one by Tchaikovsky, seems to me. I'll get both, it's a good music for dancing. Now I'm off, need to earn some money, leave for parents', there's that damn wedding and stuff and I have a ton of books in the library to digest and I'll be bossing the graphics guy - I can do it in much more interesting ways as an author than as an art director.

Pure evil

Tähti decided that her well-being depends entirely on me. I bought a huge bag of cat food on Friday and she possibly noticed. (Finally.) I do not know whether cats are getting the basics of economy - I'm sure they are cunning enough to get it, I just wonder whether they bother or whether they let it to the humans.
Anyhow, Tähti apparently decided that I need to be looked after so that I don't play with yarn and that I work nicely. She shifted her sleeping place from behind the laptop to my mousepad (annoying annoying, she tends to sit on the mouse and move my cursor around) or she just sits behind the screen and looks at me.
I got some new yarns recently so I'm still knitting my ass off despite the urgent need to write. I made 1 (one) row of Jane's shrug today but at least it looks nice.

Mace and white pepper

I got mace because I had got a big box of raclette and wanted to make fondue. And it somehow developed that I started putting mace to anything I cook. As for white pepper, I just found it in the cupboard and I have to admit that it looks much better than black pepper in most foods. But it would make a nice colourway for some nice yarn. I'll think about it.
I started Jane's shrug. The yarn is a bit disappointing, it's almost homemade merino and I expected it somewhat softer. Or maybe I'm spoiled by all the alpaca and other fine yarns I've been using lately. But the thing looks just fine. I'll dip it in some hair conditioner when it's finished.
I needed to go to the library and to the post office so I decided to settle in the bookstore cafeteria. I'm halfway thru one book so I made another 200 pages. I like to knit Norwegian patterns in that cafe, with the gentle background noise and some fiction book I would never buy. We had almost five seconds of sun today (and half a day of rain) but I noticed that the sky is clearing, maybe I'll be able to make a few decent pics in decent daylight.

Hell of a shopping

I mentioned that I was told to get myself some jewellery from Grandma. I know what is expected, a little cute set of a pendant, ring and earrings. But, both my cousins are a head shorter and one indeed is a fragile red-haired and fair-skinned girl and the other is not exactly such but tries hard. Tiny cute earrings and stuff look okay on them.
If I was to get such a set, then with the amount of money I got, it would be even tinier to what the cousins got, you know, inflation. And I don't wear earrings anyway. I decided to get myself a ring.
I mentioned elsewhere that I have big paws. I have big bones in general. Maybe there are ten generations of lumberjacks somewhere in my ancestry and I inherited my physique rather from my Viking dad than from my slender, fashion model-type mom. Well, I'm more enduring and I never had a broken bone but....
I wanted to get that ring. I went to one shopping mall (Did I say that I detest shopping malls?) because I got a discount voucher for one jewellery store there. I found that place in the shopping hell there, I asked the shop assistants for assistance and.... Nope. I wear the rings on my index fingers or my middle fingers. It's just a habit. Anywhere else, the rings irritate me. I tried one. I could push it like two centimetres down my right (fingers on my right are thinner although I'm right-handed. Don't ask me why). I could push it onto my little finger. No thanks, what next? After trying rings in passable sizes (ugly guys' rings, forthat matter), it was discovered that I need size 58 at least and that the largest ladies' ring which I could tolerate, if not like, was 54 (Is that millimetres circumference? I have no idea). The shop assistant asked me just to wait a while, that she'll make a few phonecalls to other shops of the chain whether they don't have any of the tolerated designs in larger sizes so I was forced to hang around the mall.
I hate shopping malls. It's just shops with ugly clothes that dissolve after the third washing cycle (after giving you a rash) and moreover it's overpriced. If it's not to dissolve, then it's grossly overpriced. And ugly. There's shitty pop-music oozing from every corner.
Well, I went to Sephora which I learned to like in Italy and got myself some pressed powder and a Christmas gift to Dad (another hair shampoo. Yes). I bought those ear-picks and a waterproofing spray for my bag. I made an appointment for L'Oreal makeup ladies, they had some promo action there and I like to get my makeup done by pros, sometimes.
When I came back to the jewellery place, I was told that okay, they have one of those rings elsewhere and that I might go there. I said thank you and went away, pretty decided that I'm not going anywhere downtown in this awful drizzle and... and anyway. I opted for a coffee.
I hate cafes in the shopping malls. They are too would-be stylish and overpriced and they always play some trashy music there. When you hear trashy music from the alley and another trashy music from the cafe.... No, I'm not hearing-impaired. Maybe I'm the last from my generation but what the heck.
So, I was sitting in a would-be design chair at a would-be design table and I listened to an Italian kitschy pop song. Nothing against Eros Ramazotti, at least one can survive it but his songs are just repeating themselves. When the same song was on for the second time, I wasn't sure that it was the same. For the third time, I was absolutely sure and when it played round for the fourth time, I just left.
I checked two more jewellery places. No, they don't have anything in size 58, no, they even do not make things in size 58.
I was frustrated. I'm always frustrated by shopping malls, you know, I pretty hate them. In my native village I got a ring that fitted my index finger, I just asked, Do you have this one in a larger size? and the shop lady just brought one from the safe. Maybe we're all lumberjacks there. Or obese. Or just normal.

I dyed the yarn for Jane. It improved my mood quite a bit, along with the pasta. Yarn is reliable. The colours are however distorted. There were two seconds of sunshine today but the rest was plain gloomy so I had to use inside lights and they are weird.

Smartass

I guess I really am a historian. I already have the date of my promotions - December 17, three in teh afternoon (should write it down so that I don't forget) so I'll have the diploma. I could have got a paper that I'm a M. A. but I didn't need it. I guess I even don't need the diploma for anything else but boasting but one of the reasons why I went to this university where I am was that they still have the diplomas in Latin. And rolled up, not folded. It's much better for showing up. And it's a good university, the best art history department in this country, that needs to be admitted.
I also have a contract for a book. Well, it's not in written yet but I quite trust the guys, I worked for them for years. It's only a textbook for the fourth and fifth grade but it'll have an ISBN, actually two, it'll be in two volumes (48 pages each). It won't be quoted in The Burlington Magazine but I have the possibility to form the young brains which is much cooler than some academic exchange between people who already know.
Writing a textbook is a challenge. It's a big responsibility, first of all. I chose a bit specific approach of dual text - 'hard' history like who reigned when and who lost which war. And then the 'soft' stuff - how things worked and why they worked and why those lost the abovementioned war. When I made a bit of preliminary research, I discovered that the history textbooks are doing their best to avoid mentioning any religious matters. I know I know, forty five years of communism and all the accompanying crap but, the hell, cathedrals weren't built solely for boasting, there were church services held there. And we had religious wars here - so should religion not matter at all, why would the people fight, then? And no, omitting this is not a sign of political correctness (read: idiocy) but of ignorance. Three or so generations of people somehow didn't get the thing that kings used to be crowned by bishops. And that the cool funky churches, pride of the communities, were built for purposes of religion, not to be printed on postcards.
Of course, there's political correctness. There's been a heavy multiculti fashion lately and I just hope some reviewer appointed my the Ministry doesn't want me to add a chapter on Blacks in Czech history. (There were none, folks. Maybe some Renaissance lady had a black maid but it's not what the Ministry people want to know.) Bad enough that I read a review on a history book which complained that there's not enough space dedicated to female rulers and army generals. There was one. In the whole known history of this country.
Anyhow, I'm greatly enjoying finding ways how to explain things to kids. I started with Middle Ages, that's the part I know best and I wanted to make the structure clear so that I can stick to it in the other parts.. and in the end, explaining why the damn Church was so important or that king isn't that guy from fairy tales is not that difficult and it's a great fun.

A few days ago I talked with A. We had some discussion on places where we live and he showed me this blog. I have no idea what is it about but I love the pictures.

And some yarn porn. Noro Lily. Tähti is not really interested:D

More yarn

Feel free to drool. Next time I'll be writing about my writing. All of these are vintage Noro yarns I hunted on eBay and all of them are wonderful. I have a weak spot for this brand, they have nice materials and nice colours although the candy pink Hoozuki is too much for me. The filenames for the pics show the names of yarns. Just the last one is Kyoto by W. West Designs but it somehow fits in. This is the only one of there of which I have enough for a sweater, most of the others are only one or two skeins and they are meant for the collection.
For some strange reason, great part of the yarn is named after flowers. And another handful has history names... although it might be a coincidence, I just know some stuff I stupmbled upon when reading Genji and other odd stuff.
Off to knitting and healing my cold (it's just a plain nasty cold - no aggravated allergy. Good enough).

Wool pig

I had a message that there's some bulky mail for me at the post office. Of course that hardly ever I'm expecting other bulky mail than yarn. I needed to go downtown to buy bright blue wool dye and I even decided to go by tram because it takes longer and I could look at what arrived.
Actually I expected an envelope, the larger the mail, the longer it takes to reach me - but there were two medium sized boxes with what I plundered from eBay around two weeks ago. And most of it is vintage Noro. And now I'm off to add them to the Ravelry database and my stash inventory there.

How to survive

I get up and make some coffee. Coffee is a ritual, I do not need it to keep myself alive. And it's a good thing to wash down my allergy pills.
Then there's the nasal spray (for my allergy) and eye drops (for my allergy). Yesterday I forgot about the pills in the morning. In the afternoon I was almost dead of sneezing and my nose brushed almost bloody with tissues. Don't worry, after those years I always get the softest tissues available, one never knows.
The last thing is my heel ointment - I have a bit of hyperkeratosis aka calluses on the most idiotic place - on the back side of my heels. Around a centimetre of skin between the sole of my foot and the big bone of the heel, there's a pressure area and that crap just grows there. When it's removed, it hurts like hell (I tried it once. Nature knows better, again) until the hard skin grows there again. When the skin too thick, however, it has to be kept hydrated or greasy, preferably both, or else it cracks. And cracks on one's heel, centimetre deep and not actually willing to heal because they are renewed every time one walks - I tried it once and no, never again. It sometimes hurts anyway, just because it is there. And it is not bad shoes or bad walking technique, it's the anatomy of my feet. Oddly enough, my feet are good enough for dancing on pointe and not so suitable for normal walking.
So, every morning I stumble to the kitchen leaving greasy footprints to get a caffeine boost and I wonder whether it's only me to be that degenerated that I cannot function normally without five different meds. And I'm under 30, mind it. Is all humankind that degenerated or am I a cripple only?
Yesterday I went to the court hearing. I wonder why the state wastes such money. The judge told me in what case I can refuse to testify and whether I'm refusing. I said No. (Meantime I sneezed and needed to blow my nose like five times.) Then he read the police protocol and asked whether it is true. (More sneezing, it was a long list.) I said Yes, just that there's my passport missing in the list of stolen stuff, I found out only later on and told it to the police. He nodded and asked whether I want to say something more and I said No. (Sneeze.) Then I got a paper entitling me to get my train ticket from my hometown refunded and I went home.
Actually I went shopping and when I was paying, I discovered that my keys aren't on their place - in my pocket where I put the keys and coins. I searched my bag and discovered that the keys must have stayed at the court, I went through the metal detector frame and put them aside. So I went there again - keys were found, sure, but I was a bit worried since I don't have a spare bunch in a flowerpot at the main door and flatmate is coming back on Thursday only. Not that there would be soup boiling on the stove but the cat would be damn hungry and damn pissed off.The keys were however found and I could go home and sneeze.
In the evening I wondered whether I might have got an awful cold because my nose was totally blocked. It effectively prevents breathing and I wanted to sleep which is not an activity you can perform when suffocated so I had to use the ephedrine-based meds I have at the bottom of the drawer for such cases. Wish I had normal cold that would go away after a week.

What would I like to knit?

I saw this on some other blog and I liked the idea.
I knit this and liked it
I knit this and did not like it or didn't finish it at all
I would like to knit this
I would not like to knit this
I'm thinking that I might try

Materials:
Acrylic
Alpaca (the Alpaca/bunny/camel sweater;the first reindeer sweater, the Patterned sweater, several alpaca blends were used elsewhere) Angora (the Alpaca/bunny/camel sweater) Bamboo (the Linköping socks)
Banana - I got some on eBay and I'm waiting for the delivery
Camel (the Alpaca/bunny/camel sweater; the future sweater made from Transitions) Cashmere (dyed, waiting)
Cotton (It has too much drape)
Dog (My parents have a huski. I have the brushings which I plan to spin as soon as I learn it)
Hemp (when I get some)
Linen
Mohair
Polyamide (to the U.S. friends known as nylon)
Polyester
Silk
Viscose
Wool
Yak (discovered something on eBay of which I didn't know it existed...)

Projects:
Socks
Lace socks (not sure that I like it)
Selbu socks
Knitting flat
Knitting in the round - I make the purl stitches much looser than the knit stitches. And, one can read while knitting in the round.
Wedding dress (in white angora yarn... is there some crazy bride?)
Skirt/dress
Rug/wall hanging (It depends on its final look)
Bag
Cat bed I have a nice felted sweater that needs to be cut up and made into two cat beds.
Scarf (scarves are a bit boring, I guess)
Shawl (shawls are even more boring and in my mental universe it's more stylish to wrap oneself in some nice woven and warm cloth. Just a fashion statement, not comments on lack of intellect in those who do love knitted shawls)
Lace in bulky yarn (pretty funky)
Lace in laceweight yarn (this sucks big time)
Something in handspun yarn Something in yarn spun by me Something with beads
Something to be felted

The list will be updated. I probably didn't indlude many things I do not care about at all since I do not keep them on my mind

Magpie

Yes, I must have some magpie genes. I love glittery things. On Monday, I guess, I was hanging around with Nan and we passed by one of my favourite stores with yarns, fabrics and other sewing stuff. They have all sorts of things there but it's not the usual crafting store with some cheap stuff for those who need just something for crocheting a tablecloth or upholstering their chair, it's a relatively high-end place. And oddly enough, not expensive. I mean, obviously silk crepe or angora yarn is not cheap by definition but the prices are fair. Well, we ventured inside - Nan is a quilter so she needed her time for drooling and I discovered the bead crate. My great-grandma used to work in a glass mill so there was a huge crate of glass stones and beads in her storeroom and we used to dig in it as kids. I spotted some glass leaves in the box and since Elisabeth had expressed a strong desire for those (we are a bead country, after all), I started picking them. I restricted myself to a handful, I do not need beads, after all... but they are cute.
I started working on the second bamboo sock. It goes slow, I have to follow the first sock (I've written the pattern down and oddly enough it works but still I rather trust the sock). The yarn looks just stunning, I've ordered more but it might be here next week or next year, the producer has too much of the Maňana attitude.
And yes, there are around seven unfinished things. Just you wait.

Yawn.

It's around 2 in the morning, just for your information.
I wanted to have a graduation party. Normal people pass their final exams and go get drunk, spend the next day in a terrible hangover and then normal life with earning money and paying bills starts. I didn't manage so I called people for a party today.
Now, guess how many came.
Two. Two pieces altogether. And two more apologized that they had another stuff to do, like have fever. Well, I have some cake left for breakfast but maybe I should check whether my feet do not smell too bad or something.

Anyhow, in the morning I attempted to catch my professor but he was already on the run to the Austrian cultural centre so I'll have to mail him anyway. Then I bought some stuff for the cake, went home and wanted to do some dyeing. I got the merino yarn a few days ago so I wanted to see how it takes colours and how it knits and how it felts. I made a sample (looks good on 5mm needles, single strand), threw it in the washie with the laundry (doesn't felt at all at 50 degrees programme when the sweater felted pretty well) and wanted to make something blue and purple like the angora I had around. And I discovered that I ran out of turquoise dye. My signature colour, wanted to use it for the yarn for Jane's shrug and some more things and there was none left. They have this dye only in one store in the town or at least only one of which I know so I set out to go to there and it was not on the stock.
I made a deep sigh and went to do purples and pinks. I fixed the fucked up cashmere - was diluted shit, now it's purples and reddishes and occasional touch of latte. I did some more cashmere in pinks and reds and oranges. I did one pinkish skein of merino and two in burgundy and pink and blue. Of course both came out totally different.
I knotted the skeins for a rinse in the washing machine. It's good to knot the skeins, they do not tangle..... and when I took them out, I almost fainted. The cashmere looked totally felted. I do not put boiling hot yarn into the washing machine for cold water rinse, I did this once and I learnt my lesson well. I was thus a bit surprised but then it showed that the cashmere didn't felt, that it just bloomed - the hairs on the surface just loosened and created an illusion of compact surface. Thinking of it, becoming known in the whole blogosphere as someone who felted 8 skeins of cashmere would gain me those 15 seconds of fame but I'm quite sure that I wouldn't want this fame. The cashmere looks good. The colours are a bit weird, seems to me that cashmere is not too willing to absorb the dyes so I wonder whether I would list it on Etsy or whether I'd better make myself something in pink and purple cashmere.
And, some good news. Apart from having a bit of cake left, I did a bit of asking and I found more sock yarn for dyeing and better than before - pure wool. I also found a source for feathers so there'll be more decorative elements available. And I found that in my yarn store they have a huge box of beads, they sell them by weight and you can fish out whatever you like.

Good news, bad news, funny news

Bad news is that I lost my source for sock yarn to dye. There won't be anymore. Or at least until I find out something new.
Good news is that I found a source for merino yarn. Sort of thick sock type, made by a local (not local here, local where they come from) sheep breeders co-op. I didn't ask whether it's organic, the lady at the phone wouldn't know that but I guess it is as organic as a normal sheep can be. It looks nice, comes in vaguely defined skeins and nobody has any idea about the yardage.
The fun is the rest of everyday life.
I hosted a couchsurfer from Colorado, she came to my place which is full of yarn and just fell in love with all that stuff. She asked me to make her a sweater which was okay with me but I had only a day for it. Well, day and half. I managed it - finished it this night at around two. Yes, one can knit while sleeping. One can knit even with an awful cramp in fingers. And yes, Nan is right that I should have a nice shop with my designs there in Colorado where lots of rich people go skiing and stuff.*
Since I possibly cannot knit (my paw hurts quite a bit indeed), I can be writing - I promised a test chapter of the damn history book.
And the coolest news of all: I'm at Ravelry. Knitters know. Non-knitters be informed that it's a knitting and crocheting community server where there's gadgets for sorting out stash (in normal words, the heap of yarn I have in the corner on the floor***) and projects in different stages of making and such.
I guess I need some sleep. I went to bed at midnight, knitted until two and got up at six to see Nan off and I feel accordingly.
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*Mental note: borrow a world atlas in the library and find where the Colorado thing is
**Mental note: find some relevant books from the library for further ideas
*** Note for worriers: no, the cat is not interested. She prefers to sleep under my pillow.