Many, many days off, very little to show for it....

.......other than possible return to close to sanity. I've been off for days and days and only managed to finish the Adamas shawl (last Monday) a book, (Tiger in the Shadows by Margery Allingham - I kept thinking of Chittavrtti's Life Of Pi Tiger), went to a movie (Friends With Money - not half bad and for being a fairly unrealistic portrayal of anyone it rang surprisingly true) and up to Sonora and Columbia for what turned out to be a daytrip (much to Sheri's dismay, I'm sure. She drove. But we did drive in the red convertible with the top down. (Oh, okay. Until me and The Movie Star whined enough about being cold and windblown and Sheri put the top back up. But it went back down later.)


The Movie Star.




The set: (somewhere on Hwy 49)















But most importantly, The Yarn Store in Sonora, By Hand Yarn. And I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the outside! It's evidently the old drugstore - because it has D R U G S embedded in the doorway - remember those? It's roomy and comfy and has multiple couches and gorgeous yarn (why didn't I get the Koigu there?) but I got this instead: (and it came in skeins and The Movie Star and Her Entourage wound it for me under the watchful eye of Patricia - who hails from Pleasant Hill, which is practically where I live. Small World.



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Columbia would be a great day trip or longer. It's an old gold town with the original buildings along with homes still being lived in(!) and little shops and the historical mixed together. The Movie Star and Her Entourage hand dyed candles by dipping them, went into the jail (very, very tiny) dragged us up the hill to the old schoolhouse and the cemetary. They didn't get to pan for gold but they didn't seem to interested in it either. But you can.

Here's my Moll Shawl so far - out of the Misti Alpaca. It's so cool! I redid it once (I tried to frog it and ended up snapping the yarn in a fit of rage - I was barely started and it was being BAD, but it revenged itself on me by having a really wonky looking point this time out. It will either block out or I'll hang weights on it. I mean, beads.

The first attempt.



The latest. You know, I think every surface in this house is brown. Brown couches. Brown velveteen duvet cover. Butcher block island. Wood tables and chairs. Wood roll top desk. I might have to copy Jenla and cover everything with mosaics. Shades of brown, no doubt.



Okay, it looks better than that. A chair isn't the best pose, eh? I ran out to my LYS today to get wood needles - the metal ones were driving me crazy catching the glare outside. It was gorgeous! For approximately 4 days.

My poor twinset. I started it but really, I should use it as the gauge swatch. Because no, I didn't knit one - I've barely knit 5 rows other than the I-cord on the left front as it is and it's more complicated that I expected from garter stitch and I-cord. Darn that Lily Chin. But a good gauge swatch. If I ever knit it, because my original point was Marji's Tudor Roses KAL! (yes, I had a point. I usually do. I just never usually get to it).

Alice Starmore's Tudor Roses book. I love the Elizabeth but the Mary Tudor and the Katherine Howard and the Anne of Cleves..........but honestly, the Elizbeth is the only one I have half a prayer of both finishing and then wearing. Unless I move to a cold, cold climate.

Becky, thanks for those links! I like the capelet, that looks very Moll but I might make it for Wuthering Heights. Out of wool, no doubt, and knit it on the beach in June. Hopefully it'll be 102 by then. Oh, and Carrie, I got Richard Rhodes "Deadly Feasts: Tracking the Secrets of a Terrifying New Plague" because I'm all about plagues. The Secret History of Domesticity is HUGE! And Women of the 12th Century (Eleanor of Aquitaine and six others) is like 100 something pages. I would have expected vice a versa, for no apparent reason.

Stephanie!!!! You didn't tell me History of Britain was on ALL DAY LONG on Wednesday. Argh. I totally missed it. I've barely flipped the TV on all week (except I watched Dr. Who last night. I really like this Dr. Who, I'll miss him next season) and have been taping everything else. I thought I'd sit around and read but I've effectually sat around staring into space (see frogged shawl. See one book read. See one day trip. See girl with way too much time on her hands doing nothing with it.)

On the other hand. Blissful. Wasting time. What could be more fun?

Also for no apparent reason (other than Moll did) I want to say "effectually" all. the. time. but I can't work it into normal conversation. ~ Possibly because it hasn't been normal conversation for 300 years but mostly because I've been locked in the house with a cat, a book and a shawl and haven't really tried.