(mis)adventures of spindlerose

Ten on Tuesday: Things I Want to Do in 2012

1. Knit with cashmere. I have cashmere blend yarn for several sweater-sized projects in the studio. This is my year to use it. I will earn a bit of luxury knitting every time I complete a fitness goal. First up is Sabine in Superior.
2. Run a 5K race in March or April. D and I have started running again. If we survive our cold winter morning runs, stay healthy, and stick to the plan, we will be ready for a 5K by St. Patrick's Day.
3. Run a 10K race in September. If we keep training through the spring and summer, we will be ready to tackle a longer distance by the end of summer.
4. Finish 12 sweaters. This is much less of a stretch than you might think. There are at least 10 nearly finished sweaters hiding on my shelves that stalled for some reason. It is time stop procrastinating, solve the problems, and finish them.
5. Finish 12 pairs of hand knit socks and give most of them away. My sock shelf is overflowing, but socks are still my go to project for travel knitting. Since there is a lot of business travel in my future, there will be a lot of socks.
6. Spin every day. Even 10 minutes a day with a spindle adds up to quite a bit of yarn after a few weeks. Daily efforts at the wheel lead to more consistent finished yarn. My spinning focus this year is spinning for a purpose rather than just spinning. I have made myself a personal fiber club of 6 bumps of fiber that I will spin for a specific project.
7. Knit with handspun. If I am spinning with the end project in mind, I need to knit the project when the yarn is finished so I can evaluate my progress and figure out what to do better next time. I also need to make some space in my handspun bin for the other yarns I plan to spin this year.
8. Learn how to weave. The more I talk to weavers and handle hand woven cloth, the more I want to weave. I am going to start looking for a used loom in May and take a weaving class or two later in the year.
9. Go back to Hawaii with D. We have not been there since 2009. It is time for a visit.
10. Post to this here blog at least once a week. I will start with Carole's Ten on Tuesday this month, and see where that leads me.

Desert flowers

This bright flower stopped me in my tracks last night. The brilliant color and desert adaptations (green bark, tiny leaves) drew me in for a close look. I love seeing different flora and landscapes when I travel, even when that flora is dry dry pastures and landscape is full of creek beds. Seeing the Texas drought this year makes it easy to imagine the dustbowl of the Great Depression. I hope this drought ends soon.

Squeezing in a bit of fun

Hill Country Weavers

Today, I found a tiny bit of time to find yarn while traveling for work. I spent a lovely half hour or so poking around in Hill Country Weavers in Austin. I bought one tiny ball of lace weight yarn to knit a Christmas gift for someone, a shop pattern, and a magazine. I hope to go back next time I'm in Austin to poke around a bit more, find more tasty food in the neighborhood, and find the spinning and weaving parts of the shop.

Between adventures

Blanket squares for Miss Z

Now that SOAR is over, I am shifting my brain away from fun with fiber and back to every day life. The pile I left on my desk 7 days ago is scary, but I am not going to deal with it until tomorrow. Even though I want to spend the next month spinning the rest of my SOAR samples and practicing all the new techniques I learned (coils! And cotton on a tahkli and handcarding), I need to repack my suitcase for an adventure in Texas that starts Tuesday.

I will be making more time for fiber on this trip (and in the rest of life). I'm going to toss something lovely into my travel spindle case and yarn for more blanket squares into my bag. Miss Z is nearly three, and I would like to deliver her blanket in time for Christmas. I would rather finish this one project than meet my 12 finished pairs goal this year.

A visit to Harrisville

Happy spinner

Diane snuggles into some dyed wool at Harrisville Designs. A group of friends took advantage of the day off from SOAR workshops to tour the Harrisville mill and do some shopping. I was good and bought nothing today, but made a list of things to order after I finish the next sweater in my queue.

Home again

Grouchy Eliza, originally uploaded by SpindleRose.

Eliza was not interested in posing for a picture or in welcoming me home tonight. She always protests when the suitcase comes out indicating that D or I will be leaving and then displays typical cat bad temper for a few hours after we return home.

While I truly enjoyed this week's trip to Texas, I am happy to be home, and am looking forward to a night of good sleep in my own bed.

Dinner companion

Dinner companion, originally uploaded by SpindleRose.

This guy looked over my shoulder at dinner. I'm glad I didn't see him until I was mostly finished.

The short version of my day: Long drive from Austin to Fort Worth. Steakhouse dinner meeting surrounded by taxidermy. Food coma.

Mariachi and Finding Art Everyday

Mariaci, originally uploaded by SpindleRose.

I'm trying to do two things this month: take a picture or two every day with the iPhone camera, and post that picture with a little something here. The NaBloPoMo theme for September is Art—since I make things and try to see art in the world around me, I find the theme inspiring. Since the work travel is low key this month (knock wood), posting daily should be easy.

Tonight's art was the Mariachi trio at the restaurant where I had dinner with the colleagues I'm traveling with this week. They were pretty good and made dinner a bit more enjoyable.

Back on the road

Back on the road, originally uploaded by SpindleRose.

Yes, that is another sock in progress. Lizzy makes for excellent travel knitting once the little lace cuff is finished. I'll be trekking across Texas this week (Houston to Austin to Dallas) with hours in the passenger seat of a car.

D's birthday trip

Mike Goulian* flies past Ellis Island

A few weeks ago, D and I flew up to New York City to watch the US stop on the Red Bull Air Race tour. D enjoyed the races, but would have rather been in the air. More pictures from the race are here.

We stayed near Union Square—which is the neighborhood I worked in during our brief stay in NYC. Saturday evening we grabbed dinner and then wandered around the neighborhood a bit, marveling the whole time at how much nicer it is now. We visited The Strand; it is nice to know that some things in the neighborhood are the same. Then, we hopped on the Subway to the Upper East Side and enjoyed a (cameraless) long walk in Central Park.

* Mike was D's first aerobatic instructor. We can blame him for the plane.