My Favorite Month

Yes! It's June! How I love this month - the month when Zig and I got married (30 years ago this year), the month when school lets out for the summer, the month when the sun and the birds are up delightfully early.

Lest you think I've forgotten entirely about my blog, please know that I think of posting every day; I just don't have enough time to set myself down in front of the laptop and create a post. But, here I am, better late than never.

Foot Model Abe wearing Turbo Toes

Lots of knitting and spinning going on. I finished Turbo Toes, from Clara Parkes The Knitter's Book of Socks, and gave them to Abe. I'm still undecided on whether I like toe-up sock design, and also whether I prefer knitting socks on two circulars, the Magic Loop method of sock knitting, or good old double pointed needles. On this particular pair, I exhibited wishy-washy behaviors - casting on with dpns, then switching to two circulars, then using Magic Loop for awhile, then reverting (on the second sock) to dpns.

Hold on. I was just sitting on the deck, blithely typing, when I heard some noises near me. Turned and saw a cute gray squirrel approaching me - he had no idea I was there. I shooed him away, and returned to typing, but not long after I heard more noises. Bigger, crunching-branches-type noises. I thought our little bear, who visited us four times yesterday, was back. I stood up to get a look, and saw, not the little bear, but two full-grown bears ambling down the hil towards our driveway. One was HUGE. It might be the largest one I've seen. They both knew I was there - they looked right at me. I grabbed the camera, which, fortunately, was sitting right near me, and snapped away. The big one snuffled up some birdseed from the freshly-filled feeder. The smaller one had not only eartags, but a radio collar. Here's some pics:

I don't think the one on the right has been tagged...

Speaking of the little bear, here's the juvenile who pestered us for about 4 hours on Saturday. Abe was making pulled pork tacos, which required roasting a large piece of pork loin for six hours, which had been marinated in spices for hours before cooking. Needless to say, the aroma wafting out our open windows and doors was...tantalizing, to say the least. This little guy sure wanted him some tacos. He even went so far as to walk up onto the deck and try to get in the screen door by standing up and pushing, but we managed to scare him off. He wasn't very intimidated by us, though, and we're worried that his lack of fear is going to lead him to a bad place.

Yes, he looks like a wood carving, but he's real.

I have to say, I'm a wee bit nervous sitting out here now. Zig and Abe are off at a driving range, so it's just me and the baseball bat Zig dug out yesterday. Maybe I should go get it...

Okay, back to knitting and spinning. Since finishing the socks, I suppressed the noble tendency to go back and finish up the string bag (which is rapidly morphing into a UFO - UnFinished Object), or to make more headway on the DeGraw tank I started last weekend, and, yes, cast on The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief, using the mauve Fonty Gueret I picked up in Paris. This is going to be a birthday gift for my dear friend Pam. So far, it's a quick, fun knit. The yarn is a soft, sproingy merino.

Fonty Gueret Merino for The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief

This is turning into a long post. Knitting and spinning and BEARS, oh my! On (at long last) to spinning. I finished up four ounces of Spunky Eclectic's "Peace on Earth" South African Fine fiber. I ended up with 318 yards of 2 ply, in what I suspect will be a fingering weight. This was a fun spin.

Spunky Eclectic's "Peace on Earth" South African Fine 2-ply

Of course, as I was working on this fiber, the May 2012 shipment arrived, which means I'm STILL 5 months behind on the fiber club. It could be worse - I AM gaining ground.

Spunky Eclectic's "Big Bang" Blue-Faced Leicester Top

"Birds n' Berries" Targhee

Now I'm just starting to spin for a fingering weight 2-ply, using SE's "Birds n' Berries", the January 2012 shipment of Targhee. I divided the bump vertically, hoping for some striping, but that never quite seems to work out the way I want it to. As usual, what seemed like a lackluster colorway is becoming breathtaking gorgeous on the wheel. I've fallen in love with this. Here's a photo of the un-predrafted bump:

Well, I guess that about wraps up my fiber life. And wild life.

Yes, I've been exercising regularly, too, but I am still far from being described as "lean", "angular", "slender", and the like. Still, I do feel good!