Biking in the sunshine

Yesterday it finally felt like summer around here. Warm and blue and blooming flowers everywhere. We took advantage of the brief respite from grey and headed out on our bikes, driving first to Matthews Beach Park and then switching wheels and getting on the Burke-Gilman Trail into Seattle. Of course, this is us, so things didn’t go smoothly. We got started an hour (or two) later than we’d thought, bike helmets were forgotten or broken, we switched cars and bike carriers after getting everything loaded and then deciding it wasn’t secure. But we did eventually get pedaling.

From the trail we road into the U District for the street fair. I was underwhelmed by the offerings – I remember a lot more funky artists in previous fairs, and less mass-produced imports – but we got to eat street food and watch violin playing unicyclists and a rather frightening woman dressed entirely in grocery bags, so it was a success. J was ecstatic to eat a hot dog on a stick (corn dog) once we taught him to eat from the side, rather than jamming the pointy end deep into his mouth to bite off more.

J melted a bit in the heat, and we were way past nap time, so on the way back, he fell asleep in his bike seat. Not the most comfortable ride back for either he or Roni, as his limp leg kept slipping out of the foot rest to kick Roni in the back of the knee with each rotation of the pedal. And his poor little head had no where to rest so he was either bent in half or trying to slump onto Roni’s moving backside. It was pretty funny to watch from behind, once I decided it wasn’t likely his neck really would snap. He’s always had a talent for sleeping no matter how much noise or movement is going on, but this was a personal best.

Mom took a scary but recoverable spill when she bumped a curb, and Roni and J were almost wiped out by a right-on-red driver who didn’t slow or look at the crosswalk before whipping around the curve, but other than the near deaths, it was a lovely trip.

We rounded out the day by taking a spaghetti and salad dinner over to Tina’s to admire their new hardwood floors (so much more hardworking than us, they’re installing their own!) J was braver this time and was willing to bounce on the trampoline a little bit. And there is nothing better than his giggle when he’s chasing around with other kids! Melts my heart.

The rest of the weekend I devoted to spinning, continuing in my theme of ugliest-and-brightest-yarn-ever. Exhibit B is shown. (Exhibit A is in a lead lined box buried deep beneath a mountain to avoid it hurting anyone.) B has already been dunked in blue dye to tone it down to something a little less blinding. It is my first effort at long draw spinning, though I was using top rathe than roving so the results were mixed. Lots of underspun spots, and it would have been better navajo plyed to keep some of those colors apart. But I got better with the one handed part with the practice. I also made a calmer skein with my usually short draw method with some wonderful natural cream pygora B & silk top that I got from Paradise Fibers. Amazing stuff, and it smelled pepperminty the entire time due to a small vial of pepperment oil that the producer, Peppermint Pastures, include with the fiber.

Mother's Day

Mother’s Day went very well. Roni worked very hard in the kitchen, with J’s semi-help, making bagels and muffins and salads for our brunch. Mom came over with Mr. Al and the sunny weather meant we could sit out on the back deck where there are yet to be any flowers, but the green is lovely anyway. (Sitting outside also meant no one commenting on how the dust bunnies are becoming more dust sheep lately, and walking down the stairs is like threading an obstacle course.)

It still amazes me that I am a mother, and that J has been with us for over a year. He is an amazing kid, and we are beyond lucky to have him.

After the feast, we cleared the table for a cut throat game of Froggy Farkel which the three year old won! Despite not knowing the rules, or how to score, or why we were so insistent that all the dice land on the table each time, it turns out little J is a bit of a dice-shark. Luckily he accepted cheese cake instead of cash for his winnings.

J was a little confused over the weekend why Saturday was Papa’s Day (Roni’s 39th birthday) and Sunday was Mama’s Day, but there was no day for him. Explaining that pretty much every day is J Day didn’t work, as a true “Day” is marked with cake, preferably one with a fire truck on it, and definitely chocolate. And he has a point. Everyday would be a little brighter with some chocolate cake in it. But as the Wii has for the first time this year finally told me I was “normal” when I got on the scale, we’re going to have to continue to limit the chocolate cake intake.

Tangled in fair isle

I’ve been searching for knitting classes without a lot of success. There is a lot I still don’t know how to do, but it is getting harder to find classes to sign up for – so many for beginners, but the intermediate classes tend to be for types of knitting I’m already comfortable with. I know how to read lace charts and how to knit a sock, I’m already a Continental knitter, and I’ve made cable sweaters. For spinning, the classes seem to stop after the basics and basics plus classes, though I do plan to take one of the dying classes in the near future.

What I do want to learn is how to do more styles of casting on and binding off, how to design my own lace shawl, how to knit without being so strictly tied to a pattern. There are classes like that at some of the big events, but not so many at the local LYSs I look into. Spinning-wise, I want to learn how to do long draw properly and how to plan my yarn more intentionally rather than just seeing how it turns out between my dying attempts and my spinning endeavors.

I did find one that I attended the last two Saturdays. “Celebrating Steeks” gave me a chance to retry some fair isle. We knit a small tube, intended to be felted and turned into an even smaller bag, with the intention of learning how to knit a steek and then how to prepare it for cutting.

Watching me attempt to knit with yarns held in both right and left hands (I’m a left hand-picker normally) while knitting in the round with dp needles was entertaining for those who witnessed it. I think that any one of the skills – yarn in right hand, two colors, and correctly tensioning the fair isle, while following a chart, adding a steek, and knitting in the round with those larger than usual for me needles – would have gone smoothly, but putting them all together led to some tangles and turmoil. I can’t say I enjoyed knitting the tube, but it did get better looking as I progressed through the rows, and I can see where knitting fair isle on a circular needle would be much simpler as a learning project.

The steek prep-and-cutting was fun though – we learned how to secure the edges with back stitch or a crochet stitch (crochet is also new for me) with the possibility of machine zigzags or no special sewing at all for projects with appropriate yarn. I’d never knit with true Shetland yarn before and it really is “sticky.”

Now, of course, swept up by the finishing of one 10” x 10” square of fair isle, I want to immediately start a sweater. But a pillow or something that size might be a bit more sensible. Though I do have the yarn for a Kauni damask cardigan already, and then there is this sweater, which I look at every day online . . .