A Fortnight of News

Isn't fortnight a nice word? Short for fourteen-night, or two weeks. I learned that one when I was still pretty young, because it tends to crop up in the classic kids' books - Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, etc.

And it's been pretty close to a fortnight since I got around to blogging. Work's been busy, plus when you add in a few days where there were errands to do - well, there've been days when I basically got home, made supper, took Julia out, and went to bed. For the first time this past week though, I've had time to deadhead things at work, and I've been taking the bags of clippings home for my compost pile - bonus!

In that time, the garden has started to bloom. My old rosebush especially (I think it may be a Rosa cinnamomea) is covered in blooms.

My neighbors, on the other hand, upgraded their landscaping to include a plastic palm tree. I suppose it goes with the flamingos.

Knitting time on the bus has produced a pair of mittens for Johanne. Now, though, I'm working on my own stuff for a while (Yay, colour!). I'm planning to share a booth with Johanne and Chantal again for the Corn Festival back home, and that's only a month away, so time to stock up.

Less knitting at home, though, because I've got to get busy on the spinning. Looking ahead to the Guild show, end of October, which means handspun for selling and for knitting things to sell. And summer is here, which means dyeing season. Tour de Fleece is coming up, so I'm making that an excuse for getting back in the habit, even if I've only committed to being in Lanterne Rouge this year (participating but not necessarily spinning every day). So far for my 'training camp' I've gotten a skein of fine 2-ply silk/merino plied and off the bobbin, and am one skein into the 2-3 remaining to finish the Navaho-plied Icelandic I started, oh, last year sometime.

On the dyeing front, that's another thing coming at me, if not for a couple of months. It looks like I'll be teaching two full-day workshops on natural dyeing for L'Ourse Qui Danse, which should be fun. We're planning for end of August and late September, tentatively. I've got the basic timetable/lesson plan roughed out and discussed with Jo and Chantal, but at some point I will have to do the figuring to make sure I've got all the materials and supplies ready, and write the class handouts...