Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Silver lining?

My Sunday and Monday this week can only be described as craptastic (I stole that word from someone else, but it's so apt). Sunday I realized I had broken my toe on Saturday and it hurt (it's not as bad as it sounds, but it does put a cramp in my imaginary ballet career). And Monday I realized, on my way to school in the pouring rain, that the (admittedly 10 year-old) raincoat my dad made me was no longer waterproof. I realize I can fix that, but sitting in the library damp and grumpy, even that thought was no cheer. I didn't get anything done, and I was sullen and morose. About many things. Often.

But, although there's supposed to be a humongous, hail-throwing thunderstorm today, all that glumness is gone. Firstly, I started knitting a socklet from the merino I dyed and spun not long ago (sorry, forgot pictures of the yarn):

I'm not sure how/why, but this is the first sock I've made out of my own yarn. And I think it's just dandy. The yarn is so sproingy! (The pattern is very slightly modified from the Padded Footlet in Favorite Socks.) I only hope I have enough yarn to make it around two heels! Fingers crossed!

Random neat thing - the pot in front of which that socklet was pictured holds this plant:

Which, if you look closely, you can see is growing some figs. Yes, figs in MA. Not only that, but this tree is grown from a cutting we got from our neighbor who grew up right here, who grew her tree from a cutting that her grandfather brought over with him from Italy. And she gets figs every year. I'm so excited!

And further cheerful goodness:

The very start of the Awaken roving I got from Zen String. It's so very iris-y and purty. And I was spinning it on my porch while the sun was setting (or getting covered with giant thunderheads). How could that not cheer me up?

And finally, a happy pup and lobelia (which I didn't _really_ believe I could capture on film. In pixels?):


(Also: finally got a good bit of research done. Woohoo! Anyone else like medieval manuscripts? You can see some neat ones here.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boy, my heart goes out to you about the broken toe. I did that a couple of years ago, and it wasn't pretty. It was 3 weeks before I could get my shoes on, so it was wearing one of those blue hospital shoe things the whole time. Can you still spin using the other foot?
The fig is SO cool. I've got to get me one of those. (And an olive bush, too.)

Unknown said...

Hopefully your week turns around!

Love the fig. So cute!

Beth said...

Did you end up getting the storm? It rained and thundered here for the longest time. The thunder just kept rolling and rolling. Thankfully, we did not get any hail at my house (I Just put the garden in) but there was a ton down the road.
It was a wild ride!

Charles said...

How sad to hear that the well-crafted rain parka has begun to leak. What a nice dad you must have! I'll bet he put a lot of work into trying to keep you dry. (Maybe he had a painful memory of seeing a wet, bedraggled daughter on the school bus one morning, or something...)