And trailing in at the back....

No, I shouldn't put myself down! I got there, didn't I? Strictly speaking, getting - I still haven't got it all sussed out, some things are not working that should be, but....I have photos, finally.

This at the expense of fibre stuff, I should add. It all takes too damn long. Never mind, this will be the additional incentive to keep slogging on.

Last evening to the Opera with His Lordship, to a fine performance of "Don Giovanni" by Herr Mozart. It was, too, a cracking good one, with a marvelous Don, whose acting ability was as good as his voice, and made you see both the charisma and the sheer wickedness of the character. Quite an interesting modern staging, but which neither added to nor subtracted from the performance. All the singers had excellent voices, though none could act as well as DG - but well enough.

I love opera - it satisfies on so many levels. I particularly like opera sung in English (I can hear the loud and rapid indrawing of breath from certain quarters as I write!) Opera is both music and drama, and I - one - needs to know the plot to fully appreciate it. Likewise, it is intended to be a performance, and whilst listening to discs is a fair substitute, what you get is immaculate sterility. You simply cannot beat being there and getting the thing warts and all. If the hero tenor misses a note and recovers, that is part of the experience for me - I can then admire his skill in the recovery. On the other hand, when Mimi or Violetta achieves that intense, vibrant rendition, and you are in the audience for that, - wow. Examples only - and sorry about the rambling. I have enthusiasms other than fibre and beads!!

gw

Just to prove........

Just to prove........, originally uploaded by gw.

.....that we had snow on Christmas Day!

This is the view down the lane looking towards our cottage - the gable end on the right in the middle of the photo.

So, not so very much of the white stuff, but enough. As far as I can recall, the first white Christmas I have known, too.

Sweetie bag

Sweetie bag, originally uploaded by maryplain.

I bought these silly multi-coloured beads in Denver last summer. A few
nights ago, just before going to sleep, I realised what I wanted to do with them!

Ee, by gum

Such a strange feeling - I have been read! So all of a sudden, I am real. Well, in the cyber sense, anyway. Let there be no doubt, I do know what reality is, and that I am - flaky I may be, but I have always managed to keep at least one toe on the shores of the here-and-now. But thank you, my dear commenters, your good wishes are appreciated, and any insults will be taken under advisement and dealt with according to my mood at the time ........

I have been out and about all over the place socialising this week, to the great detriment of any work I might have wanted to do. I did finish the sweetie bag, and I really pleased with it, it turned out just as I had wanted. Other than that, I have been beavering away (sorry, couldn't resist) at les projets, ie the now-lap rug (nearly done) and the cotton and silk. I will try to finish off both over the weekend.

My Timbertops Leicester is ordered. It is to be oak, double treadle and with ratios of 6, 8, 12 and 14. One or two persons have indicated that I will need higher ratios than that - well, maybe, but I am not certain. I still, after lo these many years, have a tendency to overtwist rather than under. We shall see - I can always get more whorls if I need to. This little beauty should appear in the summer some time, and after all these years of spinning and with several other perfectly adequate wheels to go at I shouldn't be excited, but I am. I tried the Leicester, with a right hand side flyer, at SOAR, and it is quite delightful. Shiver.

Any intentions of slaving over lots of lovely prose no have to go out the window as the DSM has arrived home and we need to go pick my car up from the garage. Damn. (Ill explain that at a later date.)

gw

Blue sky!!

Well, there was this morning, anyways. It was such a lovely morning, very cold, quite a bit of frost and ice around, and this pretty sky. But by lunchtime, the cloud cover had descended again. However....they have shifted the position of the possible snow, so we might get some of the white stuff. I know I am such a child about it, but I still love snow. We seem to have had a bit more this year than some, but never to any real extent, just a light powdering. Maybe this time?

The house looked so dingy when I got back from York yesterday - I think in the main because M is a pretty fanatical housecleaner, not to mention having the bijou residence looking like something out of Homes&Gardens (except that there isn't one of the latter). The effect, though was to spur me on to cleaning something - the porch and kitchen, in fact. So now I feel all virtuous and am about to dive into some beading, having knitted for a while over lunch. (Last couple of mitred squares on the mini-afghan! Probably. Next step is to put all the triangles on to three sides, and to then see what yarn is left. But I think the end is nigh.....)

In between writing paragraphs of this, I am attempting to phone Timbertops to finalise the order for my wheel...I desperately need to get it all set up, so I know how much it is going to actually be and more importantly so that everything is in place to compensate for not going to SOAR (Sad, sad, sad.) It's a really good trade-off - oh, yes it is! But their number is constantly engaged. Ah, well, keep trying. Watch this space.

gw

Busy, busy

York on Friday, first to visit Mama. It really isn't too bad just sitting and chatting, and I get to knit. It always seems so bizarre, I get the knitting out, socks at the moment in brightish rainbow multi, not actually dyed by me this time (spun from Royal Hare merino, I love Karen's stuff and always stock up at SOAR) Anyhow, nothing is ever said, no "what the ..." or "gosh that's nice/awful/whatever" Just never commented on. Weird. Still, she is as ok as can be expected, given that she is pretty lonely, all her friends left in Norfolk and no new ones in York. I'll be very good and go again soon, but first to Cornwall to visit ma-in-law.

So, spent the night with M&R prior to going on the beading course in Malton with M. The course was good, herringbone was not difficult, and it was fun just to spend a day beading, even if the place we were in was chilly in the extreme. Gave me the excuse to keep jumping up and down, just to stir the blood up a bit! So - now I have three beading projects on the go, the watch, the sweetie bag and now this herringbone rope, which I will finish, I quite like it. Not exactly as the tutor designed it, but, hey, creativity is good, right? I was very good and didn't buy too much, just a couple of little pots of beads, some pretty blue seed beads and a little purple mix (oh, so predictable!) And some little silver leaves, which I think will make an extremely nice delicate bracelet or necklace - oh, and a chunk of green stuff, well, two, one for me and one for Freyalynn. Well, it is green.......oops, forgot the pau shell pendant. None of it cost a lot....saving up for Cornwall, and then Harrogate at the end of March.

Spent chat time knitting on the - ahem - afghan. It is going to look quite nice, although probably not large enough to be dignified with the name. How about "lap rug"? Yes, that sounds better! However, it dawns on me that when it is done, I have to stop pratting about and do something for real. I have had an idea for a wedding present for L&M - a felted vessel. That needs to go on the drawing board. But then....aaargh. Terrifying.

Sorry to bring this up again, but the project for this week is to have another go at photographs. I will upload something to whatsitcalled - Photobucket (surely not??) and if that fails, set up a link to an AOL album. To spur me on, I have just taken a couple of shots of the amulet bag I made for Pennie - need to have a record, anyway. Surely this time....

gw

Oh FFFFFFF

Just got an email from one of the supposed French crew, who is dropping out. Not only am I cheesed off about it, but I know someone else who will be even more so and guess who will have to pick up the pieces. Thing is, I am the realistic one, and I know that when people jump enthusiastically on to an idea, they do not necessarily translate that into action. So I keep part of my own enthusiasm reined in....but, basically, buggrit.

I suspect that the entire joint enterprise is about to go down the tubes - maybe, just maybe not, but I ain't gonna hold my breath. I feel sad about it, because we aren't going to SOAR this year, and I'm going to miss the people and the buzz like crazy. But, that's life, and ya gotta live it. Him and me will have a fun trip come what may - or if we don't then there is some need for drastic action!

I'm all set up for York this weekend, I'm looking forward to it. I enjoyed the previous beading class, and this one will be a lot better, I think, even if harder work! I started the multi coloured funny-shaped amulet bag finally, after several false starts - I do wish I could get going with peyote without all this angst. I think it is going to look outrageous and pretty - just like moi!

gw