Aftermath (Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival) - picture heavy

Autumn Breeze and I had our date night Tuesday and we decided what to do for our trip. She's been the recipient of some culls and purges recently so she wasn't looking for much. Still, it's a good idea to get an idea of trends, etc.

it's a caterpillar, very fuzzy

Thursday, the Deadlands GM revealed he thinks we're coming to the end of the game. He's not certain how many sessions, somewhere between 2 and 20. The question, what to play next? At this point, he's torn between Dresden Files and Blue Rose. Dresden Files is a Fate game and thanks to the Shadows of the Century game I ran, SR is familiar with it. Blue Rose is a new (to us) system, but it's romantic fantasy (think Mercedes Lackey or Diane Duane or Tamora Pearce).

coloring at lunch

Friday morning, I packed up my clothes, etc. I grabbed my sock loom and a skein of yarn, my Loom Knitting Primer, some tatting supplies, and some coloring pages (in case I had some time to do so). One of my friends called as I was packing and put me half hour behind. Autumn Breeze was running behind, too but we were on the road in a fairly timely manner.

We took secondary highways so it was a scenic trip. I was missing sleep so I took a nap part of the way. And I found out my yarn was the wrong size for the loom, so no knitting. The primer is really good though. Autumn Breeze had given me some red linen thread so I tatted a heart for her. She wants a bracelet from the same thread.

we stopped at a roadside produce store

Saturday, we had breakfast at the hotel and then off to the festival. I had my Ravelry pin but didn't see any names I recognized. It's a big festival after all.
This is where we parked on Saturday.

We were really close the drive/road farthest from the gate.

More scenes from the Festival

his shawl is FAB, he's working on the pattern

There were so many lovely handknits, hand crochets, and woven garments.

shorn alpaca

so cute

French bunnies

sheep!

He has horns

not sure of the breed, but cute

unshorn alpaca

Here are a few purchases; the dk yarn (wool/cotton blend) to use with my sock loom.We ended up spending most of Saturday (in the cold and wet) at the auction. She bought 4 looms, and this is one is with a 2-liter bottle for size comparison. Mom said she wanted to buy something for me, so I got this tunic.

On the way we saw this car. I think it's been in an accident.

And today, this arrived. Yay!

A day late, no dollar involved

Wednesday afternoon, was the retirement celebration for my coworker, Jim. Here's a picture of his card and a slice of his cake. It was tasty, btw.

Wednesday night I and JJ went to a stories and music of Scotland talk. A group is trying to raise enough money to endow a chair to study Scot and Gaelic life in North Carolina. It was really warm that day, so I just wore my shawl, no jacket. As I left work and went to meet JJ, I realized, 'uh oh, it's really cold and windy. I'm going to freeze tonight.' We left supper (running late) and it was more of the same. The stories and music were very interesting and I stayed just a little too long.

JJ walked with me to the bus stop and I had juuust missed the bus, and the next one was in an hour. At least, it was much warmer on the walk to the bus stop. We went across the street to grab a drink and sit somewhere warm. And it was frigid again when we returned to the bus stop, but the wait was only a few minutes.

Thursday was Deadlands. SR and I worked together to take notes using Google Docs. It's different, but effective.

Friday, pretty much at the last minute (only a few hours before it started), I found out about a Scot/Irish/Appalachia music ties, with a dip into Cajun. I alerted JJ and he joined me. There was a reception with Irish food beforehand (corned beef sliders, raw veggies, potato nibblies, etc) and both people were from the same area of Ireland. They are a wife and husband poet and poet/musician. We had a lovely time. It wasn't as late and it wasn't as cold, so it was easier to wait.

Saturday we were supposed to play Pathfinder, but MC just got married the week before so instead RW ran Mermaids for his daughter, her friend, RG, and I. CD kept RG's dog occupied while we played. After, we played LotRO. We were trying finish a particular quest. Alas, we weren't quite up to it and kept dying. We played a bit too late trying to finish it.

I was wiped out Sunday with a migraine. As a result, I got almost nothing done.

Got some stuff done, including gathering up my tax info and Mom's. However, I decided to use a tax preparer for Mom's since frankly, hers is more complex than I'm used to. I went by the place today but didn't have mom's id so I need to go get that before the tax prep person can really start (pesky id theft worries).

 Here are some spring pictures.

this is what is turning my car chloris

 And here's a picture of all of my buffboo yarn, both teal purple. I've wound them into balls.

Happy St. Valentine's Day (if you celebrate it)

Today, CD surprised me with 3 skeins of the bison/bamboo/silk yarn, in purple this time. I have to make a decision now. Do I make a teal trimmed purple lace shawl or a purple lace shawl and a smaller teal lace shawl? Decisions, decisions.

He's also asked me for a knit scarf. I've offered but until recently he didn't need one. He has definite ideas on what he wants so the next step is to find the right pattern. I have yarn (~600 yards each) in two colors so I can do a kind of tweedy look.

And here's a 2007 paper on the connection between knitting and activism. If you're interested in that sort of thing.

A number of museums and libraries put out coloring pages again, look for #ColorOurCollections. Here's a page I did from the UNC Health Sciences Library.

I took a picture of my hair after I cut it. Sort of. It's not a very good picture, but it's better than nothing.

Saturday's plan: go to bank so CD can deposit a check, grab a bite to eat on the way to see mom, set up mom's tv and see if we can get the DVD player to work, go to lunch, CD goes home and I take mom yarn shopping in her car, then I drive home in mom's car.

What actually happened: stop by bank and notice a tire is low, go to dealer and discover tire needs to be replaced, another tire needs to be replaced, brake pads, etc, etc, etc. We went from 'be there until  2 pm' (call mom cause we aren't coming) to get a shuttle ride to somewhere we can get lunch, to finally leaving the dealer after 5 pm.

We did the 'go to mom' stuff on Sunday. And learned her car tags are out of date and her battery is dead. And the new tv doesn't even recognize the connection to the cable box, never mind the DVD player. We did get the yarn shopping done and I have to find out about mom's car taxes, etc.

I finished my 90 hearts. And I finally remembered to send in my registration for the NCRL Day. Too late for the commemorative shuttle thought. sad face.

I'm still behind on TIAS 2017, but I've made some progress.

Monday I saw someone I'd only seen once in the past 2-3 years. He hasn't changed much. We all had supper (CD, him, and me) although our first choice of dining establishment had closed. We caught up a bit and shared a couple gaming stories.

Tonight, I go see CC. I'll show her my shawl. And my yarn. And maybe she can give me advice about my wristlets to match my shawl.

Last but not least, US politics again. I took a break from calling my MoC over the weekend. I had enough on my mind. But I started right up again on Monday. I have yet to reach a live person in my senators' offices and I've reached a live person every time in my representative's office.