Time

I think about writing a post. Does that count?

First, the business: Marie, Patricia will trade her hair for better hips. Deal?

Next up, aptly named deadlines. Ahem.

They seem so far away when I make them. There will be lots of time. Plans are made, yarns are spun or procured, tools assembled.

If all goes well (famous last words) things will get done in a timely manner.

Then a few things pop up. A few things get added to the list. An event comes around that takes me away from the studio. You know, life.

It's a gamble, setting those deadlines. If I miss one, that sets the whole time schedule off, which is not a good thing for a Virgo. We have our rules. We wish that we could abide by them.



I'm spinning away on these two projects, the deadline for which is next May. Yes, a year from now. Maybe by then I'll be caught up!

Waiting

Patricia has been one of those people who harass me about eagerly await new blog posts. Since she just had a birthday (65! Right here on the Internets!), we'll oblige.

There has been lots of waiting lately, as things I normally do have been put aside. I'm anxiously waiting to get these on the loom:



Cotton warps, dyed last year, for a new jacket for me. Jacket season is almost over, but the current one (pictures to follow, someday, that waiting thing again) has been worn and worn for 14 years. Cold weather will come again, and when it does, I will have a new jacket in bright fall colors.

In the next few days (weeks, months) I plan to catch up on blog posts that have been waiting: things like cute doggies, squirrels in trees, spinning, dyeing and maybe even a little weaving.

I know I have been remiss. Things should get better, since yesterday I boxed up four months of my life and put it in the mail:



Book.

Clockwork

We had another guild dye day Saturday, 20 people came, dyed, ate a fabulous pot luck lunch, and worked hard. This is the fourth or fifth guild dye day we have had, and we are getting the procedure down pat.

I try to have the inexperienced or first-timers at one table, so I can answer questions more easily, and some people might hear an answer to a question they did not know they had. This means I am somewhat distracted, at times, and miss a few things going on around me.

Like watching the pots. There have been, um, unfortunate occurrences in the past (like things did not get steamed. Or the pot got turned down for lunch, and never turned back up. Or things did not have enough time in the pot before someone thought they needed to be removed and new stuff put in. Ahem).

This time we had a pot monitor.

Dee came, and did not dye. She kept track of what went in when and what comes out next, who is steamed and who (or what) is not. Or something like that, it was all very complicated. Dee handled it with aplomb and grace. No one fussed or argued. Things got steamed the right amount of time, at the right temperature (big yay and a sigh of relief). It worked like clockwork.



We had the usual fun, we dyed fiber yarn and fabrics, we painted steamed and immersed. Color samples were everywhere and towards the end of the day, as things came out of wrappings, there were oooooohs, and aaaaaahs.



Lots of work got done (I know, work is a term used loosely here). Lots of play happened, plans were made, plots were hatched and many future projects were discussed. It was a swirl of ideas and opinions, some of which devolve in to the silly. Which is a good thing in these times, we need more silly.



We had several brand new dyers, and I hope they will be recidivates. Yes, I am aware that term usually refers to criminal behavior. We have so much fun it should be a crime. Sometimes we need a keeper (thanks Dee!).

Towards the end of the day a few of us were still working out in the dye area (AKA garage) and I heard uproarious laughter coming from in the house, from the peanut gallery. There were new members and old hands in there, all watching Eileen spin on Sue's Lendrum Saxony (enabling, er, helping, once again!).

It is a magical sound, people laughing, friends gathered. Fun to hear, even when you don't know what the joke is. It happens a lot when we get together.

That is really what this is all about.