Back in the Saddle Again

I know, I know.  It's been a while.  I kinda fell off the face of the Earth, as I usually do in the yarn world immediately following Christmas.  This past Christmas totally kicked my ass.  Since then, I have been quietly been working on a batch of wool that I bought in Colonial Williamsburg.  To be honest, it isn't the easiest wool to spin.  Those colonial sheep in their little tricorn hats certainly do not spin like merino.  But, I am hoping to wrap it up in March.  While I haven't been spinning at my usual pace, I haven't slowed the buying portion.  I have been buying llama, alpaca, merino, and angora fleece.  Our house has more animal hair in it than a petting zoo.  And, I did pick up some knitting projects lately, as a yarny alternative.  So, that's something. 
So, I am gradually working on my triumphant return.  And, it can be expected that my addictive personality will leave me spinning and concocting dyes during any and all free time as soon as I get back to normal.  But right now, it is back to that original feeling of spinning as a hobby.  Once everything kicks into high gear, that feeling turns into panic and deadlines and stress.  That's why I have to ease back in.  And, this old timey sheep was a bad choice--five more skeins to go.

Them Chickens Jackin' My Style

A guest blog by Mr. Cutthroat 6:00 PM Mr. Cutthroat here. I'm live-blogging a "stress relief event", which means people shopping, while Mrs. Cutthroat spins and talks yarn. There are a couple other vendors here: Mary Kay, Jewlery, etc. And there are sandwiches--my favorite part. We just had our first interaction...one card given. Interest is peaked. 2nd interaction down and Cutthroat cards are flying off the table. Still haven't been given leave to grab a sandwich. 6:20 PM Another visitor, another card gone. Mrs Cutthroat is hustling while she spins. A person interested in looms. Here comes a story of me not allowing Mrs. Cutthroat a giant floor loom. I'm such a bad guy! 6:30 PM Still no sandwich... 6:35 PM A person stopped by that is interested in lessons. Mrs. Cutthroat does offer lessons. She's been practicing on her friends--even if they don't want to learn to knit. 6:40 PM Mrs. Cutthroat was just described as "the lady who puts the yarn on the knit." 6:42 PM Another friend of a knitter. There must be a "friends of knitters" meeting next door. are people embarrassed to admit being a knitter? 6:43 PM No sandwich 6:45 PM Black Eyed Peas are playing and the Mary Kay lady is pushing liquid botox. Coincidence, I think not. I'm looking at you Fergie! 6:50 PM Our first knitter! She signed up to receive Cutthroat Yarn's E-newsletter. Have you? Email cutthroatyarn@gmail.com to receive periodic updates and discounts right now! 7:03 PM Ran into one of our brave military men. He was talking about how knitted scarves are important to helping keep our soliders warm and their armor from scratching their neck. Mrs. Cutthroat should become a defense contractor! We will be knitting scarves to send off to our brave soliders. 7:21 PM A husband just found Christmas gifts for his wife from Cutthroat Yarn! 7:28 PM Sandwich acquired. 7:29 PM Sandwich gone. Overall, a positive experience for Cutthroat Yarn and I didn't have to make dinner either! Also, I received some liquid botox from the Mary Kay lady.

He Ain't Seen Me Crazy Yet

This weekend, I have a lot of yarn to make. On top of that, I have Christmas orders to crank out. The Christmas shopping season is heating up a lot quicker than last year. Not only am I a merchant for Black Friday, I am an avid participant in what most of the population would consider a nightmare. Not me! I can get down and wrestle ornaments with the best of the best. I have become an awesome defensive shopper, honing my skills year after year. This year, I don't have any particular items that I will be looking to purchase that will require excessive line waiting. And, I am sad about that. My family has the regular items on their wish lists this year like pajamas, shoes, perfume. No one starts shoving over pajamas! I find myself trying to suggest electronics to them so I will have something to wait in line for at 3:30 AM. No luck. So, I am going to make the best of the situation. My plan is to start a panic in order to get the best pajamas money can buy! I will have to create all the drama in the lingerie section, but I will push and shove innocent bystanders to get into the holiday spirit. Thanksgiving weekend, and in the spirit of Black Friday, www.cutthroatyarn.com will be offering up sales. If you are a knitter, or looking for a Christmas gift, hit up the website for a sizable discount.

I Hear the Mighty Thunder

Who wears a slutty _____ costume to work? 

Today, I found myself asking that a lot.  At times, the blank was filled with witch, cat, bee, and nurse.  Actually, the nurse may have just been going to work, sexily administering an IV or erotically changing a bandage.  Why is that even a sexy option?  Most of what nurses do grosses me out because of blood, urine, vomit, and who knows what else.  I can kind of understand the theory behind sexy witch.  Some guys dig the mean girl vibe.  I just can't get the point of dressing up in white and saying, "May I empty your bedpan?" in a whispery voice.  Anyway, I digress.  Which office has the option to slut it up in lieu of wearing a suit?  Certainly not mine.  I feel uncomfortable wearing a sleeveless shirt.  For Halloween, I always dress up as something totally weird or gross.  I always misplace the memo about looking attractive on October 31st. 

But, I didn't dress up as anything this year!  Mr. Cutthroat and I made no plans and it feels weird.  Also, we live in an area where we get no trick-or-treaters.  A sad double whammy!  If I could take my cat out trick-or-treating, I would.  I love Halloween. 

We did make it to a haunted house this year, against Mr. Cutthroat's wishes.  It was an outdoor trail.  And, I should mention that it was 35 degrees.  The trail was great, although I was a little thrown off by the music selection being played by the waiting area DJ.  At first, we thought the music was decent with a little bit of Jay-Z and Lady Gaga.  Then, as our group was waiting to be scared by teenagers wielding chainsaws, "How Great Thou Art" begun to play.  Wait, was this a Hell House?  By the time I got to the room with the heavy metal and clowns, I knew that it wasn't.  Side-stepped that landmine! 

Next year, I am vowing to dress up.  I am going to take over a friend's house in a well-populated area in order to hand out candy.  And, I am going to find a Hell House. 

I Don't Want to Wait for Our Lives to be Over

I haven't been knitting.  Most of my yarn arts time has been spent spinning yarn and dyeing fiber.  But, with a couple of projects promised and the need for a mohair sweater, I picked up my knitting needles for the first time in months.  The very last thing I have knitted was the terrible, awful, no good, tiny needle cashmere scarf.  I will say that once I picked up my needles and my stitch book, I fell right back into it like I knitted a whole wardrobe yesterday.  And, stranger yet, I knitted with my own yarn.  I have only made one item out of yarn that I actually spun.  It was the second skein I have ever done and I had just enough to make a hat.  Now, I think of how long it takes to make a skein, and then how long it will take to knit something and I cannot justify spending the time on myself.  Certain things I won't even make for myself out of commercial yarn because I cannot justify the time spent on the project.  I have spent a lot of time on this blog talking about socks and how they are a waste of time.  In my mind, there would never be a larger waste of time than to spin yarn to knit socks from.  That's probably a good Dawson's Creek marathon for a pair of socks.  How did the pioneers do it?  And, without James Van Der Beek.  All in all, I am glad that I am knitting again.  It is definitely more portable than the wheel.  And, with Christmas coming, I always have a lot of projects to turn out.  I have to keep my mind and needles sharp for special orders of purses, stockings, and lingerie.  That's right, lingerie.  I will make anything.  I am for sale.

Billy Bob Loves Charlene

I wish I was one of those people who was content to just hang out.  I desperately want to be one of those people who sits on her couch, watching TV and drifting in and out of sleep for two full days.  I feel like those are the people who are at work early and rarely yawn.  I am not one of those.  This weekend, I convinced Mr. Cutthroat that it would be a great idea to bake a bunch of candies, cookies, and treats and become a vendor at the local sheep and wool festival.  For those of you who are keeping score at home, this is one week after we just walked the Susan G. Komen 60 Miler and two weeks after we moved into a new home.  So, we did.  I spent my nights this week baking and packaging sweets.  Saturday we packed up the car and drove down and set up our modest booth that looked more like a bake sale outside of a church.  But, we were successful.  (And, thank the heavens we were because I would have never heard the end of my failure!) We were successful in the sale and also in yarn.  Cutthroat Yarn took home 3rd place in the handspun yarn division.  If you are interested, this is the skein:  Grimace 
I would love to eventually have enough yarn to sell at a booth, but I would need to work two years to have the stock built up.  I have to say that it wasn't that stressful after the baking was completed.  I brought my wheel and spun yarn while Mr. Cutthroat handed out samples to passersby.  People watching at a fiber festival is always a good time.  Knitters will show up wearing hand knitted items that are beyond reason.  As long as I live, no one will ever be able to explain the need for a pair of knitted shorts.  Anyway, our booth was stationed between the ice cream truck's noisy generator and the sample John Deere tractors.  The tractors were basically climbing instruments for children.  Also, they had a horn.  All day Saturday, children would climb up and blow the horn for way too long of a time.  By the time I got back to the hotel, I felt like I had shell shock.  Every time I heard a horn on the street, I would jump.  And as if my prayers had been answered, someone disabled the horn on Sunday.  If I knew who that person was, I would have probably spent twenty minutes in a passionate embrace with them. 
The festival was a great experience, as it always is.  I will likely do it again.  But, I need to jazz it up with a Cutthroat logo and sign.  Maybe Mr. Cutthroat could dress up as a giant bearded cookie?  Yes! 

My Body Tells Me No, But I Won't Quit

Well, it has been an overextended month. 

First, there was the yarn.  I am still making yarn for sale at Looped Yarn Works in Washington D.C.  Well, the wonderful ladies called and placed a huge order!  I was more than happy to oblige.  I was dyeing, spinning, and niddy noddying like crazy.  My hands and wrists were shriveled stumps by the end of the order.  But, my heart was very happy.  I got the best sleep of my life when all the skeins were measured, spun, and delivered. 

The very same week, we moved into an amazing, adult apartment.  We bought some new pieces for the apartment, discarded some old junk, and vowed to really take care of this one.  I feel like my life has been upgraded.  Every move, my marriage teeters on the brink of being fortified for the test of time or ripped apart in brutal bitterness.  Moves are hard. 

Then, the walk.  Mr. Cutthroat and I, along with four of our friends, walked the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.  Our three day weekend was a 20 mile per day jaunt to bring awareness to breast cancer.  I learned a lot about what my body is capable of over those miles:  not much.  Since Sunday, I have been hobbling back and forth to work, walking like I am headed to a 4 PM dinner with shuffleboard to follow.  The experience was positive overall.  That being said, the first day was brutal.  It rained.  Very, very hard.  My whole body ended the day looking like I spent three hours in a bathtub.  I was wrinkled, pruney, and not cute.  My luggage spent Friday much like I did--in the rain.  Everything I had to wear for the weekend was damp.  And, by Sunday, I didn't smell like three days of sweat, but two days of mildew.  So, half dozen of one and six of the other.  Walking the city was great, though.  It gave me the opportunity to check out areas that I am not used to, including an awesome pancake house.  The walk was hard but there were so many people rooting us on with big bowls of bite sized Snickers.  After the weekend I had, I walked into Weight Watchers today with extra pep in my step.  I knew that this going to be the best weigh in yet!  Could it beat the time I accidentally lost six lbs in a week which resulted in a panic attack?  NO!  I lost .2 lbs.  That's right, 3.5 ounces.  If I have to walk a three day marathon to maintain my weight, I would rather go to Hell with KFC and a doughnut in my hand, having to be airlifted out of my new fancy apartment to my specially made casket in the funeral home for the obese. 

I came home today and made peanut brittle.