Buncha Stuff

Yesterday was residency. I was exhausted by the end of the day. Of course, I was exhausted by Friday — I really could have used a vacation to recooperate from my vacation before going back to work. It was a hard week trying to get back into the groove of things. By Friday I felt like most of my brain was back, nominally anyway. But residency went well. I’m excited about classes, but I also have an overwhelming desire to just be done with it all. I’m ready to have my evenings and weekends back.

Yesterday we also woke up to a little snow, but nothing that really kept me home — obviously if *I* was out driving it was just a dusting. Today on the other hand, there was SNOW! We got some sledding in & some hot chocolate, some snowman, and some snow fight. I have it all well-documented. (Evidence behind the cut below).

In other news, I went with D to Weaving Works today too. She bought some beautiful blue mohair/merino? blend for me to spin up for her. I bought some beautiful green & multi-colored merino/silk blend that I’m going to ply with my silk because I don’t know what I’d ever do with a white silk anything & this stuff promises to be tremendously fun to spin. I also bought a new basic spindle — a little larger than what I’m currently spinning the silk on, but same idea, not a Turkish spindle, and I bought a teensy-tiny brass tahkli (or takli, I’ve seen it both ways) spindle. Before I was always like, Sleeping Beauty stabbed herself with a spindle? Gory! and now, ahhh, this must have been the type of spindle the fairy tales were talking about. It’s a pretty little thing, and it’s absolutely mesmerizing to spin. (I put a picture of it behind the cut too). Contrary to what the nice shop lady was saying, it’s not actually a drop spindle, but is typically used as a supported spindle (I guess it can be used as a drop spindle too, with super-fine fibers that require a tight twist). You can buy little ceramic “Tahkli dishes” in a number of places. Anyway, it spins like a dream… because I needed one more thing to distract me from the huge volumes of work I need to get done in the next two quarters.

Speaking of which, I guess I now have homework & reading I need to get to.

M2 is on a mission to find Dad & M1 sledding.

Ah, there they are.

So everyone piles on the sled.

After lunch a snowman is built…

And a snowfight is had.

A Tahkli spindle.