Catching up

I've been fairly busy the last week or so. Last Tuesday I went to the monthly Entrepreneurs for Sustainability meeting with a very cool woman, Jennifer, that I met at last November's Ladies Who Launch meeting at the Cleveland Wine School. It was the best E4S meeting I've ever attended, because it was basically all networking but with a little structure. Their meetings are often rather presentation-heavy, and while I've learned lots of interesting stuff, there are only so many people you can meet when you squeeze the meeting people part in around the edges. In a small world moment, I ran into Don O. and his wife, Barbie. That was a nice suprise. I also ran into two of my fellow classmates in the Greening Your Home class at the Nature Center, a couple who have a construction business that is big on reusing and salvaging materials. Sweet. The most interesting person I met that night was Hank Haberman, who is working on spreading urban forest permaculture throughout northeast Ohio. Cool. Let's start with our yard.

On Wednesday, my new-ish friend Kimberly came over for a little knitting and gabbing. I got a few rows done on the preemie BSJ, which has since been finished and is awaiting seaming, even though I had planned to work on the larger of the two charity blankets still languishing in my knitting basket. Thursday I did some work with a new organizing client, and that evening was the Greening Your Home class at the Nature Center, where we had a nice review of some of the stuff we learned at Yestermorrow last summer about the stack effect, vapor barrier, etc. I also got a business card of someone who does green rehab locally, so that was good.

Friday was the Cuyahoga Spinners' Guild meeting, so I went there and got some help on my knitting stuckness from the fabulous Judy. I confirmed my suspicion that underarm gussets were the way to go on my Two-Tone Shrug, so that project is back on track. I also confirmed that, yes, I need to rip back on the Nordic Lights wrap, so I'm working myself up to it, because it will be a sad moment when I have to pull about half of it out. And I spun! I did most of a bobbin's worth of yarn, and by the end, it wasn't even looking so bad. I lucked out to sit between two very experienced spinners, so I think I was absorbing some of their skill by osmosis. I did more spinning on Saturday, maybe not quite another half-bobbin full, didn't look as good as Friday's. I think the edge of the couch is not an ideal seat for spinning at home. It's definitely a skill that takes practice to develop.

On Sunday I went to a baby shower for my cousin, and I hadn't yet seamed and sewn on buttons for the BSJ I was making her, so she got (gasp) the smaller of the charity blankets. You know what? She loved it. It's acrylic so that thing can go on the floor, in the washing machine, in the dryer. It can get puked on, spilled on, whatever. That thing will wear like iron and probably be just the same when the child has gone off to college. I feel okay about not giving it to charity after all. And frankly, my track record with baby gifts is that hardly anyone has been gifted the thing I originally began with their baby in mind. It's usually a few babies ago. Hey, you still got a knitted gift. Feel lucky.

This week has been quiet so far until today, working 8 full hours in a row with no break (usual max is 6). Phew! I'm beat. So that's it. I'll post spinning and knitting photos soon. For now, I'm pooped!