It was a long weekend, my friends. Full of ups and downs, and barely a moment of rest. Most of it was enjoyable, but some of it...
Anyway, to get the bad out of the way first, a family member is dealing with a health crisis and things are not looking good. There are complicated feelings involving said family member, so it's just a big tangle of emotions and shit right now that's casting a looming cloud over everything. Add in some other family drama... yeah, John and I are about due for a goddamned break from it all.
*sigh*
But let's forget that for now and just focus on the fun stuff.
After dealing with the nightmare of Mojito, I decided that I needed a break from anything complicated and beaded. I settled on FINALLY doing a Find Your Fade.
And it's been everything I needed. Simple garter stitch, fun colorwork, no complex stitches...
We won't talk about how much I've managed to mess it up already and that this is the FOURTH(!) attempt at it.
I think I finally got into the groove and will enjoy the rest of it.
For those of you who don't know, this shawl is written to use 7 different colors.
After much deliberation, this was my final selection.
I'm proud to say that it's ALL stash yarn.
Yep, that's right. I didn't buy ANY new yarn for this project.
Which is good, since I bought a crapton of new stuff at Great Lakes and have to find room for it somewhere in my stash, but we'll get to that.
Friday, John took half a day of vacation because we were supposed to attend a pizza party as part of the class reunion celebration. We ended up skipping that and went searching for a new outfit for him instead. Which ended up being a lot of fun.
John, much in the same way I have, is finally coming into his own. He's figuring out his style, who he is, and what he wants from life, which has been amazing to see.
He's completely come out of his shell. Hell, he's even joined me on Team Emerald Hair.
Saturday was the day of the actual class reunion. My anxiety was riding high, especially because my hair would NOT cooperate with me. Plus, it was a billion degrees out with a humidity somewhere around 1000%. But my makeup came out absolutely killer, so at least I had that going for me.
My date looked pretty damn good, too.
Yes, we were taking a bunch of pics in the parking lot to avoid going in. That's how we roll.
The actual reunion itself was much more fun than I anticipated. Most of the people there I actually genuinely enjoyed seeing again. A few others... well, I'm glad that I only have to once a decade or so.
John and I got the award(? achievement? acknowledgment?) for the couple who has been together the longest. Which really isn't that surprising, seeing as I was only a sophomore when we started dating.
I also got voted "Most Changed" which was probably helped along by the fact that I had completely forgotten my Polite Filter at home. I was unabashedly myself, openly talking about my political views and the fact that I'm poly with an amazing girlfriend.
I don't think that some of them really knew what to make of me. Which is fine. I wasn't there to pretend that we were all the best of friends in school or now.
I was there because I was curious. I wanted to see how people had changed. And I wanted to show off how much better off I am than I was when dealing with the bullshit that was high school.
This may sound weird, but I feel like I had a giant weight lifted off of me. I
have changed, for the better. I'm not the same person I was a decade ago. I am making progress in my life. It's not the same progress as others, but it's moving forward all the same.
Before we get into Sunday, I did want to give a quick shout out to my makeup for not only looking superb (as mentioned above) but for actually having staying power. This pic is from after I got home, nearly 7 hours after application, and through about a thousand gallons of sweat (it was so damn hot in the restaurant, ffs).
Sunday was, of course, the Great Lakes Fiber Show.
Okay, really it was Saturday as well, but as you saw, I was a little busy.
I had a minor meltdown, of course, because I had devoted so much of my time and energy into how I was going to look for the reunion that I didn't even THINK about what I was going to wear to the show!
I ended up with the same dress I wore last year, but topped it with Mermaid Lair.
I sadly went it alone this year (except for John, who, while lovely and wonderful, isn't exactly fun to nerd out about yarn with...) and I have to say, it's so much better when you have yarn friends to go with.
Next year, I'm dragging my yarn wives there, whether they like it or not.
Anyway, I was good and did what Mikayla always suggests. So, we made a lap of the whole place before I purchased anything. That took longer than expected because I swear I was stopped every five feet by people complimenting my shawl.
My first purchase was a couple of skeins from the wonderful Jeanne of Destination Yarn.
We had a lovely chat and I picked up two hanks of her First Class Single (a silk/merino mix that is to die for) in Witching Hour. This is actually the same color that Mikayla bought at the open house a few weekends ago, but in a different base.
I've already cast on Spellbound by Boo Knits (which is a complicated, beaded shawl... exactly what I said I didn't want to do...).
This yarn... my god, I want everything made of it. It's so lovely to work with.
Next up was a bulky wool/cotton blend that had an incredible 200 yards per hank for a measly $10.
I have an absurd goal in mind for this, but I think it's going to have to wait for cooler weather.
I also purchased a single skein from a lovely new-to-me dyer, Redbird Yarn Studio.
I'm not normally a single-skein purchaser when it comes to fingering weight hanks, but this color was really calling to me. The colorway is named Ink. How could I not get it?
I ended up purchasing these two mini hanks from the booth next to Redbird.
I realized later that I never even asked either of their names, so yeah... I'm real good at this whole people thing.
My last purchase of the day (besides some delicious fair food after handling the yarn) was another hank of the Fairytales and Fables collection from Morning Meadows Sundries.
They're the same people that I bought the Sea Witch yarn from last year that went on to become Mermaid Lair, which I happily showed off to them.
John actually picked this yarn out for me. And the fact that he looked up from his phone* long enough to actually acknowledge it, let alone make a comment on how much he loved the color, was enough to convince me to get it.
He also picked out the pattern for it. A shawl, of course, and the same designer of Mermaid Lair. Apparently, this is just going to be my new thing. Which is fine with me. I love having an excuse to make more lace.
*Don't read this as him being bored out of his mind and rude. It's his family that's causing all the stress in our life right now and I wasn't about to demand attention when he needed a break from his own head.
So, that's GLFS for the year out of the way. Is it wrong that I'm already excited about next year?
Monday was another "we have to be up early as fuck and this sucks" day since our house is the Prime Parade Watching place.
It's a bit of a tradition we started when we moved in. My grandparents and middle sister, as well as whatever friends are around (Vi, this year), come over to sit on our porch, chat, drink coffee and eat donuts with us as we watch the 5 minute Memorial Day parade that goes past the house.
We kept hanging on the porch after my grandparents left and talked about video games and D&D, like you do. I was working on my Fade and drinking coffee out of the new handmade mug that I splurged a little on.
Said mug inspired me to do something, but that, my friends, will just have to wait until another post.
This one is long enough, don't you think?
Besides, Vi's going to be here in a bit to work on D&D stuff. Which means that I should probably put on pants.
*sigh*
This things I do for my friends.
