"And she listens openly..."

I changed the title of my journal and friends page recently. My friends view is now "Where the light extends" from the Dar Willams song My Friends "And if I had a camera Showing all the light we give And showing where the light extends I'd give it to my friends". My journal is now "Lifting shadows from a dream once broken, she can turn a drop of water into an ocean", from a Dream Theater song, Lifting Shadows Off a Dream. Sir has always liked that song, and not long ago we were talking about it. While I probably shouldn't have been surprised, I was when he told me that he sees me as the woman in the song. I was silent for some time after hearing that, and when he asked me what I was thinking I said, "I think I understand something now. It may be that the eyes of the Other are the only unclouded mirror we have, and that is the greatest gift they give us. Our greatest duty, therefore, is to become the person in that mirror, be what the Other knows we truly are." That song is now a bit of a mantra for me..."And she listens openly..."

And now, because I'm feeling self-indulgent, domestic nattering.

My drop spinning has improved by leaps and bounds since I got my Natalie spindle. I carry her in my purse now, and am utterly obsessed, pulling her out anytime I have a moment. I'm spinning up a bunch of wool with silk slubs in it now, and that'll likely become a lace scarf sometime, but it's really just practice. A sample of soy silk, a fiber made from the soy waste from tofu production, came with it, and while it's a bit tricksy to spin, I think I'm in love with it. Makes a lovely thread, and *so* much cheaper than real silk!

I've got three skeins of a varigated wool done up in a bulky 2-ply off the wheel, but I was having some tension problems, so I'm not entirely satisfied with how they came out - the skeins are awfully short because it wasn't winding on the bobbin tightly. I think I've got that taken care of, and I still have quite a bit of that wool to do. It's going to be a self designed sweater, a ribbed body, deep v-neck, and set in sleeves. I'm using a store brought sweater as a model. However, since it is coming on to warmer weather (sort of), I ordered a little over a pound of black flax, and I'm having visions of a linen jacket, done in a lace stitch. The flax is odd to spin, but seems to be going well. I'm spinning it very fine, so it's taking a while though. I really hope I can have the jacket done by July. I don't do well in air conditioning, since I chill easily, so it'll be a very useful thing.

As usual, silme spoiled me rotten, bring me four skeins of a silk cotton blend, and two balls of this amazingly soft merino bulky. The silk/cotton will be a sleeveless wrap top, since I've been wanting one for ages, but can't find any off the rack that fit well, and the merino...well, I'd like to just put it in a box, play it some Barry White and hope it breeds, but failing that, a teddy bear! Really, it's so soft, it'll be amazing. Cute, too, since it's a sort of stripe white and light grey. I can't wait. Right now though, I'm doing Jewelled from Knitty, since I happen to have had some similar yarn that knits up to gauge well, from a disasterous attempt at a different sweater. However, the concept of a fuzzy mohair tank top just strikes me as utterly bizzare. So, since I have rather a lot of this yarn, I'm adding sleeves in a simple lace pattern. It's coming along at a great clip, so I should have it to carry me through spring, which is shaping up to be rather chilly.

There's a huge fiber festival coming up soon, and while just about *everyone* I know who is into fiber crafts is going, I'm not. I've got quite a few projects on the go, and really don't need more things tempting me, although I am in the market for a lighter spindle and a wrist distaff, but I can buy them online. There's a NY state fiber fair in October, so maybe I'll go to that.

You know, I've got a spinning wheel with a half-full bobbin of laceweight linen, a basket full of roving waiting to be spun, another basket getting more skeins of handspun popped in all the time, a couple of knitting projects on my bedside table, a gorgeous spindle in my purse, a pretty home full of herbs and vegatables, and a Sir who sees me as someone better than I ever thought I could be. I've been kind of down for the past few days, the rain and chill casting a pall over me, but after writing this...

Thank you for this wonderful life, oh Lord, and forgive me if I do not love it enough.