Only I don’t, because life just keeps getting better, and this coming year is shaping up to be the best yet! I’m 42, and this means that I’m the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything…according to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Sounds about right.
The last couple of days I’ve been busy booking airfare to England, with a three-day stopover in Iceland, via Iceland Air. I’ve also booked my accommodations in Iceland and England, and I’ll be posting about that soon.
Today, though, is all about my birthday. In accordance with my new custom of doing/learning something new on my birthday, today I did TWO new things!
Last year, I learned to hand spin wool, using a drop spindle. The yard turned out fairly well, though I still need lots and lots more practice. I did find out that I really do enjoy it, though, so I bought some more wool roving, and plan to branch out to alpaca and angora rabbit fleece soon. Here is a picture of my hand spun yarn:
Today, for one of my new things, I dyed it using the spice turmeric. It makes an easy dye because you don’t need anything special like a mordant – just the spice and some water. It makes a lovely yellow/gold shade.
This is the yarn, still wet. I expect it will lighten to more of a yellow once it’s dry.
This is not enough yarn to actually make anything with, so my plans are to begin knitting a scarf. As I spin and dye more yarn, I’ll keep adding to it, until it’s finished. It might be an interesting yardstick of my spinning prowess, to see how much I improve from the beginning of the scarf to the end! I do hope I don’t get so good I can’t spin chunky, nubby yarn, as some hand spinners say can happen. I prefer really nubby yarn for knitting. It’s so much more fun to work with.
The other new thing I did was try Jamberry nails.
They were fairly simply to apply, and by the last couple of fingers I’d started to figure out a good technique. They are certainly less messy and smelly than polish! It remains to be seen if they actually last two weeks or longer. I’m one of those girls who uses her nails like tools, so with polish I’m lucky to get a single day without chips. And if the weather is as nice tomorrow as they are promising, I’ll be outside gardening and building fences and quail coops.
Dexter is 6 months old, and still adorable. He’s finally getting the point about housebreaking, and is learning other manners as well…although if he disagrees with the importance of a command, he likes to calmly argue his point, by using his words. He doesn’t bark hardly at all, but he does like to vocalize!
Out of Eden 