Oops! I have not thought about this blog much lately. With 2 to 3 client projects running at any given time, all I’ve been doing is micro-blogging. You know, like twitter, Plurk, etc. It’s just so very easy to update with a quick sentence or two. I don’t even need to open a browser to do that. Just use AIM or text from my mobile phone.

I am getting the rhythm of my new BUSIER schedule. Not easy for an introvert to be switching hats frequently. But I am getting it. I must also apologize for forgetting to reply to emails. I am slowly learning to multi-task a little instead of diving into one thing and not wanting to get out until it’s done. You know, a Virgo thing maybe?

Anyway, I am still here. And here’s a little coin spindling with cotton to show you that I am still thinking about fiber, too!

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…with these spindles that I received in the mail today!

These are Coin Spindles from Dragonfly Farm (think Alden Amos, author of the “Big Book of Handspinning“, and Stephenie Gaustad). It’s really hard to describe the feeling I got when test-spinning each one of these. So well-balanced, so smooth, felt so right. I am so happy that I decided to get these instead of the other, more ordinary, takli spindles. And look, they are made of old, retired coins! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! Thank you Stephenie and Alden. And thank you Sylvia for giving me that inspiration to contact Stephenie.

Now I can get my cotton spinning going. Next thing to figure out is a system to ply from these spindles.

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letcaliforniaring.org ran a TV commercial in California during the Olympics, supporting “No on Prop. 8“. What if you couldn’t marry the person you love?

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Thought I quickly mention this. You might have noticed that every comment on this blog is associated with an avatar. Mine has a picture of me. Most others are now associated with auto-generated avatars. (Don’t blame me if you get a bad one. It’s AUTO-GENERATED! hehehe)

WordPress uses the Gravatar system. Other places also use Gravatar for showing users’ faces (or whatever they want to show.) I think it’s pretty neat. You sign up for an account. Upload a picture or two. Add email addresses that you use for leaving comments on blogs or forums. Associate each email address with a picture you uploaded. Done. After that your chosen avatar will show up anywhere that uses Gravatar as long as you use an email address that has a Gravatar setup.

Don’t you want to set one up?

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Yes, that’s the name I gave to the yarn that I am spinning now on Ravelry. It’s quite light and airy. I am pretty happy with the result. I just have to duplicate it for the other half of the fiber. Oy! There will be four more hours of plying. I must remember not to start the process too late in the evening.

Click on them to go to Flickr and see the photos in their original uploaded sizes. You can sort of see the sparks. But they don’t look anything like what you can see in real person. Full of colors and fires. Silver Hologram Angelina is quite amazing.

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Yes it does. Someone I know was contacted by Spin-Off about their knitted with hand-spun project. They wanted to feature it in an article in an upcoming issue. Sorry that I have to be very, very vague. Don’t think that Spin-Off would appreciate any info leaked out on issues not yet published. What I am saying is that get your projects listed on Ravelry. Give details. Lots of details. Take serious photos of your projects. Make them beautiful. Tag them smartly. Someone just might want to show off your items in their publications.

Did I give anything away? No? Good. In other news. I got a new toy!

I blame Chris for this. He got me to start text messaging seriously. (It’s great for an introvert. ) I had to get a proper tool for that! Great timing though. I was up for a nice discount for phone upgrade. So I got this green LG Rumor. Apparently the green represents green earth, being green. I didn’t know that. What a nice surprise. I feel so connected!

Thanks for a giant box of tea and cotton fiber, Chris! I will make you proud!

I’ve been busy spinning, too. A couple of hours each day. I did plying last night. Man! It took 4 hours to finish the 774 yards of 2-ply Merino/Angelina. And it’s only half done. Got about 4 more oz left to do. I think it’s quite nice though. Here are a couple of pictures. I will take another one when it’s dry. Hopefully it will show the sparkles better.

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A couple of priests at CB’s church, All Saints’ Beverly Hills, hosted a Wednesday children’s kickball evening event throughout the month of July. Located at Roxbury Park, which is only a couple of blocks away. We decided to prepare a picnic basket (OK, there were two) and invited our good friend Tracy and her son Pace to join in the fun.

We’d never gone inside the park before. I know it’s a shame. It doesn’t look so big from the outside. But wow! It is huge. Lots of big, green areas filled with people doing yoga, tai chi, soccer, etc. There’s also a huge playground for kids. The church rented the small baseball field for kickball. Most of us arrived early enough to have a quick picnic before the game started. I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking:

It was really, really fun. The park is so nice that we wished that we visited more often. I think there will be many nights that we just pick up a couple of beach chairs and walk down to the park for the evening. Doggies allowed on leash. And, I am thinking, what a nice place for knitting and spinning. You know what I mean?

More photos here.

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