Carding

I have something of a "relaxed" attitude towards to-do lists. Goal-setting, resolutions or anything vaguely resembling them are more than likely to come with a Get Out Of Jail Free card and the option of a do-over if necessary. I'm not one for putting myself under pressure when life is inclined to do that for me. Of course, there are Important-Type lists that I'm a bit more likely to give some attention. For example if a list reads:



*Pay taxes



*Hair on fire. Extinguish.



then I am a regular Johnny On The Spot. Some things are non-negotiable. But a hobby list? That's not something that I'm going to let myself get all stressed out about. This sort of negates the whole "hobby" vibe and turns it into work. I'm not a fan of work for which I don't receive some sort of compensation.


However, it has been my tradition for many years now to write up a list of things I'd like to finish up during the school summer vacation. As I know that I probably won't feel all that pressured to do everything on the list, I give myself permission to overreach a bit. Or a lot... With the summer of '07 coming to a close in a matter of hours and the school year beginning tomorrow morning, the time has come to take a gander at the Index Cards Of Summer Organization and see how I fared. I didn't do quite as badly as I feared, frankly. There are a great many things that didn't quite make it to the finish line. Or even to the starting gate, if the truth be told. But there were several things that, while not included in the original list, did get finished. That's the beauty of a flexible plan. You get to deviate. I sort of like that meandering part of the process. Let's take a look, shall we?



Finished Knitting/Crocheting: The Wonky Catena Scarf, The Socks of Summer, The Rage Socks and The Bripple Socks.



Finished Spinning: The Lamb/Silk Blend



Completed Carding: "The Blend" and the Adult Shetland. (which I hand carded and for which I demand extra credit.)



In the Close, But No Cigar Category: The Superwash Merino Sock Yarn, The Handspun Yarn Scarf and the Latest, But Currently, Unnamed Socks.



Unplanned But Awesome: The Merino Fleece (washed and partially carded) The Shetland Lamb Fleece (washed and partially carded)



That's not too bad, really. There was absolutely no holiday knitting, however. That one is causing me a bit of the shame as I like to think that the summer vacation is a great time for getting that sort of stuff done. Now I am forced to face the fact that I will, once again, be frantically trying to get things off the needles before December 25th falls on my head. That's a bummer. But, it's months away so I won't get my panic on until I absolutely have to.


There were other cards for other projects that weren't related to the fibers and I didn't cross all those off either. But, the kitchen cupboards are cleaned and I disposed of the wildlife roaming freely in the back of the fridge. That was more of an undertaking than I even care to describe so I'm giving myself full points for the effort even if there were other things on the cards that didn't get quite as much attention. I also was very diligent about getting my CT scan completed early in the summer since knowing whether that thing living in my lung was a tumor or a snot clot sort of affected how the rest of the list was going to get done. Again, I get points for not putting that one off as I really wanted to.


I also managed to attend my Summer Of Compensatory Knitting Socialization (SOCKS) sessions with some degree of regularity. Patti and Roger were the most bestest of hosts for this endeavor and I am so very, very glad that I was able to spend part of my summer in an actual, real, live knitting group. I've been a bit remiss with the linkage on this, though. I feel a bit like an ungrateful cad for not remembering to share the shop with you all. I've included a new link in the sidebar so that you can go peruse at your leisure. Should you ever find yourself in southern Maine and want to go to the greatest little yarn shop ever, please do stop by. You won't be sorry!


And now the time has come to accept that the summer has really and truly ended. The last of the minivans are passing through the toll gates and heading back to whatever driveway they may call home, carrying tired tourists with them. The nights are just a little bit darker come 7:00. And I've packed up my lunches for the week. Tomorrow, I will sit through a round of teacher workshops and planning time then on Wednesday the kidlets will all arrive in the new school shoes, ready to soak in the learning. Tonight there will be a reasonable bedtime. It's always sort of sad...


But a new school year also means the start of the new salary schedule. I can buy more yarn, fiber, needles and notions! I'll be all ready for next summer, by gum!


Maybe then I'll even get to that Christmas knitting...



SA