Yaaaaaaaaaaaaawn!

What a weekend!

It started on Friday. I ran out of hours at work, so I took the day off. It really was a blessing, because I had spent the week playing Sid Meier's Pirates and my house was a mess. Not to mention, the Pagan Harvest Festival was the very next day and there were about 12,001 things I needed to do to prepare. I had planned on doing a little bit each day the week before... but the lure of the open (pixilated) sea was too much, and I am a professional procrastinator.

So, Friday it was time to buckle down and get to work. I started by sleeping in until 10:30. I got up, looked at the dishes, opened a can of Coke and headed for the computer. After about an hour and a half of Pirates, I decided it was time to get really serious.

I headed upstairs and beaded for several hours. The cats were thrilled that I was home all day, and with the fact that I was in the studio... a room they are not allowed in unsupervised. Of course when Rocky wasn't trying to run away with half my stash (the main reason he's not allowed in that room) Tux was trying to help me bead:

After about two hours I finally convinced him to get the hell out of the way and he settled on this perch to supervise.

At about 6:30 p.m. I stopped beading and headed downstairs to clean up the house before Dave got home from work. I cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned, cooked Dave some dinner and put it in the fridge for him, and then headed up to mom's to steal some cash for my float. I finally got home around 9:30. Thankfully Dave had done the dishes (dishes are my nemesis). After chatting with him for a while, I headed for bed around midnight, enjoying one of the worse nights of sleep I've ever had.

I was up Saturday bright and early and Dave helped me packed up the car before he headed up to my parents to fix his Buick. I picked up my friend Bree, and we headed to Gage Park.

We had been watching the weather all week, and it looked bleak for the outdoor festival. But we got through a wonderful & busy (albeit grey& dismal) morning, selling our crafts (Bree is a photographer). The Pagan Harvest Festival is one of the most interesting places I've ever vended at. You meet the most interesting people, and there is an incredible energy there. One of the work shop tents was right behind us, so we got to listen in. It was nice because when you're selling, you often miss out on all the non-selling events at festivals. There was a study on the significance of harvest festivals throughout the world, a workshop about learning to identify your spirit animal, and belly dancing lessons. When I have a little less jiggle to my jello, I might join them. It looked like fun. Unfortunately I left my camera at home, so no pics.

But, at about 2 p.m. the weather turned & the rain came down. Surprisingly though, it didn't seem to deter the visitors. There were a lot of umbrellas, but people where still milling about. But by 4 p.m. most people had cleared out. Not to mention the fact that Bree and I were pretty damp. My jewelry is impervious rain, and Bree had all her prints under plastic, but our tent didn't have sides (next year we're investing in some tarps) As it got heavier, we got wetter.

And of course the minute we got everything packed up and were taking the tent down... the sky opened up, pouring down so much rain we could barely see across the park. So much for being damp. We were soaked to the bone. (Image how ticked I was when I woke up this morning to a nice bright sunny day)

While I was selling I did manage to make some progress on my shortrow spiral afghan, which I now call "Frankenghan"

I worked away on it today as well, and here's where we're at...

After running out of yarn for the short row spiral, I picked up stitches all way around, and increasing on the corners I worked in the round until I ran out of wool again. Here's close of up the increases:

Once that was done, I decided I didn't want it to be a square afghan anymore, so working with one end I started knitting in garter stitch. I've done the same thing on the other end. Then I decided I really want this to be a full size afghan, not just a lapghan, so I'm continuing on with the peach yarn in seed stitch. I'll do the same on the other end. Even after that is done, it probably won't be long enough, so I think I may finish the ends in feather and fan in a different yarn. So I guess it's kind of a sampler afghan. All in all it's been a great way to use up those odd balls of yarn.