We're having Marjon and Ivon stay with us soon, which means we need to get their room ready. The spare room, over the last few months, has become my yarn/fibre dumping ground. Instead of organizing my stuff, I've just been tossing it in the room and shutting the door to keep the cats out. Toss. Shut. Toss. Shut. You couldn't even walk in there.

Today I decided to pull everything out and try to get organized. I'm in the middle of filling three huge Stearlite bins with yarn and fibre, bringing my stash to eight full bins. One of the bins I filled today is entirely spinning fibre and another one is full of half-finished projects and things that need to be ripped back.

While cleaning up, I found an old notebook I was using for pattern notes and stuff. On the last page with content I found this:

1. Breasts Thighs too big
2. Possum
3. Big fart in the morning
4. Curls his toes
5. Cooking
6. 2nd

It's my handwriting. I have no recollection of this, and I don't know what the hell it means. Big fart in the morning?

Alex turned 13 on Wednesday. We didn't have a chance to celebrate because he left that morning on a 3-day camping trip with school, where he gets to ride a ZIPLINE. I'm expecting him back this afternoon missing at least two articles of clothing and possibly the Nintendo DS I made it clear he was not to take. Grr.

I can't explain how much I've missed him. He spends time away from home a lot, visiting his aunt and grandparents, but this is the first time he's on his own, responsible for his own stuff and his own behaviour and bunking with other kids...but I'm coping. I had some trouble sleeping, but he called twice while he was gone and sounded like he was having a blast, so that made me feel more comfortable.

Monday is a holiday and we're going to celebrate his birthday at my parents' house then. He's 13! I can't believe it.

On the left we've got about 311 metres of superwash merino from some roving that I dyed in blue, orange and yellow. It was so much brighter in the roving, but I left a lot of white which toned down the intensity of the colour. On the right you see about 268 meters of blue-faced leicester, dyed by Fleece Artist in a slightly varigated pink. I normally don't like pink very much but for some reason, I loved this shade.

I'm pleased with these. The merino is loftier than the BFL and surprisingly, more wraps per inch at 17 to the BFL's 16. The grist of the two yarns surprised me considering the merino looks like a DK and the BFL seems to be a fingering. The BFL is definitely more dense, but to be honest, my measurements could be completely lacking. My scale is good to within one gram, but the yardage is at best an estimate since I measure the distance around the skein and then multiply it by the number of strands. I want one of these.

Blue and orange merino: 118g, 311m (341yds), 1323 YPP, 17 WPI
Pink BFL: 105g, 268m (293yds), 1266 YPP, 16 WPI

Last night Jeremy helped me dye up some more fibre and this is what I'm spinning today - superwash merino dyed in olive shades.

I finished my first Bruise sock, ain't it purdy? It's 3x1 ribbed all the way down, regular slip-stitch gusset heel. 60 stitches around, 7sts to the inch, made with my handspun corriedale. I cast on for the second one, but I have honestly been so fickle lately, don't count on me to finish it.

I also spent about an hour out on the deck with my spinning wheel. I've got a class tomorrow and the last couple of days have been about clearing up my bobbins so I have something to spin on. It's so nice outside. Cool and breezy. I guess it's time to clean up our deck and get to using it! I just hope it's not long before I STOP reaching to the patio table for my goddamn nonexistent cigarettes! Today is 91 days smoke-free for us, and this old habit is dying so, so hard.

I haven't posted about the cats in a while. Here's Cuba, being particularly photogenic. Unfortunately I don't have a good one of Pippa at the moment.

Jonah hasn't been feeling well. It's hard to know when Jonah's sick because it takes a whole lot to take the spring out of his step. On Monday we noticed that Jonah wasn't being his usual ass in the morning (he wakes us up by swiping our stuff off our dresser and night tables each day) and that he slept a lot more than usual. And he was drooling a lot when he slept. Jeremy took him to the vet yesterday and we got the bad news. His poor teeth are rotting and there is very little we can do about it.

We've known about his teeth for a while, and we've been giving him special food and gel to clean them and we even did a bottled water experiment, and nothing's worked. The vet said it's unfortunate since he's not even two years old, but it seems to be a genetic problem for him (our other cats are just fine).

Jonah has already lost two of his teeny front teeth. The vet gave us steroids and antibiotics for his inflammation and infection, and said he should be feeling less pain rather quickly. We put out an extra water bowl because she said the medication is going to make him thirsty, as well.

My heart hurts for him. He has such magnificent fangs and I'm just so sad that he is going to lose them. Poor Jonah. I love you.