Yarn, food and physical therapy

This past weekend was an awesome blur of fun, food and friends. We went to our Friday gathering and watched the first episode of Macross Plus. It was much better than the few episodes I’d seen of the first series. We had to leave early because DH had to work early on Saturday. I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Saturday I watched movies and spun, went to yoga and came back and spun, and when DH got home we went to a birthday BBQ and had a blast.

Sunday got up and spun, then went to lunch with friends at Jim’s. DH and I then met up with other friends to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 in 3D. It was good, not mind blowing. I think they had just a bit too much fun with the 3D. It broke the 4^th wall enough to knock me out of the story a few times. Then we came home and I spun.

Monday we had the day off for Memorial Day. I got up and went to trainer at 9:30am and was dead for a couple of hours afterward. While I was dead, DH was making yummy veggies which we took to the obligatory Memorial Day BBQ in the afternoon. While there I got to play with 3-week old puppies, and a 1 month old baby. Cuteness overload!

So, I now have two new skeins of yarn, and my shoulder is bothering me. 

It’s the BFL I bought at Yarnorama. It’s soft, but not as luscious as the silky cashmerino. Nothing is. I tried to divide the fiber equally into two so as to spin and ply and preserve the color changes, but it didn’t work as well as I had hoped.

Since I’ve been to physical therapy, I’ve found out that really it’s my bicep that’s unhappy, not my shoulder. The bicep controls the turning of the wrist, rather than the bending of the elbow (there is a muscle under the bicep does that). That’s the motion you use when drafting, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to cut back on the spinning for a while. I’ve tried to spin with the fiber in my right hand and drafting with my left, but I can’t seem to get it down. I should probably practice with fiber I’m not as crazy about.

I’ve also found out that the issue I’ve had with my shoulder is probably linked to the issues I’ve been ignoring in my wrists. I had thought that I had the beginnings of carpal tunnel, and I knew I wasn’t going to stop knitting or crocheting, so I figured I’d just take it easy when my hands tingled and stretch them a lot. It turns out that my terrible posture has done something to the nerve that runs from my neck down my arm to my thumb and finger. And that if I can train myself to use my neck muscles it will help not only my shoulder but my hands too.

Food and Shakespeare

As we were going to the Friday gathering after a friend’s birthday, I stopped by Central Market on the way home to pick up some flowers for her. Of the non-florist shops in Austin, CM has the best flowers. Out front they had some blackberry vines in flower so I grabbed them and then, since I was shopping hungry, I also ended up with some pate, double cream Brie, little toasts, and roasted garlic and cheese bread.

We brought the bread with us and contributed to the feast that evening. We ate, drank and were merry, and a great night was had by all. Two new, deadly discoveries: blackberry wine from Gruene, and Snicker’s cake. Mmmmmm…

Saturday DH had to work so I got up and made him tea then promptly went back to sleep. When I got up later, I hit the ground running. Met up with some girlfriends and we hit up the Renegade Craft fair quickly, before heading to yoga. Yoga was energizing instead of restorative and we stopped by the craft fair again. My brain is abuzz with creative possibilities. I still need to get my mind around the fair; I’ll post more about it later. DH came home from work and requested dinner rather than a show, so we went to Trudy’s with friends, and friends of friends from out of town.

Sunday DH and I camped out on the sofa. I finished spinning my green fluff into green singles, and it was only when I started to ply that I realized that I might have an issue. I had filled two bobbins completely. I had one bobbin to ply onto. I think you can see where I’m going with this. I think I’m going to end up with at least three skeins of green yarn.

I finished the first one and then it was time to head to Shakespeare in the park.

I was not excited about going to see Love’s Labour’s Lost. I’ve never read the play, and had no attachment to it. I thought the setting (early 60’s beach party) was going to be silly, but most of all I don’t like being outside in the summertime if I don’t have to. I don’t do well in the heat (by which I mean if it’s over 85 I sweat profusely and I’m pretty much miserable), I tend to get eaten by bugs, and did I mention I don’t do well in the heat? I much prefer to look at nature from the regulated comfort of the indoors.

I’m really glad we went. A friend brought peppermint and lavender oils which kept the bugs away. It had cooled off enough that, in my super spiffy REI clothes, I was comfortable. And the, what I thought was going to be overdone, setting made perfect sense. It helped remind me that even Shakespeare’s “lesser plays” are fun and, you know, written by Shakespeare.