rats in the garden shed, spindle in the pond; skip to my loo my darlin!

ahh the weather is so nice these days! and what luck that i have been living where there is no internet so that i can take full advantage of this gorgeous weather! living with william & without internet has me spending loads more time with my lovely little furry monsters - my RATS! william's grandmother's house where we're staying has a cute little wrap-around day lily garden that the rats love to play in and william likes to bring the rats to the far side of the yard and watch them frolic back to the cover of the towering flowers (videos will be posted to youtube).
As well, last weekend william and i spend five long consecutive nights contra dancing as part of the monadnock folklore society's IRON DANCER, including a 12-hour dawn dance in brattleboro that went all night until 7am! i totally danced through the sunrise. (although i feel as though this could not compare to the norse dancers who danced the sun up on the solstice on top of pac monadnock!)

however, all of this hullabaloo that has kept me active has also put me back a spell on keeping my ravelry updated as well as my blog! As promised, i have been working hard at a Growler Koozy and have finished prototype 1 and am working on prototype 2. I am debating, though, whether i should hold out and try to get this pattern into a Knitty issue in which case i could not post the pattern OR any pictures until the issue comes out... ?!? i'm so conflicted because i know that this is a pattern that people are waiting for.

in any case, all of my projects are coming along much slower now that my new hobby of hand spinning is taking flight! i absolutely LOVE my new drop spindle (kate and i picked some up from the NH Sheep & Wool festival that we brought our mothers along with us to... on mothers day weekend, of course!) and after having a bit of trouble with some shorter fibers i have finally figured out the trick and will never again make the mistake of dropping my spindle off of the diving board and into the lake the next time i decide to go spinning on the dock on a windy day!Also as promised, my next post will be the sought-after Watermelon Slice! it's about time, too, what with this total pick-nick weather gracing us with its presence!