Starting over, again.

After knitting a couple of inches of my February Lady Sweater, using size 4 needles and singles, I realized that even making the xl size would result in a doll size sweater. I frogged it, doubled up the yarn, and started again, using size 8 needles. A much better weight and gauge, but now I am certain that I will run out of yarn. I do have about 1600 yards......... 400 grams but at this new rate of usage, I will certainly run out of yarn. Do I stop? Do I try to locate more yarn? Do I stick my head in the sand and continue on? Do I consider a second yarn (type or color?) to add in strategically? For the time being, I am continuing on as I consider my options. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Since this yarn was from a specific alpaca (Capella was her name!) from Stargazer Ranch Alpacas, I may have to wait till next year to get more of the same.....I may e-mail them to see if they have any just laying around.... fat chance.


Sunday is my Birthday, although at this age, I try not to make a big deal of it. I allowed Gary to buy me a new spindle which I picked out: a Golding Tsunami Purpleheart which is totally beautiful. The whorl is 2 inches and the weight is .8 oz. It arrived and I have been working on my August challenge with it. I don't know if it is just taking time to get used to it, or it is the roving I am using, or I am spinning too thick... but I cannot get it to spin very long, at least in comparison to my Tracy Eichheim. The Golding is .8 oz and the Eichheim is 1.5 oz, so it may be difference in weight and my inexperience, but I will keep working at it. The Golding spins quickly, but not for long, and then begins to unspin just as quickly. It is amazing how the different weights feel in my hands.


Last night I drove up to Broomfield to have dinner with my old college roommate, Candy. We are both old now. As a matter of fact it was 40 years ago this month that we met on our first day at U-CONN in the dorm. We were not assigned to be roommates, but we were next door to each other. We each had other roommates, who were, to be kind, a little more of a studious nature. After 4 days of freshman weekend, hanging around, having fun, and being a bit rowdy, the other roommates came to us on Sunday night and said we should just switch rooms. It was their idea, and we jumped at the chance. We then roomed together for two years and joined the same sorority. Here is a photo from spring of 1969 when Candy and I, as well as Donna and Cathy, who dubbed ourselves the 4 Musketeers, since we did everything together, watched intently the events of Greek Week. To see a more current photo of the four of us look in my archive! I am partially obsured in this photo, Candy is the one with the NATURAL blond streak, then Cathy and Donna.
Candy was in Nursing, so for Jr and Sr years, she was at the hospital and I stayed on campus. We both graduated at the same time, lived together for the summer after graduation, and traveled to Europe together. It was Candy who moved to Denver after this trip, but it took me a year to save up enough $$ to join her here. We lived together for about 6 months in Denver, then she traveled to Michigan with her future ex-husband while he was in his medical residency. We married in the same year, (1975), they moved back to Denver, and had our first daughters in the same year (1980). Raising kids on the opposite side of the metro area, we didn't stay in touch as much and now she has a son and I have another daughter and she divorced, remarried, got her masters and Doctorate in Nursing and runs the Nursing program at Regis U. We reconnected and have been getting together several times a year now.


Visiting with Candy and her folks, who were visiting because of her hand surgery, we shared a lot of the old stories, and laughs. Not to mention the great dinner Joe prepared for us all.

And here we are 40 years later, still friends.... How special is that!