OK, not technically bears, and I left out the sheep. Plus, the pandas don’t actually do anything to the bamboo to make it yarn. But it was alliterative, and I can’t remember what pandas are officially. :)

Crystal Palace Panda Silk (52% bamboo, 43% merino, and 5% silk) in colors 3002 (an antiquey gold) and 3021 (a light cocoa).

The plan is for these to become Endpaper Mitts. I love the ever so slight sparkle to the yarn from the silk. I think it’s going to be gorgeous.

See, I’m never going to be as fabulous and elegant as Cristi and her glass of wine. I’m really more of a beer kind of girl. So, since I finished my Ribbon Clapotis, I thought I should have the FO photoshoot as something of a more me-esque homage to her Ivy League Vest post.

So, here I am with my “I wish I had Cristi’s hair” scrunched curls and my trusty bottle of Yuengling Lager (Rosi - take note. :) )

Woohoo! It’s done! Also, the sun is kind of in my eyes.

Kris said he liked the way it was draped. I think he wanted to take a picture of my butt. Happily, it’s smaller than it used to be, so I’m actually willing to post it.

Beer good. Pam like beer. Foamy.

Yes, I managed to dribble some down my chin. Because I am precisely that cool.

And since I’ll be pretty much packing all day tomorrow, you won’t be seeing any WIP posts, since I don’t have anything to photograph now!  And no, I’m not posting pictures of a pile of my underwear in my suitcase.

Wow - 3 weeks already? Time flies! (Which reminds me of one of my favorite bad jokes: Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. Yeah, I know. I have a bizarre sense of humor.)

So, after the weekend of debauchery that was Maryland Sheep and Wool, I was not looking forward to stepping on the scale or breaking out the tape measure this morning. So, imagine my surprise:

Weight: 223.4 (Down .8 pounds from last week)

Bust: 45 (Down an inch. Damn. ;) )

Waist: 37 (Down an inch)

Hips: 46 (Down an inch)

Holy crap! Down almost a pound AND I lost three inches since last week. I guess all that walking did me some good after all. Who knew?

Honestly, though, I was pretty good at the festival. On Saturday, I only indulged in one hot dog for lunch (OK, with chili, cheese, and sauerkraut…), and didn’t even snag any of the ribbon chips off of Jas’s plate while Sharon was holding it for her. That was a struggle, let me tell you. Those were GOOD last year. Sunday, Betsy and I got there late enough that we actually grabbed lunch on the way rather than eating fair food.

The dvd continues to get a little easier each time I do it, which makes me happy. I actually have really been enjoying working out with Dawn twice a week. It’s amazing what a difference it makes when you have a buddy to work out with, particularly when that buddy has a fabulous dry sense of humor and you both spend much of the workout making snotty remarks talking back to Jillian…

Anyway, I’m not sure if you will get an update from me next week. I leave at o-dark-thirty on Thursday morning to fly to Seattle for the SeaSocks cruise, and won’t be back home until the 19th. I have no idea what kind of internet access we will have on the cruise, so I may be incommunicado until I return. I’ll be out there with Stephie and cpurl17, so I’m sure we’ll be keeping one another honest. :)

Cross-posted to Fitness-A-Long

Truthfully, a VERY good weekend. I’m not good with the recapping, so I’ll probably leave that to Cristi or Amanda or Val.

The haul:

Top - an awesome sign that Betsy spotted today.  I’m still debating whether it will go in the Oz-themed guest room or the kitchen (with my “Don’t make me get the Flying Monkeys” sign).

Next, L to R - a gorgeous batt from Loop, some Brooks Farm Solana, roving from Mama E (”Raspberry Ganache” colorway. Well-named.  Makes me hungry every time I look at it.).

Across the middle, L to R - Three beautiful roving braids from Gale’s Art - “Sapphire”, “Potluck”, and “Gold Yellow”, more Brooks Farm - this is Ellie in two colors I plan to use to make Tempest, three colors of Neighborhood Fiber Arts sock yarn in “Capitol Hill”, “Grant Circle” and “Ward Circle”, and a Turkish Drop Spindle with a whorl made of purpleheart (my very very favorite wood.  It’s PURPLE.  NATURALLY!)

Across the bottom are 5 prints that will be framed and hung in my craft room.  LOVED them.  Laughed my way through that whole booth.

But the three best things I got this weekend weren’t things I bought - they were lovely thoughtful gifts from three totally kick-ass women.

The dragonfly is a spectacularly beautiful pin that Alice found and bought for me.  The picture doesn’t do it justice - it’s so sparkly and lovely.

The sheepy pin is a Spartan Sheep (Eddie Izzard show reference) - Carrie bought one each for me, Jaime, and herself.  He’s got the best expression on his face, and he’d totally shear himself with a rusty straight razor.  ;)

The bag - you might have seen its twin on CPurl17’s blog a couple of weeks ago. Its creator mentioned that she was making another one for someone else going on SeaSocks. Yesterday, I had two huge surprises while at MDS&W. I got to meet Bezzie! (Sneaky little thing fibbed to all of us that she wasn’t going to be able to make it, all the while planning to come.) And she gave me the bag - I was totally floored that she made such a lovely, thoughtful gift for me. I think I showed it to everyone I saw for the rest of the day.

I have the kick-assingest friends.  I’m one seriously lucky woman.

Also, one seriously tired woman.  And there are four poker-playing guys who know WHY I am so tired.  Raise the damn blinds once in a while, guys!  Then maybe the game won’t last until almost 4AM…

Guess who got nailed for speeding on the way up here…

Penny Karma - we HAD to take a picture of this for you, my dear.

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Friday Night Band:

Vaguely demonic-looking J on guitar, Kris on drums, Val on bass, and Cristi on vocals.  Amanda’s hiding there in the background, and Jeanmarie is knitting in the foreground.

Not a creative title, but apt. :)

This bit of lovely is some Karabella Manipur silk in color 20177, a sort of coral-y-red.

It is, as you can see, a slightly funky texture, but I think it’s going to make a lovely tank or tee for summer.

Just got home from seeing his “Stripped” tour here in DC, and I seriously haven’t laughed that hard in so long.  I am so glad Carrie introduced me to him.

If you have the chance to see it, GO.

I believe I will be wearing my new “Cake or Death” t-shirt tomorrow.  :)

Not that I’m not working on anything, but the Ribbon Clapotis looks pretty much exactly the same (although it is a smidgen longer), and I am not allowed to show the test crochet project. I’m going to try to finish up the Clapotis on Friday night when my girls get here. (I’m just about to the decreases - 3 more rows)

Until then, I thought I would show you all what happens when you don’t put your weights away and walk around barefoot.

Toe vs. 3-pound weight:

(The middle toe - not the old blister next to it)

So, yeah.  Nice bruise, eh?  Happily, it doesn’t actually hurt much at all today, and since I can bend it without much issue, it would appear not to be broken, because that would SUCK for the cruise.

(And I know someone is going to call me out for using “y’all”…)

Anyway, those “metal things” on my porch aren’t actually metal. They are PVC pipe, painted silver. What are they? A game! Specifically, a game that a friend of ours invented called, erm, Testicle Toss.

Basically, you’ve got two of these ladders set up, sort of like in horseshoes, and two teams of two people each. One person from each team throws from each end. You are throwing what looks kind of like a bolo, made of two golf balls. Each rung has a different point value. And when they land on a rung and wrap the right way, erm…

Yeah. That’s how it got the name. :)

It’s very much a beer-drinking game, as you might have guessed. And it is always in attendance at EdFest.

Weight: 224.2

Bust: 46 (no change)

Waist: 38 (up 1/2″)

Hips: 47 (up 1/2″)

Meh. Gained another 2 pounds this week, and gained back half an inch on both waist and hips. Honestly, I’m not surprised. I’ve been pretty good about working out, but I’ve really been eating for crap. Especially this weekend. Had a bit of a falldown in the junk food aisle at Target.

But! I have been working out, and I can feel a difference when I do the Evil DVD. I even noticed the other day while brushing my teeth that things around the middle are a bit less jiggly than they were. And I’ve been so busy getting ready for MDS&W that I at least haven’t been sitting on my butt.

So - for next week, I’m going to keep working out (probably aiming for a M-T-Th-F schedule, unless I feel particularly energetic tomorrow), and at least attempt to eat a little better. Which means that if any of you see me at Sheep and Wool with one of those giant eclairs, feel free to take it away from me. :D

And just because my life is what it is, I was walking over to the couch just now to post this, and I managed to kick one of the handweights I use for the Evil DVD. Did I mention I was barefoot? So, yeah, the toes are a little sore at the moment. D’oh.

Cross-posted to Fitness-A-Long.