Who is Lester, anyway, and why don't my cats like him?

I was going to title this post "Stuffing Rabbitch's orifice from both ends," but even Mr.Q found that a little shocking. And since I know my parents visit here periodically, I wouldn't want to shock them. (Stop laughing, both of you! Sheesh.)

Yesterday was a near perfect day. I slept in. I went for coffee, and to my gleeful surprise, discovered that The Bean has started with the eggnog lattes already. Oh frabjous day! I love how the "latte art" kind of looks like the Grinch's dog when he puts the reindeer antlers on it:

After a delicious, leisurely coffee and muffin, I hied me to the Rabbitch Hutch, for my first ever spinning lesson. Now, I've had a couple of heavy petting sessions with Jel's drop spindle, but there was wine involved, and I don't remember much. This, though - this was really my first time. I was nervous, I didn't know what to expect. And it was painful at first, but Rabbitch was very gentle. Eventually I sort of started figuring it out, but I'm still not sure where everything goes, or how it all fits together.

And let me tell you something: spinning is not the sweet, innocent grandmotherly craft it pretends to be! It's rude! I mean really - what respectable craft involves an orifice and an orifice hook? Among other things. My word! Here's Rabbitch, trying to get at her orifice from both ends:



After two hours - which really didn't feel that long at all! - I had my first yarn, about 3 inches of which were sort of even and not too badly overspun. See?



I don't know what I was spinning with. Something sturdy enough to survive my total lack of finesse. It was too much fun! When we finished, she sent me home with a bag of fibre and her extra wheel. I think I might have truly come over to the dark side now! I celebrated by spending a peaceful afternoon in bed with a good book.

The peace was rather shattered when Mr.Q came home. "Honey," he called from the living room, "the cats have been attacking your wool." Well. Needless to say, that got my butt out of bed right quick! Seems somebody had gotten into the bag of animal hair that Rabbitch had sent home with me, and pulled out a piece (only a small one, thankfully!) of the blue-faced leicester....and peed on it! Aaargh! Stinkers!

The rest of the fibre was untouched, and most of the leicester was still in the bag and safe. "Why did you pee on the leicester?" I demanded. They didn't answer. "Who's Lester?" Mr.Q asked.

Sigh. I put it away in a cupboard.

After supper, I headed out again for more fibre (and other craft-related fun) with some other knitting pals. We went down to the Circle Craft market together. Let me tell you, this was not your average pre-Christmas craft sale, oh no! It was ginormous. And very, very cool. I picked up a few stocking stuffers (yes, I know it's stupidly early, but my family has decided to go with a "Hand-made or Fair Trade" theme for the stockings this year, and so this was a perfect opportunity to pick up some funky local stuff). There was a booth with "secret compartment books" where they had taken second-hand books and glued the pages together, and cut out a secret compartmend inside. Very cool!

Also, there was yarn. I was surprisingly restrained. Looking at this from Indigo Moon:



I managed two amazing feats: one, I did not take off all my clothes and roll around in it; two, I walked away with only one skein! (I did, however, get my ticket re-validated, so I could, in theory, go back today....

After the madness, we did the only thing we could. We went for beer. Crazy, loud, noisy, a hockey game in overtime on TVs everywhere in the pub. We responded the best way we know how - pulled out our knitting. And did a little yarn fondling, in some cases:


Heading to the bus stop after, I called Mr.Q to check the bus schedule. "Take a taxi" he said. "What?!?! That's yarn money!" I responded. I could hear a weary sigh on the other end. "I could see the yarn lust boiling in your eyes before you left the house," he said, in his best Eeyore voice.

I have no idea what he's talking about.

To top the day off just perfectly - I was the one out till midnight, and he was the one in bed and asleep early, which I found entertaining. Holy role reversal, batman!