what I did on my long weekend

This weekend was the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Festival, a lovely fiber festival in my home state. I did not go.

Instead, Thom and I cleaned the house. We have been extraordinarily lazy recently, and the house was a pit of filth. Every pot was dirty, as were all of the drinking glasses. The dust bunnies under the beds were the size of softballs.

And the lawn ... well, the lawn is the bane of my home-owning existence. I'm rather afraid of gas-powered lawn-mowers (big! noisy! sharp blades!) and therefore have very little interest in learning how to use ours. And my darling husband is no more fond of them than I am, although he's not a scaredy-cat like me. After we he the landscapers that were there to remove the pool from the backyard mowed for the first time this year, a friend who lives in another part of town said "hey, I was over by your house and saw that you guys cut the lawn this week!" It was embarrassingly bad. Now it's merely a little scruffy looking. That I can live with.

So, we devoted this weekend to some serious cleaning. And, thanks to George Bush's misguided economic stimulus package, we splurged on a new vacuum cleaner. A Dyson DC25. And by "we", I do mean "Thom." He is the vacuumer-in-chief in our household. I use the vacuum cleaner about as often as the lawnmower.
Before you think that I am a total pig, I'll have you know that I do all of the laundry and ironing, most of the organizing tasks, and most of the bathroom cleaning. Anyways, we now have a sparkling clean house. Except for the craft room. I didn't touch that one yet!!

Since I didn't get to hang out with friends at the festival, I did treat myself to a little bit of spinning time at night.

This is a 70/30 merino/tencel blend that I picked up at Mind's Eye Yarns last year. I got 12 ounces with no particular plans for it. It's a lovely purple, very vibrant. It's a true purple -- not blue-ish or pink-ish, just purple.

This weekend, I pulled it out of the stash and after some sampling, I determined that it wanted to be a laceweight 2-ply.

Who am I to argue?

I'm sure I won't need all 12 ounces!! I'll see what kind of yardage I get from 4 ounces, and pick a pattern. If I need more, then I can spin more.

So, since I've never knit a lace shawl or stole, I'm open to suggestions. I have no fear of lace, and I've knit lace in sweaters and socks. Beth, Carole, Terry, Cheryl, anyone else who likes lace ... any recommendations?