Fiber content incoming

I do remember that this is a fiber blog, really I do. It's just that sometimes, my life isn't a fiber life, y'know? However, I have been plugging away on some things, little by little, and yesterday, for the first time in ages, we had an unscheduled day. You know the kind: no plans, no get-togethers, no soccer games, no nothing except what needed to be done at home. (Also, dance update: Older Daughter had a marvellous time and was tremendously glad that she'd gone. Therefore, I can be tremendously glad that she'd gone. Whew!)

I got the laundry done, and cooked an actual, sit-down, try-out-some-fun-new-recipes meal; this is something that I like to do at the end of the weekend when things aren't too swamped. With soccer in season, things are swamped, but who would miss watching galloping girls?
That's Younger Daughter heading for the ball there.

So dinner last night (with actual time to plan and cook it) included a potato gratin with onions and sausage and cheddar cheese, and a lovely cake with a pear/caramel topping (an upside-down sort of cake, which turned out to be not only yummy but pretty; I'd show you a picture, but we ate half last night, heh).

I also got to knit and spin to my heart's content. I'm plugging away on the bump of Jacob roving that I've had for ages; I want to get it done and see how much I have in the way of yardage, and at what weight. I have this theory that it'll go nicely with the 250 gms of black Merino I have waiting in the wings, if I can just spin the Merino at the same weight. Here's the second bobbin of singles. I'm almost done; I think another hour of spinning (or less) will see it finished, and then I can ply, which always goes much faster.
I adore the color of this wool. Love, love, love it. And every time I go back to get more, the only Jacob she has is brown, and not nearly so silky. Alas. We'll see if it still feels as soft when it's plied up; I have high hopes.

I've also been working on the latest lace project. (Why yes, it is another one of Anne's; if she'd just stop writing such fun and gorgeous patterns, I'd stop knitting them, but as things stand...) This one finally turned out to be the one for the Icelandic laceweight that I held off on using for Lacewing. I think that this is a much better match. And check out this pattern! I'm in love with the huge lace motif -- it's swingy and full of life. The pattern is also incredibly intuitive. As usual, the first repeat took what felt like ages, but the second one went much much faster, and I'm thinking that things will speed up from here. I'm knitting the tall width, but will probably only do the petite number of repeats for the length. We'll see a) how I feel, and b) how much yarn I have.
You should see how this is looking in the gorgeous purpley color Anne's knitting it in. Go ahead, check it out. I'll wait. Beautiful, no? I'm nowhere near so far along, and given the way my schedule is going, this is bound to be a longer knit than I'd hoped, but I'll get there. I have some birthday knitting, and some support of others knitting to get done, which might slow down progress here, but we'll see.

Meanwhile, homework assignments are starting to come in and need to be graded (who assigned all this work?). And I've got to read the articles and chapters that my students will want to discuss in class (who assigned all these readings?). It's clear to me that my alter-ego is designing my courses, and that my alter-ego is an overachieving ass. Sigh...