Whoa, you say, (in my imagination where “you” are paying meticulous attention), last time there were two, now we’ve jumped to five? I found the two on the left in a drawer; I guess they are two that didn’t sell last year. So now my fleet is five. Finished Mr. Multicolor on the right today. I know people like the multi-colors, and they sell, but I prefer the solids, not only because they are quicker to make. I just like the feeling of being able to churn out one color in quantity.
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
Couldn’t decide on one thing to talk about tonight, so you’re getting it all –
2. Multi-colored yarn is spun & resting on the bobbin!
3. Chicken Florentine was a success! The Italian-themed fiestaware was strictly a coincidence!
I made a hat.
As you can see, the Fiber Mill is temporarily on hiatus.
All the colors being organized.
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife by Connie Scoville Small
It’s funny how I got this book. My husband was telling his mother about the Maine Lighthouse Museum in Rockland which we visited this past September, and how he found it to be a very haphazardly run place considering their impressive collection. Yeah, I piped up, and told a little story about how they had talked up this memoir written by a lighthouse keeper’s wife, and got me real excited and wanting to read it, and there wasn’t nary a copy of it in their bookshop. My mother-in-law said, oh, I think I have that book; and she fished it out. Sure enough, this was the very book!
“[A] life of people risking their own lives to help men and ships; a life of order and duty.”
This is how Connie Scoville Small describes her life of living in lighthouses along with her husband Elson, in the near-conclusion of her memoir, THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER’S WIFE.
From 1919 to 1947 the Smalls tended lighthouses up and down the Maine coast. I myself have little experience with life on the sea, and little patience to read through long descriptions, along with little ability to place myself in long-drawn-out scenes of nature with which I have little familiarity. I don’t think it was just me, though; Connie often seems to drop us into scenes with little in the way of helpful background explanation.
That said, I kept reading because I love slices of ordinary life from early in the last century and beyond. I could not easily picture the lighthouse-specific and maritime and boat scenes, but I loved reading about the family’s cats and cows… and of course the food. Lots of baked goods!
Rarely does Connie give us deep insight into what she, or, perish the thought, Elson, are feeling about the big picture. But here is a glimpse:
“I put inside of me my desires, my longings, things I wanted to do, if they came in conflict with what he wanted. I felt what I wanted were selfish desires… I gave and I’ve never been sorry… I wanted to rebel, desperately so at times, but I didn’t… I filled my life with Elson… I’d be so busy making it work and doing things he wanted me to do… I forgot to be unhappy and found joy.”
So different from us today. That’s why I like to read old memoirs. ( 
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Check out the title link for her obituary – she died at 105!
Carding to create one of my one-of-a-kind color blends.
That middle color looks really blue in this picture. It’s actually pine green. Or is it?
The Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison
Just like THE F*CK IT DIET by Caroline Dooner but with very little swearing. Harrison is a registered dietician, and uses what she knows to convince you that Health At Every Size (HAES) (TM) is the only way to go. Lots of proof showing that diets don’t work, don’t last, and actually make you gain weight (NOT THAT THERE’S ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT!). Seriously, Harrison is always bending over backwards not to offend (with constant shout-outs to non-binary-gendered people), refusing even to use the words “overweight” or “obese” without quote marks.
There is only a very short chapter about how to do truly intuitive eating. Like THE F*CK IT DIET, this book warns you that by “intuitive eating” we do not mean being obsessed with hunger cues, which is just dieting by another name. F*ck-it-style intuitive eating means: just eat. Whatever you want, whenever you want, however much you want. Enjoy.
Who couldn’t get behind that?
Harrison gives lots of reassurance that this will NOT ruin your health. After a honeymoon phase with brownies, you will settle in, your weight will settle in, and your health will be fine – or not – but if not, it won’t be because of eating the wrong things. Lots of factors contribute to health, including many beyond one’s control. And dieting is about control, so that’s not a message many may want to hear.
But it’s true; and other things that are true are: adipose tissue itself has NEVER been proven to DIRECTLY cause health problems. It’s just body tissue, after all. And: being health-obsessed, or even health-conscious at all, is not a moral obligation. There are no “good” and “bad” foods because an apple and a hamburger are MORALLY EQUIVALENT. Running a marathon and watching a Netflix marathon are MORALLY EQUIVALENT. What is “health” for, anyway? To let you live longer and more productively … to do what? Whatever is meaningful to you, THAT is the moral obligation; not health per se.
This would all be obvious if not for what Harrison terms “diet culture,” the water we all swim in. We are all afraid of being or becoming “fat” and what it will mean for our status. But this sounds shallow so we cloak it in talk of health-consciousness and “wellness.”
Just chuck it all. In other words, F*ck It. ( 
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Then there were 8:
Here’s #8, a Navaja-Churro Lambswool single-ply. Sheds all over. I bought it as roving, and spun it directly. When I put it in hot water to set, lo and behold, I discovered it was FILTHY! So, one wash in Tide detergent later…
Tytania 