Other than that, my day was spent winding yarn and filling massage lotion jars. EXCITING. Oh, and letting the dogs out. And in. And out again. And back in. Sometimes they do that thing where they walk out one of the back doors and don’t even go off the porch — just walk across it to the other back door and bark to come in. WTF.

Today I’m firing the kiln and trying to pour ceramics around the yarn I have hanging up in the ceramic room (to keep it away from Tiny Kitten while I get it all wound and work on labels). I have a couple errands to run, too, but I didn’t plan that very well what with also firing the kiln. So they’ll either have to wait until after about 4, or if Tim is going to be home maybe he can keep half an eye on the kiln for an hour or so. And let the dogs out. And in. And out again.

Here’s my lunch from the Faire; “ye old fruit and cheese plate” coupled with an orange and cream soda blend. Mmmmm.

As you can tell from the above, we went to the Hoggetowne Medieval Faire yesterday, and I promise to have pictures up before the end of February. Heck, I don’t even think I’ve blogged about New Year’s Eve yet, so maybe … er… March. ANYWAY. We went with Laura and Gerry, who in spite of their long-lived status as Gainesvillians-with-roots-here, had never been. We were there for hours and hours, and still didn’t do everything. We saw jousting, and the Birds of Prey, and the Chess Game, and a lot of vendors and of course some axe-throwing, and Jenn harping (actually, we missed her harping, but saw her… what the fuck was that? It looked like an oboe and a digideroo had a baby!) and let me not forget the Maypole…. but there were still a lot of the smaller shows that we missed, like fire juggling. Of course, we also see that on New Year’s Eve, heh.

We also ran into Bill and Jennifer (always nice to see them) and while we were eating lunch, we witnessed the King and Queen interact with some of the peasants – er, I mean, common folk, er, I mean, the people in front of us. It was really cute; he dubbed the boy as a knightly emissary, and the two girls as Honorary Princesses, and the one girl who was about nine or so…? I could see it in her eyes that she was going to remember this day FOREVER.

I got up early today to take care of processing weekly orders and then had a full day ahead of me which is why I’m just now getting to blogging about Sunday; if I were smart I’d throw some stuff in here about today, too, but I’m getting tired and am ready to change into PJs and hit the couch for some serious knitting (and dinner… Tim is making pork chops and homemade mac&cheese… at least, if I lay off the Fair Song, that is).

Anyway. Yesterday! Fun! It was great to see Lynn and catch up on what she’s doing and working on, and to just hang for a while. She has some great knitting going on right now, one of those mitered-square blankets and it is ginormous and beautiful! What a great use for scrap pieces of yarn.

…aaaaaand, that’s about it. I have a lot to do today so I’d best wrap this up. Expect many soap updates in the shop today — I’ll be listing four sets of guest soaps on both the Etsy shop and the Wild Iris Marketplace (same soaps, available two different places). And I have glazing to do, and yarn to dye. But I don’t have to go anywhere today, so I’m going to be all squirrelly and crafty and shit. Yes, I will have pants on (so that my legs don’t get covered in dye and glaze).

One thing I noticed yesterday is that by cleaning greenware every Saturday, but only loading the kiln up to fire every other Saturday, it doesn’t take as long to get work done! I mean, it does; it still takes six to eight hours to get enough cleaned to load the kiln. But four hours each Saturday rather than eight hours all at once just… seems faster.

Last night we went to the grand opening of a friend’s new sewing studio, Sew Make Do. I guess I should say acquaintance more than friend (I actually know her mom better :waves to Joan: and kind of suspect that her mom and my mom would hit it off) but she’s someone whose blog I have read for a while and I have had a crush on her kitchen clocks for.ev.er. and a day and I would like to get to know her better as it seems like we have a lot of friends in common. Is that the longest, most rambling sentence I’ve ever written? Anyway, Kim is opening a sewing studio and wants it to be a crafting hub (I hear Sharon’s going to be teaching an intro to knitting class there in February), and y’all know I’m all about crafty hubs, so anything to show my support! And yes, I did register to maybe win a free class, but probably won’t win (I never win anything) and have my eye on an upcoming learn-about-patterns/how-to-make-pajama-bottoms class. I feel like I’m in that in-between stage of knowing about sewing. I basically know how to do it, but could use a confidence builder and some reinforcement that I do know what I’m doing even if I doubt myself. Is that what people felt when thinking about taking classes at Hanks?

Whoops. I decided while writing this to take the dog on a walk (almost four miles!) and saved this in drafts, and then forgot about it when I got home. Der.

What are your Sunday plans?

… and it’s only available online at the Wild Iris Marketplace, or in person at Wild Iris Books (802 West University Avenue).

The dish is five inches across, round, and just slightly curved for the soap to rest without sliding out. It could also be used for jewelry, change, keys, and other little things that you don’t want to lose. While I am currently offering it in three colors (Baby Blue, Foliage Green, and White) I would be happy to take custom orders for this through Wild Iris.

I’ve gone ahead and added the soap already to my online shop with them at the Wild Iris Marketplace, should you not be local but still interested in these fragrances (especially since some of them I don’t have yet on my Etsy shop). And now, may I introduce OUR SPECIAL GUEST STARS (picture me doing a full-on Kermit-the-Frog arm flail here)…

New fragrances in the Grooved Bar design include Mountain Man and Wild Wild West.
Mountain Man – This is a great scent for men’s soap. It has amber, sage, red cedar, oak, orange, and sycamore, with just a hint of wild tobacco, leather, and patchouli.
Wild Wild West – If you’ve smelled the “leather” frangrance I offer but find it a little too strong, “Wild Wild West” might be right up your alley. More suede than leather, and also mixed in is a little basil, tonka bean, patchouli, amber, and musk. Just right for your inner cowgirl (or cowboy)!

Nag Champa is a popular fragrance there already, so I’m adding it to the Goddess soaps already offered. And don’t forget about the exclusive fragrance only available there, Wild Iris!
Nag Champa – smells of Juniper, Patchouli, Vanilla, Rose Geranium and Jasmine – just like the earthy and sweet incense so often used for meditation.
Wild Iris – This fragrance is a little less of the floral aspect of the Iris, and more of the whole plant. It’s a bit greener, a bit fresher than some floral fragrances, and to me smells more natural. As if you’re smelling the leaves and the stem as well as the flower.

The new fragrance offered in the Celtic Square design is one I’m particularly fond of, called Harvest Moon. I have to be honest, I originally worked up this fragrance thinking it would be masculine; but after processing the soap think it will appeal to both men and women.
Harvest Moon – You really have to smell this to believe it. Fruit and woods blend together to be amazing. You’d think something with fresh pear, blueberries, and pineapple would be enough on its own, but when you also add Juniper berries, eucylyptus, spruce, cedar, and fir, you really get a blend that packs a punch.

The new fragrance for the Cattail & Dragonfly design is one I’ve had (but believe I am sold out of) on Etsy for a while. It started out life as part of my soap club inspired by Watership Down; at that time it was called “Rain on the Down” but I have changed the name as out of the context of the book the name doesn’t make sense.
Kentish Rain – this scent is just a little grassy, a little woodsy, and a little rainy; just what you would think the Downs would smell like after a fresh summer shower.

For dinner we went to Leonardo’s 706 (where the locally-sourced shiitake mushroom appetizer is so delicious that I swear each time that I’m going to order about three of them as a meal) and although they seemed reluctant to leave the butter out of Antony’s dish in order to make it vegan, the food was passable (quote of the night, “but it won’t be the same dish” — seriously, the waitress really wanted to argue this point. Antony had to go to the counter to ask someone to ask the chef, because she said she knew he wouldn’t do it and wasn’t even going to bring it up, as “it wouldn’t be the same dish”). Not to keep kicking a dead horse, but … why was that even an issue? What is this, a cooking competition where the chef has to make everything the same way every time, or risk getting booted out of the kitchen? It’s not like it’s a big box place, with sauce shipped in frozen in a bucket. It’s a locally owned restaurant, one that prides itself on sourcing good food locally, nowhere on the menu did it say “no substitutions” or “dietary restrictions will be mocked,” and for fuck’s sake, at the prices they charge they can leave off the damn butter. GAH. Whatever. They’re off the list of places we’ll go next time. So thanks, Leonardo’s 706, for the chance to eat at The Jones instead! Appreciate it!

Anyway, other than that (oh, and other than his building having no power when he got to work) I think Tim had a good birthday. He was surrounded by people who love him and who get (and encourage, sigh) his puns, and he got some lovely cards and useful gifts. Happy birthday, honey!

Today I am back to work — not that it seems like this vacation has really been a VACATION. I’ve still been working my butt off, even though we’ve had holidays and company and a death in the family. I have so much stuff to list and promote that I actually drew up a calender for January marking when I was going to list certain things; otherwise I would try to list 76 new things today and have nothing else new to show for two months. I also tried to block out more of a work schedule, making certain days of the week soap-making days, or yarn-dying days, or firing-the-kiln days. I am determined to stick to it through January, but we’ll see how it goes. I just feel like lately I’ve been running around in a full-on Kermit the Frog muppet-arm-flail, putting out fires and struggling to remake sold out items, and over the holidays came to the conclusion that “never being sold out of something” is less important than “having a structured work week.” If I’m sold out of something, it’s OK to not have it back in until next week. So I sell out of Rosemary Mint soap on Friday, and soap-making day is Monday, meaning I won’t have it listed until Thursday. That is allllll right. The universe will not end, the sun will rise and set, and the rest of my planned schedule won’t be thrown off balance. In theory.

So.

Off to refill, or just nuke, this coffee cup. It’s cold as fuck inside the house (I’m wearing three pairs of socks, fingerless gloves, a thermal shirt, another shirt, and a sweatshirt, and a hat) and my coffee is cold almost as soon as I carry it from the kitchen to the office. Winter has arrived. Tim’s going to cover the windows with plastic this weekend. Ahhhh, older houses with your silly jalousie windows.

We met up for lunch at Chopstix (where they’ve redone the sushi bar and y’all, SWANK!) and then went off to walk around the part of Payne’s Prairie with the 50-foot observation tower and a great view of the horses. Last time I saw bison, this time we saw horses. And they were mighty close! I got some great photos. We briefly walked a couple of trails, and then went over to Lake Wauburg to have a look around (how had I never been out there before?). The temperature was starting to drop a little but overall the weather was absolutely perfect for the day. I mean, look at that sky!

Then it was off to rest for just an hour or so, and then on to Aunt Gay and Uncle Joe’s for another great dinner, followed by….

…dessert at Sweet Dreams! Proving that either Gainesville is a small town, or that all of my friends have fabulous taste, I know almost everyone in this photo. Tim and I got there first, and saw Allan, and then right after that Jason and Mary came in (we had gone to their wedding about a month ago). Then Aunt Gay and Uncle Joe and Jag and Antony pulled up (we were expecting them) and overall it kind of looked as if we’d called everyone we knew and said “meet us at Sweet Dreams!”. You, dear reader, were the only person missing. Wish you could have been there! Hey, maybe Arne can randomly photoshop some people in there…

Then of course later that night was the HaldeParty, which may have been the biggest one we’d ever had. At one point Aunt Gay counted 49 people, and 50 is the most there’s ever been. The mood, in spite of the losses we’ve had this year, was not as somber as it could have been. It was much more a celebration of life – which, what with three big losses this year, is saying something. It would be easy to wallow in loss. Instead, there was much laughter, live music, hugging, and great stories. And the most epic fire juggling we’ve had yet! I’ll have photos up later this week.

Breakfast the next morning got off to a slow start but soon there were so many people that we were rotating at the dining room table — as soon as someone new came in the house, someone who’d already eaten would get up to go sit in the living room to make room at the table. We had more live music, more juggling, and much more laughter and good times. If the rest of the year could be like yesterday, full of great food and quality time with loved ones, I will want for nothing else.

The rest of my 2011 daily photos can be viewed here.