Now, a break from hardcore chemistry…

When I wasn’t stuck in lab this weekend, I went home to visit my parents. I always enjoy visiting my parents, it’s relaxing and… good.

This weekend we went to the local Scottish Festival in Northampton. It was a lot of fun. I got to wear my kilt, eat bridie, listen to good music, and relax in the sun. Very nice.

I do admit that I laughed a little at what looked like a “historical reenactment” tent they had. There was woman making yarn on a colossal, unbalanced, rough as heck, top whorl spindle, and all I could think was, “That would be a lot easier if you flipped it over and used it as a bottom whorl.” I mean we’re talking a whorl that was 5 inches across and almost two inches deep, roughly hexagonal with a dowel the size of your thumb. But she was making yarn with it (albeit very slowly because as a top whorl she had to respin it every few seconds).

But that’s not actually what made me laugh. What mad me laugh was that next to this woman with the painfully “historic” spindle, was a woman… knitting. Um… no? Knitting is not that old. Later, the spindle spinner was weaving, on what looked to be a tapestry style loom. Which seemed an odd choice with the massive thick-thin yarn she was spinning, but… to each their own on that count, I don’t know enough about weaving to know if that was silly or not.

Anyway, it was a blast. We watched some of the highland games too. I like those. The smallest guy (not that much larger than me) came in second at the caber toss, and was one of only two guys who flipped the second caber. Only one flipped the third one. I like that the women compete with exactly the same cabers and weights as the guys. Watching them throw the weight up and over their head was fun too.

For most of the festival, I had my kilt and a normal t-shirt, and my cowboy hat to keep the sun off my head. Late in the festival, my parents bought me the totally awesome belt.

For those of you who object to the culture mixing there…

To go with the awesome belt, they also bought me this awesome gillie shirt, which fits well and is really comfy.

Yes, I realize all three are similar poses. I was tired, what can I say?

And for those wondering, here’s a closeup of the belt. They’re two separate pieces, and I picked them to coordinate. I’m really happy with them.

And of course, since I was walking around, I also spindle spun…

This is BFL top from a lovely fleece sampler from the Spinning Loft spun on my Greensleeves Damsel Monique. I’m not a huge fan of this plan as a walking spindle. I generally prefer to walk with a lighter yarn on a heavier longer spinning spindle. That said, I didn’t have any troubles at all, so I can’t complain.

Brief TDF update… I’ve managed the “spin every day” goal, but haven’t been making a lot of progress on that. Some progress on the knitting project. Brain has no focus.

The rest of the weekend was spent in lab, and this week has been constant lab…

But it’s been worth it. I finally have all of my figures done. And an abstract written (but unedited), the introduction and results are going through their last edits now. Whee! We’re actually getting there. I’ll probably be starting to write my thesis next week.

Yay.

~The Gnome