Spicy Spinning

I joined a Ravelry group that picks a different theme of spinning a month, and July's is Spicy. A lot of people are running with hot spices, reds and chili pepper colors. I like earth tones, myself, so I went for a deeper spice. After several attempts to find the closest spice to what I was spinning, I picked Marjoram.

I'm three-quarters done with the spinning, and having a fine time. The merino wool has 20 percent silk mixed in, and it spins like a dream. I can do a long draw, and it spins up thin and consistent, which is a long-searched-for goal of mine. I'm very happy with it. The weight is coming out to a fingering, and cabled gloves or fingerless gloves (more likely) is what I'll knit with it, for the winter. It's been very relaxing to sit this summer and watch the hummingbirds out the window, and drop the spindle, wind it up, drop it down again.... I love these soothing moments, because so much of the summer is busy and craziness, managing everyone's schedule.

Last night was much fun, though. Friends came over, and we played a game that my husband made up, called Jedi. You make a circle on the ground, and give the person in the center one or two bats, whichever they prefer. Then everyone gets to throw balls at them, but they get to decide if just one ball can be in the air at a time, or more than that. They then use "The Force" (or instinct and fast reaction, as I like to call it) to hit the balls back, and try not to get hit themselves. If they do get hit by the ball, the person who threw the ball gets to be in the center with the bats. If the guy in the center hits the ball back and hits the thrower, the thrower is out of the game. It's pretty hard to get a person out by return volley, but not impossible. If the center person manages to get everyone else out of the game, they go on to Level Two. It's the same as Level One, but the title is the prize. We've never had a person get to Level Three, but the game is very exciting, and everyone is laughing and having fun. The only rule we had to institute is, if you hit the person in the center, that person has to say "Good throw," in a very happy, convincing way. Otherwise, you get grouchy pretty quickly if someone beans you with a ball. My daughter got hit in the face last night, and through her tears and smiles, she choked out, "Good shot." I was quite proud.

The husband and I arranged childcare and were going on a swimming date tonight, so of course it's cloudy and overcast this morning. That's the way the weather is up here in Northern Michigan. You can't count on it at all. I'm going to finish my spinning and get my entry on the Ravelry forum. Have a great day doing what you like to do!