This weekend, I may have done something slightly crazy on the spur of the moment.

Like….go down to Sunnyvale to visit Purlescence and buy a loom.

I’ve been thinking of getting a loom for a while; there are some things that are better woven than knitted, plus it’s a good way to use up lots of stash yarn relatively quickly.

The loom is an Ashford Knitter’s Loom, the 20″ size. I went with the larger size, primarily because I want to be able to make larger items (like placemats, table runners, altar cloths) and I can still make smaller things like scarves.

The big challenge was warping. I used the instructions with the loom, and it only took me one and a half hours. I’ve browsed some tutorials online; I think there has to be an easier method than direct warping, but I’m not sure. The loom comes with a free private lesson, so I’m guessing I’ll be using it to learn about warping techniques.

For my first piece, I’m using a seafoam yarn for the warp. It’s a mystery yarn, but I think it’s probably a cotton. If not, it’s a very tightly spun wool blend. For the weft, I’m using a sage green and blue mohair held together. The colors are all very close, so the effect is subtle. I probably should have chosen some more contrasting yarn, but I like this as well.

Mostly, though, it’s so much fun!

So, something I haven’t blogged much about here is the fact that I seem to have settled into a rather unexpected Pantheon.

If you had asked me before, I would have insisted that I’d be a Celt. I like the Celts. I like the culture, the music, the myths. I’m Irish, for pete’s sake, though you have to go a couple hundred years back to get there.

Then, I wound up with the Greeks. Sure, at first it was just Dionysos. He followed me home from Beltane, and after it was clear he was not going anywhere, I decided to invite him in.

Turns out, he brought all his buddies with him. So, I now find myself scrounging around for information on the Greek Pantheon, since apparently they have claimed me as one of theirs.

It’s been a mixed blessing. On the one hand, there is a lot of evidence and information out there, which is great for a research nerd like me. On the other hand, it’s much more unfamiliar to me, and it can get overwhelming very quickly. I have a tendency to want to jump into things feet first, so I keep reminding myself that I don’t have to become a perfect Hellenic pagan all at once, I can just take things one step at a time and Zeus will not strike me down (I hope) if I don’t duck into a phonebooth and reappear as SuperAwesomeHellenicPaganGirl!

So. Baby steps. The next question is…where to begin! There’s so much! Of course as soon as I asked that, I helpfully stumbled across this blog post from Kallisti: An Apple in Pandemonium. The Metageitnion challenge is both an effort to get people to engage in Hellenism on a practical level, as well as contributing to one’s physical arete by establishing a workout routine.

Naturally, this is one of the more difficult steps for me to take. Me? Active? Yeah..not so much. The biggest workout I’ve gotten lately was wearing high heels two days this week. (Don’t laugh. My thighs and butt were killing me.) But physical activity and athleticism are an important ideal of this culture I’ve landed myself in, so here I go. I think I’ll probably start with some yoga, and basic exercises like push-ups and crunches that I can do at home.

Metageitnion, as best I can tell, begins today. Or possibly yesterday. This gets even more confusing when you note that according to the Hellenic calendar, days begin at sundown of what we would consider the previous day. So, technically, today began yesterday evening.

Confused yet?

At any rate, I’m considering today until sundown to be the first day of Metageitnion. I’m basing this on a mash-up of two different calendars, and also the fact that the time zone I’m in is behind Athens. I’ve already failed at a morning workout attempt, since I slept right through the alarm clock, only to be woken by the Hungry Purring Cat alarm. But tonight–yoga, you will be mine!

Allow me to distract you from the complete and utter lack of knitting by revealing..drumroll…my new blog!

Actually, I suppose it’s blogs, in a way. I noticed my non-knitting posts were appearing more often, and I wanted to set up a new blog where you could view only knitting if you wanted–or just my posts on spirituality, or online community. So here it is!

If you’re following me on a feed, you’ll need to update (note the handy RSS link to your right) or update your bookmarks. In the meantime, it’s still a little dusty from all the construction; some of my older posts aren’t categorized yet, and my blogroll is sad and lonely, but that will be fixed soon.

And now I’m off to knit, so that next time, I will actually have something to show you.

I really needed to sit down and think about this today, and I’m glad that  I have!

I am thankful for:

* Amazing friends, and so many of them that there is almost always someone to email or hang out with.

* Books! Wonderful books borrowed from a friend to indulge my passion for information.

* The fact that even if I don’t know quite what to do with my life, it is because I am blessed to have so many paths open to me.

* That summer is winding down and heading towards fall; between Midsummer and Samhain is my  favorite time of year and I revel in it.’

* That it’s almost Friday, and soon I will finally get a quiet weekend.

Another finished object! Actually, this one was mostly finished a few weeks ago, but I still needed to find buttons. I finally managed to find some buttons–they look like bunches of grapes!–just in time to add buttons before heading to the 4th of July.

(Those of you in warm climates are probably wondering what on earth I needed with a warm sweater in July. We watched fireworks at the Berkeley Marina, and I had the sweater on, plus a leather jacket, plus a borrowed scarf and I was still freezing. Next year, blankets and gloves for me!)

The pattern is Glampyre’s Bulky Green Cables, and the yarn is Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Bulky in Emerald. Overall, I really like how it turned out. I didn’t get gauge, so I faked it by knitting a larger size and it worked out fairly well. It seems a little snug, but that is likely more to do with me thinking I’m smaller than I am.

I also noticed that the bulky Wool of the Andes seems softer than the worsted. I would never be able to wear the worsted next to my skin, but the bulky isn’t too bad. It’s a little itchy, but I find that to be true of pretty much any wool outside of pure cashemere, so I wouldn’t use me as a reliable source on itchiness.  As for the pattern, it manages to be cute and fitted and not add too much weight, even though it’s knit from such bulky yarn. I can definitely see this one becoming a staple.

I feel like I should have some great progress to update, but really, I haven’t got much of anything done.

Lately, my evenings go like this. Come home. Put in DVD/turn on any halfway decent summer TV. Pick up Princess Buttercup and knit a row, quickly. Knit a second row, somewhat more slowly. Knit a third row, barely finishing. Put down kniting. Turn down volume on TV. Lie down, just for a minute…Wake up at 11, drag myself off to bed for actual sleep.

I have no idea why I’m so tired.

Plus, I’m still kind of in a haze. I worked all of last week, got up early to get on a plane, crammed a bunch of site-seeing into two hours that night and two hours the next morning, went to the Current NYC meetup which was fun, but also work, then got on a plane the next day and flew back, getting home just in time to try to apologize profusely to the kittens, crash, and then get up and go to work. Which has been crazy.

Twitch. Twitch, twitch. I’d be looking forward to a relaxing three day weekend, but I have ritual Friday night, a party (fun! but not hibernating!) on Saturday night, and a CAYA meeting on Sunday. I should have some time to get some introvert time in, and hopefully some cleaning. I have some ideas hibernating in my mind, but they require me having a clean apartment. Meh.

Maybe I should start doing yoga again. Maybe that will help…