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Books to read because you should

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I'm in the middle of reading Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mex. Yes, I know I am very late to the party on this one. I hadn't felt up to it. Last week I listened to an interview with Du Mex about her new book, Live Laugh Love: the secret history of white Christian women and the world they made. I will be reading this one; it's currently on my hold list at the library. The interview seemed to make it seem as though the second book builds on the first, so I figured it was time to finally read it.  It is as hard and disappointing and infuriating as I expected it to be. Sadly, it is also completely unsurprising. I really just need to plow through it and be done with it. With that ringing endorsement, I do encourage you to read it, especially if you are (or were) a Christian and have found yourself being completely mystified as to how so many people who are supposed to believe in love, goodness, and mercy have so completely lost the plot. It will answer a lot of those...
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Fiber Monday - New toy

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I think I mentioned in my post about the Sheep and Wool Festival that I splurged and bought a new fiber tool. It's a Clemes & Clemes Lock Pop , otherwise known as the most expensive block of wood I have ever bought.  So why did I? I have a lot of fleeces that need to be processed and turned into yarn. I enjoy the spinning part, but am not overly fond of the combing or carding part. It's just super time and labor intensive. So I put it off. But if I don't prep the wool, I can't spin it. I was beginning to think it might be worth it just to send all the fleeces I have to a mill and accept the fact I should just buy fiber ready to spin. And then I tried the Lock Pop at the festival.  It doesn't look like much, but it works amazingly well. So well I bought it. What does it do?  Here are a pile of Cotswold locks that I dyed. You can see they are all mixed up together. There is no way to spin these without opening them up and getting the fibers all going the same way....
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Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival

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This morning G. and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival. We had a really lovely day. We wandered the vendor hall, watched some sheep shearing, ate a picnic lunch while watching the sheep dog trials, did a little more shopping, participated in a farm auction, and watched a Shetland sheep show. It was a pretty perfect day.  And there were a lot of sheep. G. took nearly all the pictures. This is the portable sheep fencing we got at the auction. By far the best part of the whole day was watching the ewe lamb class at the Shetland sheep show. This little white ewe lamb captured our hearts because every other baby was losing its mind and this one just stood there amidst the chaos. Be sure you have the volume turned up to hear what ~30 lambs sound like.
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Two random thoughts

It was Inclusive Game Night tonight, so I'm shot. I will leave you with two very random thoughts.  1. It is supremely frustrating when playing the Wordle to get four letters correct on your first guess, but then still not get it until your fifth try because you keep guessing the wrong consonant.  2. It is wonderful to hear the students in your spinning class talking amongst themselves and you hear, "There's all those people out there who crochet and they have no idea how much work goes into making yarn!" I'll take that as a win.  Now off to bed.
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Let's visit the idea of respect again.

When interacting with parents, whether on social media or as a client, it seems as though the concept of respect comes up again and again. I'll admit that that the word has become to me as rather a red flag is to a bull.  First, let's discuss the actual definitions. Respect can act as both a noun and a verb. According to Merriam-Webster the definitions are as follows: n. - a feeling or understanding that someone or something is important, serious, etc., and deserves appropriate treatment or regard v. - to consider worthy of high regard The flag can be respected. The Constitution can be respected (it isn't currently, but that's a different blog post.) We used to be able to respect the President (oops, also a different blog post.) My point is that there are entities out there that deserve our respect (noun), but even then, if those entities act in a way opposite to being worthy of respect, it is not a requirement for us to continue respecting them. I'm just not sure t...
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Well, thank goodness I finally finished that

I just finished reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I had recently come across several different reviews in various places about how much the readers adored this book. Steinbeck and adored don't necessarily go together in my head, so I was intrigued. I didn't have another book to read, so checked it out of the library. As is my usual practice with "classics", I went into it cold with no advance research as to what it was about. I did know that it took many of its themes from the opening chapter of Genesis.  Well.  Usually I am quick to set aside a book that I am not enjoying. For supposed classics, I will waive this rule because it might have something worthwhile to say even if it isn't my favorite. (Hello 1984.) This book was a slog. I didn't enjoy most of it, I didn't like the majority of the characters, and it was just depressing. I truly don't understand how so many readers find it to be one of their favorite books. To each their own, I guess. ...
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Fiber Monday - Correcting errors

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Late last spring I finished a denim skirt that I had sewn using my self-drafted pattern. You never saw it because I wasn't happy with the fit and so didn't really consider it finished. I tried a few things hoping that simple fixes would get it to fit right, but I knew deep down that I was going to have to take off the waistband and open some of the seams and take it in. It sat in my studio for weeks waiting for me to prod myself into action.  The combination of my drafting class starting again (which meant I would be busy working on other things) and one too many times standing in my closet wishing I had a denim skirt to put on finally was enough to force me into picking up a seam ripper. You know what the really silly thing is? It took me one afternoon. I could have been wearing the skirt all summer if I hadn't made the process into a bigger deal than it was.  So finally, I have a completed denim skirt to share that actually fits. This was made out of five worn out pairs o...
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