Duchess, LLC (Inside an MBA students head)

A conversation in my head from the "Tasks" department

New Voice in My Head: I just got a memo about finished objects from the creativity department. Do we do Finished Objects here?

Experienced Voice: (not looking up but shaking her head) Not during intersession.

NV: Oh, of course not, not during intersessiong (pause) What is intersession?

EV: (looking up in surprise) It's that sick and cruel form of torture we have been going through the last two weeks. You didn't think it was always like this did you? Oh dear, no, it's busy here, but there is no way we could carry on that pace for long periods of time.

NV: (a clear look of relief on her face) Oh, I'm so glad you told me. I was wondering what I got myself into.

EV: (smiling) There are a few times during the year that we go through this, but it's usually more manageable. Intersession is one of the worst, and having the attic under construction, the Duke traveling, and the Scooter STILL in the shop has made it an unusually hectic one.

NV: Why do we go through intersession? It's not like Christmas, or finals where we don't have a choice.

EV: I haven't a clue, you'd have to talk to the growth and development department to find that out, but be careful if you go over there. They all have their heads in the clouds and, in my opinion, can be very dangerous at times.

NV: (getting progressively upset) Well don't they know that overloads the rest of us. I mean, look at the house, it looks like a man and two dogs have been living here alone. There are dead flowers on the table, and some of the meals we have eaten as of late are flat out embarrassing.

EV: Oh believe me, I have talked to the logic department, the stress management department, the reality check department. Evidently the growth and development department overrides all of them and believe me, they can get carried away over there.

NV: (now really upset) In addition to all of that, those four pairs of pants aren't going to hem themselves. And who is the Project Manager in the creativity department anyway. We don't have time to finish creative projects right now, what are they thinking? I'm going to complain!

EV: Now, now, settle down, you're going to have stress management up in arms. This last weekend's 'retreat' was the culmination of the intersession class that we took this year. We only have one more class to attend next week plus a couple of short papers to write, nothing major. Plus, look at everything we got done today, and that was after the voices over at self care insisted on sleeping for 12.5 hours last night. We have tomorrow off of work and we will get the flowers and the pants taken care of then.
Don't worry about the PM at creativity, she's actually very nice, and you don't want to make her mad, she's very powerful and can make life very difficult for us if she wants.
Now, you go over to self care and let them know you need some chocolate. When you come back you can send a memo over to creativity and let them know that I finished up the bib, washcloth, and bottle cozy they made for the new baby, I just forgot to take a picture before I delivered it. Oh, and don't let IT see the memo, they will be irritated that I forgot that the new cell phone takes pictures. You can also suggest that creativity get started on a blog entry recording last weekend. That will keep them busy for a while.

NV: Oh, thanks so much. I really could use some chocolate. I'll get better at this, I promise.

EV: I know you will. We all have what G&D calls a learning curve. Trust me, I know from experience, the chocolate will help. Make sure they give you the good dark stuff. Those M&M's they took with us this weekend were only semi helpful

Urban Kayaking

This is how a beautiful summer Saturday should be spent, kayaking on Lake Union and Lake Washington. We rented the kayaks from Agua Verde in Portage Bay on Lake Union, headed through the Montlake Cut (which was SUPER choppy- we saw a kayaker go over- kaya no pictures there,) and onto Lake Washington. Yes, those are freeways behind us. I DID say we were urban kayaking. Take a right, under the freeway, and toward the Arboretum.

Voila. . . I have a new botanical to hang. We have been to the Arboretum many times, but it's a whole new experience from the water.


Say hello to Mr. Turtle and Ms. Duckie. How many cities in the US can you do this without even leaving town? It was amazing.

Lastly, if anyone is wanting to adopt a sweet 4 year old boxer, see Betsy Bits's Blog, she's a super cutie!

Somethin' Fishy Goin' On Here

Isn't he CUTE?
He needs a name, any suggestions?
He's knit from Blue Sky Alpaca's pattern "One Fish, Two Fish" in the same's Dyed Cotton.


Now, to go with the them, I present FISH TACOS!
I was knitting this little guy and I thought, you know what I need, a fish taco. Is that sick that I wanted to eat what I was knitting? I'm sure this says something about my psyche, but it's too late to think about it right now.
The only fish I had in the house was in the form of salmon burgers, so salmon it was. They were delicious!
The Duke won't eat a salmon burger as a burger, but he loved it like this.

Maya, Creative Muse

I would like to introduce you to a very important, er, person. Well, she's a muse, not a person, but we'll get to that.

This is Maya. She is my creative muse. She does just what one might imagine a creative muse does and more. She is very good at what she does, and I am very blessed to have her around.

She's just a little thing (the photograph of her sitting in one of my calalilies gives you an idea) but she is capable of inspiring great things.

Now, muses are traditionally very attached to just one human (at least that is the case here in Yarnnation.) However, Maya isn't your every day muse. Maya wants more from life than inspiring beautiful things. While she realizes that beauty is wonderful and important, she has discovered that creativity can be useful in so many other ways.



Maya confided in me that she wanted to try her magic out on something big, something meaningful, something special.

We discussed it for several days, and then, we had an idea.

Princess P. (my little sister) is one of the most creative women that we know. She most certainly has a very talented muse of her own, but her muse hasn't been able to help her with one very important area of her life. She is quite unhappy right now with her work situation, so Maya and I agreed that some extra creativity needed to be focused in her direction.

Now this is a very big undertaking even for a muse as talented and powerful as Maya, and while the magic of the muse is personal and confidential, Maya and I agreed that it might not hurt to invite other muses to focus some of their creative powers in Princess P.'s direction. So if your muse is up for something a bit different, well she will know what to do.

Maya and I will keep you up to date on the progress.


Now, to prepare for this undertaking Maya really wanted to get geared up. So, she has been working her magic all over my house. We started out knitting the first project ever from my own hand spun yarn. Now, it has been a long time since I have knit a humble garter stitch scarf, but we really wanted something that would show off the beauty of the yarn itself. I am delighted. It still needs to be blocked, but I don't need Maya for that, so on we move to the next project.






Knitting wasn't enough for Maya this week. She had been itching to get the sewing machine out, so off to the fabric store we went. Isn't this fabric fantastic? So, we bought the fabric, but no pattern, that would have been too easy. We pulled one of my favorite skirts out of my closet and laid out some brown butcher paper. You guessed it. Together we created our own simple skirt pattern, and it came together beautifully. This is a photograph of the finished skirt, (except it still needs to be hemmed, again don't need Maya for that.) I just didn't have a good way to photograph it. When I get it hemmed I will have the Duke take a picture of it on me.


Last but not least, we tried out a new spinning technique. I purchased three solid colors of roving. I then carefully separated each of the colors into equal lengths over and over. Then, as I spun I overlapped the colors, changing to the other color when one of the two I was working with ran out. This is it plyed together. I am delighted with the effect.

Great work, Maya! I think you are up to the challenge.

What Kind of Yarn am I?

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Merino Wool.You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes.
Take this quiz!








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I have been in fiber over drive: casting on no less than 5 projects, aquiring (a safer word than buying) yarn for several other projects, and spin-spin-spinning! I even visited a fabric store and hauled out my sewing machine (it's' getting crazy in here people.) Unfortunatly, I am temporarily camraless (sigh) so instead you get to hear about what kind of yarn I am.

I love Merino!