It was neat to look at my weather pixie under an umbrella with lightning in the background and she's exactly right at this moment. It is actually raining, although not hard, and the thunder woke me from a nap. The Bear of course can sleep through anything. I have been so tired and, aside from laundry, house and garden work, I haven't really done much to speak about. I finished one of my cotton blend socks and cast on the second. I bought buttons for the cardigan. I have almost finish filling a bobbin with BFL but am worried that I didn't put enough twist in it because of its long fibre length and that when I ply it it will not be as firm as I want it.

My weaving class was great but it goes so quickly. I was totally surprised when it was 9PM as it didn't feel like it had been that long. There are 3 of us as beginners and two others doing ikat. We each have a loom and are warping a 6" wide warp in 3 colours (mine is predominantly red, surprise, surprise). The instructor, Monique, walked us through measuring the warp on each warping board, then showed us our to put it on the loom back to front. We all worked together and by the time we got to my loom, the three beginners did it all by ourselves. We were threading the heddles when time ran out. One of the ikat students who had already done the course said we were way ahead of where her class was. I think it's a case of repetition will make the process second nature and you won't have to think about where to put the warp, but right now there's a lot to take in. I've also looked at some of my weaving books and there is some variation in how you do some of it, and it's the principles I want to learn so I can take them back to my loom. I have already started thinking about what I want to do for my class project and have ideas for placements, scarves and other things running through my head. I have decided that the filthy fleece is no longer worth the effort and what I haven't carded and washed is going into mulch. I've got loads of beautiful spinnable wool, so why waste time on this?

We went blackberrying again this morning and got a much better haul, although I fell twice. Neither fall was a bad one altho I dropped berries on the first one and the ants beat me to them. However, it did make me feel increasingly unsteady. My vertigo has been bad lately and that doesn't help when you are foraging around on the side of a hill sourrounded by prickly bushes. If you step in a hole or on a branch that breaks, you have no resilience to correct your balance and you go down. But we got enough to make jam with some to spare so I won't complain. We may go back in a fortnight to do some more. I think The Bear is agreeing to go to Bendigo this Thursday but he still hasn't committed. It's our best chance yet to get some land that looks good at a price we can afford, but all I can do is nag.