Merry Christmas!

Some encouraging words from the Gospel of John (NIV): In him was life, and that life was the light of men... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Rusty Nail

A little Friday eye candy. I am busy packing, packing, packing...

Checklist

I'm the sort of person who writes things on the to-do list, after I've done them, just so I can cross them off. But you knew that. Anyway, guess what I got finished today?



No, I didn't think that you would guess a miniature bead purse from 1999 (1996?). Actually, I had 4 of these finished and waiting for handles. Seems silly that after stringing a zillion tiny beads and knitting a purse on 000 zero needles I would be so loath to take the 10 minutes to twist a handle. Sometimes a project just ends that way waits for a return of crafting will.

The other purses will not be appearing on the blog because a) I am too lazy to learn how to set the aperture/ISO/flash settings on my camera when there is no sunshine b) there was no sunshine c) the purses had to be sent ASAP as Christmas gifts (you know, after 10 years of sitting in my closet).

This beige and green one was the only one I knit for myself during my tiny bead knitting binge and I have renewed respect for my teenage self. I may have worn cargo pants, t-shirts and tennis shoes, but I knit killer sparkly miniature purses...

Remotely Crazy

My camera remote arrived! So now I can show you the Plum Crazy Shawl. My photography with the remote is still pretty rough, but gotta start somewhere :)



Fiber: 8 oz Falkland wool
Colorway: 5 Plum Pie, May 2009 Club Fiber by Hello Yarn
Handspun by yours truly
Pattern: Feather & Fan Comfort Shawl



Now I need some long sleeve t-shirts so I can start wearing my shawls out of the house...

Miles To Knit Before I Sleep...

I started earlier this year, but there's still a lot on the list.

Yarn Stalking

Did I ever tell you about the time I stumbled across an obscure independent German yarn dyer? Her site was cute and she had amazing colors. But you know how difficult it is to special-order things from overseas. I thought maybe sometime if I really wanted to, I could figure out the process and get something from her. Well, then she was discovered by North Americans. For a while her stuff was so popular that it seemed to the only way to get it (beside luck) was to pay scalper prices for it on Ebay. It seems that only the recession has been enough to bring her yarn back into the realm of imagination. Some of her least popular colors are now being sold second hand for $40 per skein of sock yarn.

There have been other rushes on popular yarns. Remember when everyone who was anyone was trying KPPPM, then Socks That Rock, then Sundara etc. etc. ? So this time, when I started to see some work on Etsy that intrigued me, I decided to order some. You know, before it turned into a top dollar global phenomenon after being launched to fame by a leading knit-blogger's stunningly photographed FO (yep, I can tell I just lost my non-knitting friends - sorry y'all, tune in next time).

This is the first (more skeins coming) to be procured under my new early yarn stalking system. What do you think, will it have tripled in value by next year?

Dreaming of Christmas

I've been enjoying the photography advent calendar by Moonstiches. You might want to take a peek too.

Today when unpacking the ornaments I came across these. I didn't notice until photographing them that there are five. Five Christmas trees on December 5th.



and five shadows...



Yes, I'm dreaming of Christmas. Here are some of my Christmas wishes:

- sing Christmas carols around a tree decorated with burning candles
- eat 7 Layer Cookies
- surprise someone with an unexpected gift
- laugh so hard my abs hurt for days
- go shopping for clothes with my awesome sister
- go LAST MINUTE shopping with my mom
- catch up with friends

Happy Swap

Blindly swapped some alpaca blend fiber for whatever another raveler wanted to send me.



A few days later this arrived: 200g of lovely BLF/Silk blend. I've been watching this Etsy seller and now serendipitously, some of her work arrives on my doorstep!

But that wasn't all... Jennie also included stitch markers (matching olive green and purple), chocolate, and copies of TWO patterns currently in my queue. The pretty things were wrapped up with care in patterned tissue paper and stickers. Wow! Thank you Jennie :)

PS - Her blog is in Swedish, but my browser offers to translate it for me. It comes out a bit odd, but enough to follow the gist of things.

Life's Rhythms

You know how it is, life is busy and the blog gets quiet. However, looking back on my past posts, I realize how this place has given me a place to journal. It's good to look back and see what I was thinking and doing a year or two ago. To see the flow of it again...

I don't want to lose this fall. This was the first year that there was Thanksgiving at my house. The stuffing came out just like Mom's (yea!) and because of her scripted schedule (emailed to me by request) the event was tear free. My MIL and FIL brought cranberry relish, 3 pies, and their wonderful company. It was cosy and joyful to be together. Next time I might even have the brain space to think about things like table decor... and napkins :)

Another autumn discovery - My neighbor just happened to be making apple-sauce when I came by - could it really be that easy? Yes, yes it was. Peel, core, simmer, enjoy. After that I went to the store and bought Golden Delicious and Macintosh. Peeling that Golden Delicious took me right back to the first taste of fresh pressed cider, hands and nose frozen after hours working with wet apples. It was like finding a long lost friend.

As usual December has erased my desire to spin and filled me with a longing to knit. everything. now. I'm not sure if it is the darkness, or the cold, or the strange combination of happy and sad memories that the season evokes. But I'm continuing my quest for the perfect hat and a few gifts are in progress.

I hope to share more here soon!

Saddle Mountain

A hike under a sickly, November sun.



First through the deciduous trees.



Then by an uprooted pine.



The trail became a stream, and the rocks were mossy.



And on the way home, the last few leaves, a golden glimmer in the woods...

Thank you for the special day.

What did I ever do to alpacas?

That this should happen to me?
.
.
.
.
I have some variegated deep gray alpaca batts that are just begging to be made into a shawl. A shawl that every so gradually shades to light grey at its beautifully blocked tips. A shawl that is so light, and so soft, and so warm that one imagines it has magical properties (like those cloaks from the elves). The fiber itself was hand prepped by the genius at Loop Fiber Arts
and I have hoarded it for the day when I would be "a good enough spinner."



And, dear friends, it turns out that I am allergic to alpaca. Not just snuffly allergic, but hand- itching, nose-running, pretty-well-miserable allergic.

For this reason, my lovely loop batts and lots of other alpaca fiber now for sale on my ravelry page (mention that you read about it here and I'll give a special discount to my blog readers... um... if I have any readers...)

*sniff*

*a-CHOO*

Yesterday

My MIL kindly sent this little table loom home with me:



It is simple, two shafts, 15 inches wide. I've been curious, but not sure how to start without a warping board. Yesterday a friend from the guild showed me how it's done. With all the proper tools it is much easier than one might expect. My camera didn't make it to the lesson, but I look forward to taking pictures next time.



Putting all those ends through all those eyes is quite meditative if one is not in a hurry...

A Lovely Thing

Saw this necklace on Etsy. *sigh*

Try, Try Again

Have been trying to rescue some nice yarn that was not quite the right color...



New color on left, old color on right. This is with acid dye.



The purple is quite dark, but nicer in life than in the photo. I suppose a scale is in order if more exact dye results are desired... perhaps for my birthday?

I have also cast on for a new fall shawl (not the one I was making batts for - that is a story for another day). The fiber is hand-dyed, so I notice there is going to be some (big?) differences as I go along... but I hope it all looks as lovely as this part...

Mending

I'm home mending from some virus that declared war on my lungs. Along with the napping, fluid drinking, and doctor's office calling, there have been some moments of fun...



5 Plum Pie
Hello Yarn Fiber Club (begged)
4.o oz, yardage... um 200?

Before I was stricken, I spun this from the fold. Probably not an orthodox choice, but I found it easier to spin a fine(r) yarn from a large diameter top that way. The color transitions are long and have that wonderful quality of being somewhat barber-poled... I think you can see here a green bit with a brown bit... that makes a long stretch of green/brown yarn. Yummy. A kindly raveler sold this 4 oz, and another kindly raveler sold me a second 4 oz when I realized I had half the yardage I expected. The kindness of knitters to the rescue! If I have energy enough to be decisive, I will cast on either a Baktus or Feather & Fan Comfort Shawl this evening.

My lovely goodies also arrived from my swap partner:



Thank you, Paula! They are right next to the dining room table where I can look at them every day.

And there is also a cute little sweater that I finally found a moment to get buttons onto:



Babies grow fast, so it's good to get this finished a few months before my friend is due!

Win/Win

Baby sweater + happy baby = win

Scrap yarn + someone else's creative genius = hat win

That was a nice start to the weekend!

The Last Days of Summer

Ah those last few weeks of summer... when one tries to cram in all the craft projects, home decorating, sorting, cleaning and organizing that one somehow expected to have done before school started. My MO seems to be to start 3 (or 4 or 5) tasks and spend several days on the project circuit. Efficiency experts would object, but somehow I seem to get the most done this way. See:

All the artwork for the guest room is now hung:



Baby sweater one is finished except for sewing on the buttons:



And headway is being made on the fall shawl project:



What, you say? That doesn't look like a shawl? Well, first it will be batts:



If I'm lucky I can have all the *cough* 32 batts carded so that I can just grab some and go when spinning night comes around each week. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a school year to plan, curriculum to order, a baby sweater to swatch, a curtain to sew, four pairs of pants to hem...

Just So You Know

Deep Water is all plyed and ready to go...

Drumcarding Workshop

Our guild recently sponsored a workshop called Drumcarding Around the Color Wheel with Janis Thompson. It was inspiring! After having almost two whole days to play with the drum carder I came away with...

yarn!



some lovely hand-pulled roving...







a new way to spin mohair...



a sparkle addiction (oh dear)...



And a new desire to be one of those teachers who transmits not only the information, but the spark... the jump-start to try something new, to explore, and to enjoy the process. Thank you Janis!

Baby Blue

Along with the sad moments, there have been some joyous ones too. A friend of my recently had a beautiful little girl, and another friend is expecting a boy. Lots of opportunities for baby knitting :)



Alpaca Baby Shawl knit with Lion Brand's Pound of Love. This blanket already went to the little girl. She has a lovely light blue nursery and I hope this will match.



And this is Columbia/Dorset fiber in the colorway "Deep Water" from Woolthing. As I drafted it the tan and brown reminded me of toasted marshmallows...



This isn't the best picture - but the back bobbin shows what happened when I spun from the full thickness of the roving. I got relatively solid, long stripes. The second half I stripped and then randomly pulled into 18-20 inch lengths. That resulted in the softer stripes. They should barber-pole when I ply them. Usually when I love a roving this much... and then the singles this much... I have a hard time loving the plyed result, but I'm already committed and this should keep me from getting a strongly pooling yarn.

Bittersweet Symphony, Pt 1

All by hand. A sympathy shawl.









Before I had faced grief in my own life, it seemed so hard to know the right thing to do for somone who was hurting deeply. What if I said the wrong thing? What if faith failed in the sight of suffering? Now, from the other side, I realize that what we do to comfort can never be adaquate - in the sense that it can never undo the loss - and yet we must do what we can.

O beautiful for spacious skies...

Isn't the beauty of this land amazing?

Happy 4th!

(And I hope to be back to blogging soon...)

New Place

All our stuff is finally moved to our new place. Didn't ever think I'd ever live someplace that seems so much like Camazots. Funny isn't it, that I love matching things, but am slightly frightened by matching shrubs...



However, any possible sense of claustrophobia is cancelled out by the view from my living room.



People, that is the sunset over the Pacific ocean.

Now, to finish school and get all these boxes unpacked...

So what is going on in real life that prevents blogging:

• Attempting to learn Koine Greek (and memorization doesn't come easily for me)
• Spinning the brown alpaca (which makes me sneeze and must be spun outside the house)
• Aparment hunting (trust me, I would only do this if I had to)
• Teaching (only 5 weeks to go then no more paycheck)

I'll be back, sometime when I don't feel like Eeyore...

Work In Progress

Knitting my first shawl with true laceweight yarn.



Still carding alpaca from this:



to this:



and dreaming of other spring projects...


(my plum roving, all spun up)


(yarn rescued from the thrift shop)

Handspun Stash: Brown

The twilight roving is all spun now. The red/pink braid became the singles on the far left, and the blue/brown braid became the two ply in the middle. Not sure what to make with all this!

In the mood for lace...