Knitting Mistress

New Directions....

2009-02-06T09:01:00.000-08:00

Recently a friend directed me to a new blogland friend, teaching handwork. Following her blog has given me thought about what to do with this space. My personal fiber ramblings while interesting to me, are likely that, only interesting to me :) But I know personally that working in a Waldorf School, and the only Waldorf School in the entire state of Alaska with the exception of a charter using Waldorf inspired methodology, it is challenging at sometimes to get the support I need to stay inspired in the classroom.

I admire Teaching Handwork for recognizing this niche and filling it! Waldorf Education is a very hands on manipulative, creative, exploratory, visual, methodology and sitting with a computer is not the primary method of information exchange. So while there are links to fabulous educational opportunities for teachers online, there is not a lot of.... here we know you are isolated here is support... out there online! What a great idea Teaching Handwork! :)

So I think that transformation is in order as we'd say in our mainlesson books when there is something that needs a little beautifying or tweaking to correction.

This weekend I'll work on looking at sharing my curriculum and what challenges me and maybe together we can find ways to inspire each other!

I'll still be...

making peace, and spinning fleece!

Kiska Knitting!

2009-01-26T19:07:00.000-08:00

Finished are the gloves knitted from the brown mystery wool handspun! I really like them. I still think that I will very lightly felt them.

Since then I have spun up 2 ply of the brown mystery wool and a single ply of Anshon's Biscotti (angora blend) from Susan's Spinning Bunny for a nice 3 ply heavy worsted not quite bulky wt yarn. I decided that I wanted to add some of my Kiska's fiber because it blooms just like angora. So I carded it with some colored merino and spun up a 2 ply that about matches the 3 ply.

And just for fun, I knit up a pocket monster out of a wool/silk blend. She's so cute, I put her in my own bag just for smiles :)

Names for her? How about She-ster?

Make peace, spin fleece!

Now I need another spinning wheel.....

2009-01-24T13:02:00.000-08:00

I just love this Sit and Spin DvD. The problem that I have now is that neither of my wheels has a large orfice. And Neither one has the option of getting one any time soon :( What to do?????

YAaaa-Froggin-Hoooooo....

2009-01-22T09:41:00.000-08:00

ok.... no frogging here! I just finished watching my much awaited DVD of the famous Jacey Boggs from Insubordiknit and it ROCKS ladies and gents. It was worth every long awaited breath abaited second! Fun yarn, sweet Jacey, great music, awesome spinning!

If you lust for fiber, love spinning, and you adore funky you will love this video. Now I guess you could spin up some non funk learning these techniques. But hopefully you will be insprired to think outside the spinning basket ;)

Go get yerself a DVD!

Spin on dooods!

Make peace, spin fleece!

Spinning during "Ice Days"....

2009-01-16T21:40:00.000-08:00

....as opposed to the normal "snow days".

The following is wool that I picked up at the Fall Spinning retreat in 2008. I didn't work too hard at removing short cuts, so there will be some pilling. But I am making felted mittens and slippers with it so who cares right? :)

This is a wool/tencel blend, which I love so much from Susan's Spinning Bunny.

And this folks is a memorial to the lovely crisp clear and very cold winter we *were* having... that has now turned to craaaaaaaaaaaaap! It is now in the 40's and blowing hurricane winds every so often. School's been closed for the past 3 days because no one can walk to their cars without risking serious injury. Well, some of us can, but not too many (I may dislike people with heated garages).

make peace, spin fleece...

Dang it's cold out!

2009-01-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

Okay minus 24F this morning. I realize that it is colder in other places, but this is just too cold to not have a garage! The good thing about it???? It is GORGEOUS out. Clear blue skies and lovely sunrises and sunsets.

This is what it looks like when someone you love goes on a 12 mile run at minus 10F

I spun this up last night... will ply it tonight :)

I felted up some small bowls over the holidays.

Henry always has to sit on or in something. For some reason he thought he'd fit in this one. After he squatted down on it he figured out it just wasn't working. So cute! :)

Make Peace, Spin Fleece!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T02:19:00.000-08:00

Well... a few days late anyhow :) Celebrated my wedding anniversary on the 1st as well as welcomed 2009. The First Friday Art Exhibit for my school opened on the 2nd and that was a busy day. It was a success and costs were covered with a bit of profit.

New Year's Resolutions anyone?

1. Get Fit! Joined Gym (uh hem, it has been -5 to-15F so the outside must wait)
and have actually gone to gym and worked out.
2. Get to bed at reasonable time (ie 10pm) ok, that isn't happening tonight.
3. Knit more for self. All I really want this year is to make a duster sweater for myself. Ok, I want to knit a lot more than that, and I will... but I want to put the duster on the line up.

That is it :)

How about you?

Make peace, Spin fleece!

2-fer...

2008-12-29T12:51:00.001-08:00

I realized that I had not posted pictures of the items that were made and donated to the school auction. :)

This is an Eskimo extended family. Mama, papa, two children and a baby, Auntie, Uncle and Two Elders. All made from reclaimed fulled woolen sweaters and soft sculpted wool/cotton bodies.

The playmat is a bit difficult to see since it is displayed here with a lot of other items with the colored silks draped around. The playmat itself was fulled flat felt with a winter scene (down side in the picture) and the summer tundra (upside). There is a creek and waterfront. A knit/felted igloo, woolen/birch baskets with needled felted berries and salmon. A needle felted beluga whale, polar bear, musk ox, walrus and sewn/woolen seal with baby. This set was done by a friend and myself.

These Four Season Trees are so beautiful in person. The picture just doesn't do them justice. They actually are 4 separate panels. The silks that got draped for the display sort of make that hard to see. This was done by my grade 2/3 class over several weeks. They are flat felted.

So much fun :)

Good news...

2008-12-29T02:23:00.000-08:00

I joined the gym today so that I could try to catch up with my ambitious daughter who is training for a marathon. This will take quite a while (not her training, but my catching up!). Joining a gym sounds so wimpy. :P But today it was -5F average, and my daughter frost bit her ear week before last when it was 10F above, so I wasn't about to go running at minus anything. I am a little bit afraid of slipping on ice being so out of shape. I can just see me throwing my back out. Anyhow, less knitting, more off the couch time in the future. Other Good News... I sold Bohemian Medusa :)

The sculpture has changed since this picture just a little. The tongues where changed to copper, and the eyes are now glass beads. Loved her, but glad she has a good home to live in.

Make peace, spin fleece!

Anxiety and Depression bite...

2008-12-26T19:43:00.000-08:00

I hate feeling like this. I am not sure where I fell down, but the feeling is back and it's a bummer.

Lots of knitting. A cashmerino ballet sweater top for daughter, needs blocking and a button.

Two cashmere slouch hats... one in a soft green and the other a purple tone. They have been knit and reknit, but I can't seem to get the fit I want. It is a good thing that I love the yarn.

And a cashmere mobias scarf in a nice sage/olive green fingering wt. I am using a fir cone pattern on that one.

Right now I am working on a show of students' work, and we a great floral fiber sculpture--say that 5x fast! As soon as I get the backing on that I will post a picture. We'll hang at Sevigny Studio for the month of January beginning with the opening on the 2nd. Hopefully to some live music (the students' string quartet or some duets)!

So Santa thought I was nice this year... either that or he was trying to make me feel better. Me thinks it might be the latter :) But my rig now is sporting a yamaha top sport carrier to hide all those skis and ice skates. And the back has a top of the line bike rack. Santa thought it was highly unlikely that my weakling arms could get a bike on the top of the van. I think that he might of been right on that one. Anyhoo... I also got a new (second) knitting needle carrier.

This is good because my other is exploding and it doesn't even have 1/2 of my needles in there. I also keep losing my crochet hooks. I might go get the crochet case to match it up.... or I could make one. I guess :)

So I don't know about the rest of the country, but we're having a great winter. Nice and crisp. It has only warmed up (knock knock) once or twice making things nasty. We got about 10-12" in the last 2 days. Lots of powder. A great white Christmas! The skiers are in heaven. If I could get out of my funk I would definately join them. I may need a readjustment on the program if this goes on more than another week. I think that I might have taken on too much and just need to step back. But I am considering trying some light therapy on top of the current treatment and see if that helps a bit. By the way... if you are feeling a bit funkish... I do not recomment seeing Me & Marley. You definately need a hanky for that one :)

Until then... I'll keep trying to knit the blues away.

Make Peace, Spin Fleece

so much for global warming....

2008-10-08T00:24:00.000-07:00

We could wish it were warming up here today. We had an exceptionally early snow fall already, and now we've lots of drooping trees because many still had their leaves. The good news is that the lawn got mowed, and the flowers mostly cut back and most of the fish caught from the pond before snow flew! Now I can ignore weeds and not feel guilty about it anyhow. I also got all my fushias cut back and checked into the local greenhouse before they froze too. This is good! Now on to winter knitting and spinning. sigh :)

Valley Fiber Arts Spinning Retreat, oh my....

2008-09-29T01:16:00.000-07:00

I returned from the 20th annual Valley Spinning Retreat today :) Mecchia (my Norwegian wheel) and I didn't return alone either. Mecchia will never have to be traumatised by car travel again! She got a nasty scratch on the drive out to the retreat :(

My new to me Shacht Matchless DT, with a bazillion bobbins, every size whorl avail. and a tensioned kate! yippee!

I am not sure why they uploaded to a file saying spinning_july08, but I don't care... sky was a glorious blue (wish I had had my camera, bah!), leaves were golden yellow & falling, moose were snacking and crunching through the woods during my middle of the night trek to the restrooms, and there was frost on the windows and ice on the puddles this morning... it was no July... and all about late September :)

I left town on Friday so fast I am sure there was a report of a minivan leaving the city with molten rubber left in it's tracks! I landed out at the retreat at 8pm, signed in and moved my stuffers to my bunk in a cabin. Then I headed downstairs to stake out a spot for my HUGE wheel. argh. I love my Mecchia wheel but it is *not* a traveling, space conscious partner for group spins. This year I went about and tried different wheels, got in other folks' space to gawk at what they were spinning and I indulged in luxury fiber. See my goodies?

Abby and Henry sniffin it all out!

Ma! This smells goooooooood :)

I have merino/angora and a carded batt of silk/merino in a purple blend that I won in the gift exchange. I purchased some mongolian cashmere/angora/merino blend (my new favorite fiber!), some baby camel, some dyed silk roving, some white silk hanks for dying, and some handpainted coridale roving. I also puchased a boatload of merino top for a felting project for my students. That starts this week :)

Stay tuned for details on that one.

This is my latest knitting.... another Sampler Shawl as previously mentioned. It is with the silk blend noro sock yarn.

And this is sock number 1 of 2 on handspun woolen thrummed socks for a friend. I plan to dye them orange/gold/reds when I am done and then sole them in leather.

All tuckered out, wanna spin more, must get sleep.... yawn.

ps make peace, spin fleece

2008-09-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

Omgoodness! The time flies! It is not that there's nothing to talk about, just that I am dead to the world from exhaustion before I hit the blogger. Lots of felting, and knitting.... actually let's go in order of what's happened in chrono-order.

July and August brought lots (and lots and lots more) lazuring. Yeah, go google lazure. It is basically a watercolor painting on an interior wall. My lazure partner Susan and I with occasionally help from some much appreciated & loved teens lazured 5 school classrooms, one Assembly Hall, a Foyer to the school and a small conference room.

I should weigh about 60 pounds after that workout and corresponding sweaty exhaustion! Following that I got a near pneumonia-hideous chest cold, missed 2 days of school. Oh yes, moved into new classroom, begun classes, started school and *then* got sick and missed said 2 days.... which should have been 7. I was out in bed 3 weekends in a row trying to recover from that.

Now I am currently (even as of this very minute) working on items to donate to our school auction. Which is quite a gala event, catered din-din, silent auction, live auction, vino and lots of amazing items.

With my gr. 4/5 class I am helping put together a sheperds set. Each student makes a woolen sheep, we'll add a sheperd, pony, sheep dog, wolf, and a pasture mat.

With my gr.7/8 we are building an ottoman and are felting a cover for the cushion. Planning tonal greens for that one. Getting the fiber this weekend for the color, we just laid out the base over the foam blocks today.

With my girlfriend.... we are making an Arctic Playmat set. Part art, part play set. We just laid out the mat which is about 3x4 feet yesterday. And I am actually fulling it right now (am obviously resting). It is winter on one side, summer on the other. Winter is white, with blues on the ocean. Summer is browns with greens for the tundra and I will needle felt some blue berries on that, and there is a blue(s) stream that flows to the ocean which is blues.

I have made a beluga whale, walrus, seal, musk ox (am making now). My girlfriend is making the Inuit-Yupik (Eskimo) family. I will be felting the igloo this week and then will add a fox, polar bear(s), whaling boat, some salmon and maybe more if time allows.

With the Auction Committee (of which I am on) we are going to do a group composite study of Van Gough's Starry Night.

I am knitting another sampler shawl from Folk Shawls. I have handspun, thrummed slipper sox on the needles for a co-worker.

I have a line up of 6 winter kuspuks! This is one that I made last year.

This is what Spring looks like on the beach in Homer Alaska! brrr This is late May.

With all the bear maulings in the city this year, this is my one moment of total insanity. Hiking at Kincaid park down to the beach.

The best part of being right here, right now? I am leaving in less than 48 hours for the Fall Spinning Retreat! 2 days, on a lake, in the woods, with nothing to do but nap, spin, buy-fondle-trade-oogle fiber! Eating chocolate might happen too. :)

Summer Spinning!

2008-07-17T16:41:00.001-07:00

Well, as previously mentioned we are having a damp cool summer. I am not really minding it so much... fiber helps. The mosquitoes seemed to have calmed way down and I don't have to dope up or shower in Citronella oil to go outside. I have been gardening like crazy. The only real dissapointment in the gardening department is that I bought 5 huge hanging baskets and 3 smaller ones. Most of which were fushias. One of them turned up to have an aphid infection within the first day or so :P and of course it spread. My attempts to control with natural soap/pepper/water spray was semi-successful in the buggy dept, but the damage to the plants is so ugly. Bumms me out to pay premium for ready to enjoy plants only to have to deal with an aphid problem :(

That said, knock on wood, they haven't spread to the yard. My delphiniums are great with just daily checks for leaf caterpillars. And with all the dampness, I have expected more problems with leaf mildew, but it hasn't been too bad. Here is my favorite annual (for this zone anyhow). My son's color pick, I love it!

Anyhooooo... I have counted a dozen peonies in the ground now. And I have added a few more poppies. I reworked the pond area, pruning out some bushes that were overgrown, and the tree way back so that there was less shade. I also added about 10 hosta of differing variety in the pond garden. In the front gardens I have put in dozens of annuals for color, another bleeding heart in a shaded area. And moved existing perrenials around for better show. Fun, fun, fun :)

I have also been spinning like crazy... I suppose it has been to cope with being inside so much... or maybe to deal with the kids' squabbling. That is probably more like it! :)

This is a hand dyed faulkland wool, spun up and double plied. Perfectly balanced! yippee! I'll work on figuring out twist, weight and blah blah blah later ;)

And this is about 2 oz of natural corridale. An ounce of fingering single ply. And another ounce of fingering 2 ply. Then I worked up about 3 or so ounces of merino/angora blend from Susan.

And this is the knitting on hand :) I am playing with a single skein of Noro that I just love the colorway in. It reminds me of sherbet. This will be a hat, and I am doing a pattern stitch that is called something like floral rib or something (book in car).

Make peace, spin fleece! :)

Fabulous days of summer! (picture loaded)

2008-07-13T03:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, that might be a bit optimistic... summer is relative these days. We're having a rather chilly overcast like "summer" but my flowers like it. Everything but the roses anyhow.

Pale pink dahlia.

Pale yellow dahlia.

First peony of the season.

My newest lupines, these are crazy.

Columbine, or as I call them Fairy Hats!

Now in light of the recent bear mauling in the city... I have crazy pictures to show. I am a SERIOUS bear-a-phobe so this was super brave stuff for me. My sweetie pie flew me (in a friends plane, with friend and his wife) to Wolverine Creek, which is about a 30ish minute flight in a Cessna 182 from where we live. We then baled out a skiff, attached a motor, added mosquito spray to our clothing before they drained us of all our blood, hopped into the skiff with a picnic snack and a thermos of coffee and headed off to Wolverine Creek. It was only about a 10 minute put-put across to the creek and upon arrival there was a single blackie dining on salmon.

Blackie :)

He was nervous (not of us, but of other bears coming) he was always looking up the creek bed to see if others were coming.

Another did come! This time it was a LARGE brown sow with new triplets! I thought that I might throw up, mess my pants and pass out all at the same time. She was very close, and it took several bad words from me before they moved our skiff farther away from the beach and I could relax! She was very nervous (again not of us, but of other bears coming)... huffing and talking to her babies.

When she first came down, she came out checked out the area, chased off the blackie, and ate a few salmon. The little ones watched from the shore.

Once she was comfy, she went back and brought them out to the open area where the salmon were.

Check out that big mama bear butt!

Soon two other brownies came. They appeared to be "small" adults, and tolerated each other. Here is one of them using a tree stump to eat some of the fish on.

At this time there were 3 black bears coming and going, watching from nearby, waiting for the brownies to give them a chance to come down and feast. The mama bear with triplets was up farther on the hillside. They'd run off when the first of the two single brownies came. She was very protective, huffing and all telling the babies to head for the hills.

We watched the 2 single brownies for awhile, with the blackies hanging around and then a very large sow with yearling twin cubs showed up, chasing off the singles. She was huge and tolerated no other bears on the small beach!

At this time we shared our picnic, good thing that there was tons of salmon so the bears wouldn't be interested in us with our food! Brownies, hogies, and hot coffee! Believe me, this food would NOT have come out if we'd not been out in a boat, and there of been lots of fish for the bears to eat.

After snacking, gawking, taking lots of pictures and soaking in the extreme beauty of the lake... several kayakers came up to bear view. So we motored off back to our plane. On the flight home we saw two black bears on a beach just across the inlet from our main destination. Gorgeous weather, calm winds and a good time all around.

I hope to never hear that huffing sound from anywhere other than in a boat!

Here is some eye candy... my sweet shy kitty Abby in the morning sun :)

Today I spun up a small skien (about 2 oz) of corridale on my spingle during a drive out to Girdwood in a sport weight single ply. I am going to spin up some more and then dye them together. This evening on my Mecchia, I finished up about 4 oz of angora/mohair/merino in a 2-ply fingering weight (I think, I really should be more precise about this eh?). About 22 wpi, 6 tpi... perfectly balanced :)

Batteries died, pictures tomorrow or as battery charging allows!

Make peace, spin fleece!

ackkkk...bear phobia alert!

2008-06-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

More on vacation trip later, but on the front page of the newspaper today...
mauling or MAULING! :P

There is reason that I am not outdoorsy :) I used to be a runner as a teen, I want to be a runner again someday, but I don't want to breath car fumes and I am afraid of bears!

It's all beachy!

2008-06-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Our flight arrived at SeaTac 2 am last Thurs. the 12th. We picked up our bags, taxied to an old family friends' house to pick up camper/truck and drive straight to Ocean Shores on the SW coast of Washington State. I'm sure that there is an emoticon for a very tired person (or 5), but... just use yer imagination and throw in some fine gritty sand for good measure! :)

We then spent 4 lovely days with our parents (my inlaws) who just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. All 6 of their children (including my hubby) and all 18 of their children including one serving in Iraq here on R&R! Every spouse was able to come and one soon to be fiance'. Can you imagine all the fun when you put all the above into 2 large beach houses, add 2 hot tubs, good weather, lots of food, good conversation and tons of love? :) *sigh* On the next to last day many, many other family & friends arrived to help celebrate. All of my MIL's siblings were able to come with their spouses. And each and every one of them was representing a marriage that had celebrated 50+ years!

I did lots of knitting! This is because I knit and talk really well :) I am nearly 1/2 done with a stole from Noro sock yarn (?-I'll explain later) in a flower bud pattern on size 6 needle).

On Sunday eve we said our goodbyes and drove 13 miles up the coast to Pacific Beach State Park where I had vacationed every summer as a child. We rendevous with my sister and her family of 7. There was lots more cousin time in the sand :) not to mention around the bon fire with s'mores and good stories!

After this I snuck back down to Ocean Shores to visit Fusions and do some very luxurious & satisfying shopping. Hi Kelly---> super sweet owner of said luxury destination :)

Well.... now we are back to the metro area and will do out and backs from Auburn to Seattle, letting the kiddos experience the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, Seattle Underground, Pacific Science Center, Puget Sound Ferry ride, Spaghetti Factory Downtown, Sculpture Park, walk Montlake Cut, Ballard Locks to watch boats/ships pass, Greenlake Park, Woodland Park Zoo... and MORE if time allows. I think that I might show them where I went to gradeschool and where their daddy and I got engaged. We'll see. :) I'm tired just looking at the list and knowing that it is only a partial!

knit on!

2-fer-1 today!

2008-06-03T13:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished navajo plying my merino/tencel Autumn Sunset singles. I haven't figured out my new camera yet, the pictures should improve as I do :)

with flash

without flash

with flash (again)

Almost perfectly balanced without a wash, only a few booboos and very nice to spin and to ply. I love the sheen of the tencel!

gaaaack the light!

2008-06-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

June 3, 2008
Sunrise: 6:31am
Sunset: 10:58pm
Moonrise: 6:54am
Moonset: 12:02am

it's killing me, blinding me, withering my wee eyes, causing a strange dream life, my weeds are taking over the planet with all the extra grow time, roses bud-bloom-fade all in the period of a single day.... and it is only going to get worse, much worse.

June 18 2008
Sunrise: 6:26am
Sunset: 11:08pm
Moonrise: none
Moonset: 5:55am
Full Moon: 7:31am

now this looks as though we'll have 7 1/2 hrs of normal darkness to catch some zzzz's, but that is a trick. "sunset" just means that the sun hits the horizon. the problem is that it doesn't go far enough beyond so it is perpetual dusk and really only "dark," and even that is relative, from about 1-2am.

sleeping when the birdies are still chirping is just. not. right.

sigh...

i am nearly finito with my periwinkle mohair stole. need only to cast off and then apply a knotted fringe, possibly with beading. and i have an entire bobbin spun of very thin singles from the autum sunset tencel/merino blend. spinning it is a dream (see post below, it looks the same, only bobbin much fuller and with thinner singles).

i am packing (and moving) my classroom and it is much more work than i'd planned. of course it is, you always have more stuff than you think. so doing this is very cleansing, an opportunity to organize, purge and better the space.... right? :)

of course it is!

pictures of mohair wonder to follow... soon!

make peace, spin fleece (preferably tencel/merino!)

It must be the daylight...

2008-05-22T02:26:00.000-07:00

We are at exactly 19 hours of daylight as of today! It makes people manic I tell you. Kids go bonkers, drivers go nuts, motorcycles start doing wheelies down the freeways, dogs want to play fetch and be walked at 10pm, cats are freaking out with the dustbunnies at 3 am... and fiber freaks well they spin and knit like mad :)

My car knitting.... the stuff I do at red lights and traffic jams (please don't try and tell me that you don't do it too, at least I set it down when my foot is on the gas pedal), is a sampler stole out of a blue mohair, my recipe.

And then I am spinning up some superwash merino/tencel blend hand-dyed by Susan. This yummilicious fiber is in the Autumn Sunset colorway, and I just love how the tencel adds that silky feel and shine.

This is the top, and fine singles...

This is about 3 oz spun up thick/thin and 2 ply. There is about 180 yards. I could have spun the singles tighter, but was more focused on trying to get the rhythm of the thick/thin thing. It balanced pretty well, but has not yet been dunked. In natural light.

With a flash.

I have about 4 oz of the top left and am planning to spin it all in fine singles and navajo ply it.

Make peace, spin fleece!

WoW!!!

2008-05-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

I have to keep reminding myself that these amazing people are 8th grade graduates! This weekend's (years!) highlight was the graduation of 7 amazing 8th graders from our Waldorf School.

Their individual gift presentations during graduation were a (nothing less than professional) photographic slide show (see www.jangdagallery.com), piano, viola & violin solos of the masters (double jaw dropping amazing WoW!!), personal compositions on piano (again... WoWWW), FreeBird sung and played by graduate playing his own handmade electric guitar (WoW! dang, why didn't I have a lighter to wave?!), a self choreographed modern dance piece!

Wow..... speechless! Well if you can be speechless and gushing at the same time! I just adore these people. These were also students of my specialty classes (woodwork/handwork fiber arts), and friends of my oldest child. I am so grateful to have been able to know and work with them since they were just little tykes. I look forward to being witness to their journey into highschool and adulthood! They are just amazing!!!

Here is a picture of a few of them (the guys) with a few of their buddies enjoying a post grad sunset!

make peace, spin fleece!

Coastal Paradise

2008-05-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day... and some eyecandy from yesterday's perfect day.

Sleeping Lady at almost sunset, about 9pm. The sun finally sat at 1030pm.

Snarly Trees on the Coastal Trail. Can't wait for the leaves. They are budding this weekend!

I began spinning up 4 oz of merino/yng mohair from The Spinning Bunny in the Fruit Salad colorway that is being closed out. I tried to thick/thin slubby spin it and was not very successful. It looks muddy and not slubby. It is true what spinners say about it being difficult to spin thick/slubs after having mastered thin singles. :(

Pictures of muddy mess to follow... when I am done grieving!

Rhapsodies in Fiber, my Bohemian Collection...

2008-05-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ok.... it is obvious that the blog has been seriously neglected. But... this is what I have been up to! :)

This was a very large show, this is just a sampling!

This peice "Tidal Creatures" is a wall sculpture (most of my sculptures are), and is about 24" X 14", and is a combo of wet felt, and needle felt, with embellishments.

"Drew" is about 18" X 14", needle felted wool/silk/silver over a sculpted core. (Sold)

"E=mc2" is a blue eyed Einstein and is needle felted wool over scupted core. He's 14" X 10".

I wish you could see this one better. I rarely.... never until this one, frame felt. But it was thin and I almost threw it away. I loved the color though and so it hung around and someone encouraged me to frame it. I found this gold frame and it just made the picture pop. Now it is one of my favorite peices ever. "Kincaid Trees at Sunset"

Another view, a bit closer...

"Baa Baa Black Sheep," is a large soft scupture. The sheep heads were wet felted from merino, the locks were needle felted on after and the faces then embellished and mounted together. This is large, maybe 2' X 3'

This is "Blonde Bohemian Girl," needle felted wool, with silk/silver over sculpted core. She is 14" X 10"

This is a small sculpture. 5" X 8".... "Polynesian Party Girl," needle felted wool, silk, silver over sculpted core.

"Serenity Sister in Greece" is needle felted wool over sculpted core. About 20" X 14"

As I said, this is just a wee sampling! It was great fun, and several large peices sold during the opening so I didn't get to photographing them. What was the most fun, was that I took E=mc2 to the opening as a work in progress, so that viewers could see and feel what fiber sculpture is about. Most people have never seen anything like it so it was fun to share. :)

I hope you enjoy!

shameful blogging...

2007-12-06T18:47:00.000-08:00

how can that much time of passed? maybe it is that hands are flying, time is passing unchecked? since oct-21 i have participated in a ticketed auction fundraiser. i had my 7th grade class (which i have for woodwork and handwork at a waldorf school) build a folding room divider frame with brass hinges in woodwork and then for handwork we measured and cut the panels (4 of them), hemmed them, and then batiked them.

we raised $1700 for this! wow! i am so proud of their work!

then i sold myself for a package of 10 one hour private fiber art lessons (of choice), and sold a 10' X 12' room lazuring (google lazure painting to find out what that is). i then ended up lazuring 3X much that space at the clients home. it is gorgeous... i will post pictures when their flooring is installed and i can do a photo shoot.

i have nearly finished my caplet from wrap style. i am using noro kuryeon (which i love so much that i bought 20 skiens of the colorway #207. i changed the pattern a bit. i did a ribbed collar and a rolled i-cord cast off. you can tell that i don't give a hoot about making sure that the next skein is in the correct line up for the colorway.

next on the wip agenda is a project for the holidays. this one is for one of our rescued kitties. she is 3 and was abandoned after her elderly owner died and the relatives put her out. she is extremely shy to the point that she couldn't attend show events for the rescue group. she is skittery, but very loving and adores one of our dogs. she will crawl on her, cuddle up to her, climb into her kennel etc. so i figured why not spin up some of our dog kiska's fur and knit up a kitty blankie? so i blended kiska's undercoat fur with some merino in burgundy tones and added a bit of jewel tone silk and viola! i have so much kiska fur that i think that i will also spin/knit/felt up a kitty bed for her too.

lastly, non fiber related, but inspiring non the less (for fiber art) are sunrises and sunsets. the last few have been spectacular and required photographing! first the sunrise over the chugach range...

and a breath taking sunset!

and this my friends is just too cute to leave unshared... my 8 year old's entry for a t-shirt logo for a local event.

make peace, spin fleece!

embossed leaves finished!

2007-10-21T04:08:00.000-07:00

done! my first pair of socks with a "real" pattern. done in cherry tree hill supersock fingering wt yarn, superwash/size 1 addi circ needles.

once i switched to the double circ needle method i had much more fun. i have already cast on for another pair of socks using tofutsies sock yarn: sw wool, soysilk, cotton and chitin (shrimp/crab shell fiber) i am not sure what that fiber is all about. i'll be knitting the "merino lace socks" from interweaves favorite socks book.... and using those addi needles.

my peacock wheel arrived. it is so cute, i love it. i can tell why folks really want those double treadles especially on these small portable wheels though. i am treadling like it is nobody's business to ply on it. i still would rather have a single treadle than a double. pictures later!

make peace, spin fleece!

dreds are coming to a location near you...

2007-10-17T00:31:00.000-07:00

i've been growing my hair out for a year and a half, for the sole (or soul if you will) purpose of dredding it. i have always wanted to. being the "good girl" of the family i've never done it. i said to my stylist one day i wanted to do it before i got too old and she said "well you better hurry up." i didn't smack her, but i did start growing it out that day! i am no longer in the mainstream (used to be in healthcare), and i am a full time fiber artist who also teaches handwork (fiber arts) and woodworking to elementary and middle schoolers. i do a lot of felting/fulling... heck why not my hair?!?!?!

i'm gonna do it. my hubby is a little disturbed, not because he hates dreds, but because my hair won't have that silky feeling that it does now. i'm seriously the farthest thing you can get from a bragger, but there are 2 things that even i have to admit. i have great hair, and great boobs. i'll never felt my boobs (cast them maybe, been there done that) but i can felt my hair!

soon!

fibery news...

i have just finished my first patterned sock. i've made tons of plain jane sox, but this is cherry tree hill superwash sock yarn on size 1 & 2 needles. i am doing the embossed leaves socks from interweave's designs.

i did the first one on size 2 crystal palace dpn. i have been a diehard wooden needle fanatic. downright wood snob actually. maybe even a wood needle nazi. but i have to admit that i really don't like using anything smaller than a size 5 in the dpn and have found myself avoiding patterned sox because of it. so i thought to myself, why not try cat bordhi's sox soar on 2 circs. i bought 2 cheap pair of metal circs just to see. it was aweful, the join between needle and cord was horrid. i can actually think of lots of more words to describe how i really felt about using them, but not here! :-P

anyhow... checked out another shop looking to see if i could find some top of the line wooden circs in size 2 and only found one brand that was not recommended by the staff. they talked me into addi needles. i was dubious. i hemmed and hawed and stuck my nose up in the air and talked all about how much i hate the sound and feel of metal. blah blah blah.

they were very nice and just nodded.

they were so very nice that i thought "maybe i should just give them a try".

because my tension is on the loose side, i sized down to size 1 on the addis and bought 2 of them in different colors (one is addi's "lace" needles, which at this point i can't tell what makes them different other than the color).

*cough cough* i love them *cough cough*

they are so different than grandmas old aluminum needles! wow! i am also sold on sox with patterns now. i can totally see doing many other pairs with these needles!

on my size 5 crystal palace circs i have just cast on mystic wool in blue/turquoise for a tam...for the upcoming dreddies!

i personally wouldn't of bought this color, but my 8 year old just crocheted his first hat and wanted to make another and this was the yarn that he picked... but then got sucked into doing something else. you know how sometimes you can just tell that a cause is lost. this is one of those times, so i reclaimed the fiber! the tam is being knit open in a "puffed rib" pattern which is pretty simple. i think that it might be a bit small for me, but no matter, son number 2 will get it if it is.

on another note. tonight was knit night and i met up with a fiber buddy at a local cafe' for chat. my 13 year old came along and while we were all visiting somehow the subject came up of Michael Jackson and how although he is pretty freakish he has had some really awesome works. we were discussing how different things might have gone in his career if he'd of not gone the wayward way that he did when all of the sudden during a longer knitting pattern reading moment my teen said quite calmly and with frankness "how come michael jackson makes his kids wear paper bags on their heads when they go out?"

something about that, not the question exactly, but how she asked it, struck a cord and i laughed until i cried. what a different world she is growing up in than the one i was 13 in. odd isn't it?

spin on!

the countdown!

2007-10-12T03:01:00.000-07:00

today my payment for the peacock finally cleared so it should be shipped tomorrow and arrive in about a week! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

the garden has been put away, the goldfish taken out of the pond, and the studio is waiting for mudding on the plasterboard! winter is almost here :0)

make peace, spin fleece... take a nap!

i'm cheating on mecchia...

2007-10-08T01:19:00.000-07:00

i have fallen in love with mecchia... not love at first site it is true, but a steady respectful growing kind of love. so much so that i am finding edammertje has not been what i had hoped for. there is nothing fundamentally wrong with eda. but i've discovered that i really love the wood of mecchia, and the fine turnings, not to mention i love scotch tension vs the bobbin lead drive/tension eda has just like a louet.

so i guess i want eda to find a new home. mecchia is much too big to take anywhere, she is a stictly an at home kind of gal. so i purchased a peacock! i expect to meet the peacock in 2 weeks. my dd has taken up spinning on eda, but if things work out with this new wheel... she'll share this one with me and we'll pass eda on to someone that doesn't desire scotch tension and who will love her for the modern lines and clean functionality that she has!

i also carded up the rest of my stash enhancement from the retreat. this is batch #2 of the handdyed merino that i carded in bamboo. plans are to spin up more lace to light fingering weight.
.

this is me with other ladies of the moon this weekend celebrating what we call "fiesta de la luna" and our daughters moving towards womanhood. fall on the lake was lovely. we found our first snow in town on the drive back in! we walked, cooked, nourished, celebrated, welcomed a new moon daughter, committed, rejoiced, reaffirmed and "walked in beauty"

spin on, knit on!

wow, it is almost like christmas around here...

2007-10-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

first... i had a fabulous time at the fall 2007 spinning retreat. this is the culprit who introduced me to spinning! notice her fabulous wheel... she waited 3 1/2 years for her turn to have it made by a gentleman in oregon who is no longer making wheels now.

these are other alaskan spinners and knitters! sure they look harmless, but you should have seen them during the gift exchange!

i should have taken pictues, 49 of about 60 women participated. i came away with 4 skeins of lovely fall colored fingering weight yarn! all that fiber, spinning and knitting supplies in one place, whew... slurp slurp slurp!

this is the latest of what mecchia and i have spun up. i still have to set the twist, but overall it looks good to me. i love mecchia.

and look who arrived today!

last but not least...

i took this picture last week, there is so much more snow in just the last few days. so we hurried and did fall clean up on the gardens, and now we are almost ready, ready as you can be for the winter to arrive when you haven't yet got enough of summer!

make peace, spin fleece!

plying navajo style...

2007-09-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

i got home today and decided to spin up the remainder of the split roving. i have 4 oz of this sw blueberry patch merino/tencel from susan and i am using 2oz for this spin. i split it in 1/2 and then divided to predraft. from there i lost track so there was really no real rhythm. i'd divided down to about pencil roving size, but forgot to keep track of the color sequence. i was concentrating on spinning about lace to fingering weight and trying to not overspin. when i plyed it i relearned the rule about overplying a bit because it unspins a bit during plying. that was a pia.

i love the colors, and am getting better at plying.

i ended up with 2 small skeins, about 50 yards each
what i learned: overply singles that will be plyed!

next on my agenda: i am planning on felting winter boots in the norwegian lobben style. i need to felt some fabric, quilt it to a lining, make a pattern, cut it out, sew it together and apply a sole. i have been wanting to do this for years, and now am going to do it with my 7th grade class!

4 days to the spinning retreat!

make peace, spin fleece!

weeeeeee!!!!

2007-09-16T22:51:00.000-07:00

today i cast on for a pair of lightly felted mittens using my newly spun border leicester woolen single ply. i'm using size 6 needles and a basic 36 st pattern in my head. my flash is out of control.

tonight i decided to go for the luxury and reached into the stash and pulled out this treasure from Susan! it is a yummy superwash merino/tencel roving. i really want to roll around on it, it is soooo0000000 soft!

henry likes it.... he thinks that it is shiney and very luxurious.

i'm not sure, but i think that this is lace weight... i'm lazy remember, someday i'll figure out how to measure.

last but not least from my lovely day... my sweet viola player

make peace, spin fleece!

meet mecchia

2007-09-16T03:00:00.000-07:00

the rest of her finally came today. it wasn't really head over heels love at first site, but we're getting to know each other, and i like her alot. i can tell she isn't a perfect first love, but maybe the love will grow and deepen as we become more aquainted. assembly took me quite awhile as i have only had personal hands on contact with simples such as the louets and ashford kiwis. but i think i have all of her parts in the right places. i am a lazy spinner, much as i am a lazy knitter. i like it all mindless. now, i have been knitting (and other fiber work) for over 30 years, beginning as a very small child. but spinning is something rather new to me. 5 years max, and most of that on drop spindles. i get to attend my second spinning retreat next weekend! i am sooooo excited (picture squealing and jumping up and down) fall in alaska, spinning (or knitting/felting) to my hearts content with no children or cooking, and a white elephant gift exchange with other fiber enthusiasts as excited opening gifts of fiber as new brides are opening lingerie!

meet mecchia, getting settled at my house

i spun up some border leicester
what i learned: second cuts make a cut difference in the outcome (or work in processing) of your spinning!

now i know that i said that it wasn't head over heels love... i can tell you right now, i was thrilled to think that she was coming with 5 bobbins. this is the problem with having an internet affair. when reality arrives... i see that the bobbins are actually mini bobbins. "tweensie" as my son would say. they are also not the quick change variety.

this might responsible for the giddy and irresponsible action i took today in purchasing this:

check out her bobbins! i am giddy like a guy checking out boobs!
we meet in person in 2 1/2 weeks. after the retreat, but oh well. tomorrow i start making some mittens with my handspun leicester.

speaking of the leicester. i have (until today) happily gone without really knowing what the significance of second cuts are. this fleece, while well scoured, and in good health.... has horrible second cuts. being the lazy spinner i am, there are small blobs of these second cuts all over my skein. i spun a worsted weight thick/thin homespun, single ply woolen style. i tried to spin long draw... i didn't really succeed being that it was still a wee bit sticky with lanolin, and i am a lazy carder, but oh well, we had fun... and chocolate chip cookies with bailey's on the side.

what's worse?

2007-09-15T01:47:00.000-07:00

question: what could be worse than waiting for your spinning wheel to arrive from nz?

having only 1 of 2 boxes arrive from nz.

whaaaaa!

coat of color anyone?

2007-09-06T18:41:00.000-07:00

while surfing blogs one day i found this coat and was in a hurry so i didn't write anything down. i saved the pic to remind myself to go back there to buy the pattern. but durn-it-anyway all i can remember is that it was $36, but can't remember where!?? arghhhhh if anyone knows, could you purdy please send me the addy? areyoufunkyenough at yahoo dot com.

the studio has progress...

2007-08-30T19:25:00.000-07:00

this week the studio has had good progress: roof insulation, the windows cut, tyvek wrapped. there are 3 large windows across the front that after getting the tyvek all on will be opened up and glass installed. there is a door and 2 smaller windows in the side and back. they should all go in this week and then the shingles on. i tried to talk my sweetie into letting me put on a living roof but was met with more resistance than i felt willing to counter.

i also got to go to the outdoor market this weekend. wasn't planning on finding fiber there, but sure was happy to! got a good deal on merino and merino romney blend bulky homespun! henry liked it too.

speaking of spinning, my spindle has been sorely neglected for my entrelac affair. but... i splurged and bought this lady on ebay, she'll be here fron new zealand in a few weeks---- squeal!!!!!!

and lastly.... this was a most beautiful goodbye to the day looking out at "sleeping lady" aka mt. susitna

spin well, knit often

the leaves are falling....

2007-08-21T00:00:00.001-07:00

school starts the day after tomorrow. i think that i blinked and missed something... like summer. i did figure out what i want to add to my new garden (hosta, hosta, more hosta and some more vivid color including many more dahlias) and i want to definately remove others (cornflower, cornflower, more cornflower). i also now know that i have maybe the largest bleeding heart on the planet which needs to be staked before it blooms. and i must not forget that when they say "giant delphiniums" that means that they are over 6 feet tall. this also means staking.

that all said, i may have fallen off the spinning wheel during the tour de fleece, but i did not quit creating. i have a small show going in a local cafe' hot spot with another artist katie sevigny. i finished another sculpture piece...

i wish i could show the detail more, she is amazing (if i say so myself). i even think she might be my favorite so far. she is needle sculpted from wool over a shallow foam core. her dreds are wool over cotton cording. she has silk hair wraps with copper and silver wire. she has a sterling silver nose ring and hand beaded necklace. i may get my bum in gear to place her in the cafe' show before it ends.

i finished a baby sweater from cotton/wool---haven't taken digis. i am still recovering. tune in later for details :-P

just today i cast on for a third lady entrelac stole! my family said "not another one?????!?!?!?" but i said, i love this pattern, and i can knit it if i want to! this spring i finished entrelac #2 from noro's silk garden. i knit it with the intention to keep it for myself as a lighter weight version (from my first) but have decided to donate it to a fundraising auction for the school i teach at and my kids attend.

sounds altruistic, and might be a little (i love our school and do everything i can for it) but the bigger truth is that i had found another colorway by noro that i liked, no loved, ummmm lusted over (i do wish it were a silk garden, and not the kuryeon, but it is my favorite colors, purples, orange, lime) and it means that i get to knit my favorite pattern again!

just cast on!!! yiiiipppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! i am just a little excited.

my first go at this pattern was with the mango moon recycled silk...

i swear it took me a year, first i knit it on the size 10 1/2(us) the pattern calls for, and after a couple feet, decided that it looked to holey in the over twisted areas of the yarn. so i reknit on size 8(us). i refused (being the arogant knitter that i am)to use markers on the ends of the rows. this bit me in the you know what about every 3-4 rows, and i wouldn't catch it for about another 3 rows, so that meant lots of frogging. lots.

i also made it longer than the pattern called for (on purpose) forgetting that the fringe was an extra long fringe. that meant removing one end of fringe and frogging out some of the length, reknitting the last row and redoing the fringe.

have i mentioned that i love it? i wouldn't of been able to do all that knitting and frogging and reknitting if i didn't just love it. i still made it extra long. it is about 7 feet long not including the fringe. because of the fiber it is plenty hefty, with a lovely drape. i wear it a lot and people can't help but comment and pet it. the silk just gets softer. one other thing about it. remember that i spent at least a year knitting it. during that time there was lots (and lots) of turning around doing the blocks. i wondered often during that time why we turn around to purl. why not just knit backward? i practiced quite a bit and figured out how to do it, and altho i didn't knit the whole stole with that trick, it was pretty fun to do. then i found jae and noted that i wasn't the only one doing entrelac wondering the same thing... nor was i the only one using that colorway of noro. brilliant minds and good taste, oh yeah!

this weekend we bought a new fiber cart, her name is roxanne...

and on our first outting in her, we met up with this little mama who's calf was on the other side of roxanne, not a good place to be!

last week my sweetie started construction on The Studio... my studio! she is in the back garden through the arbor, next to the pond. 10X12, not too big, but big enough to be mine-yay! details to follow and construction continues.

oooh hey, one last thing. i got my ebay prize... 9 pounds of raw merino, lovely stuff, even henry thinks so.

i must get spinning wheel... that is a lot of wool to hand spindle.

i have fallen and i can't get up...

2007-07-20T00:40:00.000-07:00

my wheel (or spindle as it may be) has fallen out of the race on the tour de fleece! struggle as i may, the gardening is taking more of my time than i can spare. i started a much needed new tote for the upcoming school year (pix to come). but best news yet is that we broke ground for my new studio which will also serve as a guest cottage! whoo hoo!!!!

i am working my way around the gardens trying to figure them out and working on a routine to try and manage it all. i'm counting on next summer being easier, because i will know what is coming where and such. this week pruning roses has taken precedence, along with putting up wire cages around the bases of some of the taller perennials. i also had to tie up the giant dephiniums--they're past 6 feet and leaning in a big way. finding ways to treat aphids and fungus' organically is also on the "to do" list. i got a load of gravel delivered to beef up the paths, can't wait to get that installed and get some mulching delivered. i'm tired just thinking about it. tired of sweating with mosquitoes nailing me every couple minutes. :-P

rain and sun makes the garden go round...

2007-07-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

when it is light most of the night you can actually see the green stuff grow! not much time for knitting or spinning when the grass and weeds want to rule the world.

just a restfull day...

2007-07-15T00:36:00.000-07:00

can you say lazy? slept in till noonish (not that late when you are up until sundown, which is somewhere around midnight) ate soup and read the paper.... in bed! read my latest novel-- middlesex. so far i haven't been pulled into the story, and i'm 1/2 way through. i don't much care for books written in the first person, or at least it is not my first choice. went for a family bike ride, this is something impressive. i always feel a bit like a freak show, there is just so much of us. maybe someday i'll have a picture taken. we went about 5-6 miles??? maybe. we rode from where we live around hood lake which is a seaplane "airport." kiska our 8 year old chow/collie/husky mix began limping about 1/2 way into the run. this is hard to see, she was a runner with a capital r. a few years ago, she'd easily pull you 10 miles, rest 1/2 hr and be wanting more. it is looking more and more like she has arthritis :-( next run to the supply store, and she will be starting condroitin for canines. hopefully that will help.

fibery stuff
i decided it is time... time for a new knitting bag. i have a huge tote that i put bolsters in to divide it into 3 compartments. it is made from brown sheep loden which did not felt down well so the bag is pretty big. it is looking... well... used. i also have a smaller tote from a pumpkin colored lamb's pride with fushia and a handpaint in jewel tones for trim. it bit the dust last year. so really what is left is my felted backpack, one that my dd returned when she decided to go for a nylon backpack (the traitor!). i can easily use another knitting bag.

i'm going to be using the lamb's pride in the kiwi color for the bottom, and then mixing a few other colors---a lot of them from lopi. pix soon as there is more than a seed stitch bottom to show for.

i didn't spin much today... unless reading about wheels and how to play on a spindle (need to work on that). i am stalled on buying a wheel---can not decide which. i really love the look of the ladybug that is coming out this fall. but i really want only a single treadle, and from the looks of it there are no plans for that to be. :-( what to do, what to do, what to do???

all done!

2007-07-12T13:32:00.000-07:00

whew... finally got the green koigu sox off the needles, it only took me a year (maybe a year and a half---shhhhhhhhh!).
done on size 1 1/2 needles.... my rosewood set, and only broke one during the process grrrrr, used 2 skeins of koigu and have walnut sized leftovers. used my standard sock pattern committed to memory.

still spinning, are you? *keep peace, spin (lots) fleece*

on a non fibery note:

dd & i saw into great silence last night. the first view into (i forget which) monestary. it was 3 hours long, and had to exit at about 2. i am a pretty spiritual person, but my heart felt heavy that i couldn't see the point. to isolate ones self from humanity to become one with a higher power seems to defeat the purpose of being human and sharing that peace. maybe in time i'll come to understand.

back in the groove...

2007-07-10T15:00:00.000-07:00

that is if you consider lazing around listening to talk radio while surfing, knitting, spinning being "in the groove"... i am! actually what is tying me to a stationary place is my lovable golden/newfie that has some hot spots that she is chewing. she's getting worse and has added a new spot while we were camping on the beach. we've started tyroid replacement to rule out skin issues from that deficiency. and after having gone through many naturopatics we're resorting to some highpowered steriod topically. the point? someone must be with her tuned into her at all times, or the muzzle must be on. i don't even talk about those bell hoods... have spent $$$$ over the years on those and she's quite capable of reaching what she wants with those on. and she's very good at ramming me with it when she wants something

fibery stuff

finished my sampler stole while out on the beach! i have to say that was one of the most challenging things that i have ever knitted. not because it was technical, but because of the ever changing pattern and the 400 stitch length (read a lot of frogging when you find a stitch count off starting a few rows back) ugh, but i love the finished stole! pictures to come after blocking

i have been spinning the tour de fleece!
here is the angora/wool blend from Susan in the anshuns biscotti. i have spun lace weight and then navajo plied it on the spindle- that was a first! i need lots more practice that is for sure. i spun some singles that vary from dk to sport weight. lovely fiber=yummilicious!

i am almost finished with sock #2 of my green koigu in a basic sock pattern, sock #1 was done over a year ago!

non fibery stuff

we came home to lots of new flowers and lots of bloomed out flowers in the gardens. it is amazing how much changes daily when it is light most all of the night. you can have a tight rose bud in the evening all the way open by morning. here are some of the new pretties!

i came across a screaming deal on some keen winter boots! i was going to replace my sheepskin boots, but i adore my other keens, and when there is only 1 size on the table, it is your size, and it is a shoe that fits like a glove... plans change!

i also found some groovy rain boots. i have never splurged on rain boots before... we call them "break up boots" around here, but my dd is the same size as me now so i can justify them now.

this was a picture that i took on my way out of kachemak bay while up on the bluff. i know it is hard to see in the pic, but that is st. augustine spewing steam in the distance. it is not currently doing ash and lava, but lots of steam.

keep peace spin fleece, do the tour de fleece!

love knows no boundaries...

2007-07-02T20:56:00.000-07:00

this is not knitting related, but in thinking about being gone from home for the next 5 days, i am feeling badly about leaving my kitties at home. yes i know they have each other, and they are so loving to each other. the rescue foster mom that we adopted them from even said they were "married" because they are so bonded. turns out it is true. but in the bonding to our family... the wifey of the pair has formed an unusually affectionate bond with one of our 2 dogs. is this so sweet or what? the dogs come with us camping. kitties will be home with someone stopping in to love them up.

we will be camping on the beach here over the 4th of july. there will be much celebrating as we have two family member birthdays (we have our first official teenager!), along with independence day usa. i will also be haunting the art galleries. homer alaska is known for it's large per capita of fabulous local artists. my absolute downfall is the pottery (hold me back). this year i am going prepared with boxes with padding/wrapping instead of being in denial and having to figure transportation of goods after my visa starts smoking!

knitting???? oh yeah baby! there is about 3 hours each way of straight knitting time, and then all those lovely hours sitting on the beach with a campfire to keep the toes toasty. sneak a peek at the "on the needles" selections plus a few that i haven't yet posted to the blog---they'll all be coming with! yippee!

all day????

2007-06-30T22:41:00.000-07:00

ok, only 5, maybe 6 hours! had a SSK in the wrong place and was trying to fix it, but it was in a complicated spot in the pattern... ended up with about 6 rows 6 sts wide undone in the middle of a pattern UGH tried & tried & tried (you get the idea) to fix it. finally got a clue and isolated a complete pattern repeat, undid it to the beginning of the section and just reknit, voila! once i did that, it was all said and done in less than 5 min---sheesh! ok i am relieved, it was beginning to look like i was going to have to frog back to the beginning of the pattern entirely (that would have taken less time than i did trying to avoid it, but i feel as though i conquered)!

updated pic in natural light (during a break from it so that frogging would not ensue

my new Spindolyn with some angora/wool fiber from Susan

also from Susan two (one for my ds who is 8 and loves spinning!) new drop spindles from Jim some silk/wool and some wool/tensil... the day was so bright, it isn't doing the colors justice... they are soft, silky, yummilicious can't wait to spin!

non fiber related.... unless you count the shedding cat hair

King Henry, keeping tabs on the house...

the newest flower to show up in the gardens...

just some of the front gardens...

& a bittie of the back gardens (roses just barely beginning to bloom, not seen in pic)...

our summer is just now arriving, so the gardens are just reving up... i love spring (and knitting)

from one generation knitter to another

2007-06-30T02:41:00.000-07:00

i love to give gifts that really feel as if they came from the soul. this probably explains why i have a box of gifts on short notice that remain ungifted. there is just something about what happens spiritually when you think of another soul while you are planning the gift. purchase or no.

i gave the silk feather & fan stole to my dear mom in law tonight. she is a knitter, although she has some memory problems and has found that she is not able to knit anymore (after 60 years!). this is very hard (for us both) since it was a really nice connection for us. i made her the Feather & Fan Stole for her combination birthday/mother's day. she has just come to visit from the Outside (aka lower 48) this week, and i just gave her the stole tonight along with a gorgeous book of Alaskan photography.

i nearly finished another pattern section of my Sampler Stole from Folk Shawls by Oberle. i am loving it, although the constantly changing pattern is challenging my short term memory. i am so used to doing mindless knitting, this is good for me. this is the watercolor colorway from Lorna's Laces in wool superwash.

here is a pretty posey picture from the gardens

no gardening today... pitiful me

goodnight from Alaska, this is as dark as it will get

what to do????

2007-06-29T03:01:00.000-07:00

oh dear.... the sun is shinning (all night here) so my garden is going crazy from the 3 days of (much needed) rain added to the light that won't turn off. i want to knit, i need to sculpt ( have a show coming up soon) but i really need to garden!

today my sweet man and i dozed late, then went to the home improvement (wallet hijacking) store to get wood to begin building my new studio/guest room. realizing we could no longer avoid the call of the weeds we came home and dove into the gardens.

we recently moved into an old "new" house. i adore it. we downsized by about 50%. it was a LOT of work paring things down, but very liberating! painful part for him: losing garage space... read shelter for his 2 wheeled lover. painful part for me: losing studio & stash space.

all that said, we gained my dream garden with hundreds of perennials, an arbor with woodbine and clematis, trelis' with clematis, berries, a pond with a zen garden, roses, a patio with a lilic hedge... it goes on and on in the style of an english garden meets zen garden. i adore it but the day is not long enough... that is saying something when the sun technically is never far out of sight around here! what i want to be doing is sitting in the zen garden by the pond knitting on my Sampler Shawl from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle. ***pics coming soon*** i have to say though, we did good. tremendous progress was made in clearing out weeds and grasses that want to take over.

another knitting note: i finished my Feather & Fan Stole out of 100% silk from Lorna's Laces in Waterfall colorway----yippee skippy! it was b*o*r*i*n*g, i'm so glad to be done. the finished stole is nice on the eyes though, and is going to a lovely lady named mom.