Knitting Resumes

I have been through an especially dry season for knitting,  but am happy to say I have emerged from this to the other side at long last.   I had started a laceweight scarf of Misti Alpaca, but lace knitting was not a very good match with what was going on in my life, what with Bill’s surgery and recovery (he’s going back to work this week, so he has made great progress from where he was immediately post op).  My mind finally calmed enough to finish the project:

Blocking was a bit difficult, but it surely ended up pretty, or so I think! The pattern is Seafoam (can be found on Ravelry) by my friend, Ruth, and is really quite easy, if you don’t have eleventy-zillion things running around in your head to distract you.  It’s lighter than a feather and tremendously soft!!  I am glad I made it.

I just finished an awesome shawl made from some of my handspun merino/tencel as well.  I have not blocked it yet nor taken a decent picture, so that will have to wait for another post.

A Mish Mash of Different Things

First, lest Bess think I forgot she awarded me a lovely prize, I will start with this:

I am truly honored that Bess gave me this award for several reasons:  she is a dear friend, a true artist with fibers and someone who truly sets a high standard in blogging, fiber related and otherwise.  Her blog was the reason I started blogging in the first place!!

Now, comes the passing of the torch.  This time of year is incredibly busy for everyone, so I am passing these awards out without expecting the recipients to pass them along to others, unless, of course, they have a burning desire to do so.  These are “freebies”, girls, so just bask in the glory:

A bloggy ribbon goes out to Ruth, a great designer of user friendly, but interesting (and beautiful) sock patterns.  She is also a talented dyer, check her Etsy shop, which, hmm… at this time seems to be on hold, but I know why.  She is doing a small version of a trunk show today.  Way to go, Ruth!!  She is also a great friend and spins marvelous novelty yarns (not the fiber type, at least not yet, but the kind made of words!  You haven’t really lived until you have read one of Ruth’s tall tales!!)

Next I award the ribbon to Donna, my neighbor just to the north of me in South Carolina, who proves you can have it all… she is a successful professional with a delightful teen aged daughter and adoring husband who actually dyes yarn for her to knit with, a backyard with chickens and now, sheep!!, and she has a loving and giving nature and is kind hearted to boot!!

Then, one to Sally, who is an enthusiastic knitter and upcoming talent who isn’t afraid to take risks!!  She wanted to know if she could ply commercial yarns together, so I told her to come on up and we would do it.  She ended up with some gorgeous mohair stuff that looked like the luscious filling of a raspberry/blackberry pie, and all I wanted to do was pet the yarn.  She is also a great friend, awesome gardener and talented cook!

I do not know Beverly nearly as well as I would like to, having only met her once at SAFF, but she is one talented and prolific knitter.  This year, she took the sweepstakes award at the South Carolina state fair this year!!!

Now, on to other things with a warning!!!  If you get offended at the abuse of knitted objects, you may want to avert your eyes, block your computer from displaying images or take some such action!!!

So, does The Swifty from the second Mason-Dixon book really work?

Okay, so this is the picture of a pristine one which has not been dirtied yet.

You can see for yourself, they DO work:

Ewww… And, no, your eyes are not playing tricks on you.  The first was a Swifty I made for my stepmother.

The dirty one is mine, which does prove that I do work on occasion around the house.

Next, is what I have been doing with my days off:

Crockpot dyeing, my favorite way to dye fiber.  This is BFL/Alpaca 50/50, which is about the most amazing fiber to spin that there is.  I have a pot of polar red/lilac simmering out in the studio to complement this batch.

Sqee!!! New Bloggy Feature!

I am in a beta test with my blog.  Now, I can post replies to your comments via email, and they will appear in the blog comments section!  I just tried it out to reply to Ruth’s comment, and it works like a charm!

Tremendous Thursday

What a wonderful sentiment, eh?

I picked this little jewel up last night at:

We finally had an opportunity to see this wonderful lady in person, since she toured in Jacksonville.

I had the exceptional pleasure of riding down to see Stephanie speak with fellow knitters and great friends, Sally and Kate.  Of course, we could NOT go to Jacksonville without first visiting The Yarn Harlot’s sponsoring yarn shop, Knit Witz.  This was their first visit to the shop and my second.  Well, really, my first visit barely counted, as I was with Bill, and we were on floor covering buying business for the house, and I really only got to visit about 10 minutes (but not without first buying some spinning fiber, hehehe).  This time was much more relaxed, much more pleasurable, and I STILL got to buy fiber.  Woo Hoo, a win-win situation.  Sally and Kate came away with goodies, too!  We slipped around the corner (almost that close, anyway) to check out the venue for the event, then went across the street to Bob Evans to have some supper.  Stomachs satisfied, we were primed and ready to go in when the doors opened.  The meeting room was a very nice venue for the event.  Big enough not to feeling crowded or isolated from the action, and small enough to feel friendly.

Knit Witz had door prizes… lots of them… to give away, and Kate scored some Colinette yarns.  Go Kate!!!  I saw several other friends at the event, since I used to frequent a couple of meetings south of here – Dee Dee, whom I used to knit with on a semi regular basis, Samina (and her fairly brand new baby), from Jacksonville and Jennifer, the shop owner of Wild Fibre in Savannah.

Then came the main event: Stephanie in all her glory!  This petite lady has the perfect blend of insight, humor and empathy, all at the same time.  She looked so “put together” and professional in her Hey Teach Sweater – the perfect image of what a writer is.

For me, the highlights of the event were hearing her read one of the essays from her book and the question and answer session at the end, where we were invited to ask “anything”!

Of course, the greatest pleasure was in being with great friends.    Thanks Sally and Kate.  You rock!

Well, Did You Know This?

I was reading a post on Ravelry recently and was delighted to discover this great resource on the internet.

It is called Smartflix. It is just what it sounds like. It is an online video store that specializes in “how to” DVDs. And yes, you cant rent spinning, knitting, dyeing and weaving videos from the site. A rental costs $9.99 and you get to keep it a week from the time of receiving it. It has a prepaid return box. Pretty cool if there is something you really want to learn.

Can I bore you with more kitchen pictures:

You can’t tell I am getting anxious to get moved, can you? And yes, we have a moving date. August 20.

(The next day Elayne and I leave for the natural dye workshop at Foxfire. She is getting to share our first night in our new house. Fortunately, she is up for the adventure!!)

Another look at the bee-you-tee-ful finished kitchen:

Look closely and you can see our pretty drawer handles. Our cabinet man could not believe we wanted so many drawers. Drawers do totally rock!! We had lots in our last house and got very spoiled.

Today, Sally comes to pick up some more llama poo for her composting.

Grin… I get to show off the house. It looks a lot different from the last time she came.

Thank You

I want to thank all my friends for their recent comments.  For going with me through the building process (good and bad)  and the grieving process.  You are all precious to me.

Kitchy-Coo and a New Knitter Too

Bill grouted our kitchen tile this afternoon (and did a great job, by the way). The tile person was another sub we had some problems with. Did you know it is almost impossible to get someone to do a small tile job around these parts? Anyhow, here is a close up of our tile:

It sure is nice to have a handy husband at hand.

OK, you are getting this in increments. Too much at once might cause hyperventilation (by me, at least!)

Here is the wall that still needs some spit and polish. The crown molding is not finished on the cabinets on this side. (Cabinet man and his wife and adorable daughter went on vacation this week – that’s fine, he has been a great help and does awesome work. His cabinet business is his “second” job, and he really, really deserved a rest). Also, there is a boo boo on the tile on this wall we have to figure out how to fix. (Not in the picture). Also, please note we didn’t have the protective wrapping off the dishwasher yet).

Now, isn’t this nice? This picture shows off my lovely duel fuel range and Advantium oven. The tile looks especially nice in this corner, don’t you think?

Now, get ready for maximum impact.

Tada…

Shifting gears, here is my good friend Donna, whom I taught to knit recently. She is showing off her first shawl. I think she knit a gazillion wash cloths before starting on a shawl. She did an excellent job. She is so clever… see her beads? She is an awesome beader also!

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Concrete, C.O. s, and Studios!!

Things are happening at the llama farm at an accelerated pace these days.
Yesterday we got CONCRETE!!! What a blessing in the midst of all our dirt and mud. Sally will especially appreciate this addition, since she had the adventure of mucking through my backyard in the pouring rain.

Front sidewalk:

Concrete pad and turnaround in front of our garage:

Back sidewalk:

Which meanders over to this!!

Yipee!!! No more dirt and mud in the studio.

Then also yesterday, we got our Certificate of Occupancy. Yipee!!! We are all cleared to move in now.
We still have several things (of a cosmetic nature) that need tending to, but all the essentials are now in place.

And last, but not least, my studio now has a name. It is The Room of Requirement!!!

Now, so named, because every time I need to put something else in, it “magically” accomodates it.

Pretty cool, huh? See how well my loom fit in?  Oh, and now I have cold and HOT running water with plenty of water pressure.  Mmmm … feels really good.

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Tags: house, home, studio

I Had a Happy Studio Today

It was pouring down rain, but plenty of fun was being had in my studio.  Why?  Because Sally and her “girls”, Kate and Lisanne came to visit.  (She made a very nice write up about their visit). She is an avid gardener and was happy to relieve us of our overflow of llama “beans”.  We all retired to the studio, and I got to give them some spinning demonstrations!  We had a blast.

Sally also brought some brownies and blondies.  Yum!  Thanks, Sally.  And thanks, Kate and Lisanne for coming along and adding to the fun!

Too Much to Title

Feast or famine seems to be what my blog consists of these days. Either I have a whole lot to say or nothing. I put off blogging about my wonderful South Georgia Fiber Enthusiast Meeting at Agrirama on Saturday. Sure, I drove over 2 hours and sure, I burned up almost a whole tank of gas getting there and back, but when a gal needs her fiber fix, well, she will take extraordinary measures.

Theresa, the organizer of the group, posted a wonderful write up about the meeting. Please look for a wonderful, picture filled report!!

Theresa is a very nice lady who I met, coincidentally, once at Wild Fibre. At the time, she was living in South Carolina. Now she has moved to Georgia. Their loss, definitely our gain.
She has the gift of making you feel at ease and she is one of those people you instantly like when you meet her. She brought her Louet spinning wheel and was spinning some yummy green Blue Faced Leicester.

Her friend, Kathy, brought a knitting project… a rag rug. If you read Theresa’s blog, you will know what the “rags” were. I must confess, I missed that tidbit of information when I was at the actual meeting. Kathy and Theresa both said they would be up to a road trip to this side of Georgia. Woo Hoo!!

Then, there was Charlotte, who was just learning to spin on a drop spindle. It is so much fun to see someone brand new to spinning and to see their enthusiasm!! Charlotte drove over all the way from Alabama! And I thought I had come a long way!!

Speaking of newbies, there was Sherlyn, from Valdosta who was a new knitter, but was speeding knitting on DPNs nonetheless. She was knitting a teddy bear.

Helen, was another spinner, who volunteers at Agrirama, along with Theresa. She demonstrates on the Great Wheel. Lucky lady! She had brought her Lendrum and, by accident, left all her bobbins at home except for one, that just happened to be broken. Fortunately, she was able to borrow a bobbin from my Hitch Hiker. I am glad it worked for her.

Then, there was Jackie who gave me my new favorite toy:

What!??!!? A plastic tea bottle???? Well, not the bottle itself, but what she taught me I could do with it.

That’s a small bag being woven on the bottle!! That was my second bag so far. Now I am on my third. Jackie gave me the bottle with an unfinished piece on it, which I also finished except for doing the fringe. She had warped it with jute. I had a little challenge getting the fringe right with the jute, so when I started, I just warped up with yarn. I admit to being obsessed! This is so much fun and very easy!

Shifting gears now… Today I was off and needed to go grocery shopping, so what did I really do? I played hooky from the shopping and rode up to Tybee Island with Bill. He had a nursing home to consult. It was one I used to go to. Today, I just got to go and play around on the island instead. Here are a few sights.

The nursing home. Not interesting of itself, except that it used to be a part of Fort Screven. It was their hospital.

Now the area is on the National Register of Historic Places. Not the NH, that I know of, though. This house
is though, which used to be officer’s quarters.

Well, I also happened into something else interesting.

First, I saw this:

Then this:

Then this:

Holey moley!! Army rangers parachuting out of a chopper! It was quite a show. In all my 39 years (haha), I have never seen anyone do this.

Afterwards, I spent some time in a nice little park and met a nice couple on vacation all the way from Paris, France. Cool!!

After Bill finished work, we had a nice little meal at Sticky Fingers.

Today was such a treat!! Afterwards, I DID go grocery shopping.

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