Monday, July 2, 2007

Make New Friends, But Keep The Old!

I have been absent for some time. Well, that's a lead-in someone may not want known around town. It could start rumors. Well, I have been absent from Blogland for a while-how's that?

I have been unraveling a sweater found in a thrift shop. It really makes me wonder about who the knitter was, where did the knitter buy the yarn (it's the older woolen yarn that we used to buy 25 + years ago). It almost makes me think Shetland. I find unraveling someone else's work is very instructional. I know how to unravel my own knitting. But when I am pulling out the work of someone else, I find the little teensy flaws, the clever ways of hiding tails, the way that someone sewed up edges.

I also ponder on the many sweaters I have received from grandmothers. I liked some of them; I hated some of them. I was never asked when I was younger what color would I like, or do I want wool or wool? As I got older, I would purchase yarn and give them to the grandmothers. I found I could have some control over the outcome by purchasing yarn I liked.

But this sweater also makes me realize how others choose patterns, yarns, colors, etc. Usually the ideas I present are not what someone else wants. When I help someone choose a yarn, I first start with colors I like. But immediately I either get a maybe, or even a no. It is at this time I let someone start choosing something that he/she likes. This gives me an idea of what colors they like. It is best to step back, and just get as much information as you can as to what colors, what textures, what-ever that someone else likes. This is difficult, but it usually makes a happier knitter.

I think that way about sewing. I love what others do, but am not always happy with my own choices. I am a new quilt piecer. I have a good color sense from painting and from fiber arts. But if the thing is not working, I am not working. This quilt I am working on is difficult. It is not piecing right. I am trying to do my darnest to make it work. But I think I am about to throw in the towel and just start sewing it together my own way and just finish the damn thing. I am not a perfectionist, but I do want the thing to look right. Anyway, at this rate, I will have one quilt a year completed. How do people do multiple quilts?

The fox kits are PRECIOUS! I know, I know, they are pesty critters that are not good to have around. I don't have chickens, so I am enjoying the show. They tumble and wrestle and growl and nip and they have the best times playing. Mama looks a little frazzled. I looked out yesterday, and one of the kits was eating berries right at it's face level. Another one was eating daisies and snapping at grass blades.

The butterfly I mentioned some time back is a Great Spangled Frittilaria (spelling?).

Chiggers are bad. If you do not live in a part of the US with chiggers, lucky you! I only itch for 2-3 days, then they fade away slowly. But there is still a bump there until it slowly goes away.

I never thought I would be the one to say I live in a rain forest, but it sure feels like it. We have had a massive amount of rain. I am convinced that if you live in a forested area, as I do, then the rain in heavier. Tonight there is fog everywhere. Today I could see the moisture in the air as I drove into town. The frogs are ecstatic!

The Monday Night Knit Group was huge tonight. Linda Jo and Cynthia were back. Yeah! It becomes almost impossible to talk to anyone but the person next to you. It is just so good to see such a large group. What I am finding is what is old is now new. I am happy to see new knitters discovering "new" things to them. The LYS is planning the Fall things already, and Colleen and Joy are busy rearranging the shop and trying to get new and old things in better display. Sasha is enjoying the whole show. She is such a good shop cat.

I think that is all the news. I am still knitting on the same old stuff. They are both winter wear, so I am in no big hurry. I am still trying to find a job. I am still working on the damn quilt. So nothing new to report on any of that stuff.

"Wherever you wander, wherever you roam, be happy, live healthy, and be glad to come home." -- Karen M.

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