January Is A Strange Month

 A while back, I asked a photographer why I always have trouble photographing my skeins of yarn.  I know I have a little bitty point-and-shoot camera, but surely there has to be some way to take a good pic of yarn.  My main problem is the glare that comes from the skein.  I don't know if there is something in the fiber or the dye, but it glares.  The photographer suggested I get a portable light diffuser and try that.  So I got one.  My photo assistant had to help me with this.  This first shot is with the sun behind me.  See my shadow?  This one is with the sun facing me, but the camera down facing the light diffuser. 

 We seem to be having a little turf problem in the family.  Noodles has tried to be the dominant one in this family.  Friday night he took over Patty's new bed.  This is Patty's Christmas present and she LOVES her bed.  Well, you can imagine what happened when Patty saw that.  She rolled her eyes and couldn't get up courage to take it back.  So she jumped in my chair and made a nest of the towel I keep in the chair for pet hair.  I took the chair back, straightened the towel, and told her to get up her courage and let him know what she wanted. 

 So she jumped up on the chaise, turned her back, kicked everything off that she could, tried to dig up the quilt that is on the chaise for pet hair, and generally sulked through the evening.  It was  pathetic.

Today, two days later, Noodles ate a few bites of Patty's breakfast.  I don't think he has the teeth to chew such big bites.  But he managed two bites.  This is pathetic.  And dramatic, huh?

So this is my photo of the newest yarn.  There is no glare.  As he suggested I added a black board to absorb light.  The only problem now is washed out colors.  The pink is really coral and the blue is really turquoise.  So I am happy I fixed the glare problem.  Just how to do I get real color?

So what is happening with the weather?  If anyone figures it out, let me know.  I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. 

In knitting, I am working on the semi-gansey I am planning.  I love, love, love the targhee wool I am using.  I am convinced that this is going to be one tough sweater.  It will be an everyday sweater for sure.  No fancy stuff with this sweater.

I am also knitting the ribbing on the Fair Isle vest.  I finally made some decisions on the colors I want in it, and ordered all the yarn Friday night.  I think it will be non-traditional by the time I get it done.  I am using a  k1p1 rib instead of the corrugated rib.  The person I am knitting this for is thin and uses his vests as a substitute for fat stores.  So I wanted a snug rib to hold it close to his body.  There is more stretch there with this rib and I think it is more appropriate for him.  I am also doing the ribbing in a light color instead of a dark color.  He wears khaki pants a lot, and I think the color I chose will go with the khaki pants.  There will be less transition between colors.  Okay, I know that last one is an excuse for using the lighter color instead of the darker color.  But I think it will work just fine.  

I haven't been spinning this week at all.  I finished the stretched merino, and I am so not in love with stretched merino.  I have been knitting like crazy on the two sweaters.  I also taught a class yesterday, and I had to knit my sample pieces and get the instruction sheets copied, etc. 

So what to spin now!?  Well, I think I want to tackle the camel/merino that I bought a long time ago.  There isn't a lot there, but I can always order more if I get excited about it.  I also have a new bit of BFL handpainted that is really yummy looking.  4 ozs is multi-Fall colors of cranberry, orange, green and yellow.  4 ozs is just cranberry.  I like it a lot. 

Has anyone else noticed there is nothing on t.v. any more?  I have my favorite shows, and I suffered through all the Christmas reruns.  I like HGTV, but I don't care about million-dollar homes and how people decorate them.  I also cannot take the sulky, spoiled kids who are buying a home and want two sinks in their private bathroom, a spa tub, a rain shower, and BIG walk-in closets.  And big, beautiful kitchens that have all their wants included.  I was flipping through channels and I caught, "I don't really cook anything at all, but I want to be able to have my friends hang out in a pretty setting.  I need a lot of room to go from the refrigerator and microwave."  Please tell me this is crazy!

Well, it is time to go see if there are any podcasts I want to listen to while I putz around in the studio.  I just finished a good audio book, and I may have to get another one out of the local library.  

Have a good week.  I think we are to have rain tomorrow, and one bad cold day.  But the rest is looking good.  What a strange January this is!! 

The Knitting Universe

Just some random thoughts today.  I am slowly moving into hibernation since the weather is holding nice for a while.

Patty and I went to a local state park and hiked on one of the trails there on Sunday.  It was a lovely day-a little bit of wind and just the right temperature.  I was a little bit nervous when I came to the bluff.  We have a topography here of carst limestone.  We have lots and lots of bluffs that just drop off to a steep decline.  I walked quickly past that so Patty wouldn't explore the edge. 

I am knitting something of my own design.  I used a basic pattern for a recipe, then I took off with that.  We will see how it turns out.  I am knitting in the round, round and round and round.  Then when I get closer to the yoke, I will add some colorwork.

I wrote down a quote from Cast On.  It is a podcast with Brenda Dayne.  There are "looking moments" in knitting-usually at the end.  This is when you look at something you have made and you are marveling at how good it looks and how skilled you are and how much you love the yarn and how great you feel.  I like that.  I wish I wasn't so critical of what I do.  It is marvelous when I spin the yarn and knit the garment.  Or when you knit something that is made of a gorgeous yarn that is so soft and cuddly.

I am spinning this yarn that is made from "stretched merino".  I am not enamored of this process of messing up a good fiber.  It is supposed to give the look of silk when finished.  Well, it does look silky in the sheen, and it is "heavy", but merino is supposed to be soft and poofy and squishy.  This is not that.  It is easy to spin, though, and I guess that is a good thing. 

CJE and I spent the day Saturday going to the LYS in Bentonville,and we did some sitting and knitting.  She said that someone mentioned to her that she seems to be knitting a lot.  She told them "When I am sittin', I am knittin'"  I guess in a perfect Knitting Universe, we would not seem to be so strange when we knit all the time.  It would not seem so strange if we only go to functions that have places to sit and knit while you listen to the speaker or to the music or whatever.  It would also be nice to have someone who knows the language too. 

R and H are going to go to Mt. Magazine to celebrate their first anniversary.  I hope the weather holds out for them.  They spent New Year's with R's cousin Shelley King in Austin.  She is a professional singer/songwriter, and they were her guest at her gig New Year's Eve.  I hope they had fun.  My brother told me they stayed out really late, although he and his wife did not participate in any late night stuff.

It is funny how both of my brother's daughters look so much like my mother.  I showed some friends a video of Shelley, and the picture of my mother on my shelf.  They couldn't believe it.  And the younger daughter looks more like mother because she is so thin.  She has certain mannerisms that I recognize as Mother's.  Weird, huh?

I did some yard work last week, and my sinuses paid for that.  It was just a little bit cool, with some wind, and all the mildew, dust, and whatever particles flew up my nose.  I guess I just wanted to be out in the sun.  It was so nice last week.  We are having sunny, cooler weather so far this week.

So enough of this stupid random thought stuff.  I am going to go sew.  Have a good week.  We are moving into the first week of 2012! 

Did Mother Nature Forget This Is December?

I finished the scarf!  It is Scalene by Carina Spencer.  I used size 4 needles.  The red is Everlasting by Dream in Color and the black is Cosmo by Linie 33.  The black has 5% cashmere in it.  Actual yardage used is red: 360 yds ; black: 217.5 yds.    Because of the garter ridges, it is soft and squishy.  Whew!  Another project DONE!

The weather is incredibly warm-high 50's!  It is very windy today.  I did do a bit of clean up yesterday in the front flower bed.  Because of the wind, mildew, dust, and whatever else is in that bed, my sinuses are killing me today.  I am not going to do yard work today, although I may go out and weed eat a little bit.

The sun feels oh, so good!  We have a cold front moving in Monday, so I am taking advantage and trying to be out as much as I can.

I can't believe that Sunday is January 1, 2012 already!  Wow!  December went fast for me.

I have an ingrained belief from one of my grandmothers that whatever you do on the first of the year is what you will do the rest of the year.  I want to take Patty out for a hike in the woods somewhere.  I know that I will knit or spin or something all year.  But maybe this will be a start to doing more outdoor activity again.  I love to go for walks in the woods.

So have a great weekend.  Enjoy your celebration, but go play on Sunday.  We need more relaxation, don't we?   

Happy Boxing Day!

Well, Christmas is officially done.  I had quite a lovely day of sitting in sunshine, watching the birds eat me out of house and home, watching the Christmas tree lights twinkle, and since it was Sunday, I listened to NPR and spun yarn.

 I finished up the green Polworth, skeined and washed it, and it is on the blocker as we speak.  I started some roving I got a while back that is a "stretched" merino.  I am not familiar with that process, so I am not sure what that means.  It is easy to spin and works really fast.  So it won't take long to make it appear into yarn.

It has been lovely and sunny for two days now.  I found a way to set my chair in front of the French doors and let the sun shine on me.  Then this morning we are back to rain and chill.  I am so thankful every day that we do not have snow or ice.  I do not want much of either one, but since we have three or four more months of winter, I know it is coming.

I stood out in the yard last night watching the stars.  It is remarkable how the earth rotates and the sky changes.  I love the winter sky more than the summer one.  I think it has something to do with light, but I don't really know why I do.  I love the quietness of the nighttime, and just watching the sky.  The trees are skeletons without their leaves.  So viewing is very easy.

I got some really lovely gifts, and I am so thankful for those.  But for me, gift giving is a year-long activity.  I like to find that special "something" and I know exactly who to give it to.  It is the hunt, I think.  I read a long, long time ago that that is one of the differences between men and women.  Women see something that reminds them of someone, and it is an emotional response to purchase it for that person.  I think the article I read was about food primarily, like buying the special cheese someone likes or a special wine. 

Both the animals are asleep and avoiding the weather.  So I think I will turn on the audio book I am listening to and spin some more "stretched" merino.  It seems the perfect day to eat soup and bread, and do something simple-like spin yarn.

I hope the weekend was good for everyone.  One more week in December!  Wow!   

Happy Birthday

Today is my younger brother's birthday.  As morbid as this seems, all three of us have outlived our parents' ages when they died.  That used to be a goal, but now I am way past and don't think about it.  I never hear from my brother any more.  He has been mad at me for some time.  But every year I send him an email wishing him Happy Birthday.  He used to always get a chocolate cake.  He doesn't eat sweets, so I never understood the chocolate cake thing. 

Yesterday was Solstice.  Normally I have a simple ritual with candles and I like to cook something special.  Yesterday I had a hairdresser's appointment for a hair cut.  Then I swung by CJE and AE's house.  CJE and I wrapped gifts until we were starving.  Then she drove us to a nearby town to a wonderful new restaurant.  It is run by some Mennonites in town, and the building frame was a really old, old barn from Michigan.  The food was great!

We were seated at a small table by a window, so both of us had a chance to knit while we waited for our meal.  We celebrated with a shared dessert-a brownie with ice cream and chocolate drizzle.  Sigh!

So then we decided to go to a local antique/junk store.  Driving there I saw a sign for the Wildlife Safari drive through place.  So off we go to find that place.  The sun was shining so brightly and gave the illusion of warmth.  We saw tons of animals that I have never gotten a chance to see in real life.  It is approximately 5 miles of driving slowly through different groups of animals. The emus like to run in front of the car.  So imagine the Ozark hills and high plateaus with Serengeti animals.  There was one really cute hippo playing with a big black rubber feeding bowl.  He was tossing it around, rolling it, and pushing it with his nose.  I tried not to think of the big cats in big cages.  They had huge, tall platforms for them to climb on, and there was one tiger way up on his throne.  I thought that surely he could just give one big jump and be out of there.  Oh-there are white American bison everywhere.  Some were really blondish yellow looking, but not albinos.  They were everywhere.  Some of the big guys had really muddy faces that I guess was from wallowing. 

Returning back to our starting point, CJE parked so we could go to the petting part.  They have several Pygmy goats that were expecting any minute, and a tiny donkey that looked pregnant.  So that pen was locked.  We went into the kangaroo section.  I have never petted a kangaroo before.  They have the softest fur that I can't describe as anything but downy.  There were a lot of babies there too.   There were bunnies, chickens, ducks, peacocks, and one big huge turkey.  One chicken followed us around, and a staff member told me he follows her all the time.  She just calls him Red.  We stopped on the highway leaving to see a couple of young camels.  They were expecting a gift (food) and one just made rude noises when we didn't give them anything.  Further down the highway was a huge pasture with yaks, long-horned cattle, and those African cattle with the weird horns. 

Of course our fiber eyes were only thinking of what we could do with all that fiber we were seeing.  CJE is wanting some of the white bison fur. 

So returning home from my day out, my two fur kids were very unkind.  They were "starving", and did I notice I was gone all day.  I had told them I wouldn't be gone long when I left. 

So today we still have a few clouds, and occasional sun.  From this day forward the days will be longer until June 21.  This always works for me until March.  Then I want it to be warm.  I usually tire of winter about the end of January.  February is a short month, and I suffer through.  But by March I am so over winter. 

I am nearing the end of the red scarf.  It will then be time to start the Fair Isle vest.  I haven't been knitting as much as normally.  I am spinning some luscious Polworth roving.  It spins so fast.  I love this fiber.

CJE bought me a beautiful calendar from Quilting Arts.  There is a most wonderful iguana on the front piece.  I love all the embellishments.  It makes me want to get in the sewing room.  I have neglected my sewing for too long.  So.....why am I not in there right now?

Happy Happy Whatever You Believe In!  I am one of the few who loves Christmas, but mostly because of the Solstice thing.  We are now on the side of more light! 

The Year of Christmas Disasters

Mom-The birds are driving me nuts!

I finished a beautiful afghan for R and H for their Christmas present.  It was something that would remind him of my grandmother, which he knew and loved.  I finished it, and I washed it.  When I laid it out to block it, two nice size holes appeared right near the middle where the yarn gave way.  SIGH!  A disaster.  Yes, I did repair it.  Even if it doesn't look too awful, I just can't in good faith give them a gift that may fall apart again when they wash it.  So I just grabbed a quilt from the pile, wrote an apology note and explained the situation, added all the embroidered pillowcases I had left from my "hope chest", and shipped it off. If they still want the afghan, they can have it with full warning that it may not last long.  SIGH! 

So after Noodles and I watched the birds for a while, I knit this little elephant.  Isn't she cute?  A little wonky, but still cute.  The wool was from something I had frogged, and I even made her a little scarf to wear.

I am getting geared down for hibernation.  I took on a massive project for someone to knit a traditional Fair Isle vest.  We finally picked the six colors last weekend, and I ordered one skein of the yarn to knit a swatch.  If the swatch is right and accepted, then that will be my winter challenge.  I am insane for doing this, but it will be a challenge for the wintry months when I can't get out to do much.

We have had a lot of rain this month, and only that one little snowfall.  The weather is fluctuating up and down, and we even had thunder and lightening last night.  I just can't get too excited about all this.

Somehow a bad person picked up a cookie from me and tried to scam some money.  The difference in this phishing is it was a fake email from a yarn company in Washington.  It was something about my paypal account did not go through, and could I go to this link and check the account, etc.  So I deleted it and went to the real website.  I checked my account since I knew I had not made any orders.  I emailed them to let them know that someone picked up their website info, etc.  I guess knitters are fair game to bad people now.

AE and CJE had their annual Wild Foods Party.  It seemed much calmer and not as wild as in the past.  My friend GO drove us to the party, and we left early.  There were lots of people leaving, and he noted that people are getting older and tamer.  I guess it is good to not be so feral as some of us have been in the past.  It seemed that there was not as much drinking as I have seen this group do in the 20+ years I have known them.

My brother sent me a link to a video my niece, Shelley King, did for the Austin Chamber of Commerce.  She is a singer/songwriter in Austin, so it was good to see her do something like this. 

I expect my neighbors will leave after Christmas to get away for the winter.  It will be nice to just let Patty go out on her own for as long as she wants.  When I do now, she heads straight to their thrown-away food in the woods.  Then she gets sick and that is not so pleasant. 

Well, I guess that catches us up on news.  Sixteen and one-half days until the New Year.  Isn't that hard to believe?  This year has gone fast.  It is hard to believe Christmas is only a week away.  Well, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

St. Nicholas Day!

Yes, I have a sock on my tree.  Doesn't everyone do this?

 Yes, I have a bear on my tree, too!

 And yes, of course, I have sheep!  Somehow the picture of the spinning wheels didn't happen here.  But I have spinning wheels, too.  My angel is made out of sheeps wool.  What can I say?

Last weekend we went to Hot Springs for the Arkansas Fiber Extravaganza.  I know several folks wonder at the marvelous decor here.  Instead of a bottle tree, we have a plastic flower tree.  These are just sticks stuck in the fence, and covered with plastic flowers. And we are talking the whole length of the fence.  We didn't tarry long in front, just long enough to take photos.

I did not take any photos of the event until at the last moment I took three awful photos of folks lingering around outside the vendor space.  There wasn't a lot of seating, so people do what people do, we rearrance the whole place to make nests or pods for our visiting.

And finally-this was what my yard looked like last Thursday.  Of course that is mostly weeds-or pasture plants-but green anyway.

 This was early morning today.  OUR FIRST SNOW of the season!  I know it isn't much, but it is the first of what will come.  It is time to hunker down and do some serious knitting!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!  I hope you get something in your shoes tonight!  Remember to leave something for his horse-carrots are always good!