Wool in sheep's clothing

Whenever I knit, I think about where the yarn came from; whether it's llama or wool or cotton or silk. Each one comes from a distinctly different source.   Today I spent some of my time washing a sheep's fleece and picking some lovely mohair to blend later and spin.

The fleece is going to be really pretty - the staple is short and fine and full of tiny crimps .  I don't know the micron count, but it's better than a lot that I've spun before.

The mohair is very close to the color of a mare.  It's a warm reddish brown with a lot of shine.  Very touchable.

I have a short window of time when I can reasonably card in the garage.  Summer is way too hot out there and winter is way too cold.  Fall and Spring are just right, said Goldilocks. 

I've been keeping up with everyone's plans this fall regarding Rhinebeck and SOAR .  It's sounds so wonderful every year, and every year I swear I'm going to go next year!  Maybe that should be one of my new goals: to finally go to SOAR or NY Sheep & Wool.  Shall we?

My husband made it safely back from his trip out west.  I'm glad he's back, safe and sound, although he went straight to work this morning and won't be home till later this evening.  I, of course, am headed out the door first thing in the morning myself.  It's so hard for us to get on the same page, schedule wise.  We hardly ever have the same day off.  But we do see each other at night and in the morning. That will just have to do.

I did spend some time with my son and his lovely wife yesterday.  They served me lunch at their place (my first time to dine in their new apartment!) and we took a little trip to the local Old Time Pottery.  You may not have one where you live, but it's worth finding one if you can.  Very large warehouse type of store with housewares and dishes and baskets and flowers and decorations.  And they even have a cafe like IKEA. Wouldn't want  you to leave, now, just because you're hungry!  So, anyway, I got my fix for the coming holiday season.  I looked at Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations and then made myself walk out empty handed - promising not to buy anything till after Halloween.  

Pebble Beach

I took some time last night while watching football, to knit a little while on what I intend to call the Pebble Beach socks.  The yarn is a nice little brown variegated cotton, and it comes from Sockotta; I got it in a yarn-trade at spinning meeting last year.

It is a breeze to knit with my Inox DPNs and the pattern is 3x3 rib, with a cast on of 60. Perfect number for 3 working needles and 60 stitches.

The cotton yarn is a nice change from wool, which is what I spin almost exclusively.  I need to do some more carding.  I haven't spun much lately because I have nothing carded.  Several fleeces out there, mind you.  But almost all of it needs to be picked and carded.  ( If I could only afford to send it off to Ohio Valley to have it done professionally. Maybe that would be a good Christmas present for me.....)

My husband is coming home tonight and I really miss him. He has been in California for a few days on business and it seems like weeks. I was absolutely lost without him at church yesterday!  We are one of the few couples left in the world that really enjoy staying married.  I am blessed to have a kind, thoughtful man who would never ever do anything to embarrass or dishonor me. He is loving and romantic. He is genuine and honest, trustworthy and gutsy. He truly loves people and it shows.  If there was a boy scout merit badge for being a good husband, he deserves one!

In the hole

The lace scarf has become a staple on the couch where I sit in the living room.  Three balls of yarn, one circular needle, and the WIP.  My eyes are drawn to the little holes formed, row after row, by the yarn overs.  When done three at a time, it makes a pattern and in this case, the holes form waves.

I'm knitting four rows of each color and not cutting the thread each time but carrying it all the way to the top.

I've also swatched for my next project;  a Christmas gift for my DIL.  They will be socks made of yarn that she picked out, yarn I had in my stash.   I am really considering doing two socks on circulars, just to be quick or maybe even try the Magic Loop method.

This method can end up being a real pain in the neck if you can't keep the loop just right.  Here's a stock photo of one sock using  Magic Loop.  (kind of looks like a diagram from 10th grade biology!)

Now if you're wondering why my photos look so blurry, (or maybe you've just had too much to drink today)  it's because I took the top two pictures with my cell phone.  DH is on his way out west and has the big camera with him.  It's actually his camera, so I'll let it slide this time! But then you'll have to forgive my poor photo quality.
Deal?

When I got this phone, the guy bragged about what great pictures it would take. Its super handy to have a camera with you at all times, don't get me wrong.  But I think my older camera got much, much better picture quality.  This camera though, is a smart phone.  It can make dinner for four in half an hour, it can cure most diseases, if diagnosed in time, and has been known to cause world peace for literally seconds at a time. Probably its the smartest phone I've ever had! And I'm sure I'm even smarter than most  folks, just because I have this phone in my pocket.

Ready or Not

Having several days off in a row has led me to do the unthinkable.  Yes, I'm afraid it's all too true - I'm cleaning off some of the bookshelves in my office.  I really don't want to do the whole thing, but in dusting, I've found myself re-shelving, moving pictures and books about and generally getting nothing productive done whatsoever. 
I have seen the show Hoarders, and I recognize my tendency to hoard books.  For no reason in particular, I just like keeping them around.  But sometimes you have to purge at least a few, so as not to give the impression that you are in fact a hoarder (which I am, I'm afraid).  So I'm working on it.

In the process of all this, and while sorting and filing a few other tidbits, I've been taken back in time about five years.  I have been there all day.  2005-2006
And I've concluded that I am a totally boring person.  I can't believe how dull I am, and yet it never occurred to me how far below the bar I'd sunk.  I found a job description that my old boss put together when hiring my replacement and I thought, wow, I sure did a lot of stuff.  And then I read some blog posts from my old blog, and thought how much stuff I did that just did not seem to amount to very much.  In the midst of my bookshelf-purge, I am now fully aware of my descent into no-where-ville.  I am about through with Laura Bush's autobiography and saw where in 2005 I had finished Marie Antoinette's life story.  Both are remarkable women of history.
I told my husband the other day that I'm setting some new goals.  I've pretty much reached all the ones I set in high school so it's time to re-evaluate and 'get with it'!  You may not see a billboard announcing them, but beware, they're coming.

Which brings me to my scant but worthy progress on the Seraphine scarf.  It's super easy, at this point. I've got the pattern memorized, I've got the yarn twisting down (changing colors) and I have a miraculous gadget (ziploc bag) to keep it all in.  The second half of the scarf had better get moving, cause I've got more Christmas gifts to make.  The leaves are changing outside so I am fully aware of the fact that time's a wastin'!

This is the day

Today is the kind of day we dream about in the scorching heat of the summer and the dead of winter.  A beautiful sunny day with birds chirping and families doing things together and no grass to cut.  (At least no grass to cut here in Tennessee. Its been very dry rainfall wise!)

I am pretty sure that the first day God created the earth was kind of like today.  I realized something this week.  What a wonder it was that God made the earth self-sustaining (rain, sun and moon), the plants and animals could repopulate (seeds and baby critters) and yet even the animals maintained overpopulation by the food chain.
What a wonder this all is to behold, especially on a day like today.

I finished the gradient blues from several posts ago.  Here they are.

Lots of pictures but I felt like being generous.  My week went pretty well and I'm working through some issues there and otherwise.

Vermeer-ish

I think this color is so pretty and the light and sheen that the white mohair adds to the coral is so subtle, but present.  This sample is definitely an inspiration.

Light is always associated with discussions on Vermeer paintings.  I saw a special on the Ovation channel about Vermeer last night.  He is my all time favorite painter. My kids were always getting some kind of art lessons growing up (along with all the language, science, math and history classes).  Both my children are excellent artists today and each has a natural eye for beauty.

I loved British Literature when I was in high school and don't think I ever took an actual art class.  I liked to sketch back then and have a little folder of my sketches somewhere (I think).  My older sister was always taking art classes in college and even studied in Paris for a while.  Her gifts to our family always have an artistic flair.  My brother is a professional furniture restorer and his wife does beautiful upholstery work.  My mom loves flowers and flower arranging and my dad apparently took basket-weaving in college and does woodworking.  I guess I never really noticed how much the arts have played a part in my life. (And to brag, I did play the clarinet in 5th grade and sang in the school chorus for several years; plus a year of piano as an adult. Don't be jealous.)

Anyway, here is the last of the gradient color blends.  It's way more blended than the other three and should be easy to ply tomorrow afternoon.

I have to work some tomorrow morning but have the afternoon off so I'd really like to get back to my knitting;  spinning this blue has been a distraction for sure!

You never know

Life is like a mail box. You never know what you're gonna get. Isn't that the truth?  Some days start out with you thinking things are going one way.  And the day ends with unexpected news that makes you stop and think about things differently.  Even the grocery shopping this afternoon was different than what I'd planned on.  Who knew?

So I've been knitting like a fiend on this little Seraphine scarf.  It's going so much better now that I've switched to this tiny, itsy-bitsy, little bamboo circular needle.

My daughter bought it for me when she and I went to a festival in NC years ago.  It's a size 5 and the whole thing is only 15 inches long.  You'd think it would be perfect for sock-knitting, but I really like it as a small, purse size circ.

With a few football games over the weekend to keep me seated on the couch long enough to knit, I made great progress with this fingering weight yarn.   When the scarf is blocked and pressed, it will be about 8 inches wide.

   My husband will be going to California in a couple of weeks and he is in search of those airline approved, travel sized liquid containers.  We have a few odd ones around but he is looking for something in particular.  It's funny how you can get fixed on something like that, only to be surprised that you can't find it.

  Often I anticipate a different outcome than I get with certain circumstances. And even though I'm not a mind reader,  I tend to think other folks think like me in most situations.  Uh-uh. They don't!   -- I'm surprised again and again at the way people interpret and deal with things.   I have a long, long, long way to go. 

The Garden of Eden

What a beautiful day.  Absolutely beautiful. I've been hoeing in the flower beds, getting them ready for winter.  The number of leaves are greater than the number of weeds and that's probably because of the low amounts of rainfall this summer.  Either way, the flower bed is a haven for me.  It's a tranquil place where no one criticizes me or asks me to do more than I want to do.  No wonder Jesus retreated to a garden. No wonder the first thing God did with His yard was make the Garden of Eden. 

It inspires me to spin lovely colors and knit with them.  I have this little scarf project, Seraphine, and it's colors are so reminiscent of the early fall. Greens turning to brown and  faint yellows.

And I've been spinning this pretty blue wool whose colors are somewhere between the water and the sky.

The far left skein is the darkest, then a lighter skein, even lighter batch on the bobbin, waiting to be plied, and finally the lightest batch carded and ready to be spun. 
And I've also carded a trial batch of shiny white mohair and the coral wool I dyed earlier in the month.  So pretty!

This week started off just fine, but Wednesday and Thursday were not as good.  I had to do some big-girl stuff that I didn't enjoy very much.   I've been listening to Laura Bush's autobiography and her grace and restraint are incredible to me.  When all the world was a real life, Mad Men, she turned out really well.  Leaving behind the cocktail world and choosing fidelity, honor and quiet dignity.  She really inspired me this week to say as little as possible, when I really wanted to 'let her rip', and only confront the most necessary of my battles.   Oh to grow up and be like her!

It still hurts to pull off a band aid

I honestly thought that when I grew up, things would forever change.  That I would never have another pimple, that I would handle everything "like a grown up", and that somehow the things that hurt as a kid, would not hurt when I was older.  Fail. Wrong. Simply put, it still hurts to pull off a band aid, no matter how old you are.  Hurt is hurt, pain is pain.

My parents are at that age where they are facing decisions regarding the care of aging loved ones.  There are no easy answers and I'm sure that whatever choices are made, someone will feel hurt.  It doesn't quit just because you're getting old.

I went to the eye doctor this week.  He told my that my eyes were normal, and going bad because of my age.  Pooh!  I didn't want to hear that!  I wanted to hear that my eyes are extraordinary and strong and unbelievably good for someone my age.   It just seems that everywhere I look, it's staring me in the face.  I'm aging and so are those around me.  It's inevitable.

Which brings me to my latest knitting project.

 I picked the yarns last weekend and knitted a few rows of what I'm going to call Seraphine.  I saw a movie about the painter; she was a housekeeper with enormous natural artistic ability.   You can't tell how old she is by her paintings, and they are lovely!  They are ageless, even though she was at least middle aged when she was discovered as an artist.
I read in the Bible today that he who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. I believe that. 

See what I mean ?

Yes, today the air feels much more like fall.  The colors of the leaves have started to change weeks ago, and many of our trees already have a little dusting of leaves on the ground below.

So today it just felt right to go outside this morning and it not feel hot and desert like.  It was 'comfortable'!  Woo hoo for the little things!

As I looked at the little tree above it totally confirmed the colors I had picked this morning for my mom's scarf.

 

The orange would be a nice complement, but it would greatly diminish the scarf's ability to go with lots of outfits.  Since I had dyed the coral wool a few weeks ago, it actually looked cute with the tan and green and yellow.  Very fall.  But I'm sticking with the subtle colors I've got.  There should be plenty left over and they might make a great pair of argyle socks. Who knows?

My kids and their spouses spent the night last night and it felt like Christmas around here.  It was downright rowdy in the kitchen with all of us talking at once as each pair arrived with their bags in hand.  Snacks on the bar, dinner ready for the grill, we thoroughly had a fun evening.   Somehow, no matter how bad your week may have been, seeing the faces of people you love, and hearing their voices can take away a world of pain.

Felonies and Misdemeanors

Every day I do good things and bad things. I like to downplay the bad things, like getting a Mocha two days in a row or speeding (ten mph above the limit). I guess you could call these misdemeanors. The felonies are things God knows about, and probably my husband, since he's around me a lot. I don't want to talk about the felonies because I'm not proud, but they would mostly have to do with things I say, in particular about other people.
"Are they blind?"
" Can't they see......?"
I find myself rehearsing the flaws of others and wishing there was some accountability in the world. And I'm sure there is, but sometimes it just doesn't seem like it, so I figure if I say it out loud enough, somebody will hear. Wishful thinking.
So goes my felony convictions. They are many.

Now for the good things I do. Although I did not walk any old ladies across the street today, I did finish the DYFLWD socks. At least up to the toe closing which will involve the dreaded Kitchener stitch. Ugh.

I think they turned out right cute, to quote Gomer Pyle. I will close the toes in a few days.

And then I will pick out some yarn to start my Mom's Christmas scarf. That's what she wants and that's what she'll get. It won't look like a Where's Waldo scarf, but it will have some hint of color change, be it ever so subtle. Since she lives at the beach, it will most likely be worn around late January on the outside of her winter coat, on a day that the temps get down to 40 degrees. It feels like cold weather is a long, long ways away. I think the temps here in Tennessee are still in the mid nineties this week. I guess it will make the fall all the more special!

Laguna Beach

I finished the first skein of the gradient blue yarns. The color was all blue with no white.
Then I carded second batch (3:1) in a loosely blended way. I wanted to the color to bleed into the neighboring colors.
The spinning gave it a beautiful beach-y look and totally reminded me of some yarn I bought in Laguna Beach years ago. I could only afford one skein so I made an iPod cover and this little sweater for my Smitty.

Every day lately is getting prettier and prettier. I would love to be at Laguna Beach today but that will have to wait. I got away for a day or so,this weekend with my hubby. We were able to see Mindy Smith at a club in a nearby town. She's a singer who is mostly know for her remake of the Dolly Parton song Jolene. Mindy's a mighty good singer and very witty on stage. I was impressed.
Anyway, I'm off to fix some lunch and head out to a meeting later this afternoon. Long day tomorrow so I'm enjoying this one before it gets away!

Where you been?

When my husband picked up the dry cleaning today, the Asian lady who owns the business asked him, "Where you been?". We used to bring a bag full of dry cleaning at least every other week before I left my old job.My husband told the lady that I didn't work in an office anymore so we didn't need to come by as often. The lady said they were struggling as a business and didn't know where their regular customers were. It made me kind of sad, as they have been so good to us, giving us lots of discounts and always very good service. I pray things improve for them!

In my garden last week, I got a little snapshot of the late summer blooms. At the bottom of the photo are some Forget-Me-Nots that I planted from seed last spring. They do really well with a lot of water. I love the shade of blue; its very close to this wool I spun. This is the darkest shade from the four batches I weighed out.

I do love to spin, but am usually pretty tired when I come home. Hot baths and knitting on the couch seem to be the best I can do right now.

This is the DYFLWD sock #2 with the heel completed and the instep begun. Its small and easy to knit at this point, with most of the effort being put into measuring where the color changes will end up.
We're going out of town soon and I want to take it with me, but I'm pretty sure I won't get to it while I'm away. I've got a new book on my kindle and its gonna have to do. My suitcase will not miss the sock, I'm sure!

I'm ready for a little R & R, fun, party time, etc. The lady I work for is a joy to be around. The girl I answer to, for the most part, is very different altogether. She makes for a very hostile work environment. When she gets in trouble, she takes it out on us. When she feels confident, she gets bossy. When she doesn't feel like working, she always seems to have some reason why we'll have to just pick up the slack 'cause she's busy with something (we're aren't privileged enough to be in on), or she just disappears altogether. And the rules seem to change depending on who's watching. There is never, ever a compliment paid on a job well done, and taking a break is frowned on. Getting a drink of water, which is the most refreshment allowed, must happen quickly and with as little fanfare as possible. All in all, no one wants to be around her and she seems oblivious to this. I guess she's awfully important and being liked or respected by your staff or co-workers is entirely over-rated.