Not a silk worm

(Friday, Sept. 18 actually. )
I realized that my last blog post made no reference to why I purchased $50 worth of silk hankies. No, I don't blow my nose that often. My old blog smittenwithknittin was hacked back in July, so you can't see my old posts about spinning silk from 'hankies'. (They are produced from the cocoon; wet, spread out and stretched out over four nails to make little squares when dried.) I spin the silk from the hankie on my spinning wheel and I've added a link, but you can google the process to find out more.

Here is the caterpillar I mentioned in my last post. Note the size compared to the leaves on the tree (river birch)!
My son's blanket is going to be very functional. I wish it were going to be pretty and lacy and delicate, but he wants a blanket that actually keeps someone warm. Imagine that. An afghan that doesn't have holes in it for your toes to stick through. Hmm. Below you can see four panels plus the one on the needles at the far right of the picture - so five panels that will be sewn together.



This blue is a blend of wools that had exactly the right amount of twist. You know it's right when it doesn't kink up when laid down. The colors look different, and reality is somewhere between the two photos. I'd say Baby Blue.

I'm used to blogging twice a week and have been doing so since the fall of 2004. My old blog was hacked in July and I haven't blogged much lately, so this may get long. I hate that all my old posts are gone. Completely gone.
I'm used to Wordpress and this is of course Google's version so nothing looks like I want it to. Placing pictures, adding links, etc. is very different, so that makes each step take just a little longer than I'd like, but at least I don't have to resize photos. I'm learning! And at least I'm writing. My knitting suffers when I don't have a reason to keep at it. The thought of a blog-post keeps me diligent with my projects.

And speaking of writing, we have a little book that was inherited when my husband's step-grandfather died. He was an English/music professor and the book is called, "The Elements of Style". (maybe we got this from hubby's dad who is a semi-published writer) ANYway.... the book is very, very short and gives little rules on how to go around the rules of grammar for the sake of the reader. It's hard for me to break rules, since I guess I'm a perfectionist. Text should be grammatically right. And right is right. Right? But this book says no.
The book is highly regarded in literary circles. William Strunk who wrote the book must have been a hoot to work for. He stressed that it would be much better when if we kept the "reader" in mind. That seemed to be his goal. Life is that way too. We can be right all the time, but if the people we're trying to communicate with don't understand what we're trying to say, it can be very frustrating.

Silk Worms and/or Caterpillars

When I bought my spinning wheel last Christmas, I got a gift certificate for $50 which I've held onto until now.
I finally ordered $50 worth of silk hankies. What's funny about this is that the other day I was sitting on the porch and saw these funny droppings all over the patio. Later I looked up to see a HUGE caterpillar eating all the leaves off my river birch tree.
About a day later I bought the new Wild Fibers magazine and read an article all about silk worm caterpillars and their droppings, as they are getting ready to produce the silk cocoon.
The caterpillar was about the color of this green yarn. I call it "Almost Mountain Dew". My husband loves it and wants a scarf made out of it. I love to hear those words, "Can you make me a scarf?"




And here are a couple of batches of the yarn I've been dyeing. Royal blue (or my name, Sapphire.)
And Cabernet. (how about Chianti?)



So the week or so since my last post have been really stressful at work, yet I am feeling much better tonight. I've been at church all day, and that in itself is good for getting my mind off my troubles.
I've also done a "mess" of cooking lately and had some good quality time gardening. I've dug a new flower bed, and I can't wait to get it ready for plants.

Labor Day Weekend

Monday could not have been a more splendid day. I don't use that word carelessly, but it's the only one to describe it. Grilled steaks on the patio, steamed broccoli & cauliflower, corn and buttered french bread with espresso and homemade ice cream. We spent the day with my son & his lovely young lady friend, taking our time eating, walking downtown, doing a little grocery shopping and relaxing with a movie.

We had visited my daughter and son in law in Memphis on Friday (leaving after work on Thursday and returing first thing Saturday morning . We had a wonderful time visiting Mud Island, DD's work and DSIL's law school. We were treated like royalty the whole time. My daughter even fixed us little breakfast sandwiches the morning we left, for our road trip. Such a sweetie!








And I noticed that the wrap I knitted her for her wedding was laying neatly over the footboard of her bed. She said she keeps it there.





My current project has a deadline. October 15. That's the date of the first frost and the project is my son's blanket. I've been working on it for about a year now, and it keeps getting put aside for smaller, quicker-to-finish projects. But now I realize that there's no reason not to complete it right now. Before the weather turns cold.


I thought my son knew it was for him, but I'd never mentioned it until the other day and he was truly touched. What a blessing to see the look on his face when I told him! That alone lit my fire to finish quickly. I've taken it to the movies, in the car, to bed; you name it, and I've take the blanket there.

Funny how you think those closest to you know everything about you. Not so. My husband didn't know until Saturday that I had a bird (parakeet) as a teenager. Can't believe I never told him! I kept it in my room and talked to it every day, changing the water and paper in the bottom of the tray. I wish I could remember the name of that bird, good ole what's his name.

About this time 8 years ago, we visited TN in hopes of finding a house to purchase. We were leaving the mountains of NC after living there for 4 years. We made some dear, dear friends while we served at a church there in a small rural town. Beautiful place to live, and the people there were the warmest, friendliest people I've ever met in my life. We were especially close to the pastor and his wife and his children were pretty much my kids' closest friends. In fact, one time my dog hopped into their car when the pastor was leaving our house!
Their daughter was here this past week to be in my daughter's wedding and it really stirred up a lot of great memories. Great friendships were born during our stay in NC.
Everything was absolutely beautiful, nothing seemed to go wrong, and the people we love the most were here to share the day.