Frijoles

We're having fajitas tonight, and I remembered to soak beans for frijoles. When we were in Mexico in the spring we were served plenty of them, that is a fact. Most of the kids (and a few of the adults) weren't all that enamored, but I love the stuff. Correna, Gordana and I have been to a Latin grocery store a number of times lately, and I've got a sizable collection of dried beans of every sort. Tonight? White Cranberry.

I'm all over the place with knitting these days. I've knitted 2.5 pairs of socks to raise money for my ride, I repaired a vintage Cowichan sweater, I started on a pair of Tsock Tsarina socks (Daughter of the Regiment) only to discover that the pattern has errata, and the error would be exactly in the part that I've completed. I'm excited about the socks, so I'll let them rest for a while, and start again. I learned 3 new ways to cast-on toe-up socks (they aren't my style, I must admit), and finally settled on Judy's Magic Cast-On. Beautiful. Through the power of prayer and $40.00 I also have another Tsock Tsarina kit; that being the Golden West tsocks. I thought I'd work on them during the Year of Estonian/Orenburg Lace Knitting.. you know; for a little change of pace.

Today I'm knitting on a little Damson shoulder shawl in Pagewood Farm Cashmere sock yarn (Alyeska, colour: 14-Ireland) that I bought at Purl SoHo when we went to Rhinebeck last year. This will be the yarn's 5th project so far. I have to say, it frogs well and still looks great. I'm hoping that this project is a keeper and I can once and for all say goodbye to the skein.

I am STILL not feeling well, and that's the reason for the Damson. My hands ache too much to knit socks.. so we're settling for something soft and easy.

My next project? Longies for one of the darling R's.

After the beans, and after a sock, but before the Damson sees the light of day.

(note: 11pm. Beans are done. Supper is a distant memory. Failbean)

It was a dark and stormy night.

Well, actually it wasn't, but it seems like everyone should get to type that sentence once in their life.

This weekend turned out to be especially productive; I can barely remember all the things that I accomplished. Roxy (the pup) kept me up most of Friday night; I was totally and completely exhausted by her whining and crying. She would have liked to sleep on the bed, and I would have liked her to sleep in another city. Neither of us got our way. Eventually I got a few hours sleep, and was about to get up to take Mug to soccer, when BFML offered to do the deed for me AND take both dogs as well. I slept from 9 to 12.. it was like absolute heaven.

Once they returned home I packed up Mug and headed for Make One to talk to Bess about dyeing and to spin for a while. The store was pretty darned busy. AnneK brought in a warm coffee cake, studded with chunks of apple. Did I say heaven?

I don't know what possessed me, but afterwards I started bringing all of my yarn and allll of my fiber downstairs to organize and.. well, spring clean. I've been thinking it needed to be done, but dreading it. Man, what a job. I got to a point with the yarn that I'd think I was done, and sure as crap yet another bag of it would be hiding behind something. In the end my entire upstairs area was sorted out and organized, and all of my yarn/fiber is contained, labelled and, shockingly, findable. It was kind of fun being reminded of frogged projects, successes, failures, plans... I got rid of very little, and realized that I'm missing one skein of yarn.

Silk. Koigu. From our New York Trip. DAMN.

Anyway, we won't discuss mileage, or Rubbermaid totes, or green garbage bags. None of that.

I knitted, I spun... the Cormo basket is completely and absolutely empty. To be honest I never thought I'd see the day, but now that I have combs, the fiber is under my control. The Cormo is about 50% plied.... I wish now that I'd Navajo plied it, because it's thinner than I would have liked, but still soft, still gorgeous. (Yesterday the 2009 hoggetts were sheared. I so want one).

I dyed and dyed and dyed; the kitchen is absolutely resplendent in a rainbow of fiber. Tonight I'll bag that up and get it off to it's new home. I felt inspired, for the first time in an age.

Ahhhh and it was Mother's day. Dida and Ike (and Nini, in a stroller) ran the 5k, so BFML and I walked downtown to cheer them over the finish line. It was such a great thing for Dida.. her first race ever. Later we went to their car and Dida gave me a framed picture of Nini in a red raincoat. It's the best ever.. honestly.

BFML treated me like a queen all day on Sunday, and gave me a reconditioned mailbox that he and the kids had worked on. We so needed it! I can hardly wait for it to be installed.

Seems like this is about enough information.. but honestly there's more! Mug and I watched The Colour Purple together, we had poached eggs, drank Lambic Framboise - not Mug; BFML, I did washing/carding experiments, BFML freecycled and I landed up with a copy of Eat, Pray, Love... the only book I've wanted to review by the time I was reading page 9. It's that good.

etc. It was an etc. kind of weekend.

Hockey. No kidding. You must watch it tomorrow.

I am the wicked step-mom to a wonderful little guy, aged 9. This is him:



If you'd like to see a better picture of him, then your best bet would be to watch the Calgary/San Jose game tomorrow night. He has been chosen to skate a loop around the Saddledome ice with the Calgary Flames, and to join them for the national anthem. They are giving him a jersey, and tickets for the game. He calls tomorrow 'Happy Day', and he's been counting sleeps until HD since Christmas. Honestly, it is happy day for all of us, because he's been working so hard to be a good hockey player himself, and this is such an honour and a blessing for him. He feels like a winner.. and he is. I hope that you can share his moment of glory.

And, yes, he wears that balaclava all the time. He really does.

I thought I'd share this picture with you:



Not because I'm happy to say that the Christmas tree has been dismantled, but because you might notice that all of our decorations are special; the toilet paper angel has a very special place in my heart, and has been on the tree for years. Blogless C might notice that, yes, we have disco ball ornaments.

If you have children, I would suggest that you buy a big bag of non-breakable Christmas balls, and every year give your kids a ball and a felt pen. We have a collection from years and years back, and I love each and every one of them. You can see one or two in the picture. It's not fancy, it's just them, leaving their marks for you to see when they are not so little any more.

And here you have the early stages of Marie Antoinette.



Gale blogged about it, and I loved her sock so much that I bought the pattern and ordered the yarn. I was endlessly thinking about the sock though, so I brought out a ball of yarn that I bought in Brooklyn during the Rhinebeck extravaganza. It's a cashmere blend, but I can't give you details because I somehow lost the ball band. I totally love the intended yarn (which is Tupelo Honey by the Woolen Rabbit, $22.00 shipped), but I am not sorry that I started with the yarn I used.

In case you're wondering.. today was my first full day at the Knitting Room. It went well, it was a very, very busy day, and I saw a few familiar, smiling faces. Thank you for coming in to say hi; I really appreciated it.

Tonight? I'm up to my elbows in dyed fiber and sock yarn. It's all good!

ps: The Alphagetti was fantabulous.

Who I am

Is a spinner who knits.

There have been times in my life when I thought I was a writer, or a painter, or a potter.. though all the while I was a knitter without passion. It was when I discovered fine yarns, and frankly, competitive knitting, that finally the fire was lit. That could make me a knitter who paints, or a knitter who sews, or many other knitterly combinations.

However, none are accurate.

It was when Amy taught me how to use a drop spindle that I started to feel my destiny click into place. A bit dramatic, yes.. but true. I spun endlessly, not really understanding where the passion came from, but embracing it totally. Some time later, my nearly 80-year old aunt told me that she'd always been a spinner too, and that my nan had also spun. Things made sense. We're spinners.

I dreamed of spindles... and came up with an imaginary collection that seemed perfection.

Tabacheck lace spindles, in Ash
Tabacheck Tibetan supported spindle in Canary Wood
Apricot Bosworth Midi
Yew Avi Wasserman, .75 oz
Canary Cascade Tiger
Greensleeves Mjolinor in Redwood Burl
Cedar Kundert

And a Golding.

When we went to Rhinebeck, my plan was to buy a Golding, a Bosworth, and an Avi Wasserman. Nothing else, you understand... just those three things. I found the Avi Wasserman first and the Bosworth last. Sherry and I stopped at Golding and I found myself overwhelmed. I test spun quite a few spindles, and decided, finally, on an Antiqued Rosette in Walnut. Approximately 1 oz, it would spin the weight I feel most comfortable with, and would complete my collection. It spun true, and was a thing of beauty; yet at the very last moment I exchanged it for a large, vintage spindle with birds on its silver rim. Lovely.

But I couldn't spin it. It was all over the place; uncontrollable, and on it's way back to Golding.

Somehow, today, thanks to the kindness of my friends, I have two. My friend Stacey offered to trade hers for fiber. It's a larger spindle, a mahogany colour with a walnut shaft. The two of us are still resolving our relationship, and it needs a trip to Bessthespinner to spin true; but we're a bonded, and I know that we'll come to terms. I love it.

The Rosette? On Friday it made its way to me, via a much loved and treasured friend. She said when the spindle arrived at her house she looked at it and felt as though it was mine. She had the grace to give it to me for Christmas. It is the exact spindle I held in my hands at Rhinebeck..



I feel as though her instincts were correct, and that the spindle had found its way home. I know that sounds crazy.. but it's not the first crazy thing I've believed, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

Yesterday the two of us (the Rosette and I, that is!) sat in the kitchen in the night and spun 5 grams of Qivuit. Doesn't sound like much, I know, but that is 5 grams of cobweb weight; more yards than I can count. The spindle flew.... I've never seen one revolve so long or so true. It was like magic.

I couldn't be happier, or more grateful. I am a spinner who knits.

The zen of spinning

Warning! I took these pictures on BF's camera, and his setting takes a picture as big as a house. Bigger than real life! So unless you want to count my wraps per inch, and really check out spinning errors, don't click! Or.. click to enHUGEen.



Flickr isn't flickring tonight.. so this is gonna take a while. You've got the time, don't you? Me? I'm up at 2am, tho I'm totally exhausted, because Roxy had a bath tonight and she feels it is imperative to nibble her feet all night. I cannot get her to stop. If she's not asleep when I go back upstairs, I'm going to find alternate sleeping arrangements that does not include dogs on the bed.

Anyway.. you might know that things have been a bit stressful for me lately, plus I have strep and an ear infection again. I think I'm wrung out. The solution? Spin. And spin. And spin.

I had 6 bobbins of a jacketed hogget cormo that just needed to be plied, so I dragged them out and gave them a whirl. Now, here's what I have.

1. Skein of scoured, unprepared in any other way... just spun from the locks.



2. Skein of scoured, hand carded locks.



3. Skein of scoured, flick carded locks.



All three skeins have been spun thick and thin, finished, and tho there is still minimal VM (especially in the natural locks), they are a pretty cream colour, and I'm very happy. I won't dye any of it. This yarn is so soft and bouncy I don't have words to describe it.

What I learned is:

- I am a pretty lousy hand carder. Must practice that.
- It's hard for me to spin art-type yarn... If I lose concentration, my spinning reverts to consistent fingering weight. Then.. ooops!.. back to art yarn.
- A dog comb used as a flick carder will go straight through your jeans. It won't take long either.
- I absolutely adore cormo. It might be my favorite fleece ever.
- I learned a lot about how NOT to wash a fleece. I basically have a cloud the size of a laundry basket, but, it's not a total loss, and in fact it hasn't been a loss at all, I just altered my spinning.
- I think i'm going to flick card the rest, and I think I'm going to force myself to start throwing out short and really dirty parts. We have a compost. I can use it. The world won't end if I don't spin every single inch.
- I think it might be ok to cut off the tips of a hogget fleece sometimes. They are too little to be jacketed at first, so the tips are a bit frazzed.
- Starting from a fleece is hard, but worth it. Times a thousand.

OK.. moving on.

2 skeins of Llama-down, purchased carded from Lars of West Mountain Farm, Inc., Stamford, Vermont. I met Lars Garrison and his wife Gaye at Rhinebeck. They have decided to sell off their animals. If you can get your hands on any of this fleece, do so. It is amazing, and I could just kick myself for not buying more. This is my first real attempt at unsupported long draw. I'm very happy with my initial results. The takeup on my wheel isn't strong enough, so it's kind of a tough go... but I did as well as I could. The yarn is soft and very springy.



Coils! It's my first try, and the skein is loaded with errors.. I did everything wrong I think, but I'm still stupid thrilled with the results. I think the singles needed to be spun tighter and I need to figure out how to do this without coiling up the core thread so bad that it breaks. Technique = 0. Pretty = 10.



I picked the roving because I thought the dye job sucked. In reality, it kicks butt.



Now. Can somebody tell me what the heck one does with a coiled skein???

Since I last wrote

I received the bill for the Rhinebeck UTI. $800 something, USD. In case you've ever wondered if travel insurance is worth it, the answer is yes.

The Border Leicester fleece (1st 6 mos. clip) that I bought in Rhinebeck arrived. Yay. S'lovely. I bought it from Meadowland Farm (Hinesburg, VT), and Sue's business card has neither a website nor an email address. I kind of love that.

I went to the Make One Retreat in Kananaskis... what a beautiful, marvelous, amazing place. I met lots of fabulous people, ate THE very best veggie burger ever (thank you Stephanie for hooking us up). And Scarlett slept with me. For those of you who are unaware, Scarlett is the queen bee of all dogs, and she doesn't just hand out affection to each and all. We have a special relationship now.. I'm not allowed to look at her, or acknowledge that she's in my sphere, and in exchange, she lets me breathe the same air as she does. It's an amazing victory on my part.



Nancy Bush borrowed my lace weight drop spindle for the weekend. I don't think she actually used it, but I'm going to imagine that she did. (It's the little one on the left)



I was the person who handed Cookie A the very first copy of her book. For real!

I've knitted mittens and mittens and mittens. Many more rights than absolutely necessary, to be frank. Apparently I am an unconscious right-knitter.

I saw my Nini tonight. She is completely and absolutely enthralled with Dora... so we watched it 3 times. What are Nans for anyway, if not for giving little girls the world on a platter?

Teenagers are stressful. Take my word for it. Teenage girls take the cake some days/weeks/months. If teenage girls were an earthquake, ours would be a 7.5. I thought I should mention that our kids are: 26 (married, and gone...), 14, 13, 12, and 9. All but the 9 y/o are girls. My house is a cloud of estrogen.

Speaking of exhaustion, I have been wiped out since Rhinebeck. 'I can barely function' kind of exhausted. I keep saying that I'm going to the doctor, but I'm too tired to get there.

My glasses arrived. The left eye is perfect and I really love the frames.

I now own 7 tiaras. One came with a wand. It sparkles.

After the retreat, BFML, the kids and I went to the Banff Hot Springs. It was hot and springy. It was snowing a little bit, and we really enjoyed it. I wore a t-shirt into the pool and felt just as fat as if I hadn't worn it, plus extra stupid because I was the only person in the pool with one on.



I also went to Jacques Cartier and bought a little more Qivuit fiber. Perhaps we bought a little fudge on the trip. Maybe.



I have the yarn all picked out to knit THE JARED SCARF. I never, ever would have guessed I'd fall into that one.. but the Silk Garden threw me over the edge.

And last.. but certainly not LEAST.. because it's actually so flipping amazing that I could weep from joy. The Twist Collective finally accepted my $7.00 US, and I have the pattern for Kingscot in my hand. I.SO.DO. Tiny glitch: I thought I had yarn for it, but I don't. I'm going to imaginary knit until I get that sorted out.

So there you go. Some stuff since I last wrote. How were you?

Much delayed SEX report. With pictures.

You know.. the entire Rhinebeck Stash Enhancement eXcursion didn't really end up to be massive in the yarn department. Quite sparse, to tell you the truth.


From the Brooklyn General Store. I cannot remember what yarn this is, just that it is 10% cashmere, and it's as beautiful as anyone could ever hope.


2 skeins of Koigu, a silk blend fingering weight.





2 STR mill ends. Both much more lovely and nuanced than they appear in the pictures. One for me, one for Dida.



The Avi Wasserman and Bosworth were purchased at Rhinebeck. The Greensleeves and the Kundert had arrived from Boogie while I was gone.

And that's it except for another mill end that I gave to Amy, and a sock monkey kit.

Some amazing restraint on my part? Naw... I just didn't feel good, is all.

Wanna see the most beautiful picture ever taken? Visit Sean's Soapbox and look for the foliage pond photo. You'll thank me.

Here's a guy who has a sweet job

He's been making maple candy floss for an entire day, and it shows.

Red

Rhinebeckover

Like a hangover, only less barfing.

I have no energy, and so I'll treat you to some photos until I get my groove back.


Trish, enchanting a port authority cop. He's holding her sock, but he wouldn't let anybody hold his gun. *ahem*


Woodstock 'folage'. That's how they say it in NYS


Woodstock


The boring chick at Tori's Olive Bridge house


A fairy in the garden


Tori's fountain


Best Rhinebeck photo ever


Battery Park, NYC


Ground zero. Click for emotion


Kinnearing the Enchanting Juno and her tiny friends


Oak leaves on Tori's stoop in Hoboken


Tori's stoop.

I don't think its fair

... That I can't have a fully formed fantasy relating to knitting Kingscot. In order to do that I have to have the pattern. Instead what did I get? A teaser. The teaser even says: This pattern is available for $7.00.

I've got $7.00. Nobody will take it. Cheaters.

I'm probably never going to knit the darned thing, but I can't pretend I am until I have the pattern. Norah Gaughn would never do this to me. I blame these Twist people.

My imaginary queue is all messed up for the moment. Hurry up Winter 2008 issue. Come ON. I cannot get a new fake queue item until I am 'actually' able to knit the current contender.

(The above post is an attempt at humour, is purely due to Rhinebeck anxiety, and cannot be held against the author in any way)

Rhinebeck

I'm so excited, and so nervous, and.. well, did I mention excited? Today I bought some travel health insurance from AMA, and somehow it made everything official. I'm going to Rhinebeck.

I have a rough idea on where I'm going and what I'm doing; and a pocket full of US cash (Which BF purchased before the Canadian dollar dropped into the toilet. He's the smart one). We've got maps, we've got notebooks, we've got each other. There's 7 of us descending on Tori, and to tell you the truth, a big part of the excitement around going to New York is about seeing her again. I hope she's ready.

Tonight I'm trying to decide how many needles to take, what projects, what books. Maybe just enough to take care of the flight to New York, and depend on purchases to get back home? Or.. do I work on WIPs? The Secret Garden is having a little glitch right now, and I could spend some serious time working on it. I have cashmere Casbah sock yarn from my birthday. I have 1/2 of an accidental Clapotis. Take it all?

Following is a little video that I took of BGAidan playing his very first hockey game. He's #9 in a white jersey and a white helmet, and I am so proud of him. Just a few weeks ago he couldn't skate, and now he's playing hockey. He played well, he passed, and he was a good sport. It's not a very good video (I forgot to turn it off at the end, and the world turns upside down), but what the heck.. it was my first game as a hockey step-mom. I could not be prouder. And ps: the assistant coach is hot.

I've got me some spindles

And I'm not afraid to use them.

So I thought that I'd show them off to you, and maybe brag a little.. To be honest, I consider these spindles to be works of art, and I am on bended knee to those who make them well.

Here we have a set of Tabacheck Russian Lace Spindles in Ash. Caroline was in the shop and tried to teach me how to spin with them. As you can see, I fairly well suck; but I have been able to get a few yards of singles. That's a whisp of cashmere you see there. Pretty lofty beginning, wouldn't you say? If I improve, say... 10,000%, I should have enough to knit a nose warmer (believe me.. it WILL happen).



I also have a little Cascase Tiger, in Zebrawood/Cherry. I've been spinning Qivuit on it for a while now, and it's pleasing me to no end. I'm achieving cobweb weight easily, and I have a BIG PLAN regarding the shawl I'll be knitting with it. What year, I cannot say.

Beside that is another Tabacheck. It's an Oak Plying spindle, and I love it. What you see on it is some really poorly spun 17 micron merino. That was an error in judgement, but I'd just combed and dizzed the merino, and the plying spindle was the first one I could put my hands on.

After that is another Cascade, in Maple/Cherry. I don't know what model, but it's a great spindle that I've used and used and used.



I have a couple of bombs as well... an Ashford Turkish spindle that I never quite figured out, several brick heavy beginner spindles, and the lovely Spindolyn. It's cute, but it wobbles like crazy and I have no patience for that.

Aunty Tink and I have been planning to buy a spindle at Rhinebeck, so I've been spending quite a bit of time doing research and trying to decide on which I would aim for. After many hours of deliberation I have determined that I need 3. A Bosworth Midi, a Golding (but I'm not sure which one), and a lightweight Avi Wasserman in Olivewood.

Where is the Forrester? The Greensleeves? The Kundert?

On their way baby.