spinning my life away

la course a commencé et un chat rusé

2010-07-06T23:27:00.003-04:00

the wheel is ready for the tour

jensen ashley

spunky eclectic fiber club - shetland

woolee winder, best invention ever. would it be too greedy to want one for every wheel?

2 bobbins at rest before plying

he looks so innocent asleep

rajah's youtube debut i cannot get it to imbed, so clicky

a tale of two wheels and a little targhee

2010-07-01T07:20:00.016-04:00

the big reeves came out to play

a little finial pr0n

sweet grass wool mountain top targhee, i think it is this one , but i am not sure as i bought it from needledancer and the label has no contact info. it's a green label.

targhee is a wool i had wanted to try, so i snapped it up. for me, the targhee wanted to be spun worsted and liked to be stripped into pencil roving sized lengths. plus i wanted shorter color bursts. a joy to spin.

ah, rick reeves, how i wish you were still making wheels. the wide treadle, the baby smooth wood, the exquisite turnings

lookie what came in the mail, a lovely lovely quilted maple robin, this wood is UNREAL!

the robin spins like a dream :-)

gil surely builds a beautiful wheel!

this is the perfect plying wheel, the bobbins are humongous! and the robin is as quiet as a mouse.

reeves "bug" kate.

when i finished plying i was a bit concerned that the yarn was overplied,

but after a nice lavendar shampoo and conditioning, the yarn is hanging perfectly balanced.

2ply laceweight 792 yds

how lucky a mimi am i?

my gingersnap and her mom are living with us for the summer.

my son is leaving the full time navy, and will start law school here in fort lauderdale this fall. he will stay in the reserves, and will continue his job as an instructor pilot until school starts.

until they move into their new home, gingersnap is mine all mine!

does this say summer or what!

20 questions

2010-03-20T10:56:00.004-04:00

being the lemming that i am, i am copying kim and laurie.

1. explain what ended your last relationship?

the movie sleepless in seattle. after leaving the movie i thought to myself, "i can't marry this guy, i'm not in love". and then i met my tom :-)

2. when was the last time you shaved?

yesterday morning in the shower.

3. what were you doing this morning at 8 a.m.?

sleeping. i took darvocet last night, thought i needed a root canal yesterday, but the dentist thinks it's a sinus problem. thank god for drugs.

4. what were you doing 15 minutes ago?

playing on the internet.

5. some things you are really excited about?

getting a wheel i have coveted from kim!

6. what is you favorite flavor of jell-o?

hmmm, rasberry or strawberry.

7. your prom night,what do you remember about it?

my bf, garrett, wore a white tophat, white tails and whte gym shoes. i wore my hair with a curl in the middle of my forehead. ah, loved the 70s.

8. do you have any famous ancestors?

no idea, i am adopted.

9. last thing received in the mail?

two skeins of bugga! score!

10. how many different beverages have you had today?

water and tea, i am very exciting.

11. do you ever leave messages on people's answering machines?

yes

12. do you draw your name in the sand when you go to the beach?

no, even though i live in south florida, i rarely go to the beach.

13. any plans for friday night?

free rum punches at the lyc.

14. do you like what the ocean doe to your hair?

no.

15. have you ever received one of those big tins of 3 different popcorns?

no.

16. do you re-use towels after you shower?

yes, i am clean after i shower.

17. describe your keychain(s)?

a cute compass from the navy league that unfortunately fell and no longer works. but it is still cute.

18. where do you keep your change?

in a ziplock bag.

19. when was the last time you spoke in front of a large group?

about 10 years ago in front of a city council meeting in lake placid. they wanted to build a sewage treatment plant right next to the lake. eww.

20. what kind of a winter coat do you own?

i don't, i've lived in florida for 31 years.

now for a little eye candy-

dishtowel kit from cotton clouds on the cherry baby wolf.

happy new year!

2010-01-03T15:53:00.009-05:00

a wee bit late!

as i've been lying in bed, rotten bronchitis, i've been reading blogs and new year resolutions.

i'm not normally a resolution kind of gal, but then it struck me. my resolution is to truly appreciate how lucky i am to have my wonderful husband tom in my life.

you know, after you've been together for a long time, it's easy to overlook all the great qualities, and focus on those tiny negative things.

honey, i love you more than i can say! you are the best husband, father and grandfather ever!

and now for a wee bit of christmas knitting.

knitspot's orchid lace mitts and ivy vines neckwarmer

knit with jade sapphire's mongolian cashmere

delicious

jared flood's druid mittens - jamieson spindrift in midnight from two swans yarn

the most thankful thursday ever!

2009-11-19T09:28:00.014-05:00

i am thankful for the best phone call ever from my surgeon- no cancer!!!!

now i don't need to worry about not seeing my gingersnap grow up!

i am thankful for my wonderful primary care doctor, dr. michelle fiorillo, she is so caring and thorough, and never makes me feel like i am lost in the crowd.

last month i went to see her, ladies if you have any of the signs of an ovarian cyst, or ovarian cancer, which are very similar, please go see your doctor!!!

on monday i went in for my laprascopic surgery, today i got the wonderful news, no cancer!!!

i am thankful for my loving husband, tom, definitely the strong silent 50s type of man.

i am thankful for my children

i am thankful to have the best daughter-in-law in the entire world, natalie has been my rock through all this, and i love her as much as my own children.

i am thankful for my beautuful daughter rebecca, she is my shining star.

i am thankful for my son bart, and so proud of him for serving his country.

i am thankful for my dog shimmo, who gives me more comfort than anyone will ever know.

i am thankful for my knitting, keeping your hands busy is very calming for the soul.

the pattern is basil from the pattern factory.

the yarn is my friend lisa souza's hardtwist merino petite in jellybeanz and vermillion, lisa made a special skein with 50 extra yarns of jellybeanz.

this is the second time i've knit this blanket with exactly the same colors, perfect!

should i be thankful that i am so wacky to do a half-kitchener for the bind-off?

i am thankful that luminen is finished in time for christmas! i hope natalie likes it, the size is perfect.

i am thankful that my friend jessica rose-kim of the fiber gallery could special order the lanaloft in cones, no ends!

happy thursday!

ashley

2009-11-07T09:09:00.027-05:00

ashley, oh ashley

every time i look at this lovely ashley, vivian leigh's right there in my head.

what a thing of beauty. mine came in unfinished cherry.

thank you mr. jensen

purchased from colina del carl, wonderful customer service.

for a little info on how i put the finish on the wheel, linky linky. if you aren't on ravelry, why the hell not?

shetland roving, wood nymph colorway from mary jean martin's etsy shop.

after i weighted the roving into 2 bits, i split them for slightly shorter color repeats. and fluffed them into little clouds.

my spinning spot.

one bobbin

second bobbin

on the kate

plied on the robin wheel that i bought from my friend kim :/)
this wheel is bird's eye maple, and i believe it's the 5th robin made.

i lurve the huge bobbins.

skeined on the winder from the woodenspinner's etsy shop.

right after plying, the skein looked overspun.

but after a nice warm shampoo

rinse

conditioning and more rinsing

the skein hangs perfectly.

approx 956 yds, approx 24 wpi.

at rhinebeck, the lady from wild apple hill that we got our wee shetland fleeces from, gave me, hope and jen each a huge lump of scoured black fleece.

i needed the carding practice, so i grabbed the hand cards.

brush brush

like a cat's lick

rolling up the rolag

a huge basketful!

my spinning and knitting assistants, shimmo and rajah.

rebecca and peggy, don't fall into a deep faint because i've posted again before madrona ;/)

rhinebeck, need i say more?

2009-10-20T22:17:00.017-04:00

the weekend started with lunch on friday at the cia. my friend hope and i were too late to get a reservation at one of the sit down restaurants, and boy am i glad we were late.

we had lunch at the apple pie bakery cafe, it is nirvana.

we shared the warm goat cheese spinach salad and the braised short-ribs.

i think we liked the short-ribs :-)

maple and chocolat pots de creme, yum! and we took home 2 huge cookies and 2 croissants.

our friend jen joined us friday afternoon, the three of us hung out at the poughkeepsie marriott with a huge group! wee, i got to give everyone a hug in person :-)

the three of us stayed at the poughkeepsie holiday inn express, very nice. hope enjoyed jen's tina II so much that she had to order one for herself.

we had dinner with a whole group of our friends even a couple all the way fron london!

saturday turned out to be a lovely day, here are jen and hope loving the leaves.

sunday morning jen and i took the spinning luxury fibers class along with my friends knitspot anne and kim of the woolen rabbit. if only we could have all sat together.

what you've been waiting for- the haul.

in the back, the cutest little shetland fleece from wild apple hill farm in hudson new york. no web, the email is wildapplehill@aol.com, i'm blaming jen and the wool fumes for this one.

the dark chocolate roving is 65%alpaca/35%lambswool, can't find the card, but it was the booth left of carolina homespun.

a tiny lambskin from freedom farms, exactly what i was looking for. i have the card if anyone would like the phone number, no web.

2 grey coopworth rovings from hatchtown farm , purchased with my longdraw quest in mind.

that adorable spinner's basket was woven by wendy g. jensen . laurie took one of wendy's classes friday, and made the loveliest basket, maybe next year....

now the score; a high speed jensen kit including 3 bobbins and 2 whorls, a jensen tension peg, a cherry mini niddy noddy by someone named schlange, schacht cotton cards, all from the wool room and all half price!!!!!!

my friend kim of the woolen rabbit gave me the silver pot of the wood cream she just whipped up. i can't wait to try it, thanks kim! mwah!

and beth of the spinning loft gave the three of us a spinning oil pen, thanks beth!

doesn't that little basket look right at home on the ashley?

aaah, the lambskin is perfection on the spinning stool.

totally fabulous time!

when there's a will

2009-06-29T22:07:00.009-04:00

well, you know the rest.
my bicep tendon is very inflamed, so is the bursa in my left shoulder. and it has calcium deposits.
the good news is the rotator cuff looks fine.

so, i have to keep wearing a sling and ice is my new best friend.

i've been going mad from boredom. no knitting for almost 2 months.

hmmm, usually i spin left hand forward.

how hard would it be to switch to right hand forward, so my poor decrepid left hand could simply lay in my lap and hold the fiber?

so i found the fluffiest, wiriest, sproingiest fiber in the stashola, totally ready to spin.

gotland/border leicester/corriedale in green gold from spirit trail fiberworks.

and grabbed the walnut van eaton fold/n/tote.

divided the roving and spun up 3 bobbins.

stuck a fat book under the lazy kate, trying to make a 45 degree angle. maybe warren should have more pages written about him , not quite 45.

since it's not a smooth fiber, and i was using my other hand, perfect yarn was not the goal.

i love the yarn, and if i can ever knit again, i think it will be one of those felted dumpling bags that hang from your wheel. maybe with a little embroidery :-)

rajah has found a new use for the van eaton's bag.

shimmo says come on in, the water's fine!

meet my new baby

2009-06-19T08:54:00.035-04:00

baby wolf!

schacht cherry 8 harness baby wolf from the yarn barn of kansas.

excellent customer service!

the red rayon chenille warp is a kit from cotton clouds. since i didn't have a warping board, or warping reel here, i called around til i found this kit, it has a precut warp chain.

i haven't woven in a few years, deborah chandler's book "learning to weave", and sallie guy's weaving video "tips and tricks" are invaluable learning tools.

here the reed is sleyed, 15 epi, i used a 10 dent reed, and sleyed it 2/1.

iow, sleyed 2 threads in one dent, 1 thread in the next dent, to make it 15 ends per inch in a 10 dent per inch reed.

the warp is tied in bundles with rubberbands behind the reed so the little suckers don't have a chance to fall out ;-)

next the warp is threaded through the heddles. it is threaded in a straight twill, but will be woven tabby or plain weave.

i separated 4 heddles at a time in order, so i wouldn't make a booboo.

but i did make a major mistake. i had way too many heddles on the harness, and since i was using the entire weaving width, there was no room for all those extra heddles to go on the sides.

deep breath

nothing to do but unthread the heddles, lift the harnesses out, take off the extra heddles and rethread.

uh, a learning exprience i am putting in writing in hopes i don't ever repeat it ;/)

i tied a white cotton string onto the middle of the reed, and threaded each side of the warp through the heddles from the center out.

finally the warp is wound onto the warp beam in the back, and tied to the cloth beam in the front.

first i wove with some thick white yarn to evenly space out the warp.

wheehee! actual weaving! the weft is a solid red rayon chenille. the warp is 3 colors of red rayon chenille, i threaded the 3 colors in a random pattern.

love it!

why does the weaving go so much more quickly than the setup?

outside photo-

inside photo, just to try and show more of the lovely drape. i wish you could feel the fabric :-)

21 1/2" by 41 1/2".

the cloth will be made into 2 large pillows for my son and ddil for christmas. i'll sew a solid back onto the pllows.

now for some gingersnaps!

a little waffle before the beach-
look at that facey- i just want to kiss her and kiss her!

swing!

daddy and gingersnap in the lake.

pappa reading a bedtime story, thank goodness we will be seeing her soon!

rebecca came for a visit with her new puppy, moby. he is a mini-shimmo!

madaket likes him.

just to show you how insane my cat really is.

rajah leaps from the bartop up to the stair railing-

then he climbs up to the top. the railing is about an inch and a half wide!

now for the ratty news. somehow i have totally messed up my left rotator cuff and bicept tendon. why didn't anyone warn me how painful cortisone shots are?

a week later, my first physcal therapy session . during the evaluation the physical therapist (i love her) told me i also have carpal tunnel in both wrists.

as we say in the south- how nice.

getting my money's worth

2009-04-20T09:19:00.006-04:00

from my knitting lately. seems like all my projects get knit, then frogged at least twice, if not three times :-)

these green autumn (druid) mittens were started on the way up to pensacola for christmas.
i knit both the cuffs on 2.25 knitpicks harmony dpns. but the chart for the hand was not the best choice for vacation knitting...

last week i picked them up again. tried on a cuff, it fit me fine, but i knew they would be too tight for my daughter rebecca, who has very large hands and wrists.

rip rip, start over with 2.5. knit knit knit, hmm, the hand would still be too tight for rebecca.

rip rip, keep the cuff, but reknit the hand with 2.75s. purrfect width, but the hand is too short.

so i knit almost an extra repeat of the pattern, starting the decreases on the line that would be the extra row 69. i ended up with 11 sts before starting the saddle.

what a clever way to close up the saddle! that jared flood writes an excellent pattern.

for the thumb i only needed to add 2 extra rows before starting the decreases.

another present tucked away for christmas :-)

all that was left of 2 skeins of jamieson's spindrift was 14 inches!

when i knit the dusk pullover for tom, i had tons of leftover skeins, 3 each of dusk and midnight.

the mittens only used 2 skeins, the pattern calls for 3.

i'll knit a pair of midnight for natalie.

shimmo and madaket waiting for the tennis ball.

lucky lucky lucky me!

2009-04-14T17:27:00.009-04:00

a few weeks ago, kim of the woolen rabbit wrote about her new van eaton potpourri wheel.

i knew mr. van eaton had retired from wheel making, the last time i spoke to him it was his 87th birthday!

after seeing kim's wheel i thought i'd ask mr. van eaton if he would make me a few extra bobbins. yes, he could make a couple of bobbins, then he said he had a potpourri traditional wheel that a lady had ordered and had never picked up. he said i could buy it if i'd like.

are you kidding? happy happy dance :-)

the wheel has all different woods, apricot, apple, walnut, mesquite, cherry, bubinga and teak.

my friend terri shea wrote a wonderful story about mr. van eaton on her blog-

it's truly an honor to have his wheels.

we have 11 new calves

aren't they sweet?

i love their colors :-)

daddy bull is on the right. blossom is the black and white cow on the left.

it hasn't rained here in central florida for so long that we've had to feed the cows twice a week. normally by now all they eat is grass.

the tree in the middle is our mulberry tree. the larger one behind it is a camphor tree.

when we planted the mulberry tree about 11 years ago it was 5 or 6 feet tall ;-)

now it's twice as tall as the garage!

happy spinning!

the long and winding row

2009-04-08T17:23:00.019-04:00

miles and miles and miles of binding off
at least it seemed like miles

but let me start at the very beginning

with these absolutely gorgeous skeins of worsted superwash merino from tanis fiber arts-

12 different colors, greens, blues and purples.

the colors are so saturated and the yarn is super soft and squishy.

excellent customer service!

it all started with a little log cabin square, ala januay one, thanks cara :-)

true potato chip knitting.

after the log cabin strips were all knit up, i picked up all the stitches on knitpicks harmony tips using 2 tips and 5 cables.

added a narrow border of jewel and a wide border of mallard just like a sewn quilt.

exactly what i was hoping for, a huge super-soft comfy balnket, big enough for two.

details in my ravelry notebook.

in our lake placid backyard we have a mulberry tree. when we planted it the tree was about 6 feet tall. now it is huge!

tom and i put on our rattiest clothes, and picked a bowl full of berries.

i baked a pie. yum yum yum

madaket and shimmo waiting for the tennis ball.

rajah says "stupid dogs, they could be napping."

i might have a wee problem

2009-02-24T17:11:00.011-05:00

last night tom and i went to a fabulous beach barbeque sorry all you people who are still freezing

but all i could think of was this little package waiting for me at home-

inside, wood beams and 2 lip glosses from goodiesunlimited , talk about excellent customer service! my order was placed late friday, shipped saturday, arrived monday. thanks audrey :-)

at madrona, my friend michelle's wee robin and my wee robin were reunited.

michelle's wee robin is a lovely rich honey color. michelle told me she used woodbeams on her wheel.

lust, pure lust.

could hardly wait til this morning, it was still dark outside-

aaahhhhh-

although i don't think my wheel will ever be as dark as michelle's. hers has a lot more spalting than mine, they are both lovely, and spin beautifully!

just a smattering of all the wonderful friends i got to see at madrona this year! how lucky am i?

impossible to keep shimmo out of the pool,

shimmo, the incredible diving dog!

thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the kind condolences on the loss of my mom.

i hope i thanked everyone i could find, if i didn't get a hold of you, thank you :-)

goodbye mommy

2008-12-04T06:18:00.003-05:00

sometimes we were like oil and water, i wish i had known before how much i'd miss you now.

the angels are singing :-)

retail therapy

2008-11-12T16:03:00.011-05:00

sometime when life throws you a few curveballs-

a little retail therapy can be a good thing.

wowsa, look at these gorgeous roving and sock yarn from the fiber denn.

top- merino angora color cocoa
middle merino color black opal
bottom, quasi-solido superwash sock yarn colors nebbiolo and peridot

those ravelry sale ads can be dangerous late at night...

necessity is the mother

of invention. not my invention, but a very useful one. the wee robin doesn't have a lazy kate, and the bobbin hole is too small for the van eaton kate.

a shoebox and bbq skewers do the trick.

my puppy assistant

finally got all the singles plied.

the roving was an unknown 4 oz of merino purchased at rhinebeck 2005.

yum yum soft squishy lacy goodness :-)

i really really need that judith mackenzie class for spinning fat yarn.

thanks to all who serve

2008-11-11T10:07:00.003-05:00

thanks to all the brave men and women who selflessly serve our country.

my son barton

and his wife natalie

at the return of his last deployment.

words can never say how proud i am of both of you.

go navy!

sock mojo on the move

2008-11-08T10:25:00.007-05:00

margene's sock mojo has taken a trip down south. thanks margene for sharing the mojo.

love love love the way her mystery socks turned out.

why look, i just happen to have a skein of kim's absolutely gobsmacking gorgeous tupelo honey sock yarn in stash.

first time trying out the knitpicks harmony dpns, i like them.

started on 2.25s, figuring the cables would pull in. hmm, tried on the cuff after the first 30 rows of the ribbing. a bit loose. rip rip rip.

start again on 2mms, new cuff fits fine.

should have listened to my innerknitter. the sock turned out a wee bit snug for my foot, so i decided to knit them for my ddil as a christmas present.

natalie likes to wear her socks with flipflops, so i knit her thong toes. her feet are also longer then mine, so i added an extra bit to the foot chart.

thanks so much kristen for sharing a wonderful fun pattern!

this fearless fibers sock yarn started life as a pair of guided by love socks. the color is not dark enough to show the lace paws prints against my foot. the yarn was part of a fearless fibers sock club, the color is guttony. i love deb's light superwash merino sock yarn, it's a wee bit thinner than most sock yarns, and very soft. some of deb's new tight twist sock yarn is winging it's way to me.

the yarn really wanted to be a soft squishy pair of 2x2 rib socks for a kind compassionate vet. i hope he likes them :-)

can you believe this kitty puppy snoozefest? shimmo really has been a gift from above.
thanks to all for the kind words about my shotsie.
lo, i cannot begin to tell you what a comfort your words have been to me.

sad sad evening

2008-10-29T09:07:00.007-04:00

yesterday evening i had to put my sweet shotsie to sleep.

my only solace is that she was not in any pain.

we got shotsie when she was 8 weeks old, november 1994, the day before thanksgiving.

rebecca was in kindergarten.

shotsie did not think she was a dog, she was a grand dame. and the best watchdog ever. rebecca and i never had to be afraid living alone in lake placid while shotsie was there to protect us.

shotsie was not a licking dog, but when she got in the mood, watch out! she would pin you down and lick your face til you begged for mercy laughing!

good night sweet angel, i will miss you more than words could ever say.

worth the wait

2008-10-24T09:16:00.011-04:00

3 years ago, right before rhinebeck, i caved and ordered a wee robin from gil at robin wheels thinking i'd beat the rhinebeck rush.

lookie what mr. postman brought me last week.

the cutest little wheel. maybe cute isn't the proper adjective, the maple is frickin GORGEOUS!

ze front view

ze profile

ze rear view

i love the laminated wishbone of cherry and maple.

but the robin and i were having a wee problem. not being used to the bobbin lead, the roving was either zipping out of my hand, or i was frantically trying to hold on too tightly, or the yarn was breaking breaking breaking.

then the the calm soothing voice of the mother of all things fiber entered my head. ah judith, every class with you is worth it's weight in gold.

i remembered judith saying if you want less take up, wrap the bobbin with some foam insulation for pipes.

less than 2 bucks at the home depot.

measure the shaft of the bobbin, transfer the measurement to the foam, and cut. it even has sticky stuff on the edges. the foam for 3/4" copper pipes fits the wee robbin perfectly.

bobbin lineup, all snug in their insulated jackets.

hello lovah.

gratuitous dog photo. shimmo at less than 6 months is almost as big as madaket. his paws are much bigger than hers. he is exactly what i hoped, a big old honking black lab :-)

yet another

2008-10-19T12:46:00.013-04:00

what was i thinking?
my ddil natalie's usta tennis team won the southeast regionals this spring, and natalie asked me to babysit for gingersnap when the team competed for the finals in las vegas.

of course! i don't get to see gingersnap nearly enough.

the night before our trip, i was frantically trying to figure out what knitting to pack besides the lighthouse gansey socks already on the needles.

you know, because watching a one year old is so relaxing, and lends so much free time for knitting.

hahhhahahahhahhaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
the only knitting i got done was on the first leg of the plane trip, before i met up with natalie and gingersnap.

holey moley, babies are exhausting. how quickly one forgets...

ah las vegas, no offense, but once was enough for me.

go pensacola!

after the final match, we drove out to red rock canyon park. wow, we LOVED the park!

this adorable little chipmunk lives outside the visitor center.

the scenery is spectacular.

we were way too pooped to hike, and drove the 13 mile loop through the park.

reminds me a lot of mesa verde.

isn't my gingersnap a sweetie?

i am so lucky, if i could pick any girl out of the whole wide world for my son, it would be natalie.

my knitting mojo was left in las vegas, the second sock just was just finished today.

knitspot anne's lighthouse gansey socks from knitty. cherry tree hill sock yarn, nantucket red.

size 0 plymouth bamboo dpns. as always anne's pattern was a delight to knit.

if they look big on me, they will be a christmas present for someone with slightly larger tootsies :-)

sometimes in life

2008-10-01T14:29:00.011-04:00

a little begging will get you everywhere...

the second i saw this gorgeous roving on my friend lisa souza's blog, i begged her to sell me a bump.

she graciously did.

and i spun it up laceweight on the van eaton fold/n/tote.

look at the sheen from the merino/silk combination.

the most perfect squishy yarn i ever spun :-)

rebecca drove down from gainesville to pick up shimmo. i'm going to babysit for my grand-daughter while my ddil plays in the usta tennis tournament in las vegas this weekend. tom and greg are not to be trusted in the puppy department.

rajah says, what the h*ll am i doing in the dog crate?

nasty in here.

much better...

you've got to know

2008-09-08T09:11:00.019-04:00

when to hold 'em
know when to fold 'em
know when to walk away
know when to frog

while visiting rebecca in gainesvelle, we checked out hanks. hanks has an excellent selection of sock yarns. my one purchase, a merino/silk blend from rocket yarn. googling i see rocket yarn also has an etsy shop.

the yarn has such a lovely hand, it cried out for lace.

last february at madrona, i picked up evelyn clark's new book, knitting lace triangles , what a marvelous resource!

i knew i wanted to use the leaf pattern, but i didn't want to just knit straight rows of leaf, then medallion, etc.

so i got the brilliant idea of interspersing individual leaf motifs into a ground of medallion motifs.

coil-less pins mark which are the leaf motifs.

unfortunately the yarn is too busy for this design, hence the frogging.

i'll try it again with a solid green yarn.

start over with all leaf lace, adding size 6 beads as accents.

much better

don't you think?

shimmo is growing up so fast! he was 4 months on september 2nd.

rajah's favorite place to snooze is on top if the cable box.

ah, nice and warm.

a rude awakening!

take that you stupid black dog!

gentle leader? you call this instument of torture gentle?

maybe if i rub my head on the grass long enough, i can get it off.

shimmo is nearly as long as shotsie now-

i can't believe how fast shimmo is growing up :-)

summer travelogue finale

2008-09-03T10:26:00.058-04:00

warning will robinson!
long post ahead, knitting content at the end.

tom and i won a cruise to alaska!
tom says we bought a cruise to alaska at a charity auction, but winning sounds better don't you think?

we flew into vancouver b.c. and met up with 2 couple friends.
the 6 of us took holland america's ryndam on the inside passage cruise.

i loved the inside passage, no rough water whatsoever :-)

our first whole day was spent at sea, lovely relaxing day, playing cards, knitting and getting to know the ship. iow, where to find the free ice cream and waffle cones.

first stop, juneau. not much in juneau proper, the knit store, skeins, was closed for 4th of july, luckily the quilting store next door, rain tree, was open, and i bought this adorable pin cushion.

formal night, we had the best table on the ship, at the stern.

at night we loved to sit at fritzi's piano bar and sing. fritzi made the whole cruise. she had songbooks for everyone. call out "let's sing #47",and we'd all belt it out.

what's not to love on a cruise? no driving, unpack once, go to breakfast and the cabin steward cleans your room.

go to lunch and the cabin steward cleans your room.

go to dinner and the cabin steward cleans your room, turns down the bedclothes, places a chocolate on your pillow and creates a towel animal.

can i please take our cabin steward home?

next day we dock in skagway-

tom with the harbor as backdrop.

i LOVED skagway. very northern exposuresque. i could live in the summer in skagway.

reminds me a lot of silverton, colorado where i lived in my early 20s.

skagway has a yarn store, a quilt store, a fantastic sandwich/coffee shop, a microbrewery, and a narrow gauge rainroad. what more could you wish for?

i scoped out changing threads as soon as the ship docked ;-)

love this scissor holder and needle case made of yellow cedar burl.

and this whale colored yarn. i bought a whale's tale hat pattern to go wth it, but rebecca said she wouldn't be caught dead wearing the hat...

couldn't resist this roving either.

cool building covered in branches.

here comes our train!

the scenery was breath-taking.

when we first came around a bend and saw this dilapdated old wooden bridge, it looked like this was the bridge our train was about to go across. tom told me afterward he was concerned ;-)

luckily after a minute we saw the new metal bridge, phew!

i am very very afraid of heights, i sat on the inside of the train car, away from the edge, and was ok.

if i were to do the trip over, i would take the land/sea combo. you can take the train farther than we did and stay in white pass for a few days. i loved our trip, but we only saw the shoreline and the towns on the shore. none of the majestic interior of alaska.

bye bye caboose.

the next morning was our glacier bay day.

i woke at 4:30 and said to myself, if i look out the window and see anything in the water, i'm getting up.

sure enough, a minute later i saw a whale.

this is the only orca photo i could snap. orcas are very very cool!

great way to enjoy the glaciers, eh? champagne pointsettias on deck.

the water was like glass.

this is the only day i really needed my mittens. but i sure was glad i had them :-)

the calving we saw was magnificent!

the park service ranger onboard said she had never seen the glaciers calving like they did the day we were onboard.

i spent the afternoon and evening hanging onto the railing literally watching the whales, fabulous!

no photos, i couldn't put the binoculars down!

creek street, ketchikan.

the totem heritage center is fantastic, and they teach native craft classes-

baskets-

carved tools-

beading-

the deer mountain hatchery is right next door. they have 2 injured eagles that live there.

2 skeins of rabbit ridge designs sock yarn from mission street fibers.

after we docked in vancouver, tom and i rented a car and drove to whistler. wow!

an afternoon stay turned into 3 nights ;-) what a wonderful place to visit! and full of young people from all over the world. the tandoori grill restaurant was so delicious we had dinner there 2 nights in a row. that's in a town with over 90 restaurants.

wildflowers everywhere, lupine

columbine.

we took a drive north out of whistler and found nairn falls.

OMG-

i cannot believe i did this! the sign says 1.5 km to the falls-

the sign does not say 1.5 km of sheer terror!

but we made it!

inch by inch i made my way to the edge,

tom was so proud of me :-)

back in vancouver for our last day, my friend angela and her bf, the flame, played tourguide.

how surprising we should end up in a yarn store...

lookie here, grimmett park!

tom's family emigrated from england to canada in the mid 1800s. many of them went west to vancouver.

tom's great-uncle dan donated the land for this park to vancouver.

the funny thing is, when i told angela we wanted to see grimmett park, she said, the park is right down the street from birkeland bros.. many times when she was early for knit night angela would sit in grimmett park and knit.

angela always thought it was odd that the park's name was spelled exactly like out last name...

our friend melanie met us for our final dinner. see you at madrona :-)

finally the knitting bit. sheep to shore on nantucket has a fabulous selection of koigu. i bought 2 colors of koigu to make 2 baby blankets.

sorry babies, i had to keep this blankie for myself.

the mitered squares blanket was the perfect cruise project. semi-mindless, but the colors are so glorious i couldn't wait to finish. ravel the details.

one skein left, just enough for the impressionist socks.

love the lace pattern.

i have smallish feet and had just enough yarn in one skein for both anklets.

thanks for reading such a long post!

the faraway island

2008-08-16T13:37:00.039-04:00

nantucket!

this summer i decided to make a nantucket knitting basket.

shamelessly stealing the knitting needle idea from michael kane.

i ordered a 14" piece of figured maple from burlwood online.
excellent customer service! and look at the figuring in that maple.

the inside of the basket is 13" , so i measured for a concentric ring to fit snugly inside the basket, cutting the outer circle out on the bandsaw with a circle cutter.

next karol and i roughly cut the inner circle of the ring with a jigsaw. then i sanded it on the drum sander.

the smaller circle left in the middle of the ring becomes the base for the basket. it is also cut on the bandsaw with the circle cutter.

the base is turned on the lathe.

here are the rough cut staves. the staves are cut on the bandsaw from green oak, which is oak that is still wet.

each stave is tapered on both sides of one end to compensate for the curve on the bottom of the mold.

next the edges of the staves are beveled on the belt sander, the edges are shaped like a letter opener.

one finished stave.

the oak staves take a long time to shape and sand, it feels like forever.

the base is screwed into the bottom of the mold, and the staves are shoved into a slot cut into the side of the base.

i had all good intentions of giving you a photo step by step of the basket process.

but i ran into a time crunch when the knitting needles didn't arrive in the mail when i thought they would ;-)

10 pair of 10" lantern moon straight needles, blonde wood shaft, ebony tops. each needle will have an ivory scrimshawed disk glued to the top.

lots of math and a template went into figuring out the placement of the holes for the needles.

each pair of needles fit perfectly into their holes.

the basket will be finished next summer.

i'll weave a pagoda shaped top with an ivory turned finial and knob in the center.

it was hard to leave my basket on nantucket.

film festival- we missed not having the beach movie :-(
it totally sucks that corporate sponsorship was so low. thank the fsm for stella artois!

all the movies i saw this year played at the sconset casino.

we stake out our favorite seats early.

rebecca with bobby and karol, they are the friends who we stay with in june. karol is my basket teacher/mentor/friend. bobby is the director of the nantucket artist association gallery and a fantastic painter.

the sconset casino has the coolest trelliswork all inside.

being the total luddite that i am, i LOVE the old fashioned ladies room in the casino.

aren't the doors too cute?

i know, i'm weird.

movies-

frozen river- 2 needles up but depressing

the deal- 2 needles up, better than expected

transsiberian- 2 needles way up

choke- please stab me with a sharp dpn, 2 needles down

baghead- 2 needles down

inbetween movies we grabbed a picnic dinner at the sconset market. the stairs on front street.

the view from the stairs on front street toward the ocean.

time before the next movie for ice cream at the market!

this charming cottage was part of sconset's original artist colony.

yummy cookout :-)

shop til you drop day. rebecca in front of the club car, our favorite restaurant.

a few shopping bags later.

for me, the holy grail of basketry- the mattapoisett basket. originated by gladys ellis, this basket was woven by letizia reilly.

the mattapoisett is woven over a mold like a nantucket, but it is woven with long pine needles and rafia. the woven lace inserts are similar to tenerife embroidery.

someday...

we love dukie, bobby and karol's kitty :-)

see you next june dukie!

don't you just love it?

2008-08-11T12:43:00.013-04:00

when your knitting does exactly what you want it to?

here's the latest test knit for anne, i love the way the central motif mirrored perfectly, like a lovely brocade :-)

on the second border now, the end is in sight.

last tuesday rebecca asked me to come and visit her in gainesville, woot! on my way up, my son bart called and asked if we could meet him for dinner. he is a navy instructor pilot and could fly wherever he wanted for his training flight.

how exciting!
coming in for a landing-

handsome guy, eh?

both my babies :-)

life is good.

rebecca's room-mate has a mini daschund, maggie. shimmo and maggie had a grand time playing tug-of-war.

pretty soon shimmo will be as big as madaket!

oh the indignity. shotsie has a hematoma on her ear and has to wear this collar :-(

can you say pity party?

my friend june has tagged me- 6 quirky things about myself. jeez where do i start!

1. i am EXTREMELY afraid of heights. which is why tom couldn't believe what i did in whistler, but that's for another post ;-)

2. i'm allergic to bees, wasps and ants. not a good thing in florida with all the fire ants...

3. my shoelaces must be tied exactly the same tightness on both feet, or i will go insane.

4. if all the lightswitches in a multiswitch panel aren't all in the same postion when they are on/off, i will also go insane.

5. when i was young i was very very shy. sometimes i would bring my dog to parties so i would have someone to talk to. i still intensely dislike cocktail parties where i don't know anyone.

6. i like to toast my marshmallows golden brown, pull off the delicious brown crust, eat it and retoast the marshmallow golden brown again.

i left my computer in lake placid, and tom is going crazy because he can't play online backgammon so i don't have any of my blog favorites handy. if you feel like grabbing the mememe, here are the rules-

Link to the person who “tagged” you. 2. Post the rules on your blog. 3. Write six random things about yourself. 4. Tag six people at the end of your post. 5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. 6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

eenie meenie miney moe

2008-07-26T08:33:00.007-04:00

where do i start first?

nantucket?
alaska?
new puppy?

yes, new puppy!

when rebecca moved out of the dorm and into an apartment with a girlfriend this may, her room-mate was just leaving for a month in europe. i didn't want rebecca to be all alone for a month, so she took our yellow lab, madaket back to school.

what was i thinking? after vacation with me on nanucket, and babysitting our dogs and cat while tom and i were on the cruise, of course rebecca wanted to take madaket back to school with her.

having rebecca leave for school her sophomore year with maddie was even harder than dropping her off her freshman year.

so in my loneliness i decided to get a new puppy.

this was the ad photo in the newspaper online-

now really, how could i resist?

look at the size of those paws!

his name is shimmo, from nantucket.

shotsie is showing shimmo the ropes. i've been amazed at how tolerant shotsie has been at 13. the cat is not amused.

two buttons for a puppy- play and sleep!

my latest knitting (what i can get done during puppy naps) has been two super secret projects for anne. so no photo.

happy feet

2008-06-06T11:13:00.009-04:00

no wait, that's a movie.

also the perfect name for these koigu socks :-)
color p823 rainbow happy.

these socks started life 3 times before they settled down and got knit.

i bought the yarn with cookie a.'s BFF socks in mind. unfortunately at 70 sts the yarn pooled with all the blue/purples on one side, and the orange/yellows on the other.

rip rip next try the BFF pattern, only using grumperina's helical sock technique.
bah, after a few rows, getting the same bloody pooling.

next up, the mock cable rib socks, from knittinglikecrazy
still not feeling the love.

rip rip back to the toe, a simple 4 st 6 row basketweave was the perfect fit for the busy rainbow colors :-)

wheehee, a little spinning action! it's been ages.

how lucky am i? this is my craft room, it's the poolhouse behind our home in fort lauderdale. tom built it for his mom who lives with us for years. then his secretary worked in it, since tom closed his practice the poolhouse is mine all mine!

this is the first oak staved nantucket basket i made, from 2000.

the fiber is so old i don't remember who i bought it from, except her name is carol, and it's wool, silk and angora. yum. letting the noily bumps do their own thing :-)

isn't the van eaton maple fly-n-tote sweet? spins like a little dream. and it matches the maple rockers on the windsor rocker i made last year.

memememe
joanne tagged me-

1) what was i doing 10 years ago?
not much ;-) rebecca and i had been living in lake placid for a year, i was still working at sandpiper needlework.

2) what are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
work out (done, i'm a noodle)
blog
go to lunch
ply
knit

3) snacks I enjoy:
dark chocolate
dark chocolate
dark chocolate
popcorn

4) things I would do if I were a billionaire:
hmm, set up a trust fund for my kids and gingersnap
live in durango colorado
travel more
give more money to my favorite charities

5) places i have lived:
berwyn illinois
westchester illinois
glen ellyn illinois :-)
chicago illinois
silverton colorado :-)
pompano beach florida
deerfield beach florida
lauderhill florida
plantation florida
delray beach florida :-)
fort lauderdale florida
lake placid florida :-)

7) 6 people i wanna know more about:
i think everyone i know has already done the mememe, i am late to the party!

will it last?

2008-05-30T09:52:00.012-04:00

will our heroine have enough yarn to finish the last border repeats? nail biting time.

the sweet sheep's lace yarn is a dream to knit with :-) and the color, sigh.

tune in to our next intallment for the thrilling outcome.

in the meantime i'll show you some new sock photos-

the jigsaw sock pattern- these socks started life as the green merino sock, but the main pattern was totally lost in the colors, so i kept the adorable ruffle edge and ribbing, and knit the jigsaw sock. size 0 colonial rosewood sock needles.

thanks jenna for a lovely pattern. love it.

the yarn, i think, is pagewood farms purchased at yarn durango, but i can't find this colorway anywhere on the web. i wound the ball in the card, and the label was thrown out by accident. the color is a gorgeous saturated bittersweet orange red.

these fires are burning in lake okeechobee. the water is so low in the lake that the vegetation normally underwater in the lake is exposed and burning.

it's shocking to drive by for weeks in a row and still see the fires.

gratuitous cute cat photo.

shotsie is a little miffed that the cat is getting all the blog attention. at nearly 13 she sleeps a lot...

كامل

2008-05-08T09:41:00.008-04:00

woot! my bluemoon laci socks are complete!

i wish you could feel how soft they are.

the perfect weight for warmer weather

but not this bloody florida hot and sticky weather

lace detail-

anne is going to write a nice lightweight sock yarn pattern, how that for cajoling?

finally blocked, the knitting was finished well over a year ago...

it's "a triangular warm shawl to knit" by galina khmeleva, piecework magazine sept/oct 2002.

the kit is still available from galina, but i am not sure if it is still the quivit yarn called for in the magazine.

i was lucky enough to get the original kit from knitswap.

as soon as i had finished knitting it, rebecca told me i could never wear it since it is the red hat colors, ah well.

look at this gorgeous color! it is the sweet sheep's lace in cranapple.
it's going to be anne's snowflakes in cedar , a sample for the sweet sheep. i test knit the original one for anne, it's the one in the photos.

raja is the only one who uses the cardioglider for exercize.

he grabs his tail from underneath. hyseterical when he flips himself over to get a good grip on it, and falls off.

مجنون

2008-05-04T14:10:00.010-04:00

or how i lost my mind last night.

i love my irtfa'a so much that i wanted to knit a pair of socks to match. at madrona i bought a skein of str lightweight in rooky. unfortunately, i have skinny feet and str is a slightly thick sock yarn. couldn't figure out how to knit the lace patterns up in a small enough sock for me.

believe me i tried.

late last night i got the brilliant idea to use the leftover blue moon laci from irtfa'a!

1.5mm dpns, 80 sts, 11 st per inch. i'm in heaven.

is this extreme knitting?

last weekend i got to visit my gingersnap. it was my son's 29th birthday.

how the hell did i get old enough to have a 29 year old son?

we spent saturday morning fishing on bart's new boat.

matthew mconaughey ain't got nothing on my son ;-)

no fish :-(

i hope i see my little family again soon! maybe i'll get to babysit gingersnap overnight in july :-)

are you ready?

2008-04-22T21:33:00.012-04:00

for the cutest baby on earth?

not that i'm prejudiced or anything ;-)

the creepy crawly baby knee pads fit perfectly!

and are being put to use.

must knit more.

if i can figure out how to link to a word document, i'll post the pattern, i think it took more time to weave in the ends of each color band, next time one yarn.

whoohoo, i get to see gingersnap this weekend!

seeing spots

2008-04-11T21:32:00.006-04:00

sunspots! what a lovely test knit-

susan lawrence designed the pattern, named heat wave, and anne of wooly wonka fibers dyed the yarn.

unfortunately the kit is part of anne's soldout kit club.

fortunately i think it will be rereleased with a different yarn in a similar color.

this yarn is a gorgeous peachy corally silk. my only problem with the knit was using the wrong needle. i love lantern moon circs, but the points are too blunt for lace.

gingersnap's creepy crawly baby knee pads are in the mail. if they fit her i'll post a link to the pattern.

can you guess

2008-04-09T09:49:00.007-04:00

what this is?

golf club cover?

tiny sock close

is it a bird?

is it a plane?

no- it a tiny creeping crawling knee pad!

bart and natalie asked me to knit some crawling leg warmers for gingersnap.

luckily i had some leftover cascade 220 in their school colors, garnet and gold.

i hope they fit!

gingersnap at easter-

i miss my sweet angel, maybe someday we will live closer.

thanks for all the kind chair words! now i can't wait for it to get here. then i can sand and paint it...

almost heaven

2008-03-31T21:39:00.006-04:00

west virginia

this year's nantucket windsor chair class started off in terri's workshop-

charles was kind enough to drop off the maple turning stock for our legs.

this allowed us to have a lot more time to turn the legs, no chunking out this year!

aren't my legs purty?

much better than last year. i really took my time with the turning, plus i got a new curved skew chisel that me helped tremendously.

next stop, springfield, west virginia and storybook joinery.

first step in class was marking and carving the ears on the crest.

the crest is red oak.

we carved volutes on the front, and rounded over the backs.

the crests went into the steamer, then we bent and clamped them over a jig.

spindle splitting- charles is a trusting fellow, isn't he? the oak spindles are split with an axe and a mallet.

nine spindles for this nantucket windsor chair.

first the spindles are shaped with a drawknife, then my favorite job not shaping the spindles with a forkstaff.

what i do best, sweep up the shavings.

now we plane our seat blanks, i enjoyed this much more this year then last, i finally got the feel of the plane.

the nantucket windsor has a much larger seat than the bowback i made last year.

on the nantucket, the wood grain runs side to side on the seat, so the coffin, or tail, must be made as a separate piece, or it might crack off from the pressure.

the bowback's seat has the wood grain running front to back on the seat. the tail and seat are one piece.

we carefully measure, then cut the mortise into the back of the seat. first we used a brace and bit to drill 2 holes, then we squared up the hole with chisels.

the tail gets a matching tenon cut with a saw and finished off with a chisel.

glue the tail into the seat and clamp.

the seat and tail shape are cut on the bandsaw.

the seat is marked with pencil lines to show you where to cut off the underside.

finish the back of the seat shaping with a spokeshave.

next we mark off the part of the seat that will be chopped out.

and we get to use the gutter adze, fun!

we clean up the seat with a scorp (my friend), the compass plane, and the travisher (not my friends).

shaping the pommel.

the underside of the seat front.

our seats get marked for the legs and spindles. we drill the leg holes, and stile and stump holes.

drilling the holes in the hard maple legs was much easier this year.

we begged charles to let us use auger bits instead of spoon bits. it's the little things in life that make us happy.

the stretcher holes are drilled after we make sure all the leg angles are correct.

every hole is a compound angle, the legs have a rake (front to back) and splay (side to side). the stiles and stumps have a slope (front to back) and flare (side to side). 2 bevel gauges are used for each hole drilled.

once the legs and stretchers are assembled, they are jammed into the seat, and the legs are wedged.

dryfitting the spindles and stumps. starting to look like a chair!

the arms are made of poplar, an extra block of wood is glued to the bottom for carving the knuckles.

we carved the paws-

then marked the volutes-

and carved them with carving chisels.

the volutes on the arms were much harder to carve than the ears. especially ones on the inner curve.

but i think they are beautiful!

measure the distance of the arm to the stump.

then we assembled the whole arm, drilling the holes for the stumps and short spindles, and fitting the arm into the stiles (the turned uprights that run from the seat to the crest).

almost finished!

we steam the 2 spindles that run from the tail i like to call it the coffin, that's what it looks like to me to the crest.

and bend them into place.

very last job is drilling a small hole into the stiles, coffin spindles and the center spindle, and driving a small wedge into each hole.

charles and sherry treated us to a lovely dinner- starting with charles' world famous margarita.

the mantle glowed with candlelight.

as did the credenza. sherry really knows how to set the mood :-)

seafood stew with fennel and orange peel- fabulous!!!

our chairs are finished- terri and i each made a nantucket rocker, and charles made a nantucket armchair.

what can i say? the picture says it all!

charles, thanks from the bottom of my heart for all your patience.

terri, you are the very best and equally obsessed friend!

rocky mountain high

2007-09-24T10:39:00.001-04:00

don't you love it when your knitting blends in with the landscape?

tom and i are in durango colorado for two wonderful weeks.

on the needles is anne's twinings stole, fearless fibers merino laceweight in golden olive , the yarn is simply delicious.

we are renting half of a straw bale house just outside of durango in hesperus.

look at the view from our window!

mesa verde is only 20 miles from our house. the drive in and out of mesa verde is very very scary. funny but i don't remember it being scary 3o years ago...

this is the cliff palace. my extreme fear of heights kept me from taking the tour, tom did, and loved it.

i spent the hour knitting :-)
nice spot, eh?

and as i was knitting i met another knitter from outside pittsburg, hi pam!
pam was wearing a lovely sweater from knitter's stash in a gorgeous rust rowan summer tweed.

i did manage to make it down the semi-petrifying walk into the spruce tree house.

definitely worth it! wow! wow! wow!

here is a photo of the trees in mesa verde,

and a photo of the dessimated areas, in 2002 mesa verde had huge forest fires.

on the left of this photo is the cliff where butch cassidy and the sundance kid jumped in the film. it's about 10 miles north of durango on the way to silverton, where i lived 30 years ago.

sheep!

i couldn't leave you without a few gingersnap photos!

wrapped in her bee blanket,

i love her so much, and can't wait to see her again! thanks for all the baby comments, i couldn't email a few of you, thanks mary heather, vicki, linda and karen!

cloud nine

2007-09-11T07:34:00.000-04:00

last time you saw wooly wonka anne's tupelo gold , it was an eeeny weeny square on dpns.

now it is a baby bee blanket.

all squinched up.

having a nice relaxing bath and conditioning.

blocked glamor shot.

next time you see the baby bee blanket, it will be wrapped around my brand new granddaughter!

the call came yesterday around 11:30, and baby was born at 12:22 p.m.i threw some clothes (and baby blankets) in a bag and jumped in the car.

ten and a half hours later i made it to pensacola and got to see my baby for the first time! she weighs 6 lb 8 oz, has a full head of curly blonde hair and a cleft in her tiny chin just like her mom :-)

my happy new family, son bart, ddil natalie and the new baby girl, i'll call her gingersnap on the blog.

isn't she a doll? and so pink!

my wrist is much better! i have been wearing my brace like a good girl, on the drive i noticed, no pins and needles at all in my fingertips.

the sounds of silence

2007-08-27T07:53:00.000-04:00

photo worth a thousand words-

while making the chair, i hurt my carpal tunnel. the chair came in the brown truck, and of course i couldn't wait to sand it, so rehurt the wrist. not the brightest move i've ever made.

now i am being a very good girl.

just a tiny bit of knitting. so far, knitting doesn't seem to be hurting, maybe cause i knit continental and only use my right hand to hold the needle.

can anyone guess what's on these needles?

then we took my baby to college.

think she has enough stuff?

rebecca and her new room-mate! i hope my baby girl has the best time ever!

but i miss her terribly

warning- looooonng chair class post ahead!

2007-08-10T06:57:00.000-04:00

are you ready for a windsor class primer?

then step inside the storybook joinery workshop-

first up, planing the red oak stock for our bows. i have one long back bow,

while terri has 2 bows, one rounded back bow, and one arm bow. terri's arm bow will have mittens attached, which i covet.

after we planed our bows, they go into the steam box.

the steam box is made of a long pvc pipe, the water is heated by a propane tank.

charles has asbestos fingers.

the bows are bent around a mold,

very much like we bend nantucket basket handles.

we used metal bending straps with wooden handles to pull the bows over the molds.

next we used an axe, a wedge and a large wooden mallet to split green oak for the spindles.

charles is very trusting ;-)

the raw spindle blanks. it must be green (not dried out) oak for the spindles so the spindles will be able to bend later on in the chair.

we used a drawknife, spokeshave and compass plane to shape the spindles. mine have a plain long taper.

terri got to sit at the shavehorse (i had to stand, wheh).

terri's spindles have a fatter bottom, and a narrow taper at the top. her arm bow will rest on top of the fat part of the taper.

then we turned hard maple blanks into legs on the lathe.

i thought i'd be a lot better at this than i was. the skew and i are not friends.

had much better luck with the bowl and roughing gouge and scraper.

you can't see in the photos, but there is a master leg to copy resting behind the lathe in the orange clamps. we made pencil lines to mark off the different parts of the leg turnings, and calipers to measure how much wood to take off.

here are the tools we will use to chop and carve the seats. from top left going clockwise, travisher, scorp, spokeshave and drawknife. i also used a compass plane, but it's not in the photo.

the seats are made of 2 pine blanks glued together.

terri, refining her seat. terri's sackback windsor has an oblong seat.

my bowback rocker has a shield seat.
first we used the drawknife to taper the back of the seat.

charles is giving me the "what are you doing, girl?" look.

then we used a curved adze to chop out the butt part of the seat.

watch your toes!

see the seat template behind my seat? all the reference points you will need for the leg and spindle holes are marked on the template, plus the degree of each angle.

since i want to use my chair for spinning, i shaped my seat a little different.

most windsor seats have an angle from the pommel to the sides. for me, this angle hits the back of your thighs and bothers the sciatic nerve.

my seat is shaped with a wide groove where your thighs hit the seat, for smooth spinning action :-)

i am one with the scorp.

terri is drilling her first leg hole with a bit brace and an auger bit.

drilling my first leg hole. we used bevel gauges to measure the splay, which is the angle of the legs from side to side, and rake, which is the angle of the legs from front to back. each of the holes we drilled is a compound angle.

then we used a reamer in the bit brace to refine the angle. so the legs go into the seat at just the right angles.

the reamer on terri's seat.

my seat wth the 4 leg holes drilled.

we put the 2 front legs in and check for symetry.

all 4 legs in and we place the 2 metal winding sticks from front to back and check the angle with a bevel gauge. now is when you pray the angles match!

one of the hardest parts was drilling into the 2 side stretchers and the medial stretcher with the bit brace and spoon bit. no photos cause we were working too hard.

terri went first, and when terri, aka amazon woman, was having a hard time, i knew i was in deep doodoo.

success!

first the stretchers are glued together in an angled H shape, the stretchers are glued into the legs, then the whole leg assembly is glued into the seat.

next we took a chisel and split the top of the leg where they poke out of the seat, make a wedge, glue and hammer the wedge into the legs to make the joint extra strong.

the wedges look like this- they are walnut and i love them. too bad they will be painted over.

refining the spindles with a compass plane.

see how terri's armbow is setting on top of the fat part of her spindles?

terri is seating her spindles. she used a piece of pvc pipe held over her spindles so they wouldn't

split.

my spindles only poke out of the backbow a little bit, so i didn't need the pipe.

after my middle spindle is in, we check the backbow to make sure it isn't torqued one way or the other.

turning the spindles to look as straight as they can.

seating the spindles with a 1 1/2 lb. brass hammer. tap wait tap, til it sounds hollow.

the 2 back spindles on my chair and the 2 smallest side spindles are steam bent and shoved into blind holes.

i love the little coffin back brace that the 2 back spindles fit into.

the master.

we measure the legs and mark for the rockers.

the bottom of my legs and the rockers are put together with a with a bridle joint.

a true stroke of serendipity. charles bought plain maple for the rockers, but when he was sawing it, the flames of figured maple appeared!

figured maple is one of my favorite woods!

so the body of my chair will be painted, and the rockers will have an oil finish letting the figuring in the wood show.

one rocker fitting perfectly!

the rocker is more than i ever dreamed it would be :-)

terri and i are already planning a class next march so the weather won't be as beastly hot.

terri will make a nantucket windsor rocker (what else)?

i am torn between the nantucket, or this boston armchair with rockers.

the boston is easier, plus it can be shipped disassembled and i can glue it together at home.

at least i have a while to chew on it!

terri and i were so lucky to meet charles at the waterford fair, and ask him if he would consider teaching us to make a windsor chair.

charles is the very best kind of teacher; unfailingly patient, willing to share his knowledge and a fabulous craftsman.

where to begin?

2007-08-09T08:42:00.001-04:00

wow! neither terri or i expected storybook joinery to have a storybook setting,

but it does.

sir charles boland greets us with a smile.

little does he know what's in store for him, heh heh.

i've decided to write about the class tomorrow, today i'll show you some of the extracurricular highlights.

friday evening, charles lovely wife sherri fixed us margaritas for happy hour mine is a virgin.

sherri makes nantucket baskets too.

then we strolled through their gorgeous lush garden

over the bridge

for a crab and corn feast under the hidden grape arbor.

terri and maggie admiring the crabs

yum!

sherri took our photo, celebrating a class well done!

a peek at my bowback with the rockers on.

charles made a sackback like terri's, and a bowback rocker like mine. all 4 chairs together.

look at those smiles :-)

the hampshire house, fantastic breakfasts, the high protein pancakes kept our tummies full!

an inpromptu bluegrass jam at the music store in romney.

mario's restuarant in romney, we ate here almost every night. homemade pasta and sauce, delish! everyone who works at mario's is super friendly.

evan's dairy dip in fort ashby. the BEST softserve ice cream in the world, so creamy.

terri is a twist kind of gal, and i am chocolate all the way. i miss you already my friend!

big blue all packed up for the drive home.
tomorrow the class info i promise!

i'm still pooped!

2007-08-08T21:55:00.000-04:00

but terri isn't, so go read her post!

i can say that evan's dairy dip has THE best soft-serve in the world :-)

and i have the extra pounds to prove it ;-)

pleased as punch!

2007-08-06T16:23:00.000-04:00

too exhausted to post.

see you in 10 days!

2007-07-28T08:23:00.000-04:00

my friend terri and i are going to west virginia-

to take a windsor chair making class with charles boland of storybook joinery.

terri has a woodworking shop that would make norm abrams pee his pants.
i am so so over my head, wish me luck that i return with all my fingers ;-)

print o' the wave blocked. it was so muggy out this morning, when we took the first photos, they were blurry cause the lens was fogged!

rebecca was not here to model, so you are stuck with me.

print o' the wave, designed by eunny jang, knit with 4 skeins of alchemy haiku in copper. size 8 metallic seed beads. size 4 lantern moon needles.

this wasn't knit at the speed of light. it was started last spring, i ran out of yarn with 2/3 of the last long border. found last skein in closet last week.

the first skein of haiku is lighter than the rest, the border skeins both match thank the fsm!

i'm ignoring the color differences and happy the print is finis.

blogging from the fort lauderdale airport, how cool is that? i cannot wait til the whole world is wireless :-)

it's all over

2007-07-26T20:59:00.000-04:00

except for the grafting.

i ran a little short on the zephyr while testing anne's rectangular bee shawl.

while waiting impatiently for more yarn to come in the mail, print o' the wave was beckoning.

as luck would have it i found an extra skein of the alchemy haiku for the shawl in the closet.

now the print just needs a good blocking.

raja thinks the black bee makes an excellent kitty blankie.

rebecca and the honey bee.

ok, so i lied

2007-07-20T10:16:00.001-04:00

the ebony laceweight zephyr was ordered with all good intentions of knitting the ms3.

but when anne told me she was writing up the pattern for a rectangular bee shawl, i pleaded for a test-knitting spot.

here's the bee resting on the back of my fabulous new knitting chair. the ottoman's tone is slightly different than the chair, but not as drastic as the photo. 75% off, who could resist?

waiting for the rectangular bee to be written up, i got out wooly wonka anne's ceilidh sock kit. anne has captured the colors of a nantucket sunset in her nantucket colorway.

no photo yet of the finished socks as i've been feverishly working on the new bee.

lily of the valley smoke ring is done also, just needs a good steaming.

doggie kitty snooze fest.

the bee has spread her wings

2007-07-13T11:11:00.000-04:00

the bee having a spa treatment shampoo and conditioning.

the bee pinned out in all her glory. be prepared with plenty of pins on hand.

the art shot.

thanks anne, for giving me the pure pleasure of test knitting the bee. thanks anne, for dyeing such a lovely honey bee yarn :-)

now on the needles, wooly wonka fibers lily of the valley smoke ring. this will go in the christmas prezzie box for my basket teacher karol. starting the bottom edge. next will be the global encompassing ms3.

flight of the bumblebee

2007-07-07T16:46:00.000-04:00

how lucky am i? testknitting the bee shawl for knitspot anne was an absolute joy.

mine is knit with the honey colored yarn from anne at willy wonka fibers. it was the other color sent to knitspot anne. (too many annes). the only thing i changed was to go down a needle size. learned my lesson after the humongous wing of the moth.

now if only my blocking wires were here with me. a stormy saturday sky in fort lauderdale.

the making of a basket

2007-06-20T13:56:00.000-04:00

nantucket lightship baskets are a true american craft. the nantucket basket is woven on a wood mold, has a wood base, and a rim. they can have wood or cane staves (uprights), and the rim can be made of wood or reed.

the basket i made this summer is a 10" tabletop basket. the mold is shallow, and curved to the top of the mold.

first i drew a circle the size of the base onto curly maple and cut it out on the band saw.

next i drilled the middle hole out on the drill press. drilling a little from both sides to prevent chipping out.

then onto the lathe to round over one edge (the edge on the inside of the basket). and make the slot that the staves fit into.

the base gets sanded with the random orbital sander, hand sanding the rounded edge til the wood gleams. the base gets a coat of oil finish as a sealer.

this isn't mine, but you get the picture ;-)

here is the stave material, cane.

and cut into 8" pieces.

i tapered both sides on the belt sander, to match the curve on the mold.

stick the staves in the base's slot, and weave away. first weaver was 1.5mm cane, the rest of the basket was woven with 1.75.

here's the basket woven up and leveled. the inner rim is inside the basket, and the outer rim is next to it with the epoxy glue that glues the rim ends together.

the rim ends are scarfed, the the taper is perfected on the disc sander and the drum sander.

the ideal is to make the scarf joint as invisible as possible.

the rims are on,

and the top of the staves are cut flush with the rim.

every other stave gets dotted in the middle of the rim, a hole is drilled with a dremel drill, and a brass escutcheon pin is hammered in the hole.

finally the basket is lashed! this one has double lashing, so the lashing looks crisscrossed.

fini!

today i'll get some salad bowl finish, this baby is going to be my big popcorn bowl :-)

rebecca at brant point.

last week was the nantucket film festival. it was really really cold. this is the friday night free movie at children's beach. i had to have this photo of the only 5 nuts waiting to see the movie (me included).

the film was worth the cold. after the movie there was a q&a with the director raul de la fuente, fascinating!

i also saw the good night, flakes, the go-getter, and canvas. all were good, but canvas was beyond excellent.

rebecca saw more movies as a volunteer, and she got the coveted free volunteer hoodie!

last lunch with bobby and karol at something natural, biggest sandwiches in the world, and the best carrot cake :-)

goodbye nantucket!

this post is brought to you by the letter N

2007-06-14T07:24:00.000-04:00

nantucket!
but first the baby blankie-

the sunshine baby blanket if finally finished. crocheted a little shell edging all the way around. squeaked through with just barely enough yarn of each color yellow. maybe i'll have enough left over for some baby socks.

yarn- baby ull from norway
crochet hook- turn of the century size f

look at this gorgeous skein of yarn! it's north country cotton mini from cherry tree hill, color nantucket red of course! i've been eyeing this yarn for a while, and this year the yarn store had enough for a sweater.

it swatched beautifully, and will be a simple(ish) raglan cardi with garter borders.

cast on provisionally with size 6 circs, and will knit the garter border all the way around the cardi at the end. mostly because i can't decide on whether to put just one button at the collar, or buttons all the way down.

sheep to shore, where the yarn was purchased, is a lovely shop, full of beautiful yarn and tons of knit-up samples.

s'more montage.

dukie actually turned around and posed for this photo.
he purrs like a machine.

the long and winding row

2007-06-06T09:16:00.000-04:00

sunshine baby blanket's rows started off so easy and fun, switching yellows with abandon.

now the rows are interminably long, but the end is near!

it's been so crazy busy here, there has hardly been time for hooking.

rebecca has graduated high school, finally!!! man is she ever ready for college. now that she is 18, i guess i can use her real name ;-)

she was teary eyed all through the graduation ceremony, much to all our surprise.

i like these odds!

rebecca and big brother bart.

think they'll have a rivalry going?

since bart and natalie were coming south to lake placid for the graduation, we had a combo graduation party/baby shower friday night. the graduation ceremony was saturday afternoon. then we all headed down to fort lauderdale for a baby shower sunday at noon!

it was all super fun, but exhausting ;-)

happiness runs

2007-05-23T07:33:00.000-04:00

in a circular motion.

donovan's song "happiness runs" has been playing in my head, and on my lips, ever since the sunshine baby blanket has been crocheting along. you'd think it would be mellow yellow...

last summer, my son bart was stationed in norway for a few weeks. oh, how i would have loved seeing him walk into the yarn store and watch him buy me a gift.

a gift of two lovely yellow shades of norwegian baby ull. a present with two meanings :-) bart gave me the yarn on christmas morning, the same day baby smiley was concieved ;-)

this sunshiney yellow yarn begged to be crocheted.

crocheted into a big happy hug of a granny square.

love for my new grandbaby-to-be in every stitch.

isn't the turn of the century crochet hook marvelous?

when bart was a baby, we visited my parents in illinois. my dad's office was in the oakbrook professonal building, in the middle of the oakbrook shopping center.

oakbrook shopping center has a wonderful juried art and craft show.

my dad bought me a boxed set of crochet hooks. years later, the set was chewed to pieces by a puppy.

imagine my surprise when i found an ad for the turn of the century crochet hooks, they same company that made my set! now i have a new set, each hook is a different exotic wood, and the case is walnut lined with green velvet.

another full circle :-)

now let me see.....

2007-05-20T08:17:00.000-04:00

7 random things about me-

i think the gilmore girls are real people.

we have cows. if there are only 23, can you call them cattle?

i am allergic to bees, wasps and ants.

my kids were born nearly 10 years apart. different gene pool.

i know the names of the 3 major battles of the hundred years war.

i learned to knit when i was about 5. it was so long ago i don't even remember who taught me.

my spinning wheel acquisition began when i was 13, an antique canadian production wheel. i learned to spin when i was 15, in 1971.

hmm, i tag angela, melanie, cheryl, laurie, cindy, cyndy, and anni.

thanks rosemary :-)

and now for the photos-

boudica sock kit from willy wonka fibers. love love love the bfl :-)

as i was finishing the second sock late friday night, the history channel had a 2 hour program about boudica, how weird is that?

sock mods, i did my anatomical toes toe up, a slip stitch heel, and changed the top of the cuff like the eleanora sock top.

at long last, the blocked bohus! for hat blocking, i used an 8" styrofoam ball, and sliced off about an inch all around the sides.

thank the fsm, the scarf blocked out nicely, i was worried about the stranded borders pulling in.

christmas prezzie for ddil, the blue shimmer bohus will go perfectly with her nordic looks.

dd at her awards ceremony. she got the national honors society collar, the gold honors cords, and the over 4.0 gpa gold tassle, you go girl!

using all those little grey cells is exhausting ;-)

hmmmmmmmmmm

2007-05-14T12:07:00.000-04:00

just couldn't resist the eau de laines, my favorite smell.
are you a sniffer?

look how lucky i am, 2 sock kits arrived in the mail. first is the boudica socks from willy wonka fibers. yummy soft bfl, thanks anne!!!

next is the berry pie sock kit from spinning bunny. this kit has 2 lovely colors of merino tencel, i haven't knit socks from this blend yet. thanks susan!!

here are a few close-ups of the tile fireplace surround.

it was a really fun project.

and the glaze matches our tile floor very well.

the dragonflies butterflies and bees are my favorites :-)

i hope everyone had a wonderful relaxing mother's day!

books books and more books

2007-05-06T17:00:00.000-04:00

pj has the most wonderful post all about her new bookshelves. pj saw the idea on sonia's blog.

i'll play, i'll play :-)

the family who built our house must have had a huge entertainment center on this wall. when we moved in there were tons of wires sticking out all over the wall.

we were lucky to have the cabinetmakers build us this fireplace with bookcases. it's my pride and joy, i designed, carved and fired the ceramic tiles that surround the fireplace.

the left side, with my tina II and jeff trapp windsor rocker.

the right side with the reeves frame wheel peeking out.

the whole thing comes apart in 3 pieces, and is going with us if we ever move ;-)

the same cabinetmakers built this lovely bookcase for the bend in the staircase.

left side,

and right side.

this is the bookcase with all the knitting books and magazines. it's overflowing...

another reeves wheel, this one is a 24" saxony. to the right is a warping reel from running moon farm.

there is also a small wicker bookcase in the guest room, and a bookcase in dd's room, but i'd have to wade through the flotsam to get a photo of them.

gratuitous kitty photo :-)

testing testing 1 2 3

2007-05-05T08:30:00.000-04:00

test knitting.

doesn't lisa souza's berry poppins blue faced leicester look gorgeous next to the bougainvillea?

print o' the wave catching a few rays. half the never ending edging is finished.

unfortunately i don't think there is enough yarn left to complete the border......

wish me luck!

what have we here?

2007-04-25T15:35:00.000-04:00

a giant fuzzy hornet nest with beads?

no, a print o' the wave stole ready to have the border knit on.

thanks eunny for such an enjoyable knit!

yarn - alchemy haiku color copper

metallic gold beads size 8

lantern moon circ size 4, size 4 dpns for border

print o' the wave will go into the christmas prezzie box for dd.

groovy baby

2007-04-18T11:48:00.000-04:00

september 15th, i'm going to have my own groovy baby. grandbaby that is :-)

whoohoo!!!! i can't wait!

needles on fire, i'm channeling austin powers -

with this psychedelic baby blanket -

or maybe rowan and martin -

look at the groovy colors of this superwash sock yarn dyed by claudia, regenbogen colorway,

maybe cream -

or peter max -

raja approves, or it could be the catnip ;-)

the center mitred squares are finished, and claudia has shipped some skeins of rittersporn (larkspur) for the garter border. i used the basic mitred squares from the koigu book.

dd's feetsies looking cosy in anne's red mountain pass, er shingle creek trail socks. these are going in the christmas prezzie box.

i've already pre-ordered the new boudica socks kit.

every day i count my blessings that my children are safe.
my thoughts and prayers are with the parents of the virginia tech tragedy. i cannot even begin to imagine their loss.

inch by inch

2007-04-07T12:02:00.000-04:00

row by row.

gonna watch this seed stitch grow.

it's actually finishd, all i have left to do is weave in the ends of the second border... wonder how long the scarf will languish this way?

lookie lookie what i got in the mail! the shingle creek trail socks kit from anne at willy wonka fibers :-)

anne calls the color red river, but as soon as i laid eyes on it, to me it looks like red mountain pass,

and the rope cable is the animas river.

many happy memories.

these socks will be for dd next christmas :-)

sock , and saturday sky all in one photo.

perseverance

2007-03-27T10:22:00.000-04:00

perseverance - not too sure about the calmly and without complaint bit, but definitely have the try try again down pat ;-)

behold the beginning of the bohus blue shimmer scarf -

how can 59 measly stitches be such a p i t a?

wanna see the back?

now i get to knit the second end!

actually looking forward to the plain blue seed stitch body...

i knew if i didn't pick the scarf up again right away, it would have disappeared into the black knitting hole, never to be seen again. after i googled intarsia instructions, it looks much better.

certainly has banished all thoughts of ever knitting a kaffe fassett from my blonde brain FOREVER!

2, 2, 2 socks in one!

2007-03-22T10:22:00.000-04:00

the last time you saw the socks that rock fire on the mountain, it was a pain jane vanilla ribbed cuff. soothing knitting, but kinda boring.

hmm, thought i, the last time ddil came to lake placid, she had her trekking socks jammed into reefs.

that girl needs some thong socks.

behold the thong socks, almost finished.

used a combination of the lickety split pattern from knitty, and wendy's toe up for the heel.
the only mod i made for the toes was to kitchener the stitches between the toes instead of a 3 needle bind off (thought it would be more comfy).
normally i like the heel from judy gibson's your putting me on socks for my toe ups, but i didn't like the way it was changing the colors, so i opted for wendy's short row heel.
excellent detailed explaination of the heel here.
the extra wrapadidoo wendy has you do makes for no holes in the heel, brilliant!

thanks for all the eye wishes, all better. i should have known better than to be vain and wear an old pair of contact lenses ;-)

the bohus scarf is still in time out.

fiddly, fiddlier, fiddliest

2007-03-16T14:27:00.000-04:00

holy moley, the bohus blue shimmer hat was easy peasy compared to the bohus blue shimmer scarf!

it's beautiful, but i don't think i've ever knit anything fiddlier.

back and forth knitting, so many ends to weave in after, purl rows with 3 different colors, gah!

yesterday i wore my contacts, which i hardly ever do, ah vanity.

today my left eye is red and sore, if it isn't better by tomorrow i'll call the dr.

this sandy feeling eye is not condusive to the bohus, thank the fsm i had the foresight to pack many knitting options before i came down to fort lauderdale.

i had promised dd that she could have this socks that rock fire on the mountain.

too bad, so sad. perfect booboo knitting, the colors are fabo , and the k2p2 rib is very soothing.

the russians are coming, the russians are coming!

2007-03-10T09:05:00.000-05:00

orenburg lace russians that is.

for years, the piecework magazine and yarn for the triangular warm shawl to knit, spring 2002, have been waiting patiently next to my bed.

the musk ox yarn finally won.

OMG, where have you been all my life?

delisciously soft, and the colors!

i see the kit is available from skaska now, my pattern has the plum color in the center triangle instead of the red..

there are 2 tiny errors in the magazine chart, and no errata on piecework's site, if you knit it from the magazine, and would like my corrections, please email.

2 for one photo- orenburg lace and a saturday sky. are all you northerners jealous?

last week tom and i drove up to alabama for a surprise birthday party.

about 6 years ago, i played matchmaker to one of tom's oldest bestest friends, and a good friend of mine.
they had a lot in common. heck, they even talk the same; pat's from mississippi, and bob's from northern florida.
tried for 2 years to get them in the same place at the same time.

well, after they finally met, it was love at first site, and they've hardly been apart since the day they met :-)

tom and i were best man and matron of honor at their wedding, nearly 5 years ago.

bob threw a huge surprise party for pat's birthday, and boy was she surprised! many tears when she saw everyone, especially her adorable grand-daughter from michigan. bob did an excellent job, and i'm glad we could be there!

just look at this sunset at the andalusia alabama country club-

bob and pat have a beautiful house on gantt lake in alabama. they have just built this huge barn for their spoiled cows ;-)

then we went on to the florida panhandle and pensacola. my son just got stationed in pensacola. bart will be an instructor pilot there for the next 3 years. i hope he likes his new job!

here is their new house, it is adorable. we couldn't believe how much work they've already done. tiled the floors, and put in a new fence. all by themselves :-)

thanks for all the kind selbu compliments, i think i thanked everyone!

can't wait to get the book in my hands :-0

added: anne, not anne from slc, i don't have any way to thank you for your comments- thanks!

selbu!

2007-03-02T06:51:00.000-05:00

yippee!!!

terri shea's book, "selbuvotter" is at the publisher's , now i can reveal the selbu mittens i test knit for her!

i'm so proud that i was able to be a part of terri's selbu project.

my friend angela has a photo of her test gloves on her blog, go see!

can't wait for the book to come out, and i hope terri sells a million copies :-)

i'm a bohussey

2007-02-27T13:27:00.000-05:00

blue shimmer bohussey.

here's the hat almost finished.

it's finished now, just waiting to be blocked.

i had to use an addi 000 needle to get gauge. yikes!

now on to the scarf, the seed stitch border has begun. knitting the scarf of inox dpns 00, as the scarf gauge is slightly larger.

if anyone knows where i can get my hands on a 00 prym (or any other brand) circular needle, please let me know!

unfortunately, the chart is not in the bag, i must have left it in fort lauderdale yesterday :-(

neena and veena are getting a tiny bit easier, i can do the snake arms now :-)

neena and veena are kicking my ass

2007-02-24T06:43:00.000-05:00

a week ago thursday, my friend bille sue took me to a cystic fibrosis luncheon. the entertainment was a bellydancing instructor named linda balent.

holy shit, there wasn't an ounce of fat on her body, and she's older than i am! and the costume, beautiful :-)

that was it. queenie aka billie sue and i are signing up for classes. but in my usual obsessive way, i ran to borders and bought my first neena and veena. love them!

and in true obsessive fashion, i needed another neena and veena. the fat burning part of this dvd kicked my ass. let's just say every muscle in my body is screaming this morning. hmm, you'd think i'd look like neena and veena by now, wouldn't you?

on the knitting front-

i am no longer a socks that rock virgin.

nodding violet lightweight, toe up. candlelight lace pattern on the leg to spice them up.

whah, they are a little too long for me. my loss is my ddil's gain next christmas ;-)

backstabber lightweight, also toe up, ala mata hari.

methinks the str is a tiny bit thicker than my beloved koigu, as the backstabber socks are only 56 stitches on size 0s, and fit perfectly.

back!

2007-02-07T08:59:00.000-05:00

thanks for all the well wishes!!!

feels so good to feel good!

yesterday dd played hookie, so we made bread. june's breads are always so tempting.

whole wheat, from the king arthur's ww flour package, yum! i fully intended to snap a photo of the whole loaf, but dd couldn't wait ;-)

and i finished off this deliscious pair of socks. thanks anne, for eabling me into the spinning bunny sock club! the merino angora yarn for january is sooo soft, and i love the blue sprinkled colors, perfect for snowflakes :-)

not much happening here

2007-02-04T11:08:00.000-05:00

this is all i feel like eating.

this is all my brain can handle knitting.

at least i have a little buddy to kee me company for napping.

dd has had some excellent news! you can read about it on her blog (it's a long post).

sorry linda m, but i think she has decided to go over to the dark side...

i came, i saw, i bohused

2007-01-30T08:05:00.000-05:00

resistance is futile, i must knit a bohus sweater (or two).

but first, a word on madrona. the madrona fiber arts retreat is an exquisite experience. attending madrona is like winning sperbowl tickets if you are a football fan. or the world cup if you are a soccer fan.

the sheraton tacoma is a wonderful venue for madrona. it has all sorts of nooks and crannies for knitters and spinners to gather and hang out. and coffee and water stations all over the place.

the market this year was FABULOUS! too many temptations. let's just say i am no longer a socks that rock virgin and leave it at that.

sheila and michael ernst had a booth for the first time, as did karen campbell.

my room-mate, denise is just as sweet as she was last year :-)

first order of business. check in early, so you can get a fridge and micro. handy for leftovers from dinner. everywhere you eat, the portions are so huge (and cheap) that you have plenty for lunch the next day :-) galanga is divine, and close. gateway to india is a 10 minute drive, deliscious!!!

thanks francine for leading us to nirvana!

my first class was on thursday. susanna hansson, lapland hand garments -the mittens from rovaniemi.

let me just start by saying, if you get a chance to take a class from susanna - run- do not walk to sign up. her classes are a perfect blend of historic background, knitting content, knitted samples, and teacher prep. susanna is the consummate teacher and speaker.

on to rovaniemi. rovaniemi is a town in northern finland, close to the arctic circle. this techique is a twist on intarsia in the round. susanna and her friend lene collaborated on this class. lene will be teaching it in scandanavia.

first we learned the technique with cascade 220 and larger needles.

then we each got to pick our own colors of satakieli. i chose red, blue, green and gold. the colors of the flag of finland :-)

the technique reminds me of bobbin lace, each of the colored yarn stitches gets it's own length of yarn, and is wrapped into a small butterfly hank, then placed on a long straight needle in the order of knitting. this keeps the small yarn amounts from tangling, and makes it easy to see which one to knit next.

all the knitters in the class were experienced, we all had a great time! it was fun to see all the wristlets together, no one chose the same color combination.

at the end of the day, susanna told us we are the only 19 people on this continent who know the technique! quite an exclusive club :-)

lucky for me that karen's two swans yarn had plenty of satakieli to tempt me. i chose black, cherry, gold and pine green to knit a pair of mittens. on size 0000 dpns that ought to keep me busy for a while...

on to sweden. friday was susanna and bohus stickning.

o m g - the samples were too too luscious for words! you really must feel the yarn that solveig dyes to appreciate it. the merino angora blend is so fine, and soft, a pure pleasure to knit with. not splitty at all.

and the colors!!!

the bohus story is fascinating. a female triumph. lucky for us, so much documentation still exists!

we knit the blue shimmer wristlet. yum yum yum.

saturday was m*rta stina. let's just say m*rta stina translates from the swedish as "i am cursing you from my mouldy swedish grave" and leave it as that, shall we?

don't get me wrong, her coverlet designs were stunning, and she was waaayyy before her time, design speaking.

but the knitting technique described in class. torture.

saturday was a small blogger lunch with me, denise, ryan and tmk, kim, jessica, rebecca and peggy, marti, janine, and katie (blogless). i vented my frustrations on them.

as janine so succinctly put it, "how do they know how someone who died over 100 years ago held her yarn? " excellent point.

rebecca and peggy talked me into playing hookie for the afternoon it wasn't hard.

so i sat with them spinning on their beautiful betty roberts wheels, and experimented with different ways to hold my yarn til i came up with something that worked for me.

i'l have dd take photos when i get home and post them.

the 12 years of catholic school guilt set in, and i spent the rest of the weekend trying to avoid the teacher... the gal i know who was sitting next to me in class later told me there was much swearing going on all afternoon, and most everyone was simply knitting fair isle style by the end of the day.

the best part of the whole weekend was seeing all my friends again, and meeting ryan (and tmk), kim, kerry, and sheila for the first time in person, although we've been virtual friends for years!!!!!

until next year- i miss you all already!

the queen is back on the throne

2007-01-23T16:43:00.000-05:00

er, rather the wooly board.

besides the sleeve setback, queen anne's lace was a really fun knit.

i love the color subs! the color subs are listed in my december 11 2006 post.

and the fit.

now i get to show her off at the madrona fiber retreat this coming weekend :-)

madrona is sooooooooooooooooooooooo much fun, fantastic classes, great market, but best of all are my friends that i'll get to see. some for the first time, hi kerry!

denise and i are rooming again. last year we met for the first time as room-mates, instantly i felt like we'd known each other for years!

this year i'm not taking any spinning classes, all knitting.

thurday is lapland hand garments -the mittens from rovaniemi with susanna hansson.

friday is bohus stickning, also taught by susanna hansson.

saturday is the two color patterns of märta stina with carol rhoades. marta stina's knitting is featured on the new piecework magazine.

can you tell i can hardly wait?

the queen is in the corner

2007-01-16T10:28:00.000-05:00

but she isn't counting her money.

the queen is in time out.

look here, the needles have returned home, and a sleeve is started.

knit knit, hmm, looks a little large. i changed the rate of decrease, as i want the sleeves to be 2 1/2 inches longer than marina.

measure with marina, ack, the sleeve is too big.

rip rip start over using the every 4th row decrease.

knit knit knit, the bloody new sleeve still looks too big!

measure again, the sleeve needs 8 stitches narrower than what i have.

raja says, "you woke me up for this?"

"i think not."

a 2 x2 rib noro scarf sounds really good right about now...

stuck

2007-01-11T14:38:00.000-05:00

well, i got the body done. but i can't find the small rubbermaid with my holz&stein circs for the neck and sleeves :-(

i know i took it down to lauderdale last week, to start the sweater. and i thought i brought it back home. gee, i don't know how it's possible to lose something in my pristine orderly immaculate home.....

raja is not impressed.

carla, it took about ten day to get to this point.

i haven't been spinning

2007-01-08T18:45:00.000-05:00

because i cannot put down my knitting. marina gave me the push to sub vy colors for queen anne's lace from stillwater.

i love the colors!

first i swatched with all the colors, and half a repeat. hmm, i wasn't sure.

so then i swatched a checkerboard taking out 2 of the colors. they blended more seamlessly, but seamless was blah.

so back in the 2 colors went.

this is my project for the stranded - the colorwork challenge.

i am using the set in sleeve shaping from marina, and so far the sizing is great. i tinkered with how long to make the body, so that the shoulders will meet at the end of a repeat. then i'll have to figure out where to start the top of the sleeves, so the cuff ends at the end of a pattern.

math, blech, that's my daughter's thing. she's a math wiz.

gratuitous kitty photos :-)