FiberQat

Long absence

2012-01-22T16:14:00.001-08:00

Hi folks.

If you've come here in hopes of finding another post, I'm sorry but I've come to the point of media saturation and this blog has become the unfortunate casualty. Many of you who stay in contact with me through the Net see me in other forums (Facebook, Ravelry) and it has been through those forums I've been posting my updates. I'm signed up in Google+ but I haven't gone there in some time. I'm also on Twitter, but that too sees my presence rarely.

If you're in the fiber community you'll find me in Ravelry as fiberqat.

So for the FiberQat blog, I bid you goodbye. Thank you for coming here to read me and share your thoughts. It's been fun.

Time flies

2011-07-16T20:51:00.000-07:00

Then suddenly it's summer. Holy crap.

Well it's trying to be summer around here. While other areas of the country are suffering under heat waves and horrid temperatures we here in the PNW have yet to have had a day where we've even come close to 90 degrees. I'm not complaining because summer's my least favorite season but I'm sure hearing the griping amongst the hoi polloi for the lack of summerninity. You want summer? I suggest going to Texas for a few days. A little heat index of 115 degrees F will make you yearn for here.

Events

June was a fairly busy month for me, culminating in a trip to Mt Hood/Parkdale Oregon to attend a 4 day workshop held by Judith MacKenzie. It was essentially a free-for-all event where the students decided what they wanted to learn at the beginning and it went from there. To give you an idea of what we packed in those 4 days we did:

How to spin a worsted spun yarn of different thicknesses
How to do different draws from worsted to full woolen long draw
How to spin a slub yarn
How to spin different types of boucle yarns
How to spin alpaca
How to spin other luxury fibers such as bison, cashmere, baby camel, and silk
How to dye in acid dyes
How to dye with indigo
How to create a batt with different fibers on a carder
How to create a garnetted batt
How to make a marled yarn
How to choose a fleece and what to do with it later
How to spin bast fibers (flax, ramie, hemp)
How to spin cotton
How to rett bast fibers

You can imagine what I was like when I finally left for home on the day 4. Exhausted but very very happy. I picked up all sorts of tips and tricks from her and have been passing them on to my fellow spinners. My spun yarn after that workshop has improved significantly.

I'm currently doing some spinning for the Tour de Fleece though my right knee has not been allowing me to do a lot of spinning. I'll be working to finish off a bobbin of three that I'm currently working on for a sock yarn. It's coming out beautifully.

Knitting

I've churned out more baby sweaters to eventually be sold for a fundraising. They work up so quickly and are fun to knit. I took the pattern and made some adjustments for my own liking and wrote it up as a free pattern on Ravelry, called Basic Yoke Baby Sweater 2.0. Others have tried it and enjoy it, which makes me feel good.

For my birthday I received three books: Knit, Swirl! by Sandra McIver, For the Love of Knitting by multiple authors, and The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by Deborah Robson. I was caught up in the thrill of the engineering of the Swirl sweaters that have come from McIver's book and started up knitting my swatch to get the right size. I even took it with me to Judith's workshop in case I needed something to work on in the evening. Ha ha fool me -- I didn't touch it because I was too tired. So I arrive home and work on it a bit (the yarns are Stonehedge Farms Shepherd's Wool with Dream In Color In Native laceweight in raspberry tones).

Then Frank Habit publishes a stole pattern.

In case you haven't seen it here, I love lace. I'm a lace junkie. I love how it turns a pile of string all looped together that looks like a dog's breakfast into stunning beauty when it's all dressed. (That's right. Ordinary knitting is blocked. Lace knitting is dressed. Not that it's snobbish or anything.) You can bring me to my knees when you open up a stunning lace piece that looks like it's been knitted from frog hair on size zero^googolplex needles.

Frank has decided to go into lace knitting with a vengeance, coming out with a series of patterns that celebrate the women in his life. The one that made me drool was the one dedicated to his grandmother Jennie or as she was formally named Giovannina. I added that to my wishlist, not expecting to make it anytime soon, but an opportunity arose and I am now in the process of knitting it. The Filigran yarn is nice to work with and I'm making progress now with the body. We'll see how quickly I get this knitted up (the center motif requires 20 repeats of 30 rows).

Cats

Nothing new in the home front regarding the cats. Sammy is recovering from the state she got herself into from grieving for Maisie. Buster is finding that Fritz, while a fun playmate for a while, tends to be like the pestering kid brother and follows him around wherever he goes.

And Fritz? Well, let's say he isn't the brightest bulb in the sign. I like to call him a clown short of a circus. He's just now learning to come to his name but it takes a fair bit to do it. He hasn't figured out to leave Buster or Sammy alone when they cuff him and hiss. It also takes him a while to figure out that when I'm coming out of the kitchen and he's right there that to get out of my way he can turn around and walk faster (he walks backwards instead and is pretty good at it). But he's a playful, friendly, sweet-natured dope. He's figured out that he's not going outside without a harness on (which he doesn't like) so he doesn't dart out.

And that's the news from Chez Runamuck! Have a good summer!

Checking in

2011-05-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

Each weekend I've been busy doing something and think briefly, I should update my blog. It's been a while and not everyone is on Facebook or Ravelry. But just as quickly it leaves my brain and before you know it another week has passed. Or my case, two months.

I've found as I've gotten older that unless I set out reminders for myself or stop and think for a minute beforehand what I must do I tend to flit from one thing to another at the cost of paying attention to other things that should be attended to. If I have things written down and go over them first thing in the morning I'm very good at getting them done. But if it's not on the list and I don't add it, it will be forgotten. Unfortunately, the blog writing has fallen into the category of not being put on the list. I will try to do better.

Things have changed a fair bit here at Chez Runamuck. I found a young cat that fit the household dynamic a month ago. His name is Fritz, is a year old, and has made friends with Sammy and Buster. Fritz isn't a lap cat but he is affectionate, a chatterbox, and has found all the toys in the short barrel tower. His favorite is a furry mouse that came in a gift pack I received from my Secret Santa last year. He carries it around in his mouth, plays with it on my bed, and has chewed the tail off of it. The other two weren't sure at first but Buster found him to be a fun playmate and Sammy has taken to him as a housemate. It's made life around here comical at times as the chasing goes on in the evening with either Fritz chasing Buster or vice versa.

In April I went to a fiber festival in Hood River. It was the first one for this particular group and they had a great turnout. There were some beautiful things there and I didn't come away empty-handed. One of the things I was looking for was purchasing a Schacht Matchless wheel on layaway. I had my Louet S10 for putting down as a down payment and wanted to pay off the remainder in installments. I found a buyer and the wheel is now being built. I was able to negotiate having the wheel available for my upcoming workshop at the end of June but I have to return it until it's completely paid off. I got the chance to work on someone else's Matchless while I was there and I was very pleased at how well it spun and fit me. So I'm anxious as ever to get it paid off and home!

May has been busy. I volunteered some time to demonstrate handspinning at the annual AgFest in Salem OR. That was fun showing how yarn is made from animal fiber. The kids were delightful to watch. Agent D and I took advantage of a beautiful Saturday to go to the Gorge and take pictures. The water from all the rainfall made the waterfalls spectacular.

One of the things I've been doing is preparing for a class on making toe up socks. I've knitted up sample socks with three different toes and heels to demonstrate different methods. In addition to those I finished a hat for Agent D and a baby sweater for one of the gals in the office who is expecting her first. There will be more baby sweaters coming: one for the grandson coming for one of my partners in crime in my unit, the others for sale to raise money for Outside In.

June promises to be a busy month. Between teaching, taking Judith MacKenzie's workshop at the end of the month, and my birthday, my challenge will be pacing myself so that I can get everything done. Summer's almost here which will mean hiding in my cool house.

Socializing

2011-03-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

If you've been a regular reader of my blog, you most likely have noticed that my output has gone down recently. When I had started the blog, it was intended to be a journal of my experiences in the textiles community and some personal observations. For the most part I've kept to that with my intention of posting at least once a week, usually on Sunday. Lately, however, I've been slowly drifting away from the blog posting. Part of it is not wanting to clutter it with drivel or the same ole same ole. Another part of it is I've been more active on other social media, namely Ravelry and Facebook. But I have no intentions of giving up on the blog. It's here that I can keep in touch with those who are not connected with me in those two resources.

The sudden loss of Maisie was difficult

. When you lose a pet that you've had for a while, it's a change in your life that has its ramifications. Maisie was kind of the grande dame of the house, anchoring the feline community with a quiet yet strong presence. Her disappearance left a void that the household had a hard time adjusting to. We are all getting used to the new rhythms and dynamic that multiple occupants work out in a living space. I felt the loss so keenly that I tried adopting another cat to fill the void but it didn't work out and have come to the conclusion that for now there will be two furries.

To cope with the depression that was trying to latch onto me, I decided last week to take a day trip to the beach. I invited Agent D to come along and he leaped at the opportunity. We went down to Tillamook and Oceanside to take in the calm of the ocean's roar. We made stops at the Tillamook Air Museum and the Tillamook Cheese Factory (it was alas closed to the public due to unforeseen circumstances with the water). A trip up to Astoria and a visit with my sister to see how she was doing then home again made for a lovely jaunt. March weather is fickle but we were graced with rainfree hours while we were out and about.

Missy

2011-02-26T08:18:00.000-08:00

There are moments in one's life where you are just bumping along doing your normal things and a speed bump gets thrown into the road to remind you to be aware. You try to get your bearings and return to what you're doing but things have changed. The normal is just slightly tweaked where you have to shift your perspective.

Over the course of the last couple of years, Maisie had been losing weight. She used to be a chunky 11 pounds but shrank down to 8. I didn't pay much mind to it because she was too heavy for her frame but when I took her in last September her vet was concerned. Her lab work showed no signs of problems. Then a couple of weeks ago I noticed she was not eating much and would stand by the water bowl. This was unusual, so I took her in. It turned out bad: her

kidneys had failed and she was dying. It was a sudden blow that took me completely by surprise. I decided to euthanise her so that she wouldn't suffer anymore.

Miss Maisie was the duchess of the house. The other cats paid her much respect because she could be fickle in her moods. Her size was no hindrance to her maintaining rule at Chez Runamuck. Even Buster, who outweighed her by a couple of pounds, kept his distance. But she was a loving cat. She didn't like to be held but she loved sitting on my lap or sleeping next to my pillow at night. She loved burrowing in the blankets to snooze. And her fur was the softest I had ever felt.

Goodbye, duchess. Mazola. MissMiss. You are missed here at Chez Runamuck.

I'm here

2011-02-06T00:16:00.001-08:00

If you're wondering where I have been, don't worry if you think it's health related. I'm fine. January's an insane month at work and as there wasn't much to report outside of being really tired and braindead I figured it was best to not post. The insanity is done and the normal brouhaha is now gearing up.

There was one event in January I attended: the Snohomish Yarn Train and Crawl. This is its seventh year of sending folks down from Seattle to Portland to partake of Portland's bounty of yarn shops. Someone I met on a Ravelry forum came down and joined me and MonicaPDX on a personal tour. Aeranthes had a delightful time and the three of us cackled and snortled the afternoon away. Less ebullient folk looked at us askance like we had somehow managed to escape our keepers, for we were like teenage girls who had stayed up too long. It was a sad

moment when we had to drop off Aeranthes at the train station, but she promised to come back. I promised to put her up for Oregon Flock and Fiber so I have until September to get the house ready.

The sidewalk has been poured and is curing as we speak. There was some finagling and what had been expected changed (there will be no solid slab of concrete for the driveway skirt as it wasn't required after all). The weather while cold and windy some days has been dry enough for the contractor to get it all done. I will be glad when it's all over.

I took a break from knitting but restarted again with a lace project. Cindy at Urban Fiber Arts received a shipment of Abstract Fiber's Picasso, which is a DK weight baby alpaca yarn. I offered to make her a shop sample and made for her the Eleanor cowl. It was a little tricky to knit but I finished the knitting last week. I finally got around to blocking it today so you can see the lacework. Once it's seamed you can only see it if it's on someone's neck. My neck's too short to show it off -- not like Linda Evangelista.

Christmas time is here by golly

2010-12-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

The holiday season's fast coming to a close and this time around has been more tolerable. Usually by Christmas I'm exhausted with all the hoopla but I discontinued my cable service back in November so I haven't been assaulted with all the commercials. Downtown Portland's very pretty at this time of year with all the lights and festive decorations in the stores. I always enjoy going there to do my shopping for that reason. It's also less insane there with people.

The new year is looking like it will be more austere. The unexpected expenses have been piling on to what's already been noted and an application for refinancing was turned down because of my situation. It won't be a case of living on ramen and frozen vegetables but there will have to be fewer splurges. If nothing else the hobby splurges will have to pay for themselves because the money has to go to getting the debt down. But I've made do before and I'm comfortable enough that I shouldn't feel deprived. The state of my stash room indicates I will have more than enough to play with in the coming year.

I'm being told off by one of my cats. Don't tell me cats can't communicate to humans.

Anyhoo, my Christmas will be a quiet one. I'll most likely put on the classical station which will play Christmas music from classical composers. I may dig up a jigsaw puzzle to work on or read "The Lord of the Rings" (for some reason the wintertime is the best time for reading Tolkien). I have a few days off which I will use for visiting with friends who have time off too. It will be a nice way to prepare for the year ahead.

To one and all, have a very merry Christmas.

Peeping in

2010-12-05T21:26:00.001-08:00

Not much is going on lately to write about. Winter weather has made its way in. The furries have their own spots for snoozing in but on particularly cold nights I'm surrounded with lumps trying to suck some of my heat for themselves.

I got a love note from the city on needing to have my sidewalk repaired. The inspectors had come through the neighborhood last year and were now requiring us to make repairs on sections they deemed not up to code. I've been able to come up with some of the funds to have the repairs done but some of my fellow neighbors are having to scramble to find a way to pay for them, including the one I share a driveway with. The city has earmarked our driveway skirt to the street as requiring replacement. It's best done as one piece so I'm waiting for them to be able to put together the funds to help pay for having the work done.

On the knitting front, I am working on a commission that I hope to have finished by next weekend. It's another Harry Potteresque type striped scarf, only done in cream and dove gray. It's coming out very nicely. When that is done, the knitting will be set aside. Work will require me to do a lot of data entry over the next month and a half so care will have to be taken on my arms to make certain I don't get tendonitis.

Onward and upward!

Fallen

2010-11-17T19:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm betting some of you are looking for the next installment of "The Memoir". I have to admit I've run out of gas on it. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out what sort of sordid event would make Mr Snitterton be in hiding, and there were already a couple of flaws with it. But it was an interesting experiment. I hope you enjoyed what there was. With the failure of the story there was also the failure of my keeping up with the blog on a daily basis. Some things distracted me and others required my attention. So it goes.

I came home to a "love note" from the city saying I need to repair my sidewalk. A more formal request will come from them later. It's not a good time for me to have this happen but it just means that what monies I can pull together from commissions and such will have to be earmarked for that. In the meantime I'm going to be looking at options. I have one option cooking right now with the credit union which I'm hoping comes through. It will make settling things easier.

The Memoir, continued

2010-11-15T18:30:00.000-08:00

The day of the airship demonstration was clear and brisk but not too windy. Mr Sandhurst had speaking mirrors set up so that he could convey his orders to the crew in the hangar and in the airship itself. We had started preparations before sunrise. By the time Mr Sandhurst had arrived with the others we had been at it for several hours. The vehicle hovered over us, its gondola and engines gleaming beneath the creamy gasbag.

Penderking came up to me as the crew was preparing to bring out the airship and drew me aside. "I need you to go onboard the ship and make sure everything is running smoothly," he said. "The Duke of Moonrose is here and I want you up there to make sure nothing goes wrong."

I nodded but felt my stomach go into a knot. The Duke of Moonrose was a very powerful man in the ruling halls of Ashkaroth. We had heard he had had some interest in Mr Sandhurst's company but his presence meant something more. The Duke held the ear of the King and decided who and what the King's money would buy. That he was here to view the airship made me wonder for what purpose he wanted it. A contract from the Duke meant good fortune for all of us.

Even more it meant that I would fly for the first time. I had never gone up in the airship for any of the tests. It would be a challenge for me to keep my head and pay attention to what needed to be done.

I geared up for the flight, donning a canvas airsuit, leather helmet, and gloves before trotting out with the crew as they guided the airship to its launching platform. As I climbed into the gondola, I glanced back at Penderking. He gave me a smile but I could tell it wasn't fully heartfelt. I nodded and climbed in.

Greenfeldt, the pilot, and Hendon, the navigator, climbed in soon after and began the pre-flight. I strapped myself in the mechanic's seat set behind Hendon. When I looked out the window I could see one of the great engines overhead. The murmuring of Greenfeldt and Hendon as they went down the checklist served to make my blood thrill with excitement as we prepared the ship for takeoff. I heard Greenfeldt call out, "Engine 1 start up," followed with Hendon's reply, "Engine 1 start up aye," then the growl of the first engine at our front left as it began. It followed with the engine by me coming to life, its propeller whizzing around at first reluctantly then enthusiastically. The third and fourth engines came to life behind us and the whole ship hummed.

"Chrysanthe to Tower, permission for lift off," called out Greenfeldt.

"Tower to Chrysanthe, permission granted. You're clear," came the reply from the radio speaker.

Greenfeldt pushed the throttle and effortlessly the airship Chrysanthe rose from the ground.

Altogether ooky

2010-11-14T20:11:00.000-08:00

This past week I've been playing with a story idea that starts with the finding of a partial manuscript. I'm not sure what direction it's going to go. I'm going to let it play itself out. Unlike some writers, I don't have a plan written out on what happens in the end. It's a rough draft, so if there are inconsistencies and unexplained things (which can happen in a story written this way) please bear with me. My intention was to write on it every day but this weekend I've had to focus on other things and I can't write and crochet at the same time. So the next entry should come in tomorrow.

The extra strain I had put on my right knee over my vacation caused me to rely on driving again to work for a while, but I will be putting in the attempt again this week. You may think I'm crazy to get back to walking when it's getting to be stormy season in the Pacific Northwest. But the rain and wind doesn't faze me. I'd rather walk in that kind of weather than in the heat of summer. There's nothing so soothing as the patter of rain on the umbrella. One thing I won't have though is my favorite folding umbrella. Somehow over time the wires that held the gasket over the handle to the spokes came undone and during my trip to the dentist last Wednesday the umbrella imploded as I was trying to fold it closed. It was a good umbrella, a folding one that could open up to almost as large as a golf umbrella but close small enough to be tucked into a backpack or totebag. I have umbrellas on hand -- a true Oregonian never fails to have one or two for emergencies -- but I'll have to be on the hunt for a replacement for that one.

There hasn't been much else going on this week. I'm finishing up the crocheted washcloths I'm going to sell at the employee craft fair on Tuesday. The holidays will be quiet -- mostly breaks from the year end duties at work -- so I don't have plans for those. I sent off a package yesterday to the recipient of a yarn swap we're participating so I'm waiting for her to receive her package and hoping she likes what she receives. The gal who hired me last year to knit a couple of Harry Potteresque scarves for her has hired me to knit another.

Over the weekend I've been revisiting an old TV series I used to watch when I was a little kid. The Addams Family, the lovely ghoulish tribe of various characters, originated in cartoons drawn by Charles Addams and appeared in various publications like The New Yorker. In 1964 they were brought to life in a tv series that lasted 2 years. The reruns ran in the afternoon and I would watch it religiously. For being a family of macabre characters, they were good-natured, kind, and considerate. Guests are always welcome with open hospitality and they seemed oblivious to the discomfort of their more "normal" houseguests at the sight of boiling tea, a swordfish with a leg sticking out of its mouth, and a pet lion. Everyone had their favorite character. Mine was Thing, the hand that appeared in various locations around the house to assist in whatever needed to be done, such as dialing a telephone, pouring tea, or lighting a cigar. It's been delightful watching it over Netflix Instant while working on my washcloths. Gomez may have been the master of the house, but Morticia was definitely the moderating voice, suggesting in many instances more reasonable solutions to whatever problem they were dealing with in that episode.

The Memoir, continued

2010-11-12T17:32:00.001-08:00

I won't dwell on my 3 years at the Academy. Suffice it is to say that what education I failed to get at home I obtained there in addition to the training I would need for my future position with Mr Sandhurst's company. If I am able at a later time, I'll tell about those exciting and soul-pushing days, but I want to make sure I had my story out before it was lost.

After my time in the Academy, I was sent to work under an engineer named Charles Penderking in Mr Sandhurst's West Highborough division. He set me to work on various problems he was working on to help me get a feel for real work as opposed to projects at the Academy. "You'll find, Snitterton," said Penderking, "that the forces of nature cannot be predicted accurately, no matter how precise you are. Always prepare for the unexpected." I learned quickly and worked well with him, feeling with him a natural flow of things. Pieces fell together easily when we worked together, as if the forces that we were dealing with realized that with the two of us there was no point in fighting us. I wasn't sure if he felt it like I did, but one day he asked me to help him on the project he was busy with. It was an engine for a new kind of airship, and he had been working on it with two other engineers, Thorpe and Duncastle. They had done a prototype but it kept failing. "The engine will run for seven minutes then fail," he told me. "We've made adjustments and tried different formulas, but once it gets warm it quits on us. I want you to take a look at this."

Thorpe and Duncastle, two fellows who were relatively amiable but a little cold, weren't too happy with this apprentice looking at the plans then observing the engine. It took me some time to figure it out. It was a subtle change and I could see and sense it, but it took about a dozen tries before I was able to really nail it and confirm it on the plans. "See here?" I said, pointing out the offending valve. "When this gets warm, this valve seats properly and holds a seal. But when the heat makes it expands it creates a leak. That's what's shutting it down." When we made adjustments to that valve and nearby cams the seal held and the engine growled contentedly.

That was what it was like in those days I spent at West Highborough. Most of the time I'd be working on small projects that helped me learn but occasionally I'd be called in to help out on the engine or another portion of the airship. Duncastle warmed to me but Thorpe stayed relatively cool. He was a little older than me and I could sense his resentment of my presence. But as long as I was Penderking's man, I encountered no difficulties.

The days when the airship was to come together and go through the flight tests were nerve-wracking. The airship was a beauty of design and power, driven by 4 engines and clad with a tough but flexible skin over its frame. After the final test, we received word that Mr Sandhurst was anxious to know if the airship was ready for demonstration. Penderking, Thorpe, and Duncastle conferred with the other technicians, mechanics, and pilots. There were some who felt we needed to do more testing, but others felt we were ready and could work out the minor problems later in production. Penderking was the most anxious and Thorpe the most insistent on moving ahead. Finally after wrangling over an hour, it was agreed to notify Mr Sandhurst that the airship was ready for demonstration.

The Memoir, continued

2010-11-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

I left the town I had grown up in on the Great Valley train. Mr Sandhurst gave me instructions, tickets, and some pocket money for meals for the trip. I had never traveled on the train and I saw all sorts of people on board. There were some like my mother and father -- somewhat poor and worn with having to struggle to live -- but there were more like the men who traveled with Mr Sandhurst. Their clothes were immaculate and their auras murmuring of power. They could see I was poor and would pass me like I was a clod of dirt on the ground. But it didn't matter to me. I was more fascinated by the places we were passing and the things I saw.

The most fascinating thing though to me was the engine. When we stopped at a station where we would be sitting for a while, I was curious to see the engine. I could sense the power that ran the train for it flowed the whole length of it. But when I got close to the engine, its power nearly knocked me over. It took all I had to approach it.

"Beauty, ain't she?" said a man to me.

I looked over and saw a man in a stained coverall with a patch bearing the railroad's emblem over his heart. He looked as old as my father, his short stringy hair streaked with gray. He was wiping his hands of grease. I looked back at the engine. It gleamed with the polish of hours of care enhanced with the power it could generate. I wanted to touch it but didn't dare.

"She's a Carmichael 32-H400," said the man. "Weren't many of these built. Shame, really. It was the best engine Carmichael made."

"How fast can she go?" I asked.

"Under full steam she can fly as fast as the River Runner if not faster."

I had heard of the River Runner. It was the express train that crossed the country in a day. At top speed it could do 185. I stared in awe.

"Yep. Great machine." His ears perked and he walked away.

My final destination was to be the town of Clearwater but in order to get there we had to pass through the largest city of the country: Ashkaroth. It was called the City of Lights and that evening as the train curved around the great bay it rested by one could see why. The buildings were ablaze in magnificent colors and shimmering rays of luminescence. I stared at it until I couldn't see it for the train's bulk in the way. The few buildings we passed soon multiplied in number until we were flying down a canyon of structures. The train dove into a tunnel to get to the station where we stopped for an hour.

By the time we reached Clearwater, it was late and I was tired from the long ride. I fetched my trunk but when I left the station I wasn't sure how I was to get to my next destination. I looked at the directions Mr Sandhurst had given me. When you reach Clearwater, send the enclosed message ball to Mr Arrhenius Pond. Then wait.

In the office of the shop, Mr Sandhurst had given me an envelope that had all the things I needed for my journey. I pulled it out of my jacket pocket and rifled through it. My fingers fell upon a hard round object and pulled it out: a message ball. Inside the gumball-sized plain container would be a paper that bore the message. I tucked the envelope back in my jacket, then I rubbed the ball between my hands and breathed on it. "Go to Mr Arrhenius Pond," I commanded, then I threw it up in the air. The ball fell a foot, then flew upward quickly out of the light of the lamps.

It was all a matter of waiting then. I put my trunk so that I could sit on it but had no idea how long it would take for something or someone to appear. Mr Sandhurst had been vague about where I was to be going. The Clearwater station emptied and with the train and people gone the place was lonely and growing cold. There was nothing to do but play with the light a little and wait.

It seemed after a while that I was pretty much left there to spend the night when I heard a rushing from a distance. A wind gust threw my hair all over and cast dust everywhere, making me cough. "Sorry," I heard a youngish voice say some feet away. "Still trying to get a handle of this one."

I wiped my face and looked at the speaker. It was a fellow my age dressed in a green brocade jacket and purple trousers getting up from a Turkish carpet that hovered a foot from the ground. His chestnut brown curly hair was a terrible mess but his eyes had a gleam of fun. "Are you Arrhenius Pond?"

"Me?" said the fellow. "Oh, no, I'm not old Pond. I'm John. Pondy sent me to fetch you. Hand with your trunk?"

"Um, sure." I lifted one end and John picked up the other. Together we placed it on the carpet, causing it to dip a little then even out. I climbed aboard the carpet and sat with my back to the trunk.

"Old Pond's the housemaster," said John, settling in next to me and gripping the carpet's tufts. I did the same as the carpet suddenly rose into the air and flew over the treetops. "He'd rather be in bed at this time of night. But he was expecting you and had me out when the ball arrived."

"Where are we going?"

"Seven Oaks Academy. On the outside looks like a stodgy old place where they send peers and such to study all sorts of awful things."

"What is it then?"

"You don't know?"

"No."

John grinned. "It's only the best school for engineers. You can't get into it without invitation. Who sent you? Mr Sandhurst?"

"Yes," I said.

"You must be good then. The best ones have been the ones Mr Sandhurst sends."

We went over a rise and in the light of lamps set along paths stood a group of stone and plaster buildings. It looked intimidating and I shrank a little, wondering if I would be able to pass muster. I glanced at John, who was blithely grinning as he steered the carpet to the lawn near a set of arched wood doors on one of the side buildings. I clambered off the carpet and ran my hands through my windblown hair as I looked up at the place. "Go on in," said John. "I'll take care of your trunk."

I opened a door and stepped into an arched hall of polished wood and worn carpets. I walked further, seeing paintings of men and women in various robes and gowns. I heard John bring in my trunk then say, "Good evening, Mr Pond."

I turned and saw an old man in a plain shirt and trousers stepping up to me. "Edmund Snitterton?" he said in a voice that reminded me of my father when he was annoyed at me.

"Yes, sir," I replied nervously.

He smiled warmly. "Welcome to Seven Oaks, Mr Snitterton. Your new life begins now."

The Memoir, continued

2010-11-10T20:27:00.000-08:00

When I went to the office, Mr Sandhurst told me he had intentions for me. He needed people to train for a project, one that would be even more incredible than any he had already devised. If I was studious and persistent, I would be greatly rewarded. He would have me schooled in the skills I needed to do the job.

I thought about it. I had never heard of anyone doing such a thing for just a worker. But the look on the foreman's face told me that this opportunity was even more of an amazing thing and I would be very foolish to turn it down. I thought of my mother and father and my siblings. What would my absence mean to the rest of the family? I asked Mr Sandhurst and he assured me they would be taken care of. I would have to leave them though so if I decided to go, I would have to go home and pack and leave right away. He would not have any relatives get in the way of who he wanted on this project.

I said yes.

The Memoir

2010-11-09T17:11:00.000-08:00

I have a blank page before me and don't know how to begin. I know I need to tell someone about some of the things that happened but I have to be reasonably careful, because I don't want others to get hurt. The people who have taken me in have been very kind, but I dare not tell them anything of what happened. Fortunately they have accepted my story as an actor who is down on his luck. I've also been helping around the house at repairing things and earning my keep, so they're not likely to notice anything.

For starters, I'm in my late thirties. I grew up in a household where you fixed things and made do with what you had. My father was quite adroit at mechanical objects so while we didn't have much he made it work so that my mother didn't have to work so hard.

Of the four of us siblings I took to doing things like my father did very readily, so often he had me as his assistant. Later, when I was old enough, he had me at the shop he worked at. The other mechanics weren't sure of having a kid hanging around where there was heavy machinery that could easily take off an arm or leg. But I proved to be sensible and alert, not prone to fooling around. I knew that when I had my cap and work overall on that I was to be serious and pay attention because one never knew for certain what Dad needed. Soon the other mechanics grew fond of my being there and I was soon running errands and helping them out when they needed an extra hand.

You probably wonder why a kid like me was allowed in such a place. At the time, it wasn't unusual for a kid or two to be there. They did the grunt work: fetching coffee or rags; carrying parts; holding tools ready for mechanics. But it was tough to be there. The shop was hot in the summer and cold in the winter. Grease and dirt was everywhere and the place stank of old oil, sweat, and metal shavings. When I showed up there was a kid there who was nearly apprentice age that later on was thrown out because he had been caught stealing cast off metal to sell at the scrap yard. It was awful to see him being dragged out, beaten, then left out on the street to make his way. I never knew what happened to him, but I suspected that he found his way somewhere else to steal, because times were hard and we knew he had no family.

I worked at the shop diligently though the work was hard. I was earning a few extra kuleks for the family, which meant that we could have better food. When I was made an apprentice, we celebrated with a feast of roast chicken, potatoes, greens, and fresh milk. Milk! It was so good. I saved some to go with the dessert I had chosen: apple pie. It was a rare meal for us. I remember my brother and sisters wolfing theirs down and my mother being so proud of me.

My years as apprentice were not long. The shop foreman saw how well I did and how quickly I learned. When there was a call for a new job, he made sure I was with the crew. I did not always work beside my father, but he was proud of how well I did because he knew that I could go further than he. One night on the walk home he said, "Son, someday you will find your ship and it will take you to your dreams. Stay true to what you have learned from your mother and me, trust your heart, and you will go far."

I had little idea of where it would take me. One day the owner, Rupert H. D. Sandhurst, came through the shop. We had no idea he was coming. He was well known to the world as a man of adventure but very shrewd. When he spoke to others his ideas, often they would respond that they were impossible. But he would make them possible and it made him very rich. Our shop was but one of many he owned, but he felt it was important to meet the people who worked for him. "It is easy to lose sight of the world," he once said, "when you don't walk beyond the halls of your office." Mr Sandhurst walked through the shop and all work came to a standstill until he said, "Don't stop on account of me." "Get back at it!" shouted the foreman, and we bent to our jobs.

While I worked at grinding a part, Mr Sandhurst and the foreman came by. It made me nervous having him there and I fumbled the piece a little. "It's okay, boy," said Mr Sandhurst. "Don't mind my watching. I want to see how you do it."

"Sorry," I murmured, noticing the foreman looking anxious.

"If you like, sir," said the foreman, "there's a fella who can show ya how it's done."

"No," said Mr Sandhurst. "I've heard of this one. I want to see his work."

I gulped and nodded a little, turning back to grind the piece. It was a gear for the mainshaft of the ship we were building and my job was to clean up the piece before it went to the next man. It didn't take long when I forgot that Mr Sandhurst and the foreman were there. I took off the rough edges and polished the surface to the right consistency. I was about to pick up the next piece when the clean hand of Mr Sandhurst stopped me. I looked at him.

"You're Edmund Snitterton," asked Mr Sandhurst.

"Yes, sir," I said.

"Um hmm. How old are you, Snitterton?"

"Seventeen next Rose Day, sir."

"How long have you been prenticed here?"

I tried to think but the foreman blurted out the answer before I could speak. "Two and a half years, Mr Sandhurst."

"Really?" Mr Sandhurst smiled. "You started quite early, Snitterton. Remarkable."

"He's been quite the hand, sir," said the foreman. "You can thank his dad for that."

"Really? And who is his dad? Does he work here?"

"Yes, sir," said the foreman. "Roger Snitterton's his name."

Mr Sandhurst looked thoughful, then he shook my hand. "We will be talking soon, Snitterton. I have a few things I must take care of first. Borling, where is this other Snitterton?"

I watched as Mr Sandhurst and the foreman went to talk with my father. I had no idea what to think. What did Mr Sandhurst want with me? As I watched them talk, my father's grease-smudged face went from wary to pride to surprise. He looked at me then back at Mr Sandhurst, then he slowly nodded. When Mr Sandhurst and the foreman walked away, my father didn't look up at me. One of the mechanics went up to him, but he said nothing.

"Snitterton!" shouted the foreman. "Clean up and come to the office."

The box

2010-11-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

During some cleaning I was doing in the attic I came across a small wooden box. It didn't look familiar so I pulled it out. A simple hook held it closed so I opened it. Inside was a sheaf of papers covered in writing. Further investigation revealed them to be the remnants of a memoir someone had intended on writing but never finished. The papers were fairly old, maybe from the sixties, but the tone of the writing made me think that the writer was well educated and somewhat well-to-do. I made some inquiries but nothing turned up any indication as to who the writer was. I can only speculate on the identity being a relative that had stayed at the house for some time but suddenly became too ill to continue the memoir.

The week as we know it

2010-11-07T09:18:00.000-08:00

The glorious days of October have shifted to the changing weather of November. We were teased here this week with a couple of days of unusually warm temperatures then a storm came through with the usual fall rain and chill. The walks through the city are punctuated with the rustle of fallen leaves and the streets have a golden cast under the changing canopy. When I crossed the highest bridge in the city into downtown I could see the brilliant trees peeping through the concrete and steel. It makes me love this city even more.

On the knitting front, the Haruni shawl made the rounds and is on display at Cindy's shop window to help promote Sharon's yarn. A few people asked if it was for sale. When I quoted the price, the askers blanched. It was all dependent upon my getting the yarn again in the color I got for the original and I was not going to shortchange myself for the labor I put into the shawl.

With that project completed my focus is now on getting more things done for the upcoming employee craft fair being held in two weeks. My focus this year is on washcloths out of kitchen cotton and cat sock toys. The cloths are popular and cheap to make. The toys are fun and easy. It won't be a big money maker but it will give me some extra cash that I need to take care of some things around the house.

I have other things planned when the craft show is done. Christmas projects are nearly completed. The carder is waiting to be used for good. Stay tuned.

Pretty Kitty Saturday

2010-11-06T23:59:00.000-07:00

Sunny days are fewer. The chance to revel in its warmth is lesser. So the sunbath is more treasured.

Fey Friday

2010-11-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

1. Only because at the end of the day my brain is not functioning well. It's particularly more difficult at the beginning of the month because work's more intense.

2. I want to knit another sweater.

3. The Kauni sweater still languishes in my UFO pile. I'm working on the body and it's a hell of a lot of work. After a session on that sweater my hands are falling asleep because of the amount of tension I need to put on the yarns to do the color work. I know I should relax but the yarn is fingering weight and my continental knitting gauge has fewer stitches per inch than my English knitting gauge which would throw off the math.

6. I'm a big woman. The Kauni has lots of stitches. Throwing off the math is not an option.

7. I could be working on the Kauni but I have a craft fair in two weeks and more washcloths to crochet. My weekend will be devoted to crocheting and laundry.

8. It's supposed to rain this weekend. That's perfect weather for crafting. The radio will be on, I'll be crocheting away on washcloths. Or sewing up cat toys.

9. At least I won't be tempted to work on the Haruni shawl because it's done. It's beautiful, knit in StitchJones' Titanium Sock. I don't have other projects to lure me away from the washcloths. Maybe. I do have some fiber for making batts for Cindy's shop. Maybe when my hands need a break from the crocheting all the cotton.

FO!

2010-11-04T19:05:00.000-07:00

I'm involved in a project with several of the PDX Knitbloggers where we all knit the Haruni shawl out of StitchJones Titanium Sock yarn. I finished mine last night and released it from its blocking wires and pins.

This could easily be set up to be a square tablecloth. I can see this done up in white yarn and draped over the tea table for afternoon tea.

November

2010-11-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

The sentinels of the street have been touched by the coming chill

They dress in yellow, in gold, in copper

Never the same dress as the year before.

They wait, knowing as in years past, that soon the time to sleep will come.

The day has given them a chance to show their glory in the light of the afternoon sun.

In a brief moment, they flash themselves in a symphony of radiance.

The young, bearing only a few shreds of fabric, vie for

attention but are swallowed by the giants in their vast ensembles.

The wind pulls at the hems. Patches open and seams burst.

Soon the colors will fade, their memory burned only in the eyes of those who saw them.

All drop their raiment, building a carpet of fringe and sequins and embellishments tarnished by rain.

A walk under the skirts shuffles the tufts and shreds along the pavement.

The pageant comes to a close.

Rhinebeck Day 2

2010-11-02T13:50:00.001-07:00

(warning: heavy photo content) Sunday I didn't set an alarm to go off so I slept in. Considering how tired I was the previous night it was good to get the rest. As it was I was up by 9 am and on my way back to the Dutchess County fairgrounds. I expected to be parking some ways from the entrance, but Asphalta, the goddess of parking, was very generous and gave me a place right next to the path that led to the entrance. The day before I had had a good spot but finding my vehicle when I was done was awful. Thank goodness for the horn button on the remote, else I would have been there for over an hour looking for it.

My focus on Sunday was taking pictures. I had no obligations so I was free to wander about and see what people had to offer. There were fewer people so it was much easier to see things and get around. Breakfast was one of the yummy chicken pot pies and coffee at the 4H booth. The wind wasn't as fierce as the day before but while I ate I still needed to wear my shawl. And there was plenty of people to watch walk by in their knits.

My first stop was at the farm implement museum. In a fenced off section stood a number of steam powered machines all fired up and running. There was a conveyor belt, a couple of water pumps, a planing saw, and a finishing saw. One man was taking logs of wood and running them through the planer then finishing off the edges to make planks. I was able to take one as a souvenir for Rod aka ToolMan to see if he could make some shawl pins out of it. The place was noisy with popping, farting, and hissing as the machines chugged away.

I worked my way through several buildings, fondling fiber, asking questions, and observing. I found a vendor who was selling custom made wheels using a Majacraft-type flyer. I found another vendor who was needlefelting fiber inside a cookie cutter. The range of colors available of fiber was dazzling. I snagged business cards from those vendors and others I wanted to follow up with later when I was more flush with cash and because the crowds were smaller I was able to talk with vendors about their products.

I made a stop at the livestock arena to see the sheep that were waiting their turn at the judging. Another building had been set aside to display different breeds of sheep. I took photos of the different breeds and most I can identify now but foolish me didn't take notes. There were certainly more breeds than I've seen here in the NW but there were also a few missing. Considering how many breeds of sheep there are there's a limit in how many you can show. The breed of the show was the Oxford, a breed I'm not familiar with, and the sheep there were quite nice.

After all the wandering around I decided to take a break. I found a bench set at a crossing of several paths and sat down to spin for a while on my new handspindle, the music of the Peruvian band wafting from nearby. It was a great fit for the fiber I had brought to play with, so I was churning out my single without any effort at all. Occasionally someone would slow down to watch and little kids were fascinated. A few people came up to me and asked me questions about spinning which I did my best to answer. The most interesting person was a woman who came to me and had me feel some white fiber in a baggie. It turned out to be Samoyed fur. I can see why people would spin it – it's so soft and has no smell at all.

I ended my day with a nice dinner and an early bedtime. The following day I wasn't going to leave until late in the afternoon, giving me time to visit my friend Sadelle and drive through the countryside to enjoy the fall colors. It was an exhausting but very enjoyable weekend. Would I go back? Not likely what with the crowds. If I do I'd most likely visit one of the other fiber festivals in the area and focus on meeting up with my friends. But Rhinebeck is still an experience I'll remember and say, "Yep, I've done it."

An exercise in interesting persistence

2010-11-01T16:52:00.001-07:00

There's an event that occurs during November called National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo. The goal of the endeavor is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month's time. Last year I thought about it but when the month came I was still too caught up in the details of my story to be able to begin it, so I quit. This year I'm not doing it but will try my hand at a similar exercise called National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). The goal is to write a blog post every day, which is easy. Writing a blog post every day and have the blog remain interesting is more difficult. So how does one try to do this?

Planning. Like any writing exercise, planning is vital to the success of the exercise. Like taking a trip you are making for the first time, you need to have some sort of map available to make sure you don't make a wrong turn somewhere or end up at a dead end. With blog writing, the tendency is for some folks to compose a diary of daily routines which for blog reading gets to be quite dull rather quickly. I want to push myself to 1) come up with an interesting set of subjects, 2) add variety to the postings (serious one day, silly another, interesting a third, etc.), and 3) explore deeper into areas that are part of my life.

I know I'm behind in my blog posting about Rhinebeck (I still have Day 2 to post) and that will be done soon. There will be days when my schedule dictates that I put in a short entry. I will have a picture day and a day of randomness. Sunday will still be my weekly roundup day. I will have some postings of my own musings on various subjects--nothing horribly controversial. I only hope that by the end of the month I will still have interesting things to say and share.

A blog is a personal thing. It's a public platform for a writer to share information. When you post something you take the risk of getting a response that you may not like. For some people that's not a risk they like to take and after a while the blog becomes staid or not updated for periods of time. But a blog doesn't have to arouse debate to be interesting. Fresh ideas and experiences lead readers to areas they were not aware of. A blog can be a window to a person's spirit but it can also be an ego-stroking device if carried too far. It's the challenge I have, and I hope I succeed in keeping it from being that.

Rhinebeck Day 1

2010-10-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

Over the course of my exploration of textile arts I've learned about various events that occur over the year. Some events are local, some regional, and some have a national flavor. Some events have a cachet that attracts folks from all over the world. In my discussions with people from the diverse communities, some of the events have grown from quiet gatherings known by word of mouth to extravaganzas that are advertised in the various media focused on textile arts people. The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival, known to the fiber community as Rhinebeck (for its location at Rhinebeck NY), has become one such event.

Rhinebeck, held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, attracts hundreds if not thousands of people to it. When the prospect of being able to visit the booths of 267 vendors from all over the US is available for only the price of admission, people seize the opportunity. And who wouldn't when you have the chance to find something that is not easily found at your local shop? For others it's the opportunity to meet up with friends who share your passion. That was one of my reasons for my going to Rhinebeck this year. People I know online meet up there every year. There was also the chance to finally experience Rhinebeck, an event I had been warned would potentially overwhelm the senses with all of its treasures, and visit vendors that don't come to my neck of the woods with their wares.

My preparations prior to going to Rhinebeck paid off. I did my research, talked with friends who had been there before, and printed out the necessary things I knew would be needed for the event: a map and the list of vendors. The vendor list helped immensely because it not only told you who was going to be there but also where they were located amidst all the buildings of the fairgrounds. I planned to leave early to avoid the traffic as best as I could and get a decent parking spot that wasn't far from the gate. Getting there was easy from where I was staying, Saugerties, and the drive there was beautiful with the fall foliage in full display.

Once at the fairgrounds it was a case of looking for the vendors I wanted to visit early to get the best choice of items. Gnomespun and the Tsock Tsarina were going to be at Holiday Yarns and I knew that one would be popular. On the way I passed by Briar Rose Fibers and saw their booth overrun. When I arrived at Holiday Yarns it was empty of customers so I snagged up a beautiful teal braid of Dorset wool from Gnomespun and a claret colorway kit of the Tsock Tsarina's Vintage socks.

The next stop was to Golding Fiber Tools. If you've been reading this blog for a while you may remember on a previous trip to Vermont I visited Tom Golding's workshop at Saxtons River. The handspindle I came away with is a favorite of mine for heavier yarns and plying, but I was looking for one of lighter weight for spinning thinner singles. Sure enough by the time I got there his booth was crowded with people looking at his wares. It took patience for me to be able to see what he had, and he had some real beauties ranging from his simple RingSpindles of finished exotic woods to worked pieces done in antique metals and stones or painted discs set in wood. He's a true crafter and his spindles are known for their speed and precision. At first I thought I would have to settle for one that was close to the weight of my favorite Spindlewood, 1.5 oz., but then I saw after someone moved spindles done with laser etched wood whorls ringed in brass. They were done in a Celtic cross design that I'd seen on his website and considered getting. Three were left, two in somewhat darker woods and one in a golden brownish wood. I seized the golden one for it really stood out to me and found it was made of butternut with a walnut shaft. Here is the beauty that came home with me and have been spinning on since.

After that it was a case of trying to find my friends. I was to meet up with them around 9:30 but by the time I had made my purchases and went to where we would potentially meet up there was no sign of them. The crowds were getting thicker and thicker as time went on. I took a place on one of the benches in the concessions area, sitting next to a lady who was taking a break from making the rounds. She was knitting on a sock. I took out my knitting and worked on the shawl I had taken on the trip. We chatted a while, watched people with their beautiful and in some cases outlandish knits, and kept warm for while the sun was shining the wind was pretty fierce and cold.

By the time it was around 1 pm I decided I'd make my way to the place, Red Maple Sportswear, where I was to meet up with someone else. As a favor, I had brought with me a stitch counting bracelet that MonicaPDX had made for someone in one of the groups we are in on Ravelry. She had conveniently put the Ravelry name of the person. Foolish me had forgotten to bring my Ravelry pin so it was going to be a challenge to meet up with this person. I wasn't going to be meeting up with her until 2 but who knew when that person would show up, so I found a place where I wasn't in the way of the booth's patrons or in the aisle.

While I was there, I ran into a fellow knitter, Jeri, who wasn't in her customary blue but wearing her lovely creation Ingrid. She told me she saw the people I was looking for heading toward the booth slowly. At last I would see them! Sure enough, the crowd parted enough for me to be able to recognize Joe, Marilyn, and Carol, all making their way slowly through the madness to get to David and Mel's booth. I waited as they looked at the goods and watched as Marilyn slowly made her way through. As she started to leave the booth, I said, "You can't leave without talking to me." She looked at me blankly. When I told her who I was she let out a squeal of delight and hugged me. It was like two friends who hadn't seen each other in ages. Joe and Carol saw the commotion and came over to find out what was going on. Carol didn't know me but Joe did from our years of online correspondence. I suggested meeting outside the building where there was a place to sit and talk (I still had time to wait for my other meetup) and they agreed because it was truly insanely crowded in there.

Outside, I was able to give to Marilyn and Joe the swag I was carrying for them: dyed fiber and Tillamook cheese, as well as a package I was delivering for StitchJones. Unfortunately, Marilyn found that the Golding spindle she had purchased earlier had vanished. She was heartsick because it was a beautiful spindle, one of a kind, and when she went back to Mel and David's booth to see if it had fallen there there was no sign of it. The swag took the edge off the loss, but I felt for her. Chances of it turning up amidst that crowd were small. I talked with Marilyn and Joe for a short while, then Joe had to leave for a meeting with his Men's Knitting Retreat peeps. I needed to go back in to meet up with my Ravelry person. I got information for the diner where Marilyn and Carol were going to meet up with others for dinner, then headed back.

Back at Mel and David's booth, I resumed my post, holding up the bag with the Ravelry name displayed like a sign held by an airport driver. In that mayhem it was necessary. It worked because a young gal came by, looked at the bag, and said, "That's me!" The bracelet reached its recipient, I met a fellow Raveler, and my deeds were done. Tired from the crowds and the effort of getting around, I decided to head for my car and drive back to the motel. It was a good decision because the traffic was starting to build up with people leaving the event. I managed to make it back and get in a short nap before going out to dinner.

Finding the diner was interesting. I had taken my notebook computer with me so I was able to look up directions to the place. Before going back to the motel I had done a dry run to see if I could find the place. No luck. So armed with instructions I went on my merry way. I saw a sign saying "Diner" but it didn't have the name of the place I was looking for. I went in, hoping that perhaps I had been mistaken and had found the place. While I was looking around to see if my group was there, the proprietor came up and invited me to sit down and eat. I told him I was looking for the Olympic Diner. "This isn't the Olympic Diner but you want to eat here." I told him I was meeting people there. "Tell them to come here." I asked him if he knew where the Olympic Diner was. "No," and the attitude from him I was getting was more like forget your friends come and eat at my place, not helping out someone who looks lost and is trying to find a place. I left, feeling annoyed at the guy. I commend him for trying to drum up business because the place was pretty empty, but if someone's trying to get directions it's a lost cause.

I did find the diner at last and got to meet folks from the Knitting Retreat group as well as friends of Marilyn. As the evening progressed, we got sillier and sillier. Marilyn had gotten a call from someone who had found her spindle and wanted to get it back to her. By the end of the evening we were exhausted but happy and fed. A fun night with new friends.

Easy breathing

2010-10-01T10:19:00.000-07:00

If you're a regular reader you know that I have asthma and have been going through treatments for a while. My allergist identified my triggers and started me on treatment including allergy shots a couple of years ago. However as time has gone by it seemed I'd improve to a certain extent then hit a plateau I couldn't get past. The treatments would be more intense and still no improvement. "There's something else going on," she said finally at the end of August. "I want you to see an ear, nose, and throat specialist to see if there's an obstruction in your airway."

So early last month, I went and saw an ENT to see if he could see anything. I was scoped down to my vocal cords and let me tell you having your sinuses numbed up feels weird. "There's nothing there I can see, " he said. "But there's definitely something going on because I can hear you very clearly and what I hear is wrong." So the next step was a CT scan. Bingo. There was an obstruction in my trachea, a web of tissue, that was narrowing my airway and making me sound like Darth Vader on a bad day. "Let's get you to the pulmonologist and see what we can do to take care of that." One visit to the pulmonologist later and I'm scheduled for a bronchoscopy and procedure to dilate my trachea.

The procedure was yesterday and I came home with a sore throat. But I can breathe!. I went to breakfast at my favorite neighborhood hangout and was able to talk to people as I walked through the door instead of waiting 5 minutes to get my breath. I walked home and the only things protesting were my legs from having to walk so far so fast. The pulmonologist said after the procedure was done that he was amazed I wasn't blue from lack of air because the hole I was breathing through was smaller than what was shown on the CT scan. I can only think that the muscles I built up from singing and used for breathing kept me oxygenated.

I am very thankful for my doctors, especially my allergist, for finding this and helping me. I don't feel old now.

OFFF

This last weekend I spent both days at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds in Canby. Being ListMom for the Portland Spinnerati, I was there to promote the group and answer questions. I did some demo'ing of carding and combing fiber and spinning on a handspindle. Since I was going to be there both days I was careful not to wander around too much and conserve my energy but it was lots of fun being there. There were times when I was the only one in the booth as my friends went wandering about looking at the wares available but there were also times when the booth was packed with people as we were visited by various folks from the Portland Spinnerati and PDX Knitblogger groups. Stephen aka HizKnits was working at the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth this weekend so he'd stop by to take a break. Joan Schrouder stopped by on Saturday as well as Marta McCall. MonicaPDX and I giggled over fun things seen on the Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group on Ravelry. Quiet moments were nice to share with Judy. Saturday turned out hot with the shade on the lawn covered with spinners. Sunday had rain in the morning (memories of camping!) but it stopped long enough in the afternoon to allow people to wander about the grounds. All in all a very good weekend.

This boy was very proud of himself as his owner led him around the grounds.

Hair o'the Mo. Stephen brought his own lunch but some of us indulged in lamb.

Pretties!

Captain Lambert meets a celebrity.

Winding

2010-09-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

I like to share my love for my hobby with people at work. They marvel at the things I do with colored string and animal fuzz and wormspit. I share the yarn I get from my dyer friends because I love the stuff they make and others should see it. The colors are far from bland and delicious.

Today I brought a skein of StitchJones' Titanium Sock done up in Shock Treatment in a nummy rich purple. I got it last night at knit night at Whole Foods for the Conspiracy KAL the PDX Knitbloggers are doing. I wasn't sure about the color when I selected it because the picture of the dyejob made it very violety purple, which is fine. This is more on the reddish side of purple. If you had the Crayola 64 count crayons it's between violet-red and mulberry. Gawrjuss stuff.

So why is there no pic of it? I didn't have my camera with me. But I had this skein of yarn wanting to be touched. "Unwind me," it murmured to me. Because my left shoulder's been cranky lately from overuse, I thought, OK I'll start wind it up into a ball instead of knit during break.

I don't have a ball winder at the office or a skeinholder. It was going to be all by hand. No problem. I opened up the skein, gave it a few good snaps to straighten out the yarn, and laid it open on the table at break. The first tangle hit about 1/3 of the way through. No problem, I thought, I'll just carefully work the ball through the tangle, give the skein another snap, then continue. Nope. It tangled further. Then it was the end of break. I carefully folded up the remaining skein, tangle and all, and put it away.

I worked on it during second break but didn't finish. There was too much of a tangle to be handled in 15 minutes. But I didn't want to take it home still unwound. I don't have much surface space for unwinding yarn or good light. The good light was at the office.

At the end of the day, I took out the skein and laid it on my desk. Plenty of space there and good light. I untangled patiently. It's really pretty purple. I read a little of blogs when I had a tangle worked out and could slowly unwind from the skein. Those were the keys: slow speed and patient untangling. I finally finished winding up the ball....

....two hours later.

No regrets. It truly is a pretty purple.

2010-09-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

The weather has been slowly changing for the cooler days of fall. I've already noticed some trees changing color, which is early for here. The unseasonably cooler year I'm sure had something to do with it. It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few months. Will there be snow in November? We'll see. The furries are enjoying the sunshine today. It's going to be a nice Sunday for loafing and crafting.

I've been getting ready for events coming up this month. On Sept 18th I'll be at the Hillsboro Civic Center with my peeps to observe Worldwide Spin In Public Day (WWSIP). I'll have my carder there to demo the use of a carder for blending fiber. I've been busy making things for the event and will come with precarded batts and handspindles for kids. The bags for goodies have been completed and will be delivered on Wednesday. If you're a spinner looking for a fun time, come on down to 150 Main St in Hillsboro. The Farmers Market is also going on that day so there'll be fresh food and goodies.

Yesterday I and several from my office went to the Oregon Humane Society to help out with socializing with the animals who are waiting to be adopted. There are many cats and dogs waiting to come home with someone. We played with some of the dogs and cuddled and stroked some of the cats. Not every cat was wanting to be cuddled and one in particular was brought in, terrified at the changes. I made sure that little girl had a good hiding place to let her calm down. If you're looking for a new addition to your household, please contact me. I have a discount coupon good for the next 90 days that can be used toward the adoption fees. I know there's one old gray furry I wanted to take home but it's not possible for me to take on any more furries here in Chez Runamuck.

String

2010-08-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

String's an amazing thing. Take a bunch of it, throw it on a loom, dye it and you have fabric.

Make it a little fatter and you have yarn from which you can create garments.

String has infinite possibilities. The only limit is what one places on one's creativity.

Hawt

2010-08-15T16:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a hot weekend here in the Rose City. It's been a while since our last really hot period and this one isn't supposed to last very long. I'm not going to complain about the heat because I know there are people here who are delighted by this. They can have their moment of indolence in the heat. I'll stay comfy in my air conditioned house and sip frosty beverages while I knit my lace.

Speaking of lace, I'm working on the Miralda's Triangular Shawl from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia. It requires more concentration than most projects I've worked on recently. But one thing about lace is the immense satisfaction after working on what looks like a hurled hunk of string. I'm not quite halfway done but it's so pretty.

Blasts from the past

2010-08-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I went to my 30th high school reunion. I had missed the previous two reunions -- I didn't want to go to the 10th and I was out of town the weekend of the 20th. This time around I wanted to be there. It would determine if I would attend future reunions and I was also curious. I knew people in high school but I wasn't chummy with many people. Some folks and I didn't get along (that whole girl clique thing). So there was a little bit of anxiety.

One thing that made it fun was that the event was organized through Facebook. It made it easier for people to hook up with each other and see the changes that have happened over time. People change, some a lot, over time, so being able to see pictures of people before seeing them in person made such a difference.

The gatherings were enjoyable. Functions like these are best when they're simple and people can have a space where they can sit and gab. At the Sunday BBQ, I brought my wheel for people to see as several had asked me about my fiber hobbies. It made for interesting conversations and pictures. During the gathering Friday night I hooked up with a couple of gals I had known in classes and found out they too enjoyed playing with string. Conversations ranged from families and careers to memories of various events. Very relaxed, a lot of fun.

Last weekend I was able to pick up the Reeves wheel. It was much lighter than I expected so taking it into the house and posing it for its picture was not a problem. I've been playing on it, getting a feel for its workings, and making string. I can see making laceweight on this thing with not a problem at all. And fine fibers will be a piece of cake.

Hm. Apparently in all the flurry and fuss of preparing for the reunion and playing with my new toy I missed my blog's 5th anniversary. Has it really been that long? This calls for cake.

Finis

2010-07-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today's the last day of the Tour de Fleece 2010 and I'm very pleased with the outcome. All the spinning I did ended up with a nice 3 ply sock yarn of over 500 yards. The hot weather we're experiencing this weekend made finishing up the yarn quick. What I like to do to finish my yarn is boil some water, take it off the burner so it's not moving, dunk the yarn, then drain. When it's finished dripping, I hang it up on the back porch. A few minutes later I check to make sure it's not hot to touch and squeeze the last of the water out. When it's 90 degrees it only takes a few hours to dry.

Yesterday, I went out to Islay Hill Alpaca Ranch to help them with a fundraising party for Farmington View Elementary School. They needed a couple of handspinners to show that process. Several families came with their kids and I came with my wheel, fiber, and a bunch of handspindles including some for the kids to keep. The kids were fascinated by the process and all wanted handspindles. Gail came too with her wheel. She brought a silk hanky she was spinning on and shared what it looked like and where silk comes from. At one point we went out to visit the alpaca herd and feed them carrots. As thanks for our participation, Jan and Jim gave us alpaca fiber shorn from a couple of their herd. Mine's a pretty chocolate brown that will make for a pretty shawl.

So now that Tour de Fleece is done, my focus is finishing up plying up singles made of the Briar Rose BFL. They're laceweight to fingering so the plying is taking some time to do. I have one Louet bobbin nearly full and no sign that I'm coming to the end of the singles.

Summer fortunes

2010-07-18T11:24:00.000-07:00

The summer time around here usually is bathed with temps in the mid to high 80's and endless heat. In other areas of the country they're socked in with awful heat but here in the NW we've been cooler than usual. For someone who doesn't tolerate heat well like me it's been blissful. The only problem we've run into is we've been bombarded with mosquitoes from the unusually wet late spring so being outdoors has been challenging. Thank goodness for insect repellant.

I'm coming down the back side of the Tour de Fleece 2010 with my challenge of spinning up 8 oz of Crown Mountain Farms polwarth on my Spindlewood handspindle. I've been able to keep up with my daily quota and am producing nice singles that I see being made into a 3 ply sock yarn. It's been a great challenge for me for honing my spindling skills and making me love my Spindlewood even more as a workhorse.

Last weekend I went to the monthly Northwest Regional Spinners Association (NWRSA) meeting at Shelia January's invitation and had a great time with the gals there. By that time I was getting cabin fever from being at home recovering from the crud so was grateful for the chance to get out and socialize. While I was there, I introduced myself and told them about me and my background. When the subject of spinning wheels came up, Shelia mentioned that a mutual friend Susan had her 30" Reeves Saxony up for sale and had offered it to Shelia. Shelia in turn said that if I was interested and could buy it she would pass her chance off to me.

For those of you who are not familiar with Rick Reeves, he is a wheelmaker who with his wife Marge made spinning wheels and tools from 1964 to 2001. Schacht currently manufactures a wheel that uses the Reeves design that I was looking at but the Reeves themselves no longer make wheels. There are a variety of wheels from traditional saxony styles to frame wheels and castle styles. They're beautiful wheels, loved by their owners.

When Shelia told me about the wheel, I was first amazed that Susan was selling it and second amazed Shelia was willing to give up her dibs on it. Shelia has a beautiful collection of wheels, including three Reeves wheels, so her generosity in giving me the chance to purchase the wheel was incredible. She told me the price she was offered and was floored. What I needed to know then was whether Susan was willing to accept terms. I drove home, flabbergasted at my sudden good fortune and hoped all would work out.

When I got home, I called Susan and told her what Shelia had told me. Yes, the wheel was for sale. Susan's got an order in for a Lendrum Saxony 30" so she was selling her Reeves. I asked her would she accept payments and she said yes. Easy as that. I screamed when I hung up the phone.

So in the near future, there will be a 30" Reeves red oak Saxony residing in my house.

Really?

2010-07-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

Mmm

2010-07-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

Tour de Fleece 2010

2010-07-03T10:30:00.000-07:00

Fiber? Check.

Spindle and quills? Check.

For the next 3 weeks I'll be spinning like a mad thing as part of Team Suck Less. My goal? To see how much I can spin on a handspindle. I'm a fairly fast spinner on the wheel but I've not done a full project on the handspindle.

Stay tuned.

It's a go!

2010-06-27T14:44:00.000-07:00

Rhinebeck, the informal name of the NY Sheep & Wool Festival held in mid-October, is one of the biggest festivals in the US for handspinners, weavers, knitters, and producers of fiber. It hasn't really been on my radar in past years, but a gentle nudge from the Knitting Curmudgeon encouraged me to look into going. A number of folks I'm acquainted with through the Web meet there on Saturday, plus there are folks I know who are vendors there. So this year my goal has been to save enough to go. I've been watching the flight prices and scored today with a flight with Delta to Albany NY. Squee!!

On the knitting front, I finished my second chameleon, this one in Abstract Fibers SuperSock in colorway Burnside Bridge. It's half the size of the first one I did. I like the blue.

Getting sheepish

2010-06-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and other men out there who give joy, security, and comfort to children. There are few things quite as tough as being a Dad. It's a job that once started has no ending but the rewards when you succeed are indescribable. There's no manual -- just the guidance of other dads if you're lucky. I didn't know my dad well but I treasure the moments in my childhood when we did connect. What he gave me was the confidence to move forward, compassion and respect for those in need, and an optimism that helps get me through the rough times. Thanks Dad.

Black Sheep Gathering

The annual Black Sheep Gathering in Eugene was this weekend and it did not disappoint. Mostly geared toward spinners and weavers, it had plenty of goodies for folks to choose from. This year I was focused on finding tools that I needed for my drum carder and looking for bargains. I came home with a doffer, a tool like a large awl used to remove batts from a drum carder, and a flat brush I can use to smooth the batt on the carder. Visits to my favorite vendors -- Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Dicentra Designs, Crown Mountain Farms -- came away with goodies.

When I hooked up with my friend Barb, she was busy selling handspindles for Steve and Connie of Spindlewood. I stayed with them but not without walking away with another handspindle which I promptly put to work. People came by and watched me spin away on this pretty little spindle.

I didn't go down alone. Cindy, who is in the process of starting up a shop in the Pearl, did the driving and was focused on finding sources of fiber and yarn. She was a BSG virgin, so she prepared beforehand with a printout of maps and vendor information. She did exercise restraint and came away with a fistful of cards. She knew that as a shop owner she could get the materials later to play with. [BEG]

This guy had been fed and was placidly chewing his cud. Such a picture of contentment.

I celebrated my birthday this week. Not a lot of hoopla but had many well-wishes. I went out to dinner and enjoyed a delicious steak at Sayler's Old Country Kitchen. When I came home I found my internet access was down, so the next morning I took my netbook to work to catch up on my email. It was a very pleasant surprise to find over 60 emails waiting for me, mostly birthday greetings sent to me via Facebook. It was very sweet. My friend Linda did leave a goody bag at the office for me. She's such a card. One of the sheep she gave me looked like he could be a pilot. What do you think?

My birthday wasn't the only birthday lately. Agent D had a birthday before mine and he was not feeling very good about it, claiming it was his entrance into fossilhood. During breaks and lunch I worked on that depression along with a special project. On his birthday, he received his surprise and the delight he expressed was worth all the crafting. He had seen the project in progress but he had no idea it was going to be for him. Tee hee! So folks, meet Walter the chameleon.

Tardy

2010-06-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

It's been over a month since I wrote here. May was a very busy month so that by the weekend I was tired, but at the same time there wasn't much blogging fodder to put out. It's better to be silent than populate this with "I knitted on this and dealt with my health" every Sunday.

On the crafts front, I've been working on some crochet projects. I haven't been crocheting as long as I have been knitting, so these projects have been my means of gaining skill in that craft. My crochet hasn't been fancy -- washcloths and afghan squares -- but I'm getting better at keeping an even edge on the squares instead of coming out with trapezoids and quadrilaterals. Not much spinning. Still working on the Briar Rose BFL. (See? Blah blah blah.)

So what's been on my mind lately? Baseball. I've had an on-and-off affair with it since I was a kid. I couldn't play well -- there weren't many around in my neighborhood to play all the time in the summer -- but watched it with my dad. It was the one thing that the two of us enjoyed and connected with. Dad would tell me how wonderful Babe Ruth was to him when he was a kid and at one time was president of the local softball association. When Willie Stargell and the Pittsburgh Pirates came to Portland to play against their farm team, the Portland Beavers, Dad took me to see them play. I remember sitting in Civic Stadium with him, watching the game and being thrilled to see a major league team. We watched the 1975 World Series together, Red Sox vs Reds (I can still name most of the players for the Reds). He got me my own glove and I played in the street with my brothers' bat, the handle taped up with electrical tape because it was split. The big manhole cover was home plate and water meter covers on the left and right were third and first base. We figured out which stone in the street (the surface was a mix of rocks and cement) was second and we had a field. I never really played it at school because I was too conscientious of my lack of physical fitness. But it didn't stop me from loving it.

Now that I've grown I've reconnected with baseball. I didn't do so very much in the 80's but when Ken Burns produced his documentary "Baseball" I recognized something that I liked in childhood. My favorite players during my childhood were Pete Rose and Reggie Jackson, and I once did a book report on Lou Gehrig. With "Baseball" I learned about the other greats in baseball: Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Walter Johnson, Joe DiMaggio. I learned about the Brooklyn Dodgers and their connection with that borough. The history of baseball and its many stories of heroes both regal and fallen opened to me. And I learned about the Boston Red Sox.

If you had asked me about the Red Sox a few years ago and how I felt about them I would have shrugged. Yes they were an old team with a history that could be the makings of a soap opera. At the time I had no team affiliation so could take it or leave it. But when I make a couple of trips back east and hooked up with a number of New England knitters who were also baseball fans, I discovered the Red Sox Nation. Their finally winning a World Series after nearly a century sealed it. Not only did I have a team but I had compadres. You can't truly enjoy a sport unless you have fellow fans to feed that enjoyment. Who else would understand your mania?

I have been to only one Major League park and game and that was the NY Yankees vs. the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium (that was a thrill, lemmetellya! Seattle won too. ICHIROOO!). But some day I will go to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox. It won't be this year -- by the time I go east it will be World Series time or it will be over. But I want to go to Fenway. I want to see Youk and Tek, Drew and Big Papi. Anyone game?

Squee factor 6

2010-05-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Get ready for it.

It's gonna make you want to coo and squeal. Especially if you're female. Somehow there's a program we're born with that when we see something this small and cute our voices go up several octaves. In some cases so high only dogs can hear them.

There are few things so adorable. Frank Habit's Incredibly Adorable Niece(tm) Abigail is way up there. Hello Kitty items. Twenty-four hour old infants.

Ready?

Baby Surprise Jacket for Baby Kipp

Laines du Nord Baby Star on size 2 needles

As you can see Buster had to inspect the work to make sure it was well done. I'm hoping that Baby Kipp isn't too large when he's born because the jacket is small. But he will come home from the hospital in style. I'm not one for baby cuteness but I can't help succumbing to that cute factor it exudes.

Making messes

Friday was the last day for a coworker so the office threw a breakfast potluck for her. I made hard boiled eggs for the occasion but rather than leave them plain I dug out the food coloring and vinegar and dyed the eggs. The leftover dye looked too fun to throw out so I experimented with some microwave dyeing on a skein of Pendleton wool I had lying around. Not all the colors took but those that did gave it a dusky rosy purplish cast with sections of blue and green. I can see this as the beginning of a very slippery slope if I want to go that direction. I have all the equipment except for a heat source in the basement. Hmm...

Creative juices

2010-04-25T09:57:00.000-07:00

The completion of the Adult Surprise Jacket set my creative juices flowing the past couple of weeks. Out of the leftovers sprang a netbook bag. I made it so that it was padded well enough to protect the netbook yet look fun. This bag turned out to be a little small but it works.

With that completed, I turned to thinking about the year and what I need to get prepared for Rhinebeck. The Knit In Public Day event is in June. I'm thinking that I could sell some of my handspun there, so I'm working on spinning yarn for that event. Currently I have some Briar Rose Fibers BFL on the Joy that I'm spinning up into fingering weight.

My colleague in crime at the office is pregnant and will be going on maternity leave in the summer. So on the needles is a Baby Surprise Jacket, this in yarn I picked up at GLBT Knit Camp in 2007 when I walked out with my arms stuffed with yarn from WEBS' back room.

In the back of my mind there are also craft projects for selling at the employee craft fair in November (I'm thinking washcloths and baby things) and Christmas projects. My neighbors in particular are on my list for all the things they have done for me. So there may be times when I'm working on a project and I can't say anything because I don't know if they're reading this or not. Fun stuff!

FO - Adult Surprise Jacket

2010-04-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

When my mom first taught me how to knit, she was your typical knitter of her generation. She didn't have many patterns but she had knitted for some time so had reached the point where she didn't need a pattern to make the basics. She had two books, Mary Thomas' Knitting Book and the Reader's Digest Book of Needlework. But she never did any knitting patterns from Elizabeth Zimmermann. I don't know if she ever watched her Knitting Workshop or other TV programs.

When I took up knitting later, I discovered Elizabeth's books and methods. Her writing encouraged me. My first lace shawl was her Pi Shawl. I tried the Baby Surprise and after a couple of attempts was able to complete it. I've looked at the Adult Surprise Jacket and wondered what I could do with it. The possibilities were endless.

When the February Lady sweater was popular last year, a number of my buddies knitted it. I tried it on but I didn't like how it looked on me. But as the months went by I wanted to make a sweater. Other projects were on the needles and wheel that required my attention. During the secret project time I revisited the Adult Surprise Jacket and looked through my stash to see what I could do with it. It naturally lent itself to being striped but the examples I had seen didn't appeal to me that much. However, the construction intrigued me so I went hunting in my stash to see what I could come up with. Several colors were in my Cascade 220 stash to do the job, so I gathered them up to hold until I could start the sweater.

The sweater took 2 skeins of 6 colors and one skein of ivory. It was knitted on size 7 needles and took me less than a month to complete. A friend of mine had said she had done it in one color and found herself growing bored. The color striping made my sweater fun to knit like self striping socks so in no time I had it completed.

What to wear

2010-04-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

Oregon spring is fickle. Some days are warm and sunny with the promise of summer, then the weather turns to cold, rainy, and windy and you feel betrayed. This year has been no different than others. We had some really nice days during March where the temps got up to 70 degrees. Then some Pacific storms came in bringing in cold air from up north and socked us. The mountains got more snow and people grumbled about the rain and wind. I got sucked into Mother Nature's temptation of the warm weather and reprogrammed my thermostat, only to be rewarded with 30 degree nights that froze our collected keisters off. It's hard to roll over in bed when you're plastered with cats trying to suck the warmth out of you.

But the days are getting longer and the spring colors are making the neighborhoods bright and cheery. It's a good time for working on a colorful sweater. I mentioned in my last post I had started working on Elizabeth Zimmermann's Adult Surprise Jacket. It's coming along very well. I'm nearly done with the sleeve section. I try to get a stripe done each day but of course there are the longer stripes that sometimes take two days to complete. It will be a great spring and summer jacket.

Yesterday I went with Agent D to view "The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers." For those of you who were either not in the US in the early '70's or not yet born, Daniel Ellsberg was an employee of the RAND Corporation who was active in the decisionmaking on Vietnam in the mid '60's. He and others compiled a history of US involvement in Vietnam that came to be known later as The Pentagon Papers. These documents were rated top secret and contained incriminating evidence showing how deception upon deception had been made to Congress and the American people. Ellsberg at the time (so he claims) was just doing his job but had a crisis of conscience. The story of his involvement and subsequent leak of the Pentagon Papers to the press is told in "The Most Dangerous Man In America".

I went to see the movie partly out of curiosity and a desire to fill what was a hole in my understanding of that time period. When the Pentagon Papers were released to the press, I was just a kid, ten or eleven years old, with no true understanding of the implications of his act. I had heard of Ellsberg and the papers. But the movie helped fill in holes in my understanding. My political beliefs had already been molded in some ways by the Watergate scandal. I feel more how important it is for Americans to not take everything we are told as the absolute truth. It is easy to be swept by idealism and jingoistic rhetoric. I'm still one for seeking out nonviolent methods of resolving conflicts but understand that this is a very difficult goal to achieve. It's important for those of us who live in this country to do what they can to find out as much as they can from different sources and work to preserve our fundamental right to know.

Spring is here, oh spring is here!

2010-03-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

In some sections of the country there are faint whispers of spring being heard but here in Portland the yards are in full riot. The early blooming trees are finishing up, leaving their petals lining the gutter streams. Magnolias, camellias, and daffodils are all open and the bare branches are turning green with sprouting leaves. Saturday was to be clear so the air was filled with the hum and grumble of garden machinery.

It didn't surprise me when I went to my monthly Portland Spinnerati meeting that the turnout was sparse. Sunny days on the weekend are rare in the spring around here. If I was a gardener I'd be out cleaning up the debris of winter and preparing the garden beds. But I opted to be with my fellow spinners for we had a carder demonstration and I had a drum carder to share. It was just as well that I was indoors with all the pollen and grass flying about in the air.

I've been informed by a regular reader that I've been slacking on the blog. The last few weekends have been very busy with knitting up a sample for an upcoming book Judy Becker's publishing. I've watched plenty of movies and tv while knitting on this. I couldn't bring it to knit night so I worked on another special project there. The result of all this is that I have no pictures I can share of the goodies until they are released from their secrecy. Now that those projects are done I've started an Adult Surprise Jacket out of multiple bright colors of Cascade 220. They will be framed with ivory wool yarn from Pendleton which will set them off very nicely. It'll be a good project for mindless knitting as long as I remember to do my decreases and increases in all the right spots.

In the meantime I have some lovely handspun finished up. Black Bunny Fibers Border Leicester blended with mohair and silk in the Hailstorm colorway. I spun the singles from that and plied it with a coordinating strand of Jaggerspun Zephyr to stretch out the 4 ounces of fiber. I came up with 657 yards of nice fingering weight.

Give me a head of hair

2010-03-07T09:20:00.000-08:00

One of the things that I tend to cast aside when money is short is having my hair cut. I did it when I made the career change from grocery to office work then cut it off when I had a steady job. My hair grows quickly -- 1/2 an inch a month -- and with its natural curl can look messy after a while, so I was having to have a hair cut every month when it was short. Last year a couple of things made me forego having my hair cut: losing my hairdresser to a fella in Texas and medical bills that took my extra money. By my measure I've been growing out my hair for over a year, cutting my bangs periodically. I had forgotten how much fun I had in the past with playing with my hair, putting it up in different ways. Now there are all sorts of hair gadgets that weren't available when I last grew out my hair and I'm having fun trying them out.

The Olympics ended last weekend with such a joyous bang for Canada. While my dad emigrated to the US when he was nine, he was proud of his Canadian roots and would sing the first line of "Oh Canada" periodically when it was mentioned. It was a tough call to pick which team to choose for the gold medal hockey game but I chose Canada for the Canadians' sake. I don't love my country any less but there's a point when all the gungho boosterism gets to me and I root for the other guys just to be spiteful. After having no golds for two previous Olympics hostings, the Canadians deserved to have an Olympics that really made their country shine. Their graciousness during the entire event added to it.

Knitting Olympics 2010

2010-02-28T09:19:00.000-08:00

The last time I posted it was the beginning of the Olympics and the parallel events of Knitting Olympics and Ravelympics. In past years I've been an enthusiastic participant but this year I've had a few challenges. A deadline for a project kept me from pulling two weeks out of the knitting schedule and illness in various forms interfered in other ways. So consider me the knitting athlete whose medal dreams are sidelined by the vagaries of nature and time. There will be other opportunities.

This year's broadcast of the Olympics disappointed me. There were too many commercials, too many cuts from one sport to another, and too much commentary during the events. I was glad to be able to watch the curling but at one point I was so annoyed with the commentary I turned the sound off. There is word that ESPN is vying for the next contract for broadcasting the Olympics. I hope that if they succeed they do a better job of broadcasting. NBC was awful this year.

Last weekend the NorthWest Regional Spinners Association had their board meeting at the Aloha Grange so there were vendors and a spin-in. I had a good time meeting up with a number of my spinning buddies and partake of the wares of local vendors. I found some beautiful fiber for future batts; silk hankies and a bell; angelina fiber in copper, red, and purple; targhee and merino/silk blends in warm browns and gold.

Last weekend was also a time for getting together with friends. Saturday morning I met up with a friend I hadn't seen in a couple of years for coffee. He was dealing with the aftermath of an accident where he had been struck by a car while crossing the street. It was great to see him though I missed seeing his wife who was ill with the crud. We had spent many fun times together camping and partying so it will be great to be back in contact with them. Sunday was my monthly pinochle group which started with a potluck of nummy roast, root vegetables, salad, and fresh bread from Grand Central. While it was marred with a last minute catastrophe in the basement when a pipe clog forced our hosts to shoo us out of the house, the pinochle gods were in my and my partner's favor, granting us three sets won.

Update: I finished the pattern write up I needed to do including the charts just before the closing ceremony began. It hasn't been tested but that it's completely written and charted was one goal I wanted to meet during the Knitting Olympics. Ooorah!!

Catching up

2010-02-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've last posted. Two weeks ago I was busy tying up the loose ends of the project I had been working on at the office and coming home exhausted. When all the processing for the month was done I took some time off and went to the beach. It was the break I needed.

The beach trip centered around the Newport Spin In hosted by the Northwest Regional Spinners Association(NWRSA). It's an annual event sponsored by the chapter that had vendors from around Oregon as well as a gathering space for spinners. I had my money from my scarf commission to play with so I could indulge and help support local wool farmers.

I left work early on Friday so I could meet up with Shelia at her farm outside of Newberg. I had never been out on her farm before so it was a real treat to get to meet her in her milieu, replete with spinning wheels, fiber, and animals. She raises sheep, cows, chickens, and yaks on her farm set on the side of one of the hills of Chehalem Valley and surrounded by vintners.

Adam, her husband, was out and about doing farm chores so I got to meet him while I was there. He resembles Tim Gunn from Project Runway with that Nordic appearance. I saw most of the animals but kept my distance from the yaks, not knowing their temperament around strangers and not being very nimble to avoid their horns.

We headed west then south to Lincoln Beach where we were to meet up with our friends Tammy K, Tami H, and Sara at Tami H's aunt's beach house. On the way, Shelia and I stopped at Nestucca Bay Yarns while we waited for the others to catch up. While there we got to chat with the local knitting/spinning group that meets on Friday evenings there. They have a very nice selection of yarn so if you're in the neighborhood, swing on by. Finally, we hooked up with the others and reached the house. It was very comfortable and spacious, and soon we settled down to eating dinner then sitting around to knit and spin. As with all beach trips there were snacks and lots of great conversation. We even have an Finished Object!

The next day we headed out to the high school where the Spin In was being held and settled down in one of the circles. Other NWRSA members who were familiar faces came and joined us with their various wheels. There were many Lendrum folding wheels and a fair number of Ashford Travelers, Ashford Traditionals, and Schacht Matchlesses.

There were other wheels, though, that one rarely sees. One vendor had her Ashford Country wheel, which is mostly used for spinning up bulky yarns. There were a number of antique wheels as well. One of our circle had a Louet S45 "Hatbox". Two owners found that they had similar wheels and one conferred with the other as to how to correct an issue with her wheel. A few folks had their handspindles too. There were also door prizes and trivia contests. Tami H came away with a seat cushion and Sara won a sweater pattern from Norsk Needleworks. A fun filled day.

There was a variety of vendors there ranging from a couple of the larger commercial merchants I've seen at OFFF to smaller merchants and local breeders. Norsk Needleworks has patterns for Norwegian style garments (I purchased this one from her). Another vendor was selling the fleeces from sheep raised as 4H projects. Another sold batts done up to create self-striping yarn with long color changes. All surrounding the center which held about 100 spinners all chatting and producing yarn. I found a couple of fleeces and some Ashland Bay roving the same color as roving I had received at Sock Summit.

Knitting Olympics

The Winter Olympics are in full gear up in Vancouver BC and so are the Knitting Olympics and Ravelympics. For those of you not familiar with those, the Knitting Olympics (hosted by the Yarn Harlot) and Ravelympics (hosted by various folks on Ravelry.com) are challenges to crafters to set a goal (such as knit a sweater or spin a particular amount of fiber) to be completed during the Winter Olympics. The project is to be started at the time of the lighting of the Olympic Flame and completed when the Flame goes out at the end of the Games. In 2006 I knitted a sweater. This year I have a commitment that I have to work on in private but I do have a project for my public knitting: a pair of socks. If I am able to complete one project I'll be pleased. If I'm able to complete two, even better.

Gray days filled with color

2010-01-31T12:54:00.000-08:00

There's something about finishing up a huge project that makes one sink back in one's chair and let out a sigh of relief. I did that at the office and came out with tired limbs and a kinked back from all the computer work. I'm looking forward to doing ordinary things which allows for a variety of movement and work methods. In the meantime I'm giving myself a fair bit of tender loving care this weekend. As part of that therapy, this entry will be mostly pictures.

I finished the commission. Now to remove the white souvenirs my cats left.

Sammy decided Maisie needed a bath. It was on the inaccessable part of the nape of the neck, so it worked out very well.

"Do you mind? We're having a PRIVATE moment here."

Pictures at last

2010-01-23T10:38:00.000-08:00

I've been remiss in posting pics lately of what I've been up to. For the most part there hasn't been much to show as I've been working on the commission scarf. The touch pad at work has made it easier to do the knitting so I'll have it done by its deadline. This weekend I'm working on getting as many stripes done as possible.

You can see in the corner of the above pic the latest addition to my spinner's toolbox - a Fancy Kitty Kitten drum carder. It's been baptized with some Abstract Fibers wool combined with a silk bell I picked up last year. The blending is turning out beautifully.

I've added a ticker for when I'm going to Rhinebeck this year. I've made my motel reservation (the HoJo at Saugerties) and hooked up with a roommate. Now to wait a couple of months and save my money for the plane reservation.

Call Me Slacker

2010-01-18T17:11:00.000-08:00

My days at the office have been quite full since around Christmas. I've been coming home feeling like I've been rolled out by a pastry chef and left to rise. However the leavening in me hasn't been very responsive so by the weekend I was spending the day feeling like flatbread. But I've been getting more energy lately. Not enough to wash the walls and scrub the floor but enough to get a few things done like taking out the recycling and washing and folding (yes folding!) the laundry. There haven't been very many spoons* available thanks to the asthma occasionally coming up when I least expect it and kicking me in the gut, but something's changed and so far (fingers crossed) I'm finding more spoons in my energy drawer to use.

One thing I did was the Seattle to Portland Yarn Train** last Saturday. This is the crawl's 3rd year. A group of Seattle knitters ride the train south to partake of the riches our city's yarn shops provide. Since I have access to these pretty much all the time, I didn't go about with the crawlers but parked myself at the Starbucks in the Governor Hotel as Portland ambassador, navigator, guide, and commisserator to those with sore feet. Around 1 pm a group had assembled with me and took over a healthy chunk of the place, changing the ambiance from a quiet corner to a place full of gabbing knitters. However I didn't escape the fumes from the nearest shop, Knit/Purl. I came home with a couple of skeins of sale yarn and a new tote that looks a lot like an attache instead of a knitting bag. Tres chic!

I currently have on my plate another Harry Potteresque scarf, another commission from the same woman who ordered the Gryffindor scarf only this in black and green. Combined with the work at the office, my hands were getting a real beating. For a while I was having to not do any handiwork at home while my hands recovered but I found a solution that has helped me immensely: a touchpad for my office computer. It has more features than the touchpads you usually find on a laptop computer and the motions require much less effort and tension on the muscles. The effect was almost immediate. Now I'm doing my knitting without feeling like I'm getting claw hands from all the work at work. I'm also spinning on a handspindle at work on one of my breaks to have something different for my hands to do.

I was asked what I would be doing when I was 80. I told him I'd be running races up and down the nursing room corridor. I probably wouldn't in reality because I don't want to hurt someone who couldn't get out of the way, but I'm sure I'd be thinking up some kind of mischief or something to make people smile. Like attaching playing cards to my wheelchair's frame so that they flap in the wheel spokes. The staff won't forget me.

*If you want to find out what the heck I'm talking about, read this.

**Here I am a slacker because I have no pics of the crawlers at other locations, but here you'll get Michelle's posting.

Dear 2009

2010-01-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

It's been a few hours since you've left. Like your predecessors you left in the middle of the night without a word. But unlike them you left your mark on my life in good ways and in not so good ways. You did a number on me big time. I know some people have said "Good riddance!" to you but there's a bit of wistfulness in my heart. Let me recount some of the highlights.

Those mad skilz needed for fiber manipulation-- In the past year I put in more spinning hours to fine tune my technique, used a drum carder for the first time, participated in a shearing, and went to my first Spin Off Autumn Retreat. It was enough to encourage me to do a workshop for the Portland Spinnerati for the first time and make some yarn for a very good friend. It gives me the impetus to pursue making some batts for raising funds for travel and other off-work mayhem.

Participated in a number of local events -- Two events, Black Sheep Gathering and Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, I've been to before. Those are fun even when the wallet is a little empty for you never know what you'll run across. But two national events were also local events. The first Sock Summit, ably put together by Tina Newton and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, was a stunning success in so many ways. The entire vibe of the four days was one of a mutual love of crafting. There were many fangirl moments and Internet buddy meetups. There will be another Sock Summit in 2011 but none will compare with SS09. The other event was the SpinOff Autumn Retreat (SOAR) in Sunriver. For many, including me, it was their first SOAR. While the altitude didn't help my asthma, the classes I took were excellent. The knowledge gained inspired me a lot and gave me a hunger for more. I got a good taste of the spinning community and made new acquaintances that have carried over to the Internet. On top of those events I managed to negotiate the appearance of Franklin Habit in Portland. Yes, he's just as adorable in person as he is in his blog.

I found a fellow space traveler who speaks my language -- Sometimes you get lucky and find someone who, in the course of everyday living, understands you when you decide to go in an entirely different direction than everyone else. I have friends with which I can carry on conversations that are decidedly whacko. But I have to say that Dan beats them all. The synchronicity we have is at times a little uncanny even though we come from definitely different backgrounds. Today at lunch we held a conversation for at least half an hour that sounded like two spies getting together after a hiatus and all without a blink of an eye or "You are just so weird!" We share a fascination of the grotesque. He's a gentle soul at heart and a true delight. I look forward to spending another year with him.

So 2009, even though you threw at me financial and health issues that challenged me (don't forget the computer crapage of September), you did have much to recommend for you in my house. Thanks for the fun. 2010 has its work cut out for it.

Counting down

2009-12-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

If you've made it this far in the month of December, you either have no children or grandchildren in your house, you use your TV for watching movies only, or you live in a hole in the ground somewhere south of Yellowknife. Not that those who live in Yellowknife don't celebrate Christmas. They just haven't been inundated with American-style Christmas. If it isn't the gifts that need to be purchased, made, or otherwise acquired, it's the preparations for visiting friends and family. The corridors of the office are abuzz with holiday stress releasings. Yet the carols talk of joy and peace and tranquility. Christmas is supposed to be fun isn't it?

You can count me in as one of the few who is not undergoing major stress right now in the face of the holidays. The cats don't expect presents or a feast on Christmas Day. My house is looking more like the intersection of Chaos and Mayhem to fit even a table for setting food on. I plan on spending the day with the local classical station playing in the background while I sip tea and work on a jigsaw puzzle. I'll prepare something nice for dinner and call my siblings. All is calm, all is bright. I hope your Christmas day ends up being pleasant for you after all the preparations and the stress.

Secret Santas

If you work in an office with a fair number of people in it you probably have a Secret Santa exchange or something similar. For those of you unfamiliar with this interesting game it's a gift exchange. Participants fill out a form of favorite things (beverages, food, hobbies) enter their names in a hat, then draw names. The name you have drawn is the recipient of your bounty. During a designated week, usually a week before Christmas, you leave one gift on that person's desk. That person doesn't know it's you who's leaving the gift, providing the mystery and fun. Well, for the most part it's fun. If you get someone who has no clue what you're like you can end up with some pretty crappy stuff. Often there's a money limit, like $20, so you can end up with cheap goods. But if you get someone who is resourceful you can wind up with some really fun stuff.

I'm fortunate to be working in an office full of the latter. We have quite a number of creative people who go all out for the exchange. One year I received my name done up as a beaded panel. Another year I received a handpainted coffee cup. I'm one of the people that participants want as a Secret Santa as I try to find things that are not the usual gifts you can find. If I can, I try to make something special for the recipient. This year my recipient received beaded earrings and handknit and beaded wristwarmers.

I do have to say that the exchange is done with fun in mind, so I don't take quite as seriously as I have in the past. My Secret Santa did pretty well for the most part. The thing that made me chuckle though was a fleece throw in bright green with red, green, and white holiday sentiments like "Ho Ho Ho!" and "Happy Holidays". It was soft and cozy but it's Grinch green. I knew the furries would take to it and sure enough Miss Mazola seized it as hers. All I could think was how many Grinches died to make these throws. It came from WalMart -- oh the horror!

Strap on your helmet!

The Winter Olympics are coming! Skiing! Skating! Bobsledding! Hockey! Luge! I look forward to it every time it comes around. I don't know what it is about it. Maybe because it's a celebration of everything cold and it isn't a USA propaganda fest. But I have to wait two whole months. I didn't think I could wait so long. Then while I was channel surfing I ran across on an obscure sports channel world cup competitions in various winter sports. The last couple of nights I've been watching ski jumping in Austria and Germany. The crowds have been incredibly loud with horns and flags. Hot air balloons with advertising logos have been stationed around the stadiums. The jumps have been magnificent and frightening at the same time. I couldn't imagine sliding down a hill and jumping off but the sight of the jumpers flying with their skis splayed out to give them air is so thrilling. Other nights I've been watching luge and slalom skiing. The excitement these have been giving me has helped me crank out my latest project. It's been a great prelude to the Games.

A surprise Christmas gift

2009-12-16T15:04:00.001-08:00

I received some good news at the office. Thanks to the hard work of all the staff at the company I work for at not only keeping costs down but helping the company thrive during the economic downturn all the employees received a bonus. I work at a very large company that in the past has given out only gift cards for turkeys during the holidays so this is a very big thing. I could spend it to clear up the last of the bills but I'm thinking that it can be an investment into a tool I can use to make some money on the side.

A very productive weekend

2009-12-13T21:42:00.000-08:00

There is something so satisfying in completing more than one project. This weekend was the one I had available to complete projects for this week and prepare for Christmas. It's Secret Santa week so I had to fetch gifts for my recipient. Of course she'll have handmade gifts as well.

Some beaded wristwarmers.

And beaded earrings.

One of my knitsibs has been recently diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. Instead of a blanket from those of us in the group, she's asked for hats to wear while she's going through treatment. She lives in Minnesota so a warm hat was definitely in order. I found some Cascade 128 in my stash and whipped this up today.

Last year I volunteered to do a test knit for one of my friends. The pattern called for Handmaiden Camelspin, which is a sport weight yarn of camel and silk. It has beautful drape but no bounce so it's not very forgiving to knit up. I didn't finish the test knit because I fought the yarn. I tried another pattern with this yarn and was fighting it there as well. This time around, though, I was successful in producing a nice little neckscarf.

The Winter Olympics are next February and the talk on Ravelry is about teams and preparing projects for the two plus weeks of crafting time. The new line up my cable company has for my package includes Universal Sports which has been showing some of the World Cup competitions of various winter sports. I've always enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics even though the US has not been a strong contender in many of the events. My loyalties will be leaning toward Canada's team in those events where the US isn't a contender for medals. In the meantime, I'm trying to decide what I will do for those weeks. One possibility is another Dale sweater, this time in black and white with red trim. I have some patterns from previous Olympic games that I can consider.

In the meantime, I have one UFO I should return to, namely the sweater I started last year out of Kauni yarn. I'm on the body with the second sleeve left to go so any progress I make on it will be good. If I complete it by the end of January I will be very pleased.

Shades of the Rarebit Fiend

2009-12-11T14:49:00.000-08:00

I had thought about writing a post about the blue funk I was in earlier this week but ditched it. It was good to write about it but you don't need to read a tale of woe. (I'm doing much better, thank you.) Instead I welcome you to another voyage into the realm of my warped little brain.

For the most part when I sleep I'm aware of my dreams. They're usually the surreal sort of stuff where I'm floating or flying around or watching things happening. Occasionally I'm active in the dream, either being chased by someone with evil intentions or interacting with other people real and imagined. My dreams are always in color. Even ones that happen at night have color to them. I'll remember smidgens of them most of the time, but occasionally I'll have one that's stuck in my memory bank long enough for me to recall it.

Last night I dreamed I was on a ship returning from Hawaii with a number of tourists. The ship was a lot like a ferry in the inside (I've never been on a cruise ship so I guess my brain took memories of ferries I've been on crossing Puget Sound). The tourists were mostly senior citizens and a good number of them seemed to be from New York City. We were all in a windowed room that looked out onto the deck where a number of other people were standing around either talking to each other or watching the water as we sailed for our home port. It was evening, the sky darkening, with clear weather and calm seas. A pretty pleasant trip for the most part.

I'm looking out the window and see this clean-shaven fairly young man with dark, well-cut short hair (think Matthew Broderick) ease up to stand next to a young woman who is at the rail. She glances at him but says nothing. He glances at her then says something brief. She says nothing so he continues with his brief comments. Next thing I see is that he's turned into the Pink Panther, complete with cigarette holder, and his tail is gently waving back and forth as he's chatting up with this woman. She smiles a little. At another bon mot she giggles. She suddenly becomes a female version of the Pink Panther.

All of a sudden, there's commotion from another part of the deck. The Pink Panther suddenly changes back to the man and runs off with three uniformed boatmen after him. The woman regains her shape as a woman and looks befuddled.

For the rest of the dream it's this man going up to women, chatting up with them, becoming the Pink Panther when he has their attention, then changing the women to female versions only to be chased off by officials. This continues for some time until we arrive at our port and in the commotion of disembarkation the man is lost.

I have to say the Pink Panther was my favorite cartoon character when I was a kid: suave, resourceful, and unruffled by circumstances. How he ended up being this man who seduces women on a ship I don't know. Did I want to be the man? Or did I want to be the woman? I don't know. There is one thing though and that is I had macaroni and cheese last night. Not the stuff from the box -- the real McCoy of grated Tillamook medium over elbow mac. So it's entirely possible that my dream stemmed from an overindulgence of cheese a la the Rarebit Fiend.

Ba dm ba dmmmmm. Ba dm ba dmmmmmm.

OK Barbie let's go party!

2009-12-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

The outfits are done and ready to go to their recipients. Hats, scarves, sweaters, and cunning slacks courtesy of my friend Kathy. The girls are going to be so thrilled! As I got everything together for wrapping, I had company.

Buster was supervising the whole project.

Maisie found a box. If there's one thing she's good at, it's finding a box to sit in.

Sammy preferred a snug place to snooze.

With the current chill in the air, I think Sammy has the best idea.

I'm a Barbie girl

2009-11-29T14:36:00.000-08:00

When I was a kid, I didn't like baby dolls that much. To me they were just things. But my Barbies did stuff. They had adventures, epic battles, and soap operatic stories. They went through kidnappings, imprisonment, slavery, and war. I had my sister's Barbies, which were from the late 50's, often cast as the bad guys. Ken had a particular handicap in that some how his neck got broken so his head stayed on via a yellow Tinkertoy. Old Barbie often was the one in charge with her assistant Midge. My good guys were my Malibu Barbie and Ken along with Skipper. Often Skipper was the victim and Barbie was off to rescue her from evil Barbie.

One of the things that made my Barbies so fun to play with was the extensive wardrobe they had. Ken's wardrobe was pretty puny compared to Barbie's. I think he had just a shirt, a denim jacket, jeans, and swimming shorts. But Barbie had a number of dresses, tops, pants, coats, and shoes. Mom had made clothes for my sister's Barbies so I had a pretty good sized wardrobe when I got them. It expanded when one of my babysitters gave me clothes she had made. My Barbies were fancy dressers.

This year at the office we received the Christmas list for a family that included a couple of girls who wanted Barbies. I snagged one of the tags immediately. I don't have the Barbies anymore so I can't pass on the clothes, but I could make a few things that would be unique to that Barbie's wardrobe. Yesterday I picked up the Barbie and a couple of outfits, then set to knitting up a sweater for her. Her sweater's made of designer yarn (Kaffe Fassett Landscape sock yarn). So that her sister doesn't get jealous because she got a handmade sweater, I'll be making another out of a different yarn for her Barbie. There are also scarves and hats to knit up.

Time management

2009-11-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

In the past seven years I've been involved with Confluence so my holiday season usually centered around the Christmas concert with a mad dash for the remainder of time before Christmas. This year felt like a luxury of time was given to me to pursue my fiber hobbies so I've been spending the weekends in indolence when not involved in some sort of fiber event. This weekend it dawned on me that Christmas was a month away and I had not made any plans whatsoever on how I was going to manage it. Gifts would be handmade, but what? When do I fit in the holiday letter? What holiday events do I want to attend and can I fit them in the budget? I tend to do things by the seat of my pants more and more though I know better. You'd think I'd have learned by now.

Enabling

This last weekend was devoted to the Portland Spinnerati one year anniversary meeting and a road trip to Woodland Woolworks with Mary, a fellow fiberholic I met at my Saturday breakfast hangout, the Hollywood Burger Bar. Mary is a re-enactor for Fort Vancouver, participating in all sorts of activities from the trading period of the early to mid-nineteenth century, so it's difficult to fit in other fiber activities. So when I found out she was a WW virgin, I of course had to lead her unto temptation and propose a road trip. She's an absolute delight and the two of us gabbed nonstop all the way there and all the way back. Inside WW she found the materials she could use for her re-enactments and put a healthy dent on her credit card. My purchases were much more modest -- a couple of skeins of Jaggerspun Zephyr, some sock yarn from the clearance room, and a WPI tool -- but it was fun going through to see what I could find.

At the Portland Spinnerati meeting, the celebration was modest. I taught a workshop based on the class I took at SOAR on how to make the most out of your wheel. It was an abbreviated version of the class and I could have done better in providing information on the whys and how-tos, but my students enjoyed the workshop and appreciated getting the info. I spent the rest of the session working on plying up the mohair single with the Zephyr for making up the yarn for Karen. It came out very pretty and should make for a lovely scarf or wrap.

Ever notice . . .

I have Netflix and am able to stream the instant play on my computer, so over the weekend when there was nothing on the idiot box I played a couple of movies. One was "Helvetica", a documentary on the font Helvetica and its influence on modern typography. It brings up one of those things that is ubiquitous to our environment but never notice because of its ubiquitousness. Since watching the movie, I now notice where Helvetica is used as the font. It's everywhere.... Then check out Frank Habit's posting of his London alphabet.

Universe expansion

The past couple of weeks have seen the arrival of my SpinOff and Knits magazine and a few books. Schoolhouse Press brought back into print Susanna Lewis' book Knitting Lace which according to my more experienced knitting friends is a must have if you're serious about lace. As I went through it I can see why. Lewis has in this book everything for the beginning to advanced knitter on the wheres, whys, and how-tos of lace knitting. Another book (actually series of books bound into one) Schoolhouse Press brought back is Maria Erlbacher's Uberlieferte Strickmuster, now titled Twisted-Stitch Knitting. This has many stitch patterns and the technique of Austrian twisted stitch knitting, including how to read the charts, which are different from your standard charts you see in magazines and books. Lastly, my copy of Respect the Spindle by Abby Franquemont arrived. Few books go through with such detail the history and purpose of the different kinds of handspindles along with techniques the handspindler can use for making all kinds of yarn. When the holiday brouhaha finally settles down, I'll have some lovely books to peruse and use. Sweater anyone?

Comfortably seated in fall

2009-11-15T11:52:00.000-08:00

At last the hot weather has passed and the cool rainy days of fall have arrived. My current office location requires that I use an outdoor parking lot instead of a covered lot, so I'm out in the weather. While there is some danger from crossing a busy street to get to and from the lot, there is the pleasure of walking in the rain with my body bundled in lovely woollens. This weekend I found a pair of boots in the boys shoe section that work wonderfully for the wet weather. All I need now is reflective safety tape all over them to mark me out to cars.

Monday I had jury duty with the county courts. It had been a while since my last jury duty service and this time I didn't want to get out of doing it. I'm a firm believer that even though the duty can be boring and at times really tedious it's important that everyone serves. If I was the person in the defendant's seat, I want people that understand the importance of a fair judgment by their peers. I prepared for a day of sitting in the jury assembly room waiting for my name to be called: crosswords; paper for writing my NaNo; a novel; some singles to ply on my Turkish Delight handspindle. Next thing I know I've been called for a grand jury pool so off I trundle.

For the good part of the day I'm in the pool going through the jury selection process for a case of worker's compensation that is expected to last up to Thanksgiving. As the case progresses I am feeling more and more that I want to be on this case. It was interesting and with my background I would understand much of what was being discussed. But I ended up not getting chosen.

This Saturday there was a gathering and sale by the PDX Knit Co-Op at the Aloha Grange. I went with my array of orifice hooks in hopes of selling a few to get some pocket money for expenses. Fellow spinners from the Portland Spinnerat, PDX Knitbloggers,i and the Northwest Regional Spinners Association came with fleeces, prepared fiber, yarn, and assorted goodies. I came home with 20 oz of California Red wool to play with and washed up this morning.

While there I worked on the mixed mohair locks Karen had purchased, finishing them up this morning. Next weekend I'll be getting the wool/silk single I'll need for plying it up to make a pretty yarn for a scarf or hat. It was a bit of a challenge to spin up the mohair as not all the locks were clean of gum. I'll give the yarn a good washing so that it can get degummed. Any tips on what I should use besides Eucalan or Dawn? I have washing soda; will that help?

My Thanksgiving is going to be a quiet one. No traveling to relatives this year. Instead I'll be spending it with Ruth and John, my good neighbors. With no chorus this year I may even be able to get my holiday letter out before Christmas. That is if I don't space it out. Nudge me before the first of December, hokay?

From my mailbox

2009-11-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

Today in my work email box I got one of those lists that usually you just smile, read, and move on. This one has some fun observations I'd thought I'd share.

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7.. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I now how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this. Ever..

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? D@mn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night, more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

20. Wouldn't it make your life a whole lot more fulfilling knowing you worked to live and not lived to work!

Slow recovery

2009-11-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

The week has been one of trying to recover from SOAR. Between the altitude and a chest cold I was pretty much out of it. Facebook and Twitter folks saw a fair amount of my presence but I had no real brains for doing anything beyond those and watching the idiot box. I'm behind on my NaNoWriMo, I haven't done any complex knitting, and my spinning wheel has been pretty much sitting idle. I did do up some of the mohair locks Karen purchased at OFFF to spin up but I need to find a good yarn for plying it with so that the color doesn't get lost. I did finish a UFO pair of socks that had been languishing since last year so I'm pleased with that progress. I'm doing better energywise but I have laryngitis. No hollering for me for a while.

Tomorrow I have jury duty so I spent this evening going through my girlie bag and pulling out anything potentially comfiscatible at the courthouse. That meant no knitting or tool bags. I have other things I can take for entertaining myself during the dreary wait. It's been a long time since I last went to jury duty so this will be interesting.

I finally had a decent lighted day for taking pics of my SOAR swag. From Blue Moon some Blue Faced Leicester in Fall "On Top".

From Polwarth Co, some lovely silver polwarth roving that will make beautiful fingering weight yarn for a scarf.

From Sweet Grass Wool Targhee top in Moki Canyon. I found enough to make a vest.

SOAR Roomie Deb had a dyeing class and came away with a silk hankie. She just wanted one layer for a sample from the class so Barb and I split the rest. This will be fun to throw into a mystery batt for practicing my drum carding skills.

Barb did a swap with me. In exchange for one of my orifice hooks. Barb did a number of her Barbara's Buns in lovely polwarth and silk. So pretty!

The Monday following my return from SOAR I had an errand and lunch. The errand went quickly and gave me some time to rest before lunch. When I opened my door there was a package waiting for me from Black Bunny Fibers: Border Leicester wool/mohair/silk in colorway Hailstorm. The picture makes it a little lighter than it is. It's a pretty combination of blue and gray that will be nummy to spin. Thanks Carol!

Things I Learned At SOAR

2009-11-03T18:44:00.000-08:00

I came home with a souvenir of SOAR that a number of other SOAR-goers came home with: the crud. But there were many things I got out of SOAR.

Plying yarn is a great way to get a student used to the hand motions when working with a wheel.

Hand combs are pointy and will draw blood.

Fellow spinners will come to you when you look like you’re going to fall over from lack of oxygen even though it’s just because you’re breathless from walking to class from a meal.

If you need fiber to spin, you will get it from someone, no questions asked.

I would sell my soul for a Lendrum Saxony. Woodland Woolworks has payment plans.

The mentors will answer your questions even though by Saturday they are zombies.

A charkha is not on my wishlist.

Judith McCuin is so mesmerizing I forgot to take pictures of the plying class.

Internet notables are delighted to sign spinning wheels.

A travel steamer is excellent for setting twist in yarn and the Christmas sales are the time to buy one.

To do a quick twist setting and you don’t have a travel steamer but have access to a microwave, take a hand towel and soak it in water, wringing out the excess. Fold it so it will fit in the microwave and place the skein inside the folds. Zap it for one minute.

You never know what you'll see.

You walk in with just a few tools and leave with many friends.

At last

2009-10-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

My computer woes have finally been resolved. The modem arrived yesterday and everything's working well. So now I can provide pictures for you of what I've been up to.

I head for SOAR tomorrow. There hasn't been much chatter on it this week but I do know one thing: it's been cold! Snow flurries have been falling in the night and the daytime temps have been in the 40's. Sunriver is on the high desert plateau which is around 5000 feet so it's a great place to wear one's woollens. I was able to finish the Ruba'iyat mittens for the walk from my room to the classes building.

One of the things I needed to do was clear off all my bobbins for the wheel I was taking to SOAR. In the past few weeks on and off I've been working on this fiber and plying it with a lovely heathered pink merino silk. The resulting fingering yarn came out nicely.

Autumn Sunset. 710 yards, 16 wpi, 2 ply. Medium wool plied with merino silk.

In living color!

2009-10-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

One mitten down. One to go. The new modem's on its way. Keep your fingers crossed. In the meantime, here are a few pictures from events in the past few weeks.

Franklin Habit made it to Portland during OFFF weekend. He made a call out to his Dolores Devotees for help in arranging it and I was able to hook him up with Knit/Purl. He was quite delightful and very happy for my assistance in getting him to the City of Roses. It was my pleasure, Frank.

Judy "J MC O" Be cker has adamantly said she would not learn how to spin. While my fellow spinsters are still trying to convince her to take up the craft, I've opted to take a different tack and lure her to my handspun. I spun up some Dicentra Designs merino silk into fingering weight yarn and gave her the yarn to play with. She came up with a stunning wrap that has garnered many compliments. You can read her full story of the wrap on her blog. Fabulous job Judy!

There was also Spin In Public Day in Hillsboro where we encountered rain but no one shied away from it. Not even the small fry. Baby Hazel and Mama Rachel were there with their February sweaters.

Then there was OFFF. The Spinnerati and Knitbloggers had tents on the main lawn but shade was a premium. By the end of the day we were huddled against one side of the two tents to keep from getting cooked. We had visitors from regulars like Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fiber Arts and Morgaine of Carolina Homespun to newcomers Frank Habit,

Rabbitch, and Oregon newcomers Condom Amulet Naomi with her "spinster" husband Ron and Sivia Harding (welcome!).

Another notable was this lovely lady who spun while she walked over 300 miles. This is the sweater she knitted from the yarn she spun.

Karen wore her lovely stashbuster shawl and fell in love with some mohair locks, but being the nonspinner she needed someone to spin them. I offered my services. [BEG]

Soon to come: SOAR! I looked over the requirements list for the classes I'm taking and figure I might as well pack the suitcase acquired earlier this summer with everything but the kitchen sink. In the meantime I'm preparing my arsenal because you don't know whether you may come across this.

Fall has arrived

2009-10-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

October here in the Pacific Northwest is often our transition month. The beginning will have nice weather with a touch of coolness to the nights, then something will shift and a string of storms will come across the Pacific Ocean to begin the rain that won't quit until May. This year some cold air came down prior to the storms and gave us some frosty nights. I heard a few grumbles in the corridors of my office building but I was delighted because it meant I could wear my woollens made up last year. The wool slippers came out for evening TV watching, the Queen Anne's Lace came out for barring the drafts, and Joe's scarf is ready for those early morning walks from the parking lot to the building. I finished one of the Mini Mochi mittens yesterday and will start the second. I want to knit Beaumont but the gauge is not as fine as the mittens, so I'm going to have to do some math and graphwork to work out something. But if the mittens are done, then I'll have something pretty for my hands.

The modem's got the ball! It shoots! It ...

2009-10-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

flies into the stands.

The saga of the computer continues. Last Wednesday I left my laptop in the hands of Dell certified guru Brandon, who shall in my pantheon of demigods stand tall as the Monitor and Network Restorer (All hail! **genuflect, genuflect**). He found my network card had truly decided to create a language of its own that wasn't communicating with the rest of the computer, so he slapped that boy into shape and in the process succeeded in restoring my monitor from the Andy Warholian 16-bit mush to proper 32-bit. He tested the computer's DSL networking and pronounced it good. Saturday when I went to spin with his wife Tami I received my laptop back. I could have gone skipping back home to test it out but I was there to spin and I had yarn to spin up for Judy. I was a good kid, finished my singles, and started plying.

When I got home, I got everything all set up and was able to talk to the modem. Yay! I did my configuration in the modem. I tried to get on line. Nothing. Tried another configuration. Nothing. By that point it was too complex for me to tackle. I found that I could go on dial-up for an extra ten bucks a month which since this was starting at the beginning of October worked out fine. I wouldn't be able to talk with my ISP until Monday evening but I had something for the weekend.

So Monday evening rolls around and I get on the horn with my ISP. Now one thing I have to say about my ISP is that despite all the mess they have been the nicest and helpful tech guys to work with. Not only that, the techs are local. Like across the river. Love 'em. They want me to be connected and use their product and I hear it in their voices. So this time around I spend nearly an hour with my tech guy trying to get the modem to let my ISP DSL talk to my computer. He can detect my computer and all that but the modem won't let me look at the Internet. So after a bunch of settings testing he thinks the modem is the issue, that it's defective, and I need to get another one.

Argh. Still no picture loading. Now where are all those original packing materials for the modem?.....

Heavy Breathing

There's been a bunch of remodeling going on in the past week in my office so I'm ensconced in a different office on a different air conditioning system to keep from reacting to the dust. However, I still have to go in those areas so I'm running around with a respirator mask on. Yesterday I got some looks that I thought bordered on rude from folks in the hallway. Then again my fellow office workers kid me with Darth Vader jokes. If it means I can breathe freely, all the better. Friday's carpet ripping nearly sent me to the ER, so I'm not taking any chances. it sucks though that with the crappy economy the company couldn't afford to send us to another site to work until it was all done.

Waiting

2009-10-01T17:01:00.000-07:00

It's been interesting being without the computer at home. I knew I was attached to it but it took a good week to get used to not having it there. The cats are happy it's not working because they don't have to compete with the keyboard for my lap and the weather's getting chilly. A friend lent me hers but it's not being cooperative with my household set up, so I've decided to just wait until I find out for certain if my old laptop is recoverable. It's in the hands of a friend's husband, who's Dell certified, who will see if he can do anything with the old boy. The thing was built in 2001 and has held up very well. If I can get it to continue to work until next year, hopefully I can work out being able to get a new computer to replace it. I'm just glad I got the huge external hard drive for my backups; otherwise I would have been in a major world of hurt. In the meantime, there's my iPAQ and the library for checking my email. I only wish I could upload my pictures of ~~me and Dolores playing strip parcheesi~~ the beautiful Rubaiyat mittens I'm knitting from MiniMochi and black Cherry Tree Hill.

The move to my new office has worked out well for my allergies. I'm gradually improving. I'm getting over a small head cold that crept up on me Tuesday, hid on Wednesday, and pounced on me today. The coughing is just the cold, not my lungs trying to get air, which considering the week before is much better. The extra distance I have to walk for delivering reports and getting together with the rest of my work group has its benefits too. I'm hoping that by the end of the year I will be greatly improved.

In 4 weeks I'll be heading for Sunriver and the Spin-OFF Autumn Retreat! I looked over my badly battered finances and I'll be able to squeak out my share of the lodging and perhaps indulge in some goodies.

I did some indulgence during OFFF but not a lot: a pound of undyed Merino/ Rambouillet/ Targhee top; a couple of ounces of black silk; a project basket for next to my chair. Judy and I found another bump of the fiber I need for spinning the yarn she needs for completing her shawl at Dicentra Designs. Judy treated me to a couple bumps of fiber from the discount bin. Karen fell in love with some lovely magenta and dark blue mohair locks but she doesn't spin. I told her I would spin it up for her, so she purchased that and I'll be preparing those for spinning it up into fine yarn. I was fascinated with how Barbara was spinning up the silk bell she had brought with her, so was watching how she was working that. I'll have to see what I can find in my stash to stretch out the mohair locks. Silk? Hmmm.....

Hampered

2009-09-28T15:02:00.000-07:00

Well, I received the new modem Friday and was hoping that by now I would be up and running back online. But it wasn't to be. The problem is not with the modem but with my old laptop's ethernet card. Reloading the driver and testing it didn't produce any results, so now until I can scrounge up another computer I'll be restricted on email responses for now. Your best bet to contact me is through Ravelry.com if you're a member or calling me.

OFFF was a lot of fun. The herd dog demos were held on the main lawn this year, so we had a fair number of folks by the booths for the PDX Knitbloggers and Portland Spinnerati. It appeared there were many more vendors this year with lots of good stuff available. The weather was perfect for it. When I get back online I'll be able to share the pictures I took of the event. We did have some notables swing by. It was great to get a chance to meet folks in the flesh.

Tonight is Franklin Habit's talk at Knit/Purl. I couldn't find my g-string for meeting up with Dolores later, but I did find something fancy.

I swear I will never touch my computer to fix it again.

Moving on

2009-09-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

My weekend ahead is full of activity punctuated with moments of general calm and peaceful fiber production. Oregon Flock and Fiber is this weekend in Canby. I'm spending the majority of my time camped at the PDX Knitbloggers booth on the main lawn. I do have a couple of missions ahead that I must accomplish. One: get another 4 oz of Eowyn merino silk from Dicentra so that Judy can finish her shawl. Two: get the Celtic Bunny scarf pattern from Toots LeBlanc for Zarah so she doesn't give me dirty looks in the lunchroom at break. If things work out well and I'm able to sell a few orifice hooks I'll get some dinero to play with.

Today, I'm packing to move to another office while they remodel the current office. I'm hoping when I make a quick stop at the house my modem will be waiting for me. Later in the evening I'll be meeting up with buddies for dinner and visiting Bobbie while ToolMan's in the hospital for his surgery. Monday will be recovery day but will end with seeing Franklin at Knit/Purl. Word has it that Dolores insists that we do something special later on. Now where did I put that g-string?

Worldwide Spin In Public Day

2009-09-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

I love September. I most likely have mentioned that in previous years. I'll say it again. I really love September. It means that there will be cooler days coming. The rain will be coming back. The trees will be changing into those gorgeous colors. I look forward to it every summer and treasure it when it arrives.

Today started with a morning washed with Oregon rain. It wasn't going to be one of those steady downpours that we get during the late fall and winter. This was the drizzly soft break in type of rain that warns Oregonians that fall is here and you better start making plans for the coming months. It was a good day for wearing sweaters and I saw my friends adorned with them (February Lady was a popular one amongst the PDX Knitbloggers) when I joined them in Hillsboro for Worldwide Spin In Public Day.**

The event was held at the Hillsboro Civic Center where they have their Farmers Market on Saturdays. The market organizers graciously set up canopies for us so we had lots of covered space for our group. Tami had put together goody bags for the event, which were full of samples from local dyers and breeders. A real treat. Overall we had over 20 folks show up for the event, which attracted a lot of attention from the market goers. Folks with kids were very interested and a few kids got to learn how to spin from Bobbie's CD spindles and "clown barf" roving. Eventually the rain settled down and the sun came out to dry everything off. A very nice way to end the event.

Next weekend is the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. I'll be there both days at the PDX Knitbloggers/Portland Spinnerati tent. If you don't find me there, wait an hour and come back as I plan to be there a good part of the weekend.

**Pictures will be forthcoming as soon as the modem arrives.

The little things

2009-09-18T08:17:00.001-07:00

In our lives we pretty much go on autopilot. Then things happen and we have to shift gears and try to handle things as best we can. Crises occur and we hope things go right, but sometimes they go wrong. Case in point is a lady who was going to visit her mother, who has been in the hospital for some time. She's traveled from out of state. Just as she's about to get to the hospital her car breaks down. Someone helps her push the car to the side, but the parking in the area is restricted to only a couple of hours. Will she be able to get help before she gets a parking ticket?

We don't know the end of the story, but we do know that in one way the outcome will be good. This happened in front of the office building I work in and houses the administration of the company I work for. While I was having breakfast, one of the cooks of the cafe told the CEO of this situation. She was going to write a note and post it on the car to ask the parking patrol to not give the lady a ticket. The CEO took out his wallet and gave the cook his business card and told her to attach the card to the note. The parking patrol makes frequent passes in our neighborhood so the chances of the lady getting a ticket are pretty high. I have a feeling that if she does get one it will be taken care of.

This is one of the reasons I love the company I work for. This is not an unusual event. The people of this company do this all the time for each other, for others, and for the community. I don't talk about the company here because we deal with a lot of confidential information, but I'm glad to be able to share this with you.

I have a busy weekend ahead and expect to get a bunch more spinning completed. The modem will be purchased and winging its way to me. I've joined the Spin Your Stash group on Ravelry -- we'll see how much of my stash I'll have spun up by the spring equinox. Onward and upward!

Oh and I forgot...

2009-09-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

I've been spending my down time reading a wonderful travelogue by Dervla Murphy, "On a Shoestring to Coorg". Murphy's an Irishwoman who takes much lower tech methods to travel to various parts of the world. This one's about a trek she undertook with her 5 year old daughter to southern India that has been quite delightful to read, even the harrowing parts with her daughter running amok. Much braver than I when it comes to traveling but the rewards for her are innumerous. Portlanders, it's at the Multnomah County Library for loan. It was one of my excursion finds when I decided to do some research on India's culture in preparation for NaNoWriMo.

PNWBookGirl who is organizing Worldwide Spin In Public Day sent me a correction. The event's being held here, not at the Walters center. Thanks!

Closer to connection

2009-09-16T08:29:00.000-07:00

I'm closer to getting connected. I found the modem I want at a decent price. Unfortunately it will have to be shipped from out of state as it's not available locally. But I figure if I'm going to fork out for a decent modem I might as well upgrade to adding wireless and network capability. So Friday I'll put in my order and continue going without computer access at home. So far the contingency plan I have in place is working out and I'm not entirely out in the vacuum of weblessness.

News is though that the co op booth that was being planned for OFFF fell through (no room) so the orifice hooks that I made up will be for sale at the upcoming WorldWide Spin In Public Day being held at the Walker Cultural Arts Center this Saturday between 10 and 3. I will have them with me at OFFF as well. They're going for $20 and $25 apiece (price dependent on bead content). Proceeds will help fund my upcoming SOAR trip.

Internetless day 3

2009-09-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

Well I talked with my ISP after half an hour of phone mayhem (their phones cut us off; try to call back and be told lines are busy; call back and get same nice guy at Easy Street; my phone cut us off; search for a replacement phone; fail and dig out the cellphone with drippings of power remaining; manage to hang on to get a solution and thank nice guy at Easy Street for helping out). What it boils down to is I need a new modem, which I can't purchase until Friday.

So until I can get a new modem, I'm sort of out of commission until Friday. I do have a resource for at least checking my email once a day (thanks Ruth!).

In the meantime, I'm dreaming of when I can put needles to yarn for these followed by drawing up a pattern for a matching hat. Yum!

Broken

2009-09-14T07:45:00.000-07:00

One of the hazards of being a neophyte geek is doing things to your computer that are unintentional while attempting to do things to improve your computer's efficiency. In the process of doing such things I managed to kill my internet connection, so I will be in some ways out of internet contact for a while until I can get my connection re-established. I can be PM'd in Facebook or Ravelry and do have access to my Yahoogroups.

Ugh.

Finished spinning

2009-09-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

Hydrangea Abstract Fibers BFL 7.5 oz 702 yds estimated wpi 18-20 Also, from earlier in the summer I completed this:Magic Judy Dicentra Designs Merino/Silk Colorway "Eowyn" 715 yards, 6.5 oz completed June 2009 (for Judy Becker, cast on inventor and all around great knitter)

Because of all the spinning I have been doing this week, I've managed to bung up my right knee again, so I'm laying off the wheel spinning for the rest of the Summer of Spinning weekend. However, I do have some spinning on a spindle at the office I will be fetching later today to complete. I did a preliminary tally of my spinning and I've completed over 3700 yards. That's over 2 miles. Whoo doggies!

Shades of the 80's

2009-08-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

Friends of mine have been scouring the thrift stores for sweaters to take apart for yarn. Some have been very good and one, Tiggywinkle Knits, has a blogpost on how to identify the right sweater for recycling. While going through my stash for some yarn for a scarf commission, I got the idea to do that with a sweater I've had for many years.

This sweater was one I found at Nordstrom Rack. When I first got it, it had huge sequins sewn onto the color panels. But there were three things going for it: it's angora/lambswool; it was my size; it cost ten bucks. Beautiful sweater, beautiful colors, but hotter than an oven. Consequentially I wore it maybe three times in the years I've had it. Dang, I want to wear it but I can't!

Well, I got the idea of recycling the yarn. The color as you can see has not faded. When I investigated how it was put together, it was thankfully done in panels with selvages, not sliced out of yardage. It's going to take some time to take it apart because of all the intarsia, but I'll end up with a rainbow assortment of fingering weight lambswool/angora yarn.

Last Week's Spinning

Remember my telling you about the yarn I was spinning Saturday but had no pictures? I have pictures of the singles now. I haven't done much spinning this week but it is coming along nicely.

Playing Hooky

One of the things I want to sell at OFFF are beaded orifice hooks. Some wheels have deep orifices so a long hook is sometimes necessary. Also there are few that are beaded instead of having a wood handle, so they would be a piece of jewelry for the wheel. I found colored wire heavy enough to hold its shape, but the problem I ran into was how to hold the beads onto the wire. The solution I came up with also aided in how the hook can be held to manipulate through the orifice.

At the point where the beaded handle begins on the wire, I made a loop in the wire. This is the point where you can pinch the hook to hold it while using it to fish through the single/yarn. The handle length is comfortable and at the end loop there's a dangle. I'm asking $20 for them and will be selling them at the PDX Knit Co-Op at OFFF.

Quiet weekend

2009-08-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Not much to post about the past week. Most of it was the usual go to work/come home/go to work/come home/go to work/go to knit night/come home/go to work/come home/go to work/come home. Part of it is coping with health issues that are draining me of energy. Those are being addressed. The rest is just making preparations for the next big event, Oregon Flock and Fiber, which is at the end of next month. I have plans, oh do I have plans.

I finished the Arbor Rose socks for Gail and she's very pleased with them. I'm thinking I'll be altering the pattern when I get around to doing the next draft. I'm thinking that the number of repeats of the pattern are making the foot too wide. I'm also thinking that it would be better with a solid instead of with a multicolored yarn to bring out the lace more. Socks need to have negative ease to fit properly and I think I made them too loose. If nothing else they're good samples for Susan to display at her booth or bedsocks.

I did some spinning experimentation with some fiber I had purchased some time ago. It was tricolored BFL and the first part of it I spun up along the color repeats, thinking that I'll break up the color and do the second ply in long colors. I decided not to go that route. The first singles are sitting waiting to be plied up and the unspun fiber is sitting waiting for inspiration. I set it aside for Abstract Fiber's BFL in colorway Hydrangea, which is black, purple, and fuchsia. The first bobbinful flew off my fingers yesterday (4 oz packed on there). The second bobbin's just started today. It's very pretty, colors a goth grrl would just love. (pix will be forthcoming when daylight and my camera are in the same place)

Post Sock Summit Blues

2009-08-16T17:43:00.000-07:00

I took Monday off to recover from Sock Summit but I gotta tell ya I was not ready to go back to work. The four days of playing with fiber made work so blah in comparison. It was fun looking at the swag the Wednesday knitters brought to knit night and compare experiences. One thing that I added to the swag show was completed laceweight yarn spun during SSo9.

Laceweight Blue Faced Leicester

StitchJones "Earth Angel"

710 yds, 18 wpi

This was split in half lengthwise, then the first half spun in the color order of the roving, followed by the second half having its colors split up so that there were long stretches of color. The two were then plied together.

I leave you with a few peaceful pics from a day jaunt to the beach.

Day Four: Wrapping It Up

2009-08-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

I have to apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. While I was up early and was able to mosey about getting ready for the last day of Sock Summit, I forgot my camera which was next to my computer from the previous day's download. So I have no pictures of the Luminary Panel event that happened in the afternoon or other shots.

The last day had an air of finality to it. People knew it was the last day and for many it was a combination of disappointment and relief. There were many tired folks wandering in and out of the Marketplace doors. The staff were mustering up their last dregs of energy to keep everything moving smoothly. Vendors were smiling through their exhaustion, pushing for that last sale that meant one less thing to pack home. But throughout the venue there was still this aura of pride and joy from the event.

In the morning I people-watched as I spun on my wheel in the lobby. I finally hooked up with NeedleGrrl, who will be moving back to Portland some time next year (and is so looking forward to that!). I ran into Ray, the director of Confluence, who was there with his boyfriend. I showed more newbie and wannabe spinners the spinning process and answered questions. At last it was my class with Anna Zilboorg on Turkish socks. It was a delightful lecture on the motifs and design, and I came away learning a new cast on that made a decorative tuft on the toe.

In the afternoon, folks gathered in the ballroom for the Luminary Panel. It was to be a discussion of various questions posted by the event hosts and convention attendees. On the panel were Lucy Neatby, Cat Bordhi, Deborah Robson, Anna Zilboorg, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Meg Swanson, Barbara Walker, Judith McKenzie McCuin, and Nancy Bush. At the end were the closing remarks, and Tina and Stephanie were so grateful for everyone who participated.

During the Luminary Panel, we were not allowed to have our bulky items in the ballroom, so I had to fetch my wheel from the storage room. I was about to leave but found my friends gathered inside the ballroom. In the front of the ballroom there a few of the panel folks signing autographs and chatting. In the back of my mind I had an idea so I was looking for a Sharpie. Deb A happened to have one in her hand, so I borrowed it from her. When I left the ballroom, I had a few signatures on my wheel.

The perfect ending of an amazing weekend.

Day Three: Taking a break

2009-08-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

After coming home so exhausted that I had to get a ride home, I thought over what my options were for today. I told Lisa the volunteer coordinator last night that I wasn't going to be up to covering the Marketplace Info booth for the 4 hours I was signed up. I looked at what I had for working on and decided to take my spinning wheel instead. I chose to drive to the venue instead of taking the train. I opted to stay in the quiet of the lobby, away from the noise and temptations of the marketplace. These decisions made today pleasant and I came home not so exhausted.

Yesterday I fell to the sirens of the marketplace. It began with a visit to Jenkins Woodworking where I found a Turkish Delight spindle that managed to find its way into my pack. The wood is atzelia, an African wood that Ed Jenkins wasn't sure he'd be able to to get again. I could have been wise with the budget but I couldn't walk away from that.

For yesterday's world record attempt, I needed yarn and needles. I have lots of yarn and needles at home but did I bring any? Noooooo. But my search ended up at the booth of Laurel Hill, maker of wonderful fiber tools out of different woods. They had lots of straight needles. I picked up a set of palmwood 4's as those were ones that were very nice for making lace stoles.

In the fiber department, I came away with yarn and spinning fiber. In my search for yarn for the world record attempt I was having a hard time finding yarn to go with the #4's I had picked up. I didn't want to work on fine yarn because my hands were wanting something a little larger. But what were the yarns there? Sock weights! At last I reached Briar Rose Fibers and amidst their treasures I found a beautiful wool/bamboo sport weight that was perfect for what I wanted. They also had some Blue Faced Leicester roving I couldn't walk away from.

Last fall Bobbie had found some beautiful merino silk from Lisa Souza in a subtle colorway Mother of Pearl at OFFF. The laceweight she made from it had color gradations that at first glance were not easy to see but overall gave the yarn a delicate pearl-like appearance. In my perambulations about the marketplace I found Lisa Souza's booth and to my delight she had bumps of that colorway. That found its way into my goodie bag.

The last item in the party was something that I couldn't resist. I saw as a future project a tam with matching mittens for the winter. I could see it in my mind as a stained glass type pattern before I went to sleep last night and I knew exactly what yarn I would use for the color. Mini Mochi from Crystal Palace. Combined with Louet Gems in black the tam will be glorious.

I didn't commit as much damage as some folks at Sock Summit, but I'm happy to have assisted in supporting the fiber economy.

There was more to my day on Day Three. Bobbie came by asking if I would be willing to be wheel nanny for the spinners in Judith McCuin's class at lunch time. "Sure!" I said. "When do you want me?" "Be there by noon." So wheel and I toddled off to the classroom and parked ourselves in the back where Bobbie and I sat and span, she on dyed sheep locks, I on the remainder of the Earth Angel top. Bobbie told me of some of the things she'd learned during her stint as Judith's assistant during classes as well as some of the tips and stories. Amongst the things Judith brought in with her were two stockings that had been knitted in the 1840's. During the break I was able to photograph them. Bobbie's hand can give you a scale of the stitch size. One of the heels had a different construction, a kind of simultaneous four-point decrease similar to that of a triangular shawl.

There was plenty of fiber for the students to practice on. With the amounts she was giving out Judith needed it all. And per Bobbie this is only part of what she brought in.

I can't wait for SOAR.

Day Two: World Record

2009-08-07T19:40:00.000-07:00

I have to say that the past months of fighting my allergies have taken their toll. I'm dog tired, though I imagine not as much as the staff of Sock Summit who have been running back and forth with their tasks. Pretty close though, and they're in much better shape than I.

My first task for the day was to help out with the world record attempt staged for noon. I used my superpower -- my voice that can carry a mile -- to notify knitters coming up to participate to "have your ticket filled out! Have stitches cast on your straight needles!" for the deal was that in order to qualify for the world record, every knitter had to knit on two straight needles continuously for fifteen minutes. Each knitter had to be documented on a ticket that could not be photocopied. By the time my legs gave out we were really close to ready.

We were pumped! We were excited! We were ready! Stephanie gave the required spiel to confirm that we were following the rules, then we were off! We could chatter as long as we knitted continuously. And we knit. And we purled. And we knit and purled some more. After what seemed an interminable time we were told we have a few minutes more left. The witnesses (City Commissioner Randy Leonard and Margie Boule' to name a couple) came back to the front of the ballroom we were gathered in, then "Stop!" We raised a huge cheer.

What was I knitting? I knit on Laurelwood Palm #4's some lovely Briar Rose Fibers wool bamboo. The garter stitch I produced was scrumptious. I must get more but not now. Later, after SOAR.

My second task of the day was covering the conference store, ringing up purchases of books, t-shirts, and other souvenirs of the event. It went very well, but I could feel the exhaustion of the day catching up to me. Another volunteer came to relieve and I leaped at the opportunity. I stayed to meet up with some of my fellow Internet listers for a drink but I was very tired by the end. Awntie was very sweet and gave me a lift home instead of my taking the train back.

So now I'm home waiting for my dinner to cook (it's nearly done). I have some lovely swag that I will share with you later. I was party and part of making a new world record. I'm feeling very proud.

SS09 Day 1

2009-08-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

At last the day has arrived and Steph and Tina's grand production began in earnest at the Portland Convention Center. Registration opened Wednesday evening. Behind the scenes, vendors were busy setting up their booths and volunteers and staff were running about getting everything ready. If there was any fear of not being ready, it wasn't reflected in the atmosphere. All seemed calm and organized.

This morning opened calm, cool, and quiet except for the thuds of the gas men working on installing lines in a nearby house. The weather had turned cool with the promise of a truly pleasant weekend for the convention goers. When I arrived at the center, I found the halls filled with knitters relaxing and chatting with each other. I met up with some of my friends and settled down until it was time for my class. Hijinks abounded and the time spent people-watching and chatting was loads of fun.

My class for the afternoon was with Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, best known for her books Ethnic Socks and Stockings and Simple Socks Plain and Fancy. Health issues had kept her from making appearances at conferences so her presence there was quite a feat in itself. She gave a presentation of the socks she had gathered and seen over the years from various sources. She peppered the presentation with stories and was very approachable. During the break, we got the opportunity to view and examine some of the socks. Even though her presentation took longer than the class time, it was worth staying for the end.

One more day

2009-08-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

I've been excited about various things in my life. Christmas as a kid. Going to Hawaii. Knit camp in Vermont. I don't know if this is the most excited I've ever been about an event but it ranks up there.

Sock Summit 2009 starts tomorrow.

I've arranged to have all four days off from work. I'm doing volunteer stints just about each day. I have classes with Anna Zilboorg and Priscilla Gibson-Roberts. I'm there with just about all of my knitting buddies in Portland and a number of my cyberfriends from other locations. I don't have to pay for a hotel or airfare to be there -- I get to sleep in my own bed! The media has been talking about it. It's estimated there will be around 3000 people there. I'm thinking there will be more based on all the chatter on the Ravelry forums, the registration response (36,000 hits in less than an hour I believe), and just the general excitement in the knitting community in general. It is a tour de force that Tina and Steph have assembled at the Portland Convention Center.

Tonight I go to registration and pick up my packet. I have a sock toe I need to knit for my Turkish Stitches class (I have red yarn that will be perfect for the background; now to pick the variegated -- decisions! decisions!). I need to decide which straight needles and yarn to use for the World Record attempt. I'll have to put together a day pack for toting to the Summit since I'll be spinning as well as knitting there.

Wooeee!!

2009-08-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

I'm pumped. I'm excited. I'm rarin' to pieces. Why? Sock Summit is this week. I've arranged to take the days off as well as the following Monday from work. It's exciting that the Summit is happening in Portland instead of one of the larger cities. I have plenty planned for the days -- volunteer work at the Summit, helping fellow fiber artists sell their wares, hanging with my spinning and knitting pals. I hope to have enough energy to record it all here. In the meantime I've been working on a sample sock and pattern for Susan and Gail at Abstract Fibers. You'll find Arbor Rose at their booth.

Heat recovery

I survived our heat wave pretty well for the most part, taking refuge in my house. The cats, unlike me, were really enjoying getting cooked outside. I'd come home from work and find furry pancakes on the back porch. They'd come in, eat a little, drink a little, and insist on returning to the heat. Well, considering that during the winter they prefer to sit on the register when the heat comes on it's understandable, but all that fur. Ugh.

Tour de Fleece -- The numbers are in!

I sat down and calculated how much yarn I spun up from the Icelandic fleeces. These are the final numbers. I'll be able to make my jacket!:

Tour de Fleece Icelandic Fleece

1361.1 yds, 2 ply, 10-12 wpp

Upcoming projects

I've been looking over my projects that I have coming up --an alpaca scarf; a dog sweater; spinning up the Earth Angel fiber-- and wondering what else I need to get done. One thing that has been sitting on the WIP pile for a while is the Kauni sweater. I've been stuck on the gussets of the sleeves and the body but I've worked so much on it that it would be a shame to leave it dormant. So between obligations I'll be working on it.

The one good thing for heat like this

2009-07-28T17:46:00.000-07:00

is that it dries washed yarn like nothing else. We don't get weather like this very often -- maybe once in a couple years or so -- but we don't deal well with it. I'm talking 100 degree weather for several days. It turns people into zombies, then grumps, then ticking time bombs. And since a good number of folks don't have air conditioning here in Rose City the chance of trouble in the usual places is increased. Fortunately I don't live in one of those places so I'm safe. Yesterday the plied yarn was washed and hung out on the back porch to dry. In weather that maybe got up to the 80's it took a good two days to dry. Today it's taking maybe 24 hours. Even better, I can view them from the interior of my nice cool house. I won't be getting up as Grumperella tomorrow.

For my other PDX buddies who don't have AC, I hope you find a cool place to spend the next few nights. It's gonna be tough.

Fin!

2009-07-26T17:02:00.000-07:00

It's still daylight here in the west coast but the last of the Icelandic has been spun and plied. It will rest tonight as will my fingers. The roving escaped another mauling from the cats so I didn't have bits and pieces. There's a fair bit of vegetable matter I didn't get out but I did get quite a bit removed. These will be added to the other five skeins of spun Icelandic. I found a big ball of Shetland/alpaca blend in a beige that will work well for a contrast pattern for the yoke of the jacket I want to make from this yarn.

Now to finish a sock for Sock Summit 09. It's less than 2 weeks away. Whoo!

An end to the marathon

2009-07-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend had one goal in mind: to spin up as much of the Icelandic as I could. Considering how out of shape I am I did pretty well. I completed the spinning up of the light Icelandic fleece bumps and plied them up. Three of my Louet bobbins are now stuffed with their plied yarn and will spend the next day resting before getting their twist set and hung out on the back porch to dry. Estimated amount of yarn spun this weekend: 19 oz.

I still have the two bumps of the other Icelandic to spin and only up to the 26th to complete the spinning for the Tour de Fleece. A healthy chunk of it will be spent cleaning out the VM from it as it has much more than the lighter fiber. If the weather is decent in the evenings, I'll be doing that on the front porch as it's a messy job. If I don't drink coffee in the morning, I should have the energy in the evening to spin the product of my labors. Saturday I'll be volunteering at the Oregon Humane Society but will have time in the morning and evening. Sunday's wide open for finishing up the yarn.

I think I'll make it.

Slacker

2009-07-17T08:25:00.001-07:00

So here I was all gung ho for Tour de Fleece and what have I spun in the last week? Nothing! Outside of a very busy Wednesday evening that would have normally been spent spinning, I have few excuses. Part of the problem is that I've been dealing with some insomnia so by the time I get home from work I'm pretty much worthless. I could set up the wheel and churn out a few yards but by the time I'm through my email and dinner I'm ready to just sit and turn into a blob. (I did ply up the bobbins of the dark into yarn, but that took little time to do. I love fat yarn.) Tonight hopefully I'll be more productive since I got a full night's sleep last night and I have nothing planned for the weekend except for laundry. I'll borrow a bunch of movies from my neighbor and crank out bobbins.

An afternoon on the mountain

2009-07-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

Today I took a jaunt east to Welches and Deb and Mark Accuardi's farm. Welches is west of Government Camp, the gateway to the ski resorts of Mt Hood. Deb invited me for a day of spinning with friends and if the weather was cooperative some fiber dyeing but rain came in. It wasn't bad though -- just a drizzle -- but it was enough that we couldn't do any dyeing. It was a pleasant gathering though of just the four of us with our wheels.

The Accuardis raise angora rabbits, pygora goats, and chickens. Mark took me on a tour of the farm so I got to see their set up. The goats were not happy about the rain so had to be coaxed out but the chickens didn't care. Some of the bunnies had been clipped but others still had their coats. They have a very nice group of furries, including their gray cat Julian who made the rounds of the spinners for scratching.

On the way back from Welches, I opted to avoid Sandy, which was in the middle of their annual Sandy Mountain Days, and Gresham, which in my opnion is the commercial armpit of the Portland Metropolitan area. During the summers when I was in high school I'd visit the house of my best friend's dad who lived out in the country between Sandy and Troutdale. It was an idyllic place and when I have the opportunity I take the back roads to revisit the area. I did that today and in the soft grey of the day the forests and hills were beautiful to see. It made for a very peaceful ending of the day.

Tour De Fleece

Today I finished off one bobbin and spun up another of the lighter fiber. They will rest while I fill up more bobbins with fiber. To clear them up, I plied off the remainder of the dark fiber on the Louet. This week will most likely be that routine: fill bobbins, ply the singles, start again. So the next update will be next week. Spin on!

Swatched

2009-07-10T21:05:00.000-07:00

Today I took the plied yarn to work to swatch it for knitting into a sweater. I learned two things:

-- The dark yarn is the one that had sun damage. The yarn made solely from this fleece sheds during knitting not only vegetable matter that I was not able to get out during the spinning but also broken fibers, indicating it's not strong enough to work well as a yarn for a garment. They also create a rough fabric.

-- The dark and light singles plied don't shed. The fabric is softer. The color difference isn't too radical so it works well. However, the testing of the dark yarn makes me consider using just the lighter fleece for making a garment.

What do you think?

Tour De Fleece Day 4

2009-07-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

The spinning continues apace. I spent this evening finishing up a bobbin of the lighter fiber for doing some experimental plying later. I haven't decided if I'm going to ply one dark and one light single together or ply the colors separately. The color difference is subtle but enough that if I started a light skein after a dark there would be a distinct line. The lighter wool is not as full of vegetable matter as the dark so it's spinning up quicker. It'll come with me to Wednesday night along with bobbin number 4.

A box arrived with some things from Widget Supply. This fall during Oregon Flock and Fiber a group of us will be selling things under the PDXKB Co-Op. I may have some handspun but I'm also considering making orifice hooks for spinning wheels. The handles will be beaded instead of having a wood or polymer clay handle. I'll try to affix the beads closest to the end of the hook so that they don't roll around. The wire for the hook has been the challenge because most beading wire is fairly thin and coiled on a spool. I wanted wire that is straight and thick enough so that it can handle being shoved into an orifice without kinking up or bending but not so stiff that it can't be bent to the spinner's liking. I found the perfect wire: 16 gauge in a multitude of colors. I got some crimping pliers and crimps but the crimps turned out to be too small. They'll be used for other projects, but I'll need to get larger crimps for this project.

Yarn in more ways than one

2009-07-05T17:08:00.000-07:00

The canteloupe Romeldale is plied and set. It came out uneven because of using the Journey Wheel with some sections thick and thin and the rest even at a sport weight. The color is pretty though. I don't know what I can use it for -- perhaps a child's sweater or hat.

Canteloupe Romeldale

3.5 oz, 99 gms -- 254 yards -- 2 ply

Spun on Journey Wheel, plied on Louet S10

The first bobbins of the Icelandic have been spun and I have an idea of what I'll be doing with the two rovings since one's lighter than the other. I'll ply the lighter fiber with the darker to create a kind of tweed. There's a lot of vegetable matter in the fiber despite the cleaning so the challenge has been cleaning out the stuff while spinning it up. I'll most likely do at most one bobbin a day of spinning just to avoid straining my hands.

Spinners, start your whorls!

2009-07-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

This year I've decided to join Le Tour de Fleece challenge now that I'm feeling more capable of producing even yarn. My challenge is to spin up this:

This is 4 pounds of Icelandic fleece from the trip earlier this year to the Schultz's farm. It's going to be spun into worsted weight on my Louet S10 from today through July 26th. Insane? Perhaps. But fat yarn uses up fiber faster than thin yarn. Insane would be making fingering weight from all this fiber. This will make a great jacket for the colder weather for the yarn will most likely be woolen and fluff up in the process.

Prior to this I was enjoying the opportunity to use a friend's Journey Wheel. I had a bump of Romeldale subtly dyed up in orange, yellow, and pink that I called the Cantaloupe. I used it to try out the Journey Wheel and packed the entire bump (over 80 grams) onto the bobbin. If you've never spun on the Journey Wheel and get the opportunity to spin on one, I highly recommend that before you open the box that you read the manual that's on the Bosworth's website. When I received the wheel, it had a super strong draw and was on the fastest whorl. Adjustments on the drive belt in addition to the brake belt on the bobbin solved that problem.

Happy Canada Day

2009-07-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

To all of my Canadian friends, happy Canada Day to you! I can attest that good things do come from Canada. Let me name a few.

-- My Dad. -- Hockey. -- The Yarn Harlot Stephanie Pearl McPhee -- Hockey. -- Montreal. -- Hockey. -- Politics without religion mixed into it. -- Hockey. -- Poutine. The Canadian version of chili cheese fries. -- Hockey. -- Quebecois folk music. -- Hockey -- Banff and Lake Louise. -- Did I mention hockey?

So wave a maple leaf and be proud of your country! I know that the more I learn about it the more appreciative of it I become.

Michael

2009-06-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

It was a shock to hear that Michael Jackson died. But now that the shock is wearing off, I don't know what to think. He did have an impact on the music world, but it's sad to think that this man with such strange ideas of how to behave in society never got a chance to prove to the world that he wasn't a freak. The image I have of him is of a man chasing an bubble holding the key to happiness. He never reached it. Now the media circus will have a field day and we'll be seeing the tabloids screaming about this, that, and the other fantastic things about Jacko. Ugh.

The question is now will Paul be able to get the Beatles catalogue back? I hope so.

BSG 2009

2009-06-21T09:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday's jaunt to the annual Black Sheep Gathering was graced with perfect weather in my eyes: overcast but not rainy, warm but not too warm. The drive to Eugene went well and part of the way was reminiscent of road trips with my parents. Past Salem my public radio station, OPB, switches gradually from the FM station in Portland to the AM stations in Corvallis and Eugene, so the clear fidelity of KOPB 91.5 FM switched over to the fuzzy fidelity of KOAC 550 AM, complete with the buzzing when passing under high voltage power lines. So after a trip laced with the news and Car Talk, I arrived at the Lane County Fairgrounds.

The small brown sheep above are Babydolls. One farm brought one of their Jacob rams with the four horns. Interesting fleece, hey? The goats are Angoras and at the time I was there they were doing some judging. Two of the Angoras were tiny guys and their bleats were reminiscent of a cranky baby.

The marketplace was full of people looking for bargains and the unusual. I found all sorts of different fibers available including yak, bison, qiviut, casein, and maize. I came with a few items on my wishlist in addition to the task of picking up fleeces from Fantasy Fibers and talking with Nathan Lee of the WooLee Winder company about a winder for my Joy. It was tough not going through the bargain stacks of the vendors because the economic downturn has made vendors put discounts on items to bring in customers. By the time I reached StitchJones' tent to spend time spinning and drawing the curious to peruse her wares, I had found a number of goodies.

Snowy white angora bunny/Merino roving and Romeldale pindrafted roving.

Handdyed Corriedale roving

Handdyed Optim from Chameleon Colorworks

The Icelandic fleeces that I sent out to Fantasy Fibers.

The black Alpaca.

Merino top from StitchJones and the singles I spun while at her booth. The singles are tiny and drew a number of people to watch me spin on my Joy.

Hither and yon

2009-06-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

Saturday was World Wide Knit in Public Day, an event that brings out knitters from their inner circles out into public areas to knit with fellow fiberistes. Over the course of the last week I heard about two other events besides the two I knew about: the Hollywood Farmer's Market (right around the corner!) and lunch at Casa Del Matador. The ones I knew of were at Pioneer Courthouse Square hosted by Teaknit Melissa and at the Glenn and Viola Walters Cultural Arts Center in Hillsboro hosted by Tami of pnwbookgirl. I had an appointment to meet with Melissa to drop off squares for a love blanket for Witt's partner Gary, then I was off to Hillsboro to meet up with my westside posse.

When I arrived in Hillsboro, I realized I didn't have the map I had printed out nor the address of the place. Having never been there before, I was clueless as to what to look for. I knew of it as the Hillsboro Cultural Arts Center but didn't realize until I finally arrived (thanks to my buddies' gentle coaching me through downtown Hillsboro traffic) that all my assumptions about its appearance and the name were all wrong. But it was worth it.

There were knitters.

And yarn.

And spinners.

And more yarn.

Did I mention knitters?

I came home with a book of baby knits and a lovely skein of peacock green sock yarn from Frog Creek Fibers well as finished bobbins of the Dicentra merino silk. I didn't get there in time to get a goody bag but it was fun to watch the door prizes go out to the knitters.

Thirty again?

Last Wednesday I went out for the evening with Dan and his friends to celebrate his birthday. I got to meet some of his friends and feast at La Buca. He got a lovely box of loot and many birthday wishes. It made him very happy, like a kid at Christmas. The gals at knit night missed me, but it was such a delight to see him with his goodies.

Monday was my birthday and the biggest surprise was the number of email messages from Facebook and the lists wishing me happy birthday. It was delightful and heart-tickling to see such affection from this community I've become a part of. Thank you! I ended the day with dinner with my pinochle buddies (except Reid who was busy recording a CD with the PGMC) and Dan. He went to Knit Purl and raided their ShiBui sock yarn, coming back with skeins in beautiful colors reminiscent of a beach by a deep blue lake. Combined with the bagful of chocolate from Linda and iTunes from Reid and Cristina it capped a lovely birthday.

Sockage

The Evil Sock Genius has begun his KAL on his Arch-Villain socks. I've jumped aboard but will be jumping back and forth between these and the Shaula sock from Anna Zilboorg's Socks for Sandals and Clogs (seen here on Tricofolk), a commission. I have toes so far for the AV's and am halfway through a toe on the Shaula.

As I say when faced with a challenge, it'll be interesting.

FO!

2009-06-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

The man socks are done with a yard to spare. I have to say I was a little worried that I would run out on sock #2 but even though I didn't split the skein into two balls to make sure I had an even amount of yarn or knitted two at the same time I managed to knit both socks. You're probably wondering why. Honey, they're for size 12 man feet.
Gentleman Socks Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Mediumweight Colorway Raven Haida Garter Rib toe up flap heel

Speaking of socks . . .

Yarmando, the Evil Sock Genius, is hard at work in his laboratory coming up with The Perfect Sock. He's looking for a few minions to join the knitalong he's hosting for testing some instructions. Now that I have the man socks completed I can join him in his pursuit. Who knows what improvements I may discover for my vanilla sock pattern.

A breath of summer

2009-05-31T09:12:00.001-07:00

May typically is the month of transition around here. The temperatures rise, the rain eases back, and the gardens explode in a parade of blooms and green growth. I have some daylilies that have seeded themselves under one side of the stairs of my front porch. Their stalks create walls of greenery that my cat Sammy loves to sit between and watch the world.

I mentioned last week that the Summer of Spinning challenge had begun. At work, I've been busy with a handspindle. The fiber is merino in shades of orange that I had picked up at Black Sheep Gathering last year. I dub it the canteloupe. I'm spinning up a fingering weight on a 21 gmhandspindle that I then transfer onto quills for future plying.

This week I finished spinning the singles of the first 4 ozs of Dicentra Designs Merino/Silk Eowyn and started the second 4 ozs. The first I split in half lengthwise and spun each section of color the length of the pieces with each half on a bobbin. The second hank has been broken up into its component colors with each color being spun up into long color streams. This will be plied with the singles made from the first 4 ozs. I'm looking forward to seing how this turns out.

Good love

2009-05-24T10:17:00.000-07:00

It's Memorial Day weekend and an opportunity to take care of things around the house. One of the biggest chores is gathering up the yarn and fiber I've pulled out and had lying around the house. I had a fair amount and needed to sort it out and put it away in my fiber room. One item that was full of yarn was a floor basket which after it was emptied was Buster's object of curiosity.When I'd take a break from the cleaning, I'd do some spinning or check my email. At one point I had the TV on and my feet up. Maisie seized the opportunity for some kittylove and I gave her plenty.

Summer of Spinning 2009

Saturday I started on my spinning for the summer. I'm participating in David Daniel's Summer of Spinning 2009 challenge to spin up as much of my stash as possible. I have a handspindle at the office and my wheels at home to produce as much yardage as I can. I'll be noting my finished yardage here. For more info, click on the button on the sidebar.