It's finally blog-time

The paradox with blogging is that if I'm going to have anything to write about, I have to go out and do things. If I'm out doing things, I have no time to blog about it. What is a good blogger to do?

Anyway, I wrote about J coming up. Well, as promised, we went blueberry picking.

While none of us should be giving up our day jobs in order to become migrant farm workers, we did okay, hauling in about 12 lbs of blueberries.



OMG, they were delicious. We made blueberry jam




We had blueberry cobbler, and blueberries on cereal in the morning. It was freakin' blueberry heaven. I like blueberries.

Blueberries always make me think of my mother, who loved them. Not surprising that she sould be on my mind, it was this time three years ago, that we found out that she had terminal cancer. Where ever you are, ma, this blueberry's for you!


Kali took a bath:


Morgan watched the birds:


After the blueberry extravaganza, Tim and I took off for camping. We went with the same group we always go with, The Clan That Says AEHH!!, but we chose a different venue. For reason I won't go into on the blog, it was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. I'm still processing. (no, there aren't any pictures).

However, while on vacation I spun a lot, and taught my friend Maria to spin. It was so much fun watching her working at it, then suddenly getting the hang of drafting. Now, she wants a spinning wheel too!! Another convert! My work there is done. ::smug smile::

On to the most important stuff, the fiber:

One half of the Traveling Vine shawl is DONE and has been moved to a stitch holder.
It is being knit from raw silk that was purchased 2 years ago at Clermont, and hand-dyed by Tina and myself. (really, Tina did all the work, I just watched and bought the chicken wings).

The stitch pattern is from Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls, by Martha Waterman. This is unblocked (and really a bad photo, but hopefully you can see what it looks like)



The other half has been cast-on.



Over halfway done. This would have been done if not for the Tour De Fleece, of which I did not make my goal; and my sojourn into Farmer's Market Bags.

Speaking of Tour de Fleece, I've been spinning and spinning and spinning my legs off. This is some of it, washed and drying. There is more on the bobbins, waiting to be plied, and more in the bag, waiting to be spun. Oy....that's a lot of fiber to spin this fine. I'm getting tired of looking at blue and green, though.


I'm so excited about this. It's super-soft M-m-m-erino (as Jessalu says).


And I'm really proud of the even-ness of the yarn. When I plied it, unwashed, it hung completely straight and balanced.




Tim has been spinning! Here's his first handspun, super-chunky weight. I'm so excited.


It's so much fun to share something I love to do with someone I love. We spent part of the afternoon spinning together. Me on Asherah, and he on Phaedre.

This is the view of what I came downstairs to see this morning. Ignore the mess, I was focusing on the two spinning wheels and the knitting projects.



And yes, that is another market bag in the lower left corner. It's in shades of blue, and I swear, it's the last one for a while, because I've fallen in love with the Seascape Shawl


and can't wait to get started on it. It's going to be in one of the two hand dyed laceweight yarns that I bought from Tina.

That's the news that's fit to print. Will try to update on Friday (or Monday....you know how it goes.)

Thursday Musings

I know I promised Wednesday updates (did I? I meant to.), but yesterday got way out of control. There's this festival we attend every year. The organizers started a process three years ago, and now that they've realized they're in it, decided they have to fix it. However, not everyone is agreeing with the fix. I'm one of the dissenters.

I wrote one email, stating my opinion and voicing my concerns. This was Tuesday night. You'd think I told them all that their mother's dress them funny. By the time I woke up yesterday, my inbox was flooded with everything from polite responses to scathing, vitriolic, attacks. Yikes. So not pretty, and so not what I intended and so making me not want to drive 5 hours to go there. There may be a change in summer plans. We'll see.

Yesterday was also the work day from hell. I have this client, and he works 15 miles away and doesn't get out until 6 or so in the evening. Which means he doesn't get to my office until 7:00, which means that I don't get out of the office until after 8:00. It makes for a very long day. He is very nice. He and his wife have referred numerous people to me, but it makes for a long day. At least its only once a month.

So that's what happened to yesterday's update.



I haven't done any spinning or much knitting since the weekend. I've started another market bag, I think I mentioned, and it's halfway done. This one is NOT the ugliest market bag...in fact, it's kind of cute. I thinking of calling it Sherbet Stripes, because that's what it reminds me of.

So, what is the obsession with market bags? Well, it's this green thing, and the obsession I have with the Troy Farmer's Market. I love the market. It gets me out of the house early on Saturday, I support local agri-business, and I get organic produce and hormone free/antibiotic free milk and yogurt every week. (I have a personal theory that the increase in breast and ovarian cancer is somehow linked to the hormones used in American dairy products but have no evidence to back that up)

Every time I'm at the market and purchase something for which I have not brought my own bag, I get a funny look from the vendor. Not nasty or snide...just curious. Like, if I'm bothering to shop at the market, why am I wasting all these plastic bags? And they have a point. Why am I? It's not in keeping with my personal philosophy about how I want to live on the planet. I knit, so why can't I knit myself a shopping bag, or two? You can extrapolate the rest.

For those who wonder why I've been spending so much time developing a pattern of my own, let's say I've not found a pattern that incorporates everything I, personally, want in a bag. So, I decided it was time to take a little of this and a little of that and put together something that I love. And I have. When I finish this, I'll probably post the pattern on Ravelry, and everyone can try their hand at it....if they want to.

On the writing front, not much is happening. I came back from vacation pretty charged to write, and then, bam, life got in the way. I'm shaking my head too. I'm 100 pages from finishing the re-write and stopped dead in my tracks. Sorry Tina. I'll get back there, I promise.

On the spinning front, pretty much that's where I'm heading for the afternoon. I need to spin. My wrists hurt (from work yesterday) too much to knit, and I've put out a lot of energy (to my clients and family) in the last 4 days. I need some down time, and spinning is the best way that I know to focus inward.

Oh! I forgot to mention. My husband, who has only lacked the knowlege of knitting and spinning to make him the perfect man, has expressed a desire to learn to spin. Oh frabjous day!!! I guess Phaedre is going to teach someone knew. This makes my heart sing. Although, Tim, if you're reading this...keep your hands off the Sonata!!!

Tina, Phoenix Fiberworks, has jumped into community service in a big, big way. She has organized the first (annual) Hudson River Knit and Spin. For those of you who don't know her, check out her blog. Tina's amazing. She taught me to spin, does community service, is active in her guild...organizes retreats...she blows me away.

Anyway, come out to the Hudson River Knit and Spin next Saturday. It's going to be a great day.