Mojo Rising

No sweaters done, but I'm at least knitting again. Maybe it's the new love in my life. Not this one:


Even in her less-angelic moods:


Or these:

Those are the deep, abiding ground of my heart. But something's got me going back to the needles. Look, I'm making a bag out of Lamb's Pride Bulky on 11s -- somewhere to put the tiny cards that used to live in my missing wallet. I'll knit until I like the shape, make another one with a flap, do a side piece/strap, assemble and felt it. I hope it un-lumps.


And I've been spinning (without having Thing 3 turn the wheel for me). Look at this -- he did the dyeing (I think it's a real Tequila Sunrise kind of colorway), and it spun up like this with the color repeats kept in line by spinning it lengthwise, rather than over the fold, as I'm apt to do:


He asked for mittlets, bless his little heart, and in true Twisted Sisters fashion, I gave high-e knitting a try. See how it's biasing in the stockinette? Neat-o, I think. Almost ready to divide for a little thumb. Nothing like instant gratification.


So what is the mystery inspiration for all this creativity? There's a hint under the mittlet. . . . and I can't stop singing "Long May You Run." Give up?

It's my new car!


I firmly believe it is wrong to love objects more than people, and of course I don't. . . but between the spinning wheel and this camper van, it's tough. I used to have a 70's era VW van, and I loved that a lot. Then, briefly I had one of these, and now. . . lucky lucky me.

I'll have to plan a spinning camping trip soon with all of the people I love more than the car!

Can't Knit a Stitch

Apparently, when I'm under stress I go all mush-brained. I lose things (hello, Tennessee, seen my wallet yet?), I can't keep my house clean (at least that's the current excuse), my back goes out during high-exertion activities like "brushing teeth" and "putting a kid into a car seat" and today's feature "making my bed," and I'm so. Very. Tired. Funerals and dad in the hospital and husband job stress. . . just stuff. Yawn.

Another fun symptom is that when I pick up sticks and yarn and make those weird spell-casty gestures, I get even sleepier. Listening to my lovely spouse read aloud is probably the only thing that makes me more sleepy. Since I tried to knit, thank goodness my sister drove to the funeral in Los Angeles last weekend! Even with five under eight in the car, and "Branching Out" to work on, it was a sleepy trip for me. Yes, I can screw up lace billed as "The Easiest Lace You'll Ever Ever Attempt, And If You Can't Do This, You Are A Dork." Stress is not your friend.

The only fun thing I can do beyond the sketchiest parenting and work -- lots of work -- is spinning. So it's not the fiber itself that makes me sleepy, apparently, it's the needles. That's a theory.

I got a bunch of wool from the Sheep Shed Studio (like a crackhouse for cheap spinners) and put the children to work with some kool-aid drink mix.


I plan to spin it up and maybe knit them something like socks for Christmas. Stop laughing, those of you who know how I feel about sock knitting. This knitting "allergy" has to stop sometime. Besides, I actually love these children and have to do something for them.

And I've been doing some spinning, but not photographing it. I'm nearly done with one of the handpainted Corriedale bunches of roving from Lambtown. It's not the softest wool in the shed, but it's very soothing. Actually, spinning is remarkably soothing without the soporific "knitting needle effect." Thank goodness for small favors!

The Things continue to do. . . many things. This is fall in Northern California.
Thing 1 is working on "growing" as a hobby. It's breaking the bank to keep that child in shoes, cheese, and pants. Eating. Growing. Eating. Growing. Sleeping. And asking me for favors.

Since this one saved me approximately $30, I was happy to oblige:


Now she can wear them at least through one more growth spurt. We got enough to trim three pairs of jeans for her and one for Thing 2, who, while not growing as fast, hates to give up outgrown clothes. I miss sewing. Maybe someday, when my house is not spontaneously messing itself up and I'm not working all the time and making food and cleaning up food and not gardening or working the bees (thank you, windy/cloudy days that I can't get into the hive easily during!), I will actually set up that machine and make. . . something. At that point, probably I'll need something like a cozy for my missing memory because I'll be about 150.

Where did September come from?

I have always loved fall. Loved everything about it, even though I grew up in a place with "fall-lite." I could tell, even if it was still 100 degrees.

And I still feel like that. Only, this year, I'm not sure I'm ready for it. We don't do a big back to school thing or anything, not much changes, but . . . I had hoped to get more done last month, and make this a big picture-heavy "Whoopie, I'm back!" post.

Life, as they say, got in the way. More work, a very nice vacation, an emergency trip to be with my mom and dad while my dad is in the hospital, and just stuff. Not so much knitting. Clearly, twelve sweaters are not to be during this year.

I knit a sweater for a neighbor's baby -- small, but not as small as the picture suggests:


And I did finish "Coachella" although I haven't sewn in any ends:


I think I'm going to give it to my lovely sister, who will wear it with more panache than I could.

Also, I began "Branching Out" with some old souvenir mohair.

Oh, and this came to live with me, and we're very happy together:


So imagine some more skeins of yarn, and some fiber waiting to be spun.

I don't anticipate a real slowdown in the rest of my year, no matter what earlier hopes might have been. I don't know if I can read everyone's blogs and take the time it would require. Three more classes to teach, and the money is quite welcome. Kids are good and busy, bees need work and well, I've got to go out of town this weekend and life just keeps happening. I'd like to hear how some of you stay on top of everything and sail along serenely. There has to be a trick.

Off For August

I'm trying to work on balance in my life. Balanced plying, balanced work and play, balanced computing and . . . real life.

So I'm not going to post or read bloggy things until September. I hope to use those reclaimed hours to knit some stuff. A gal can dream, you know?

I hope you all have a great month!

Closer Look

One of the first things I did this morning was to grab some of the fiber and just feel it again.

Then I figured it was too much goodness to keep to myself. Without further ado,

this is the baby alpaca. While some of this is due to operator limitations, pictures just don't do it justice. It's very very soft. I think I'm going to spin it right from the lock, over the fold, to try to preserve some of the loft and not make a hot tight yarn. It's very clean and a little test spin went beautifully.


This is the Corriedale. It, also, spins beautifully. Just a good basic wool.


Aaaaaaah. I think I'd call this baby camel/silk colorway "Thing 2's hair," although it's even finer. But the streaks remind me of a summer blonde. Maybe that would be a better name.

This silk colorway is "Lake Berryessa." The real lake doesn't look so much like this, but maybe I'm not that familiar with it.


So that's it. Sunday morning pretties. Now I get to catch up with the work I didn't do yesterday.

Back from Lambtown

But first, some of the spinning I've been doing.

I finally got to the Guatemalan indigo. It's plyed now, and I think I've probably earned my Merit Badge in "overplyed." Should wear like iron. I'm getting roughly 100 yards (hee -- I typed yarnds - a new measurement unit!) per ounce, ounce and a quarter.


That cochineal yarn is there to demonstrate how far my spinning has come, in just a little bit. The yellow isn't as even, and it's older. One of the things I'm most struck by is how harmonious the natural dyes are with one another. I'm looking forward to trying some more when the dyeing wool shows up from Susan's Fiber Shop shows up.

Little bits of yarn spun up are feeling frustrating for me. I'm just not a sock knitter. Know anyone who would love to knit socks from handspun in exchange for homemade bread or more handspun? That might give me sock spinning incentive. I do, however, have largish feet -- pushing a US size 10.

Lambtown -- well, it was fun. I found it a hair overwhelming, and since it was a smallish do, I bet that would really be something. Today was all about the soft. There were so many soft things to touch. And I may be in a color rut, as everything I dallied over was caramel, brown, green, tan. . . You get the picture! I saw local blogger and fiberista Kristine today, along with Michele from dyeing class. It was nice to see friendly faces.

I also tried wheels (with help) at the Carolina Homespun booth.


I liked the Lendrum a lot. So did Thing 4, but she didn't get what you'd call a real trial on it.

Oh, also a pattern for a beautiful leaf shawl leapt at me, in a triumph of fondness over experience. Thing 1 said, "Hey, look at this pretty shawl. I like it."
Maybe when she graduates from something adult, it will be done. She said her dyeing class was "okay."


Hot and grumpy by the end she was. My silk class wasn't what I expected. I kept gazing over at the drum carding class, thinking that what they were doing looked pretty fun. . .

One Suri baby fleece kept calling me back for more touching, as did a wickedly soft bag of baby camel and silk. Guess what came home with me?


Back to front: the alpaca (his name is "Espresso Dawn." Hee), a bag of silk cocoons for kid/me experiments, the camel/silk to the left of that, then some green silk hankies, some white silk hankies, some Bombyx top, and two balls of Corriedale. I still don't know if I'm going to ply the Corriedale with the alpaca for a sweater, or spin the alpaca straight from the locks and make a drapey. . . something. Suggestions?

No pictures, except the ones in my head

I've been knitting. Really.

But when I get stuck mentally on a project, I tend to do a lot of walking around and thinking. I'm all-but-back done with the Pearl Buck Swing jacket, and since I've added an inch to each front (for my freakishly long torso), I've had to figure out how to do the same to the back. I think I know how -- but I have to get confident enough to actually try it.

There's so no way I'm doing a dozen this year. Sigh.

And I cast on for a quickie baby sweater for the still very new baby down the street -- and my family is unanimous that it is too small. Instead of ripping and redoing, I'm contemplating giving them a stuffed animal for the baby, wearing a little sweater. Maybe I'll block it like mad.

There has, however, been lots of entertainment in the arena of my dreams. This morning, I realized that the princes of England had to be "stacked" before they could assume the crown and rule the country. By the rules, Harry had to be the bottom half even though he was taller than William. I think he may have said, "It's not fair," just like my bunch does. And they weren't going to do the stacking piggy-back, oh no. They were going to be somehow smooshed into the same person. Just two people's worth. Somehow.

Then, in the same dream, my spouse presented me with a new laptop. I opened it to find a tiny compartment along the side with a slim silver fork and spoon set. Above the (miniscule) keyboard was an eating plate area. It was a "food-friendly" laptop! I didn't know if he'd bought it on purpose because he wanted me not to eat around the big computer, or just in case I spilled something on the laptop. I thought it was a pretty great idea.

I enjoyed the seventh Harry Potter book quite a bit. Thing 1 got it at 3pm on Saturday from the UPS driver (she declined to pose for a picture with him), and at 9:55pm she handed it to me. She came in a few minutes later and said, "Why aren't you reading it?" I was working at the time. I didn't take that opportunity to whine, "It's not fair I have to work first". . . but instead showed her how just a little motivation made the work go smoothly and still left me time to read. Ha. I actually did my work and then stayed up way too long. Good book in any case.