Flying

Oh my time flies by.  We had a busy weekend visiting Kendall College of Art and Design where David will be heading off to in the fall. We checked out the dorms, (which are really more like apartments- way nicer than any dorms in my memory), paid our deposit, and filled out the roommate questionnaire. Suddenly the empty nest thing is hitting home and the mixture of emotions we are all going through…..well…just a little tough to process.

So there’s been just bits of knitting and fits of spinning, but I did want to share about an e-course I’ve been exploring. I’ve long admired Kim Klassen’s photos and blog. She is very generous and offers many free tutorials about layering textures over photos in Photoshop. When I saw that there was a free two-week class starting and that you can download a free 40-day trial version of Photoshop Elements, I decided to challenge myself and give it a whirl. Kim is a genius in her sharing and instruction, and slowly but surely I’m getting the hang of some of the techniques. It’s a little slow going and requiring lots of practice- like so many fun things we get into I guess.

Thanks for checking in.

This and That Weekend

I had a work related meeting that kept me in most of the day Saturday. It was a good meeting as meetings go, but excruciating because it was just glorious outside and I felt like a little kid who just wanted to get out for recess.

The screens went in the windows this weekend- the willows are greening up, the “Spring Peepers” are making quite a racket - all this at least a month earlier than usual.

I’ve been giving the fiber stash an airing and taking an inventory. Things do have a tendency to get tucked away and… 

I almost said forgotten.

I made a move to take care of two fleeces I’ve been holding onto. They had both been washed and I thought I would be able to handle the carding . Instead I decided to make a run to a mill about an hours drive away and have them turn it into roving.  I have some more time to think about what to do with them. The turn over time is 10-12 weeks.

The dyed Shetland I’ve been working through was from a spinning demonstration I did for a elementary school a few years back. It does feel good to recard it and get it organized. I had the blue I used for my hat, quite a bit of orange, some goldenrod, and some barn red.  Saturday night I spun up the red and started a simple seed stich scarf. It has some bits of the recycled denim carded into it too.

Despite the meeting Saturday there was still plenty of time to enjoy the warm breeze, the bird song, the new blooms popping up, and believe it or not I even managed to pull the vacuum out – wasn’t going to get away with letting it go another week- what with all the fiber flying around here.

    

Really See

Your eyes when they really see a rose or an anemone,
flood the wheeling universe with tears. RUMI

Blooming Today…
Coconut Lime coneflower
Dill and
Baby Pickles

It was a very different sort of Fourth of July holiday for us this year...

We normally head to Cleveland to hang out with cousins, and watch our hometown parade and fireworks. This year David headed out with his youth group to help with the Appalachian Service Project instead. I’m not saying this was an easy decision for him. While we “gently” encouraged him to go…it was his decision. The 4th is a major holiday in his book- second only to Thanksgiving as a day we gather with extended family, but in the end he decided to go. Hard to put into words how proud I am of him

six month check up

Finishing up my Fair Isle vest…
to the moon and back in corrugated ribbing – I did a lot of thinking about all the resources available to us today not to mention the creative community out there that we can so easily link up to. When I started knitting - way back when - it was Kaffe Fassett’s book “Glorious Color” that got me rolling - wanting to play with stranding techniques but there just weren’t many folks in the neighborhood with a similar fascination. A few years latter I got my hands on Alice Starmore’s book after reading several articles she contributed to Threads magazine, and still I can’t say it would have been likely to meet up with someone who shared my interests.

Most recently I’ve really enjoyed Ann Feitleson’s book “The Art of Fair Isle Knitting”. There’s some fresh historic background, many easy to follow patterns and several techniques clarified in a way I haven't seen in other places. Her diagram on picking up stitches for sleeves and bands is wonderful as are her buttonhole directions which involve twisting the two strands of yarn together - avoiding strands being carried where buttons could get snagged – Brilliant. And best of all connecting with folks is a click away and I’m sure its not just my imagination that there’s a vibrant and alive knitting community out there!


My blog turned six months this past weekend. Having this space and connecting with others this way has meant so much to me. In her book “Women Who Run With Wolves” Clarissa Pinkola Estes writes….

“Creating one thing at a certain point in the river feeds those who come to the river, feeds creatures far downstream, yet others in the deep. Creativity is not a solitary movement.”

Blogging and connecting with folks on Ravelry has helped to remind me – someone who could sit and knit and dream alone for hours on end- of the value of creative community.

I like thinking of these landmarks as opportunities to pause – reflect – regroup…

I’ve been navigating some tricky waters at my day job but have just been offered a new part time position that sounds like a wonderful opportunity – so will be adding this to my pretty full plate starting next week.
Teaching at Beyond The Rainforest has been a Godsend - not to mention so much fun, and I will keep on through the summer with five folks working on the Feitelson vest and then next Fall I hope to do another beginning Fair Isle class - then mittens and a Christmas stocking I’m designing.

Checking in on six month old New Year goals…uggggghhhhhhh – seems I had quite a list of things starting with W…

Haven’t worked on many WIP due to all the fun Fair Isle projects I’ve been focusing on.
I am getting out to walk the dogs and ride my bike to work but the gym membership was a casualty of the work cutback – so yoga is on video – not in a studio.
Am drinking more water
And am still working on being content with all I have and wanting less – at least I’m aware I have issues in this area….


Short term wishes….

Get back to some spinning and get myself to the Michigan Fiber Festival

Big idea…that came to me watching the full moon rise on my birthday last January-

Renovate the Little Barn as a fiber arts studio space.

Something special bloomed this weekend…

the moonflower vine – huge – fragrant – a flower to wish on.

Blooming... yesterday

Beebalm aka Monarda, Oswego Tea (after the Otsego tribe of New York), and sometimes as Bergamot because of its similarity in fragrance to the tropical tree orange bergamot. It can be dried for tea or potpourris or the petals can be used fresh in salads. The blooms look very pretty floating in punch. I discovered today in an Herbal Guide that companion planting with tomatoes is thought to improve the tomatoes. Hmmmmmmm……may be moving some things around.

What's Blooming

primrose from Melinda by the front door

eggplant blossoms in the kitchen garden

native woodland poppy in the woods out back

clematis by the back door