Which came first,
Experience or meaning?
Deng Ming~Dao

Everyday this week I thought I would blog but somehow life got in the way.  I've been busy in a fibery way, but at the end of the day I just kind of ran out of steam.  I'm sure some of you know just what I mean.  The thought of jumping into my jammies and knitting overrode sitting in front of the computer to blog.  I will blame it on the mid-winter blues.  It's just been so gray out there…  There are days I think I should commit to daily blogging again………at least I blogged then…

Anyhoo, Acer is moving right along.  Kirsten's pattern is very well written and is a perfect midwinter project.

I read somewhere on Ravelry were someone described Beaverslide as a woolen polar fleece and I have to tell you that is THE perfect description.

The yarn is soft without being too soft and very cushy.  I have been needing a new pair of slippers and after seeing a few pair of ballet slippers from Felted Knits that I really liked, I'm thinking a pair made with Beaverslide would be just perfect!

Socks and stuff…..


I have also been working on my cabletwist socks.  With a new pair of needles, we seem to be on the right track finally.  Like Pat, I have decided to do a partridge eye heel and so far so good……but I need a little help from you experienced sock knitters.

Is there a set formula for figuring out what your heel turn is supposed to be?  I am working the heel over 30 stitches and need to figure out what the number of stitches I need to knit and turn, then purl and turn to set myself up to get the bottom of the heel finished.  Acck…..i have been knitting for 30 years but still can't figure this out without a pattern!  Is there such a thing as a formula for any number of stitches?

and finally……..


Beetrice should be making her debut soon………

Mother Earth

I learn from the river
how to keep flowing.
The trees teach me
to bend and sway
with whatever comes my way.
I learn from the sky
to keep my heart and mind open,
The snow teaches me
to fall with grace.

I learn from the sun
to shine bright,
to trust without fear or fright.
The mountains teach me to be humble,
to stand when I want to crumble.

I learn from the moon
to let go,
to embrace change,
Let her guide my way
to a new day.

Mother Earth helps us grow and flow,
So take it slow with that radiant glow
Learn to just BEE.
Traci Haselhuhn

Ok……I bet you are wondering what the heck that poem has to do with sewing.  Umm…actually nothing, except that Ashley read it to me today from a very special magazine that I will tell you about later in the week, and since this post is about Ashley, I guess it makes it relevant. 🙂

It's also a wonderful verse and a perfect way to start one's week, don't you think?

.

Anyhoo, this weekend was a weekend of stitchery.  Yesterday I took a machine applique class at our local quilting store and learned some new things that my sewing machine is capable of.  I am still in awe at some of the things that today's sewing machines can actually do.

I will let you in on a secret though………this machine quilting….not so easy.  I will admit to being a quilting snob in the past.  Not done by hand….cheating.  The truth is, some of this machine stuff is actually much harder than doing it by hand…that is at least until you get the hang of it.

Back to Ashley.  About a month or so ago, she mentioned how much she needed a new bag.  The one she had been using was one I bought for her when she entered her freshman year of college a number of years ago.  It was a corduroy bag that we picked up at the Gap or Old Navy and it was definitely old and tired.

I purchased the fabric right after she mentioned it to me, washed and ironed it and then there it sat next to my sewing machine.  One more thing on my list of things to do…..and you all know how that goes.

Ash called me earlier in the week to say she was going to come home to spend some time with her sister, Courtney…..and she mentioned her bag as well.

So, I quickly read over the instructions and thought…easy peasy, I will have it finished in an hour.  Well, 4 hours later, the bag was finished and filled.  Not as quick as I thought it would go, but still a fast bag to make up.

Ashley was thrilled with her bag as you can see. 

While we were eating dinner we were talking about how the 80's seem to be creeping into this year's spring fashions and my opinion about these fashions was a big ewww.  I didn't like them in the 80's and I don't like them now.

Ash was trying to define her fashion style, other than bag~lady fashion, when Ken nailed it…… "Annie Hall".  Yep, little Ash is another Annie Hall for sure…LOL

Pattern:  Amy Butler Swing Bag
Fabric:  Batik's from Keepsake Quilting

Lest you think I have tossed in my knitting needles for sewing needles I want to introduce the beginnings of Acer.  Kirsten has created a very enjoyable knit in this sweater!

Pattern:  Spiralucious
Yarn:  Woolen Rabbit Opulence
Needles:  Size 4 addi's

Another week has come and gone.  In many ways it has been a trying week.  One of my daughters (Courtney) is having a hard time with another girl who has been harassing her to the nth degree.  Not much bothers Courtney, but the constant harassment is wearing her down and as a Mom it has been REALLY hard for me to sit back and let her handle it.  This other girl really seems to have some issues, which is sad….but…..still…..

Courtney has a good head on her shoulders and I know if she really needs me to step in she will ask, but it's stressful for a Mom all the same.  Sheesh……

Ok…….on to better things.  It's been REALLY cold up here in the mountains this winter.  Most nights have been 15-25 degrees below zero.  Even I, who loves winter, is ready for it to warm up a bit. 

I'm not one to wear scarves that often but with this cold weather my neck does get cold.  Remembering how much I liked the first Spiralucious, I made one for me this time.  It keeps my neck nice and warm without scarf ends to deal with. :). 

There has been a little knitting here.  I have some socks on the needles, but the call of the Beaverslide has just been too darn hard to ignore.  Besides it's good to balance working with little needles with sweater size needles…right?

This morning after I finished Spiralucious, I sat down and swatched the Beaverslide for Acer.  Whoo hoo….I got gauge with the recommended needles.

I do need to work on twisted vines, but I really haven't felt like taking the time to pull her back to find where I was on the pattern before I lost my place.  Maybe if I have some quiet time over the weekend, but until then, I am looking forward to working with this scrumptious yarn!

NETA Spa Weekend

Many of you have heard of the SPA weekend that NETA puts on every February.

It's a FUN weekend and one that I have vended at for the last few years.  This year it is the last weekend of February in Freeport Maine and promises to be another fun fibery weekend.

It's been fun having an excuse to fire up the dyepots for roving once again.  I haven't a name yet for this colorway, which is ok…I like it enough that it just might stay. 🙂

I hope to see a few familiar happy faces that weekend!

Pattern:  Ethereal Fichu
Yarn: Woolen Rabbit Muireann (available soon)
Needles:  Knitpicks Options size 6

This shawl is such a dramatic shawl.  I am very pleased with the way this new yarn blocked out.  Lots of natural luster from the silk which compliments the nature of the fabric in the shawl.

The shape of this shawl however is very different than most triangles I have knit.  It has a very narrow bottom with a big point, which of course points in a big way to the one place you might not want it to point to…haha.  When you wear it over your shoulder though the way Stacey is in these pictures it is very striking.  Over all a beautiful pattern that makes a striking entrance.

The sun was shining on a freshly fallen 20 inches of new snow….if you could have seen me climbing the snowbanks trying to hang this shawl in the tree, you probably would have laughed, especially when I sank in up to my waist.  Thank goodness for camera straps….just sayin'.

A beautiful pattern to knit and quite easy once you get the rhythm down.  Stitch markers are your friend with this one 🙂

A few weeks ago a package of the much raved about Beaverslide arrived on my doorstep.  There was a slight problem though if you can believe it.

When I opened the package I was immediately reminded of the yarn that I knit Hey Teach in.  Different yarn….exact same color.  Sheesh, do you think I have a tendency to get stuck in yarn color ruts?  I really do love browns and greens, but knowing that I am going to be ripping Hey Teach out and re-knitting her in a smaller size, made me realize that this shade of Beaverslide was just not going to be the one for me.

I got on the phone and spoke with one of the owners and told her of my dilemma.  She was so incredibly nice.  I love it when a company that turns out such beautiful yarn is also fabulous in the customer service end of it as well.

I ended up choosing a colorway that is very different for me.  It's called chokeberry and is a burgundy maroonish color.  Very pretty and rich looking…I love it.  I was originally going to knit Acer with it, but just recently this sweater caught my eye and I am now going back and forth between the 2.

It's been fun thinking about sweaters.  The sweater I was originally going to knit with the aran tweed has been replace with Lisa Lloyd's pattern Harriet from a Fine Fleece.  Somehow I didn't think that the yarn was going to work with the curvy knit sweater, but I think it will be perfect for Harriet.

Then of course there is the Felted tweed that is destined to become a tangled yoke sweater.  I fell hard for this pattern when I saw a few of them walking around Rhinebeck this past fall.

Oh…………..


…and there has actually been a little bit of finishing things here and not just dreaming.  My Etheral Fichu Shawl is off the needles and blocked. I am VERY pleased with how this yarn blocked out, and will be bringing some with me to SPA in a few weeks. With 20 plus inches of snow arriving today however, the lighting for taking pictures was just not good.  Hopefully tomorrow. 🙂

If you ever get a chance to sit in on one of Barb's dyeing classes….go!  We had such a fun class on Sunday.  In addition to Jean, it was fun to see a few other familiar faces in the class too. Judy and Cindy made the trip up from Rhode Island.

    

Barb covered a lot of material over the course of the day.   Fiber preparation for dyeing, an in-depth explanation of dye stock solutions and ratios, methods of dyeing including low immersion, painting, crock pot and dipping.  It's always fun to learn new ways of doing things or streamlining a process and even more fun when you are doing it with friends!

These are 2 of my samples from the class.  Because we were covering a lot of information in a short period of time, there was not quite enough time for the remaining portion of the fibers to complete their steam bath, so Barb will be mailing out the yummy fiber when it is dry.  Included in that batch is her scrumptious cormo/silk blend and a camel/silk blend…..YUM

I never knew!!!

Now grrls, I am going to admit something to you that still blows me away. I have been to webs a few times and while I thought it was a great store, I didn't quite understand the huge attraction.  Yes, a beautiful show room with lots of beautiful yarn, but people buying bags of yarn?  I just didn't get it…

That is until Jean walked me thru the warehouse to show me where the bathroom was.  HOLY CRAP!  You could have peeled me off the ceiling.  I had NO idea that there was a huge warehouse that one could stroll thru as well…NO.IDEA!

Needless to say, a little of it came home with me.  I bought enough of this beautiful Silk-road Aran Tweed to make a sweater…..and I made sure to purchase a pattern specifically for the yarn, so that it had a use.    It is always hard for me to justify yarn purchases as I have a houseful of my own yarn…but I don't dye sweater weight yarn, so that helped make it a bit easier.  (I am seeing a number of new sweaters for me this year :))

Jean and I had decided to make a grrls weekend out of the trip and it was fun.  Staying at a nearby hotel made the trip an easy and enjoyable one.

We ate in a fabulous little Italian restaurant on Saturday evening and spent the rest of our time knitting and chatting.  (more on the knitting tomorrow)

You have to click on Jean's picture and see her great sheep jammies…..they are too cute!

 

While I have been staying faithful to only one knitting project, I have managed to find a little extra time to spin and sew.

Sometime around Thanksgiving, I dyed up this BFL roving with a dye method that was new to me.  I liked the end result enough to keep for me :).  Yes, it's pink, but I think there is just enough orange in it to warm it up sufficiently for my tastes.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not usually a perfectionist….  Perhaps that is why Tao appeals to me in the manner in which it does.  I find if I think too much about the process something doesn't jive.

Take this yarn for instance.  I spent some time chatting with Laurie after her class with Judith McKenzie and Judith's ideas about spinning correctly.

In the past, I have not been unhappy with the yarn I have spun.  I have always found that once I settled into the rhythm of what the roving wanted to be, I am usually content with the finished yarn.

With this beautiful roving from Barb Parry , I thought I would try some of JMM's techniques.  I started over thinking what I was doing and how I was spinning and I can freely admit that I am not happy with either the 2 ply or the 3 ply that I finished.  The yarn is way over spun.  Now……I'm not saying that JMM's ideas are not fabulous, because they work for so many people, but for me, I find if I just let my wheel and my fiber tell me how it needs to be spun, I seem to do better.

I am spinning this BFL a bit thicker than usual for a DK-Worcestered weight yarn.  I am really trying not to think about my spinning this time and so far I am happy with what I am seeing.  Of course the truth will be in the plying.   I'll let you know how it finishes up.

There are times however when the perfectionist in me will not be quiet….and never more has that been true with Beetrice. (no..her eyes will not be yellow..eww…those are pins marking the spot).

Somehow the legs did not look right when I attached them.  They were much shorter than they should have been.  How can that be when I used a pattern?  At first I thought…well, I will just give this one to McKayla, but it bugged me too much to let it rest.  I did figure out how that leg came out shorter, so I recut a new one…but as I was cutting, I got another brainstorm about how Beetrice should look, so stay tuned…….. 🙂

I am off this weekend to Webs with Jean.  Barb Parry is giving a dyeing class which I am excited to take part in.  Jean and I decided to make a weekend of it.  Perfect timing for the winter doldrums :).

One of the number one things on my list of to do's in this new year is cleaning out the clutter!  We live in a rather big house with a big barn which makes it easy to lose track of just how much stuff there is.  As the kids have grown older and some have moved out, this is the year that I am determined to unload.

I told Ken the other day, I was going to start with our huge closet which has become a catch all for stuff we don't know if we want to keep or not.  As I was hoeing, I came upon my old needlework.  There was a time in my life that my passion for counted cross stitch could rival my now passion for fiber. 

Just the other day, Marcia and I were comparing notes in our similarities with the things we had managed not to get finished. We both had a pretty good list going and I had not even thought of my needlepoint…sigh.  Now that they are out, they are getting pressed and going to a framer to be framed! 

Here are a few of my favorites…
The little bunny above was meant for Hannah's baby room, you can see how that went….maybe Hannah's baby?

I so enjoyed working on Johnny Appleseed.  If you look closely you can see that I completed this sampler in 1987….22 years ago!  YIKES!  My sister in law had worked on this piece and I loved her framed version so much that I did one myself.  Framed?  Sheesh…of course not.

The ABC sampler that I made for Ashley's room when she was just a little one……….another present I will have for a future grandchild 🙂


This basket was also finished in 1987…I think I was on an apple kick that year.  Actually I love that brick red color.  It was my favorite back then and still is today.  Good thing….once framed they will fit in nicely here. 🙂

Now you all know that pink is not my color, but at the time I stitched this, I had a lot of pink in my kitchen and this would have fit in perfectly.  The pink is gone….but I love this little sampler enough that somehow I will find  a place for it.  It's such a happy little picture, don't you think?

…and finally….this one is my favorite.  I started this sampler back in 1988 and did not finish it until 1993.  This was another sampler that my then sister in law had done and I just loved it.  Worked on a very very fine linen, it survived my divorce, a death and finally a remarriage before it was finished.  This will be the first one that will be framed!  Sadly this is the one sampler that has a few stains.  I think that I will overdye the sampler with a tea stain to blend in with what appears to be either a water stain or coffee stain.  I'm sure it will be ok…it will just looked a bit aged…like me :).

  I am not sure how I forgot about these little treasures.  I guess it is a good thing to clean out the corners of one's closets now and then. 🙂

 

Winter in New England is such a beautiful time of year especially here in the mountains.  Yesterday we were christened with 16 inches of brand new snow, even though only 8 inches was predicted. 

Ken and I decided to give the new car a test drive in the snow to see how it performs, so we started out towards Jackson, a little town about 15 minutes away.

A number of years ago, my older children and I suffered a personal tragedy and I decided that not only I, but my children could use a bit of a break, so I moved us atop a mountain road in Jackson, called Tin Mountain Rd or Tyrol, if you are old enough to remember that ski mountain.  This was the view from my living room sliders….not bad, eh?  It was also while I was living on the mountain that I started dating Ken, so Jackson always holds a special place in our hearts.

One of the things on my life list is a pair of snow shoes to go romping thru the snow.  There are some incredibly beautiful woods up here in the Mount Washington Valley and it would be fun to do a little winter trail hiking.  We took a lot of these pictures driving up and down Thorn Hill Rd.  At the top where we stopped for this picture, the quietness of the day was so peaceful and the sun flickering in and out of the snow covered tree branches were breath taking.

I was going to include a winter poem with this post, but all of the poems and quotes of winter were bleak and dreary.  I know many people think of winter in this way, but I always feel so alive in the winter.  The cold sharp air makes you sit up and say hello and the gentle quietness after a fresh snow is always so peaceful.  I guess it's a good thing I like winter living in New England. :) 

We enjoyed our trek up the mountain roads of Jackson, but it was nice to get back home to work a little on this…..

Yes, monogamous knitting has been fruitful for me.  I am not the fastest knitter….heck, I am downright slow, but forcing myself to concentrate on only one project has really helped me gain a little focus again in my knitting.

Normally I am not one to use a bunch of stitch markers, but I have to say that using them with this shawl has been a huge help.  Once you find your rhythm with this pattern, it moves along nicely.

I have a little less than 3 repeats of the last chart and the lace edge bind off.  I am looking forward to seeing how this sea silk blocks out.  It has been a pleasure to knit with.

Wow…..it's hard to believe it is already Sunday and I have not blogged since Tuesday.  I feel almost a bit guilty and definitely out of touch.  That daily blogging commitment was almost like having a mother telling me to clean up my room.  I remember when I moved out of my childhood house, I don't think I made my bed for a month. 🙂

Unfortunately I was not feeling well most of the week and really did not have the energy to blog. Today is the first day I have felt almost human again, so here I am.   I actually have a lot to show you, but I will do a little each day. 🙂

You might remember a year or so ago, I broke down and finally bought a new sewing machine.  The one that I had been using was one I got when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter who almost 29. It was time!

Sadly It has not seen much use however this year. One my goals for the upcoming year is to learn how to use it to it's full potential…or at least my full potential..LOL.

The only thing I have sewn in almost a year is the little sock bag pictured at the top. A little earlier this fall, I made this bag as I had promised it to a friend.  She is a very good friend as she waited almost a full year for it…yikes!  I had made up a bunch of these bags for spa last year and these were the colors that she was hoping for, but I had run out.  She is a patient soul I tell ya.

Over the week, I cleaned off my sewing table that had become a catchall for everything, dusted off my machine and reacquainted myself with her.  Yesterday I cut out the fabric for Beetrice's body and this afternoon I will get to business.  (how cool is it that my machine table has a honeycomb pattern…can you see it?)

Last week I told you that I had promised Ashley a handbag.  Over the last few days, I did spend quite a bit of time looking at the countless sewing tutorials out in blog land.  I was blown away by just how many sewing and craft blogs there are.  At least as many as knitting blogs and maybe even more.  Talk about a serious Rabbit Hole….holey moley!

Ashley wants a simple sling bag, so this should be pretty easy.  My tastes on the other hand, are a bit more complicated.  I have had this Amy Butler pattern for a year now, but was not quite ready to tackle it until I have tried a few simpler bags.  Having seen the weekender finished in this combination, renewed my desire to get serious again about it.

I have a market tote all cut out and ready to be sewn, so that will be a good practice piece, but after seeing this tutorial, I think I will start with a few of these first with some of the Amy Butler fat quarters I have kicking around, then move onto the market tote and finally the weekender.  Baby steps usually work best for me. :)