Fast Summer

I swear summer has just flown this year.  It may have something to do with our long winter, little to no spring and a delayed summer, but I was so surprised that tomorrow is the first day of school activities.  Anna will get her class schedule tomorrow.  And that will show how our year will unfold for her.  Emily goes for her new orientation in a couple weeks as she transitions to middle school.  So we are busy with school stuff already.

I've set up a few yarn events for me this fall.  I'll be at Needlework Unlimited on September 21 for a free spinning demos.  I'll have some free samples of my handspun.  I really enjoy these spinning demos, I remember when I was thinking about getting a wheel, I would have given a lot to simply talk to someone who knew about spinning and to get to watch someone and ask questions?  Heaven!

In October, I'm heading back to Yarn Harbor on October 19 for a spinning demo there.  Again it will be a great day, I've got a nice group of knitters who enjoy my yarn.  Heading to Duluth for a day of fiber goodness is all good in my book.

And finally, I'm going to be a vendor at the Upper Midwest Fall Fiber Festival.  This is being held in Hopkins, MN on November 2 from 9-4.  It will be my first time as a vendor at this event and I'm looking forward to it. 

I finished a new sample last month, I knit the Biscuit Cowl, it is currently at Yarn Harbor.  It is long enough to double up or leave in a long loop.  Nice options.  It is knit from my handspun, Pink Lady.  It turned out very soft and snugly.  Something that will come in handy come winter.

If you are afraid of knitting lace, this may be the item to dip your toes into the lace pool.  It is a simple lace pattern and after completing it, you get to knit some mindless stockinette and garter stitch.  Lately mindless knitting is a must for me.  This had just enough pattern to entertain me yet not tax the remaining brain cells I have at the moment.

 

The next thing I decided to tackle is the Color Affection Shawl.  I started with some beautiful brown merino silk yarn I already had spun up.  This soft yarn came from roving I bought at Shepherds Harvest.  It was amazingly easy to spin. But then I needed two more colors.  Dipping into my fiber stash, I came up with a semi solid blue from All For Love of Yarn.  It too has a blend of merino and silk.  Finally add some luscious white silk blend from Shepherds Harvest and I found my Color Affection.  But since I wanted the white at the top, I had to get busy and spin.

 One week later, I spun both the white and blue and started knitting.  I'd like to have it finished in time for all my fall events, so that is the next challenge.  Find enough time to knit without impacting the spinning schedule.  Lovely problem to have. 

Thanks for reading, I know some people are still hanging around. I'll be back!

 

Spring? What Spring

OK, I'm a hardy midwestern woman.  I can shovel snow with the best of them.  I drive through sleet, rain, snow and ice (and I'm not affiliated with the post office in any way).  I even LIKE winter (most of the time).  I am a knitter after all and where better to knit than in a place where temps range from 100 in the summer (ok, not frequently, but still!) to a minus 40 in the winter.  I DO.  But this year?  Ya, winter lasted two months longer than last year (and I'm talking snow on the ground winter, not just a cold wet spring).  Spring?  well that has just decided to roll over and make way for summer.  But here we are, June 10 and we have had weeks of gray skies, fog, and rain.  Temps barely cracking the 50s.  ENOUGH I say.  sigh...they promised this week was going to be sunny and in the 80's, well I think they are lying!  Today was gray and gloomy yet again.  Finally at 5ish I saw the sun and the temps crawled into the 70's and I nearly wept for joy....maybe there is hope yet.

So enough of the weather report.  I brought a new sample to Lila and Claudine's this weekend, meet the Trellis Rose Shawlette. 

 It is a beautiful shawlette with the best border on it.  I used my handspun, Giselle for the body of the shawl and a no name brownish gray for the glorious border.  I also recently received a new shawl pin.  It is carved from a sea shell and is so pretty.  I found them at WC Mercantile, I emailed them, ordered two and they were shipped out so quickly.  If you are looking for unique shawl pins, check them out!

One of best things about this shawl was the knitting fairies were looking down kindly at me.  I did not manipulate my yarn in the body of the shawl at all, I simply started knitting from my skein and the gray of the main part of the shawl flew off the needles, when I started to transition to the edges, the reds, pinks and hints of brown slide through my fingers.  Once again, my yarn makes me look like a much better knitter than I truly am.  I'll take the luck!

 

 

Happy birthday emily!

Today my daughter is 11.  Her morning started with a gift from Anna.  What could be better than makeup for a newly minted 11 year old.  The glitter eye liner was a big hit.  Smile.  Toss in the afternoon and evening event of a family wedding and it is a jam packed day.

Yarnover

Another wonderful day at yarn over.  An early start and both girls chose to come.  They tend to come every other year. I think they forget how bored they get after a year so this was the year.  The day was great.  My table was full of yarn and roving.  My samples were all displayed.  Turns out the biggest hit was the lefties scarf.  The morning was crazy busy.  Lots of Ginny's roving sold and plenty of my yarn.  I laughed and talked with others who love yarn like me.  Thanks to all who bought my yarn as well as those who brought back beautiful items made from my yarn they bought from me in previous years.  Hope to see you all again soon.

Colors to dream of

I got a new phone so am playing with the options.  Makes posting a bit easier!

Getting ready for yarnover

With less than two weeks to go to yarn over, most of my time is spent spinning.  Not a bad way to spend a snowy sleety spring mn  day.  Sad but true.  But at least I am spinning.

The joy of music

Music has long been a source of solace for me. Most people who know me now don’t realize how much music was my life in my teens and 20’s. I sang a lot. I sang at my grandparents funerals. I sang for my sister’s wedding. I was actually quite good, my senior year of high school I auditioned and was accepted into a national choir that performed Philadelphia,in New York’s Carnegie Hall (do you know how cool it is to realize I got to walk in the artists entrance?) before leaving and touring Europe where we performed in various cities and amazing locations including Notre Dame Cathedral. I was a 17 year old girl from a small farm town in Minnesota and I left the country for my first time and traveled to Italy, France, Austria, Switzerland and England before returning home. It opened up the world to me. I had never traveled alone before and Ilearned I could do a lot of things I wasn’t sure I could.

Singing and playing the piano was a place of refuge for me. I sang in college andlater joined church choirs. I’ve always listened to a wide range of music and still do. I can listen to classical, country, Christian, blues, jazz, Broadway, old and new, it didn’t matter to me, I loved music. I haven’t sung in public for probably 15+ years. It just fell away, I’m not sure why. Sometimes I felt people never knew who I was, only that I could sing and that got tiresome. Once I had the girls it was hard to find the time to join a church choir. I think I’d like to do it again, but it just doesn’t fit in my life at the moment. I don’t play piano anymore either. I have my piano and won’t let mom sell it, but I haven’t sat down to play in a very long time.

Listening to music is still part of my life and how I deal with stress I think. I use music as a way to talk to God. I use music to change my mood. While I have an ipod, I still mostly choose to listen via cds. My girls laugh at me, but it suites me. When I pull out old cds I remember where I was in life or something that happened when I listen to that cd. Today I pulled out my old Rich Mullins cds. Lord I had forgotten how I loved him. And it reminds me of living in Dallas. So today I sit wrapped in the musical cocoon of Rich Mullins filling my head with encouragement and faith. It is holding me together and soothing my jangled nerves.