I'd like to be....

under the sea:


Tile Mural by Dianna Rose, now installed in our guest bath!

We've been so busy the hands are faster than the camera:



Spinning:

a bobbin a day, that's all we ask.

and some African silk:


This stuff is marvelous to work with: I spun this last night at our local guild meeting. Our speaker was Ginger Luters, who is also a member of the guild. She talked to us about Tunisian Crochet, which is apparently not Tunisian but is a form of crochet. She showed us interesting openwork and modular work, lots of inspiration.

I spun through the lecture. I was given this African silk at a workshop, but I am not sure I can remember from whom.....! If you know anything about this baggie:

can you email me please (lambspin at g mail dot com....remove all spaces etc.)? Meanwhile, I've sent an inquiry to the person I think brought it to me.

Anyway, it's wonderful to spin, drafts like a champ, and very little in the way of chaff, fluff, noils, short bits. Thank you!! to whomever....

Lots of fun stuff happening, people busy either building or making, a bit on the frenetic side around here, but that's better than being dull, I suppose. I have neglected the blog, sadly, despite having thought of lots of things to tell you: I had a whole post about the lunar eclipse last month, quite beautiful, joined by two shooting stars as I sat and watched....I just hope you are psychic, or telepathic, or something because I'm off and away! again. Back soon.

There is a warm bright sun out there, and the studio awaits.

New

Lots of New besides the year.

This year's best Christmas present ever?

Blue tarp, cut and sewn into shopping bags. It made us both laugh out loud! And furthermore:

you may not be able to tell from this photo but that is duct tape reinforcing the bottom(!). And also? It comes with a repair kit:


We laughed!! My husband thought it was such a good idea we should go into business. Think of it, he said: all the men will be clamoring to do the grocery shopping just so they can flash their bags!

I did a little knitting, but not for gifts. For me, mitts:

They do so match :D! This is worsted weight wool from Green Mountain Spinnery, bought when we had a day off from SOAR this October.

They have flip-tops for warmth:

and frankly, I've been wearing them over gloves, because I am in the mountains of Colorado and it is very cold here.

We had a sleigh ride:


to dinner in a cozy cabin:


Some of us are learning new things, like using a big-people spoon to eat our cottage cheese out of a big-people bowl:


But alas, we get distracted by our Uncle Sean:

and have to laugh out loud!

The New Year is starting out right, as we speak, with a nice long nap, so our grandma can finally (!) (I know!) get busy and put up a blog post.

If we are starting as we mean to go on, this will be a very jolly year :D!

A Whirlwind Occurred

Sometimes life just feels like this:


Obviously, I have been visiting. I took spinning with me, but tragically, forgot the plying spindle. Relax, I thought, just keep winding off onto cardboard tubes. I managed for 4 or 5 days:


Things just kept building, spinning was getting done, and then (imagine lightbulb here) I realized I would be in one place long enough to get a package delivered. I ordered a new spindle! Hooray! Was not just an excuse! See the bright shiny new spindle here?

New plying spindle delivered, all yarns plied and wound off into skeins, and everyone is happy:


Knitting has been occurring, also while traveling:


and even a small bit of weaving:


for a benefit sale (the tote bag is gone now, no idea where! If you get it for Christmas, please let me know :).

Alas, still many deadlines to meet, and miles to go before I sleep. 'Tis the season, of course, and I still feel a little:


upside down. Things are getting done, I am catching up, but, alas, not there yet! Baking to do! Letters and cards to write! Shopping! Making! wrapping and packing!If I have missed you, owe you an email, or (gasp!) need to contact you, soon! I tell you it will be soon! (The panic and desperation you may have read into this post is yours and yours alone. No one is desperate here!).

Colors

Evening knitting, morphed from travel knitting:


Some of this has been ripped back, the yarn by itself has enough color, I don't need to add stripes of other yarn. No new photo, but imagine this with only the BFL yarn.

For some reason I love the look of a warped loom:


A warm shawl, quickly done (my how swift and easy it is when using commercial yarns!). This is done, and mailed off:


to a friend, in a weaverly attempt to comfort her in loss.

The season is full of the colors I love to use:


And the early dark makes for a perfect bedtime-story season too:

We came, We Saw, We Wove

First, upon arriving at The Spinning Loft I was confronted by the Wall O' Fleece:


Actually, that's one of two walls, and excess:


But we overcame. Rather we overlooked, because this weekend, we were weaving:


That is a pile o' painted warps, ready to turn into piles o' fabric:






(Valerie has a great shot of weaving the fabric on her loom here).

Painted warps in cotton, useful fabrics, and fun to weave: as the warp advances new colors/new sections show up. Here is the front of Wayne's loom, as the fabric is being woven:


And here is what's coming up next:


I totally stole this photo from Valerie (without permission, thank you Valerie in advance!) of Wayne's finished fabric as it came off the loom:


He also painted some warps for other fabrics:

(photo also stolen, this time from Wayne himself via Ravelry). (I'm a criminal, yes, but at least I confess quickly.)

Lots of other fun things happened, including holding babies!


This is Beth's grand-daughter Candice. You can see I got handed the baby the minute I walked in the door: jacket and scarf still on...

And speaking of Marin's new shoes:

snappy, eh?!

Well Traveled

I'm in Howell Michigan, at the Spinning Loft, a spinners dream shop: there are wheels, and spindles, of course, but there is a wall (actually two full walls) of fleeces. Almost any breed you can name, multiples of some breeds. Lots of options. All there. In one place. You can buy as much or as little of any breed you wish: in fact Beth, the owner, makes up sample packs, just perfect for trying out All The Longwools, for instance, or All the Down Wools.

Beth also has dyed fibers, from local and distant dyers, and despite being a dyer myself, I have been known, in the past, to succumb.


I bought this fiber the last time I was here, in January. I spun it on spindles, in April while I was in Denver visiting the grandchild (have you heard? I'm someone's grandmother! I know! News!):



The yarn sat for a while, resting, waiting, but also enticing me as I passed it in my studio. I mentally tried out patterns for it: hand warmers, a scarf, or shawl, a woven fabric; lots of options.

I started knitting this only recently, knowing I would be traveling. I wanted a simple project, nothing taxing, no pattern if possible, because traveling? I could easily lose a pattern, so it had to be in my head (I occasionally lose my head, but, so far, I have always managed to find it again).

I liked The Age of Brass and Steam (Ravelry link), but it's a little too orderly for me. I liked this version especially, with a bit more color, well used: the pattern changes where the color changes, nicely done.

But I also liked this shawl, and I liked that the directions are more a recipe than a pattern. What I like most about this shawl though is the garter stitch border which can be incorporated into anything, including my scarf.

So I started knitting:


So far so good. The yarn changes color nicely, I get to change stitch patterns at will, and throw in a garter stitch section, or a yarn-over section. I have a few other colors to work in, and plenty of yarn to make a sizeable scarf or small shawl. Easy to knit on planes, in airports, or hotel rooms, a pick-up-and-put-down kind of project, it's been traveling with me, and has traveled a lot before me: The fiber is dyed by Abstract Fibers in Portland, to me via The Spinning Loft in Michigan. It traveled back with me to California, then to Denver still as fiber, and back to California as yarn. The yarn has already been to New Hampshire, and now is back again in Howell for the weekend. Back and forth, back and forth, somewhat like the rhythmic activity of spinning and knitting, and life actually, but I'll stop there before I go all philosophical and zen.

Instead I'll just go all grandma and leave you with this:

a happy little girl :).

Moving On

Heading into a busy month: New Hampshire, Detroit, Dana Point....Pack bags, fly away, come home, wash clothes, pack bags fly away, lather, rinse, repeat. Travel knitting has been sorted:


I'm so looking forward to a glimpse of colorful fall in New Hampshire next week! Fall is here, too, the air smells moist and leaves are starting to drift down. Acorns have been heaving themselves at the yurt roof, which causes a small heart palpitation each time they hit (so unexpected!). We passed acres of pumpkins on our foray over to the coast, and grapes(!): the world will soon have lots more wine...

Detroit (actually Howell) Michigan is next up, where the lovely Beth will take good care me, and where we will talk late into the night like the teenagers we are not, while dandling her tiny new grand-daughter: baby fix!I'll have spinning with me too:



Then it's off to Southern California for SpinMore, a new venture in a great location. Fingers crossed that all goes well with this small gathering: five teachers, great people all, so it promises to be an amazing time.

Unfortunately, none of this travel puts me in the vicinity of this little pumpkin very soon:

But at least I am kept too busy to fret!