Resolution progress...sort of....

So, I posted last time LATE (like 6 months too late) that I had made a resolution to use up my yarn.  I have, thank goodness, made some progress. So far, I have knitted one women-sized slippers (for a coworker), still working on the dear hubby's scarf, a pair of baby socks, and am beginning work on a child's Minion hat. What? Working on more than project at a time?  Hey, my resolution was to USE UP yarn, not just work on one project at a time. I mean, sheesh, what yarn addict--er, aficionado--doesn't have more than one project going on at the same time?

Yet, looking at all the yarn I still have, it doesn't seem like I made a discernible dent in the stash.

However, I am telling myself that slow and steady wins the race, and nothing says I can't continue having this resolution next year, too.

When I think about it, though, I believe my problem is that I can't SEE what I have at any one time. If I had the yarn displayed on shelves in the way yarn stores do, I could see what colors and type of yarn I have at any one time. Not seeing what I have tends to make me think I don't have "enough" yarn.  Out of sight, out of mind, you see.

So...next project will be to clear out my son's old room now that he has been out of the house for years, and turn it into a combo office/craft/guest bedroom. Now to find the time to do it....  Sigh.

Resolutions

Oh, good heavens. I found out that I didn't publish the post below to this blog, and it's been SEVEN MONTHS since I wrote it.  Sheesh.  Which all goes to show how much I do on this blog. However, I will post it now, because I really have been working on this resolution. More on that later, I promise.

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As usual, I'm late with any kind of Christmasy messages, forget about Christmas letters. I had a letter started and was two-thirds of the way through, and then life intervened. Well, with the Alien Child and his lovely wife (yes, he got married this year!) off to be with her family, my husband and I decided we'd have a quiet holiday just by ourselves and my mom. Surely I'd get through the Christmas letter and send it off.

Well, you know how it is. We found out that some college friends of ours weren't going to go see their family down in California after all, and then of course there's their grown-up son who is friends-like-brothers with the Alien Child, and we thought why not invite them to our quiet evening?  And then we found that my brother-in-law and his wife were going to meet up with those friends, and just to make it all convenient for everyone's schedule, we invited them, too.

So instead of a couple of turkey breast slices, salad, and stollen bread, we ended up with a whole turkey, spiral-sliced ham, pumpkin and pecan pies (good thing I had already made the pie crust and put them in the freezer for future use), the whole works. It was the Christmas that Grew.

And that is a perfectly good and happy thing to happen, but it means the intended Christmas letter (and Christmas cards) did not get done. Clearly, I need to schedule and organize these things better.  In fact, I need to organize more than Christmas better.

I did decide on a New Year's resolution, however: to organize, and then reduce my yarn stash to at least 10 percent of what it is now before I buy more. 

Don't laugh.  This is a serious endeavor.  I knew I had quite a lot of yarn (as well as spinning fiber), but not really how much, as quite a bit of it is stashed here and there in the house, somewhat in the manner of a squirrel stashing nuts in the forest. I also realized a while ago that I tend to buy yarn according to color first for a project, and then by type of fiber.  So, the logical thing to do was to gather all my yarn together and sort them out and store them according to color.

Dear heaven.  I seriously did not realize how much yarn I actually had. I was on the brink of turning into one of those hoarder people on reality TV. In fact, last night while I was in my computer room, I suddenly remembered I had some yarn stashed away in some drawers there, too, which I hadn’t looked at for probably years.  Luckily, I always put bags of lavender throughout a container whenever I have yarn in it, so they’re fine.  But for the first time last night, I had a feeling of...dread, thinking of the fact that there might be even more yarn stashed away elsewhere that I had forgotten about.

I had turned into a Yarn Squirrel. This is not good.

I was not taking out skeins to enjoy the look, feel, and texture.  That would have been a useful thing to do, a way of de-stressing without having to resort to medication. I had put them away, but not to take out and make things for others or even myself, which not only would have been calming, but a happy, bountiful thing to do. No, I had turned into someone who squirrels away yarn for the sake of squirrelling away yarn.

I had a dim realization that I had a very large stash of yarn before Christmas, and needed to do something about it, and to that end I made a resolution to reduce it. To ensure committment to this goal, I knit a bunch of items for my church's Holiday Fair.  I even gave out coupons to some coworkers with a list of small, quick-to-knit items on them (scarves, hats, fingerless gloves, etc.) for Christmas, thinking this would surely reduce my stash to the desired 10 percent. 

After having organized for half a day and two evenings, I found that I had way more than I had thought. Way, way more. Knitting these goodies for friends and coworkers would make only a small dent in the mounds of yarn I have.

I have already given away yarn to (and made hats for) charity and to friends who knit. But I am reluctant to give away the very, very, very nice stuff that I have accumulated over the years. It's stuff that would cost a mint these days, stuff that I bought when the price was a pittance years ago.  There is nothing for it but I must knit them.

Good thing my family now includes a daughter-in-law and her family.  I now have a wider group of people to knit for.

So, first up: a long scarf made of Lang Colori superwash wool yarn, fingering weight, in a gradient dark taupe/beige color for my dear hubby. I bought this yarn while we were living in Germany. The design is very simple: stockinette stitch to show off the gradient color, with garter stitch edging to keep it from curling, and with fringes at each end.

Second in line, a pair of fingerless gloves in a soft merino wool, taupe, DK or worsted weight, for a coworker. This will have a lace design on the back of the hands, possibly with buttons at the wrist. I already have buttons I need to use.

I have a list of knitting projects now.  I guess I'll see how far through this stash I get. Yeow.

Fabric, yarn, and ghosts

Yesterday, I went with my mom and my sister-in-law Margaret to the Sewing and Stitchery Expo in Puyallup, WA. We always go every year, as Mom is one of the Clothing and Textiles Advisors (CTA--which for some reason makes me think of something like "counter-terrorism agency") who help organize the event.  If you're a fiber artist, into sewing or knitting, this is the place to be.  There are tons of helpful workshops and an abundance of vendors selling every type of fabric, yarn, notions, and machines to fill a crafter's heart with joy. People from all over the country and even out of the country come to this expo. 

I went in thinking I'd not buy anything, or if anything, just one item.  Foolish, foolish me! I came away with a skein of furry yarn (to go with some yarn I already have, so as to make a fancy shrug), 8 oz of alpaca fiber (from Longbranch Fiber Farm, which has VERY soft alpaca fleece, and almost NO guardhairs), and a pair of lovely fine silk scarves from Leilani Arts. I could not believe it, but those scarves--quite large--were only $10 each!  What a deal! They also had some very, very tempting Merino Irish Donegal Tweed yarn (actually made in Ireland), worsted weight, two skeins of which would have been perfect for the shawls I've been obsessively making, but I refrained, as I have yarn I need to go through first for those projects. Yes, I was strong, strong, I tell you! Because those skeins were very lovely and so, so soft, and at a very decent price. 

Margaret was about as foolish as I was, for she also had vowed not to buy anything, but of course came away with some to-die-for cute vintage embroidery patterns, and then she got stuck somehow looking at more vintage goods, as well as buying SOMETHING (which I will not reveal, because she is making it for a certain SOMEONE who may read my blog) that I am sure that SOMEONE will like a great deal.

As for quilters...well, if you have not gone to the expo, this is quilter heaven. The fat quarters were plentiful and diverse, and the displays of quilts were glorious.

I was happy to see Maker's Mercantile at the Expo, which is the brand new retail shop that features the famous Skacel Collection (of the fabulous Addi Turbo needles and other fine notions and scrumptious yarn).  I had noticed this shop on my way back from shopping at the Uwajimaya's Renton store, and of course had to stop in because, hello, YARN. It also has RylieCakes within the shop, which is a gluten-free cafe full of lovely gluten-free pastries. AND they have a place where you can sit and knit! What can be better than noshing down deliciousness while knitting and chatting?

Mom, who is 81, seemed tireless as we walked through two buildings for a good 5 hours.  I noticed that she hardly used her cane at all.  What's up with that?  She'd fallen a few times this year, which has caused my brothers and me a great deal of concern.  But here, she hardly showed any signs of fatigue, except once when she wanted to sit down for a few minutes before she was up and about again.  Either her physical therapy is showing good results, or it is a testament to the healing power of fiber arts.  She was in particular pursuit of an iron, but we didn't find one that suited her needs at the time, possibly because she decided to look for one near the end of our stay, and only looked in one building. We did get separated from time to time in our quest for Mom's iron, but thank goodness for cell phones. 

And now we come to the ghost. After all this fabric and fiber glory, it was close to 5 pm, so we decided to go to a very nice Japanese restaurant in the heart of the old part of Tacoma. We managed to escape to our cars between rain showers--it was quite cloudy and rainy--and drove a few minutes to the place.  Fujiya resides at the top of an old building, which--if I recall its history correctly--still has the original stained glass at the top of its windows that face the street below. 

We were one of the first to arrive after the restaurant opened for the evening, and so the waitress said we could sit where we wanted. Margaret immediately made a bee-line for the booth in one corner, saying it looked like a sunny place to sit.  I was momentarily taken aback by this, because the clouds hadn't parted, and there was no sunshine beaming down on that particular booth, not that I could see.  But I went with it, because we could see down to the street below. 

We went through our menu, while the waitress brought our nicely large pot of green tea and poured it into our cups. But while I was sipping my tea, a sudden movement caught my eye--it was the teapot!  It had slid a definite two inches to the side.  I pushed it away from the edge of the table.  Perhaps I was seeing things.  I went back to my menu, watching the pot out of the corner of my eyes.  It moved again!

"Did you see that?" I asked Mom and Margaret.  "The teapot moved--by itself."

Mom said, "I thought you were pushing it."

"No, I wasn't!"  It moved again.  "There, see?"  I had both my hands on the menu, so there was no way I could have moved it.

"Oh, that's weird," Margaret said, laughing.  "Maybe it's a ghost."

I thought about it a minute--surely there was a rational explanation for it.  I noticed that the table was wet.  Perhaps that was it.  I took my napkin and lifted the teapot--still pretty full, even after the waitress had poured the tea--and wiped the table and the bottom of the teapot until it was totally dry.  I felt it to make sure.  I set the pot down again.

"Okay," I said.  "Let's see if it moves."

We went back to our menus again, but it was obvious that we weren't focused on ordering yet--we were watching the teapot.

It moved again, this time a shorter distance, maybe an inch.  Was the table vibrating from something, enough to cause it to move?  Was there something under the table, maybe some magnet, that was pushing it around?  I felt the surface of the table, and under it.  No vibration, nothing. There was no draft of air going through our corner--the air was still.

The waitress came back again to take our orders.  The teapot moved again.  

"Did you see that?  The teapot moving?" I said.

She grinned.  "Oh, I see you've met our poltergeist.  Yeah, he or she keeps moving the teapot at this booth, and sometimes the one next to it.  It's always the teapots, never the water glasses or the sake bottles."

"Are you serious?" Margaret said.

"This is an old building," the waitress said.  "A lot of buildings in old Tacoma are, and we've experienced more than a few things like this.  The Swiss Hall?  You go there and sometimes you hear some old music playing, even when there's nobody else there--you know, polkas and stuff like that." She nodded at the teapot.  "This one is all right. Sometimes I think it just wants to help pour the tea." She opened the top of the teapot and looked in.  "Thanks for helping," she said to the teapot, and laughed. 

We talked some more about the ghost, and she mentioned that she was careful about telling people about the ghost, especially children, because she didn't want to scare them.  Her own young son had experienced the teapot moving, so she told him that it was because she was magic, which he was very ready to believe, because aren't mothers magic to very young children?  She didn't mind telling us about the resident ghost, because it was clear we weren't worried about it.

We ordered our dinner then, and I kept an eye on the pot.  It didn't just move in one direction, but around.  Oddly, it moved when it was full, and never when it was empty or close to empty. I would have thought that it would have moved more easily had it been empty, but it didn't at all.

When our meal came, we dug in and ignored the moving teapot, and after a while it stopped moving.  The food was delicious, and Endo--the owner/chef--sent out a complementary appetizer, which he did the last time I had been to this restaurant.  Margaret had some grilled fish, and I had a combo sushi plate, and Mom chose from the a la carte sushi menu.  So good!

Just before we left, I gave a nod to the teapot and said, "thanks for making our meal memorable."  It gave one last jiggle before the waitress came to take it and our dishes away.  I like to think it was the ghost's way of saying "you're welcome."  :-D

Baking Pies

The Bake Sale Table - yum!

Today, I'm being bad...but good.  I'm skipping church, but I'm making up for it by doing two things:  Sleep in late (hey, it's supposed to be a day of rest!), and baking pies for the Holiday Fair that's coming up on November 5th.   It's a marvelous Holiday Fair, and I absolutely love it.  Everything's all decorated and people are cheerful and friendly, the children are excited, because it all says Christmas is coming in not too long from now.  I love it because of the happy vibes, and because the proceeds go to help the community in the form of donations to homeless shelters, orphanages, and so on.  In the past, we've donated to the Domestic Abuse Women's Network,  to Hope for the Children of Africa, and many more.  This year, it's to benefit two charities, Fusion and Ramps.

Quilts!  Christmas Decorations!  Paddle Thingies!

The pies?  They'll be apple pies.  I mean the genuine Federal Way United Methodist Women's apple pie recipe, with the lovely flakey light-brown crust and the luscious abundant apple filling inside.  I did not know how to make good pie crust before I went to this church.  However, I volunteered at their pie-bake session and learned The Secret, which I will not reveal here, because, hey, it's a secret!

Well, not really a secret, because it's in their church cookbook, which I believe is also on sale.  So if you want to know what the secret to good pie crust is, you have to buy the cookbook.  I promise to post pictures here once I get the pies done. You will then see the lusciousness that is the Traditional Federal Way United Methodist Women's apple pie.

I may also make some peach pies, and berry pies.  I'll have to see what I've stored in the freezer.  In the coming days, I'll probably make some cookies as well.  Yep, I'll be a baking fool!

Scrubbie!

What else is at the Holiday Fair?  Oh, lovely, lovely hand-crafted items.  Jewelry, knitted and crocheted things, including the homely, yet famous Scrubbies!  Yes, those round crocheted things made of net, that are the perfect things to scrub non-stick pans with!  Or anything else, for that matter.  You can stick them on the upper rack of your dishwasher on one of the prongs and wash--and sanitize--them that way.  Or, you can toss in the washing machine and dryer.

Come visit!  I'll be there.  You can find the church here:


View Larger Map

Yes, yes, I'm going against my policy of verboten mention of Christmas before Thanksgiving (before it's even Halloween, for heaven's sake, and I won't go into a rant about how stores do this), but this is the Holiday Fair and it is one of my favorite events of the year.  :-)

Spring Cleaning Part Deux: New Uses for Old Things

I have been steadily cleaning out this disaster-area of an office, and finding things that are...well, fairly useless.  Such as 5-inch and 3.5-inch floppy disks that have information I've already either archived or have on my current computer.  There are books for which I have copies in ebook form (Jane Austen books, many of which you can download free), and paperback books that are falling apart because they are literally over 30 years old and I have read them over and over again (and I hope, hope, hope that I can find them again in print or in ebook form).  Then there are papers that are decades old that surely can be thrown out, and so on and so on.  Or, there are old Windows 95 and other software manuals that are way, way out of date.


However, today I came upon this particular item.  It's made of Gore-Tex-like material, about 9 inches by 5 1/2 inches when folded.  The interior pockets are made of some kind of vinyl and are about 3 1/2 by 4 inches.  I've had it for...probably almost 15 years.

I pulled it out of a pile of stuff that I had put on one of my bookshelves to look at "later," which obviously was about at least 10 years later.  Yes, that's how long it's been sitting around.  I opened it and when John popped his head around the corner of my office to see what I was doing, and I held it up.  "Recognize this?"

He gazed at it for a second or so, puzzled.  I said, "It's a holder for the 3 1/2 floppy disks for the old PC we used to have.  I guess I should have thrown it out by now, right?" I said, laughing a little at how silly I'd been for holding onto it for so long...but stopped laughing as an idea slowly formed in my brain.  "On the other hand...I think I won't because I might be able to use it.  I could use it to--"

"Store knitting needles!" John said.

"Yes!" I said, much pleased at his perspicacity.  "Exactly--circular needles, in fact!"

The top pockets are too shallow to hold the needles without sticking out, but they're just the right size to hold a small pair of scissors, especially if you pass the velcro strap through one of the finger loops.  The clear plastic holder to the left, which normally would hold a business card, is perfect for holding a cable needle without too much worry that it'll fall out, since the opening is up against the fold of the holder.  It would easily slip into any purse or knitting bag without having the cables get tangled up, especially since the velcro strap holds them down.  Here's what it looks like with needles and accessories in it:

Just to test how secure the items were within it, I closed it and shook it (the horizontal velcro pieces on either side are "opposites" so that it stays shut when closed).  Then just to be absolutely sure, I opened it and shook it upside down.

Nothing budged!  How cool is that?

So now I have a handy-dandy circular knitting needle holder for whatever knitting project I might want to take with me when I'm on the go.  Now I'm thinking about looking for more floppy disk holders like this for more of my needles.  Each pocket can be easily labeled as to the size, and and another label on the outside saying what all sizes are within.  The holder is about the height and width of a trade paperback book, so I can put it in my bookshelf if I want to, and the spine--though thin--is wide enough to put yet another label on if I want to see what sizes are within if I do put it in a bookshelf.

Wow.  I absolutely must see if I can find more of these!  If I recall correctly, it wasn't very expensive when I bought it.  However, if I can't find any of these, I bet CD holders would work about as well, and at low cost, too.  I found one here in Amazon.  Less than $10!

However, I like the slim line of the 3.5 floppy disk holder, since it's very easy to tuck in a purse, unlike the bulkier CD holders.

I feel so frugal and resourceful!  :-)

Spring Cleaning--and Creating!

Got busy today!  I decided to clean my office in 1/2 hour spurts, which coincidentally is the amount of time wool roving needs to cook in the crockpot.  So I thought, why not dye some roving and clean at the same time? That way I'd have a few breaks from the tedium of cleaning, yet still dedicate some solid time giving away, throwing away, and putting away stuff.  Yep, spring cleaning is here!

I am glad to say that I was productive in both ways.  No, I will not post pictures of my office/library because it still looks like a tornado went through it.  There is improvement:  now a path from door to computer desk can be seen, plus I cleared off a bookshelf and put my yarn in tubs on it.  A box of books now sits in the living room, ready to be delivered to Goodwill.

However, as you see, I am posting pictures of the roving I dyed, because it is much prettier to look at.  I may end up selling the roving or spinning it...I haven't decided yet.  It's nice, soft wool: I have one set that is purely Merino wool, so very soft; the other one is a touch coarser, but still soft and has a somewhat elastic, bouncy feel. 

The pictures don't quite do justice to the colors of the roving.  Except for the primary colored one (to the left), which is that intense in color, the others are actually a bit lighter and more pastel than they look here--very much spring colors.

It's been very wet and rainy lately--I think we've had a month of rain and clouds with perhaps half a day of real sun--so I was feeling very much as if I wanted to create some spring if I couldn't have it in the weather.  I guess that's why there's a bit of yellow and green in all of the rovings I dyed today!

Since each set of colors took half an hour to cook, I guess because I have four colorways, I actually spent two hours cleaning!

I think this deserves some definitely spinning time.  After that, I'll put up some of this roving on my Etsy site.   I haven't put anything up there right now, but if you go there, you can be notified via e-mail once I do start up my shop again.

J'ai tricoté au Tour de France

Which is my high school French attempt at saying, "I have knitted at the Tour de France." Here is a picture of what I was knitting, a cell phone (or "handy" as they say here in Germany) sock. I'm making it out of wool and silk tweed yarn, using a US size 3 Skacel Addi lace knitting needle and "magic loop" method. Why? Because 1) I kept running out of minutes on my cellphone while it was in my purse and it would get hit on this or that button and dial whatever number without my knowledge, 2) it was the first yarn I picked up and hurriedly packed away before I went to bed last night, 3) and we were going to be sitting there waiting for hours before the bicyclists would whiz by.  Unfortunately, the deep aubergine color (note, I use French for "eggplant") does not show up well in this light. At least the needles show up somewhat (I bought them at the Unraveled Yarn shop back in Federal Way, WA--I also think I might have bought the yarn there, too).

A Crafty Afternoon

I was feeling rather blah this morning and so mentally debated whether I wanted to go to the craft/quilt afternoon at Margaret's house, but remembered that I was to show Anna how to use her drop spindle, so decided to go. I was glad I did, because it meant I finally finished the quilted pin cushion that I started...I think some months ago. Finished except for the stuffing, that is. So that's all I need to do with that.

Plus, it was very nice just being with the other gals. Margaret is a sweet and lovely Dutchwoman who goes to the same church we do on the base, and she is very much into quilting and does beautiful work. Cheryl, Anna, and Dee picked me up at home, and we went over the border to...I forget where in the Netherlands. I was too busy looking at the landscape and buildings. :-D

I found that Margaret is into New Age spirituality, which is rather cool. I got into that when I was in my 20's, and still do a bit of tarot as well as astrology from time to time as well. And, I have gone to psychics from time to time, these days just for fun to see if they come up with the same things I have. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. I keep an open mind on these things; that is, I'll allow the possibilities, even the probabilities, but just because someone says it's so doesn't mean it is. It's always necessary to verify via plain hard facts, observation, and personal experience. All three tell me there may very well be something in it all, but that people are fallible, and there are outright fakes out there. Even the well-meaning and ones who may have something real going can make mistakes. In my humble opinion, always verify, test, and keep records.

Anna got a lesson in using her drop spindle, and she did very well for a first-timer. One of the things most people do is not get enough fiber into the twist while not twisting enough, resulting in the yarn coming apart and the spindle falling to the ground. Though her yarn ended up being thick, her spindle didn't drop to the floor. That's a great start.

Margaret has a lovely home, and she spoiled us rotten by bringing out profiteroles, fruit, crackers, and cookies, in addition to various drinks, including white wine.

I went as far as I could with the quilted pincushion, then switched to knitting some yarn I have had for ages, and which I had brought over. It's a lovely cotton polyester yarn between sport and fingering weight, in varied hues of blue, purple, lavender, pale green, and pastel yellow. I figured I'd knit it in lace.

Yet, I felt restless...I knitted it for a while, and when I returned from the get-together (I had a lovely time--so nice to be in pleasant, cheerful company!), I didn't feel like working on it. Perhaps I need a definite pattern for it (instead of just making one up), or I need something else.

I'm beginning to think that I need to go whole hog on the Irish novel now. I've let it rest and allowed myself some percolating time, and I find that I'm thinking of it more--the characters, and how the story will be structured. I've written a synopsis, but I'm not going to look at it, lest I feel bound to it. It--or the structure of it--is in the back of my mind, and that's where it needs to stay, rather like the original of a house plan. You follow it, but if you have a homeowner (i.e., the muse) who knows what she wants but doesn't quite know how to put it in words, you're going to change the plans. And then there is the terrain, and the affordability...you get the idea. You have a plan, but you have to allow that it'll be modified, sometimes more than you think.

I'm still afraid of rushing it...having done that before, I know it usually means disaster. But I might get my hammer and nails out and take a couple of swings to see if I'm about ready to build that house.

End of the old, beginning of the new

Whew.  So I said goodbye to the folks at my day job  on Friday (BergerABAM, the best place I've ever worked--I'm going to miss my coworkers something terrible, seriously.  That place is alive with creativity and innovation, not to mention just plain ol' nice people) and today is my first day at home full time. 

I'm just as busy, although I took some breaks to play Farmville, Country Life, and Cafe World.  Bad, bad me.  At least I've stopped playing Farm Town, and I'll put the other games on hold within the next few hours.  There are too many things to do, and too little time in which to do them.  I have to get taxes done early, make sure the insurance is all up to date...so many other things.  I just sold my old spinning wheel (and got rid of more wool fiber), and have a buyer my car (although the owners-to-be are fine with me using it until I don't need it).  Got my medical info updated and in order. 

But taxes...ugh.  I really do not like doing the taxes, even though we have TurboTax.

Numbers.  That's what gets me.  I have a fear of not doing the arithmetic right.  Funny thing; I'm all right with algebra, I could do calculus in college just fine (averaged a 3.5 in my calculus classes), but it's possible to do those without ever having to add, subtract, multiply, or divide actual numbers.  You ask me to do basic arithmetic in my head and I freeze.  I can do it, of course.  But my first response is to freeze, see the numbers in my head, and feel overwhelmed.

One of these days I'll get over it.  Luckily, I have no trouble when I write it down, it's just the doing it in my head part.  I swear, there is nothing that makes me feel more stupid than being asked to do arithmetic in my head, without paper or pencil.  Give me a paper and pencil/pen, and I'm fine, though.  Maybe one of these days I'll get over it.

Meanwhile...there are other things I have to get done around here.  I've given away/sold, packed away more yarn than I want to admit to, ditto wool, silk, alpaca fiber.  It still looks like a mess around here.  (Sigh)

Put a little love in your heart

"Think of your fellow man
Lend him a helping hand
Put a little love in your heart....

And the world will be a better place..."

Enough of feeling down and despairing! It's time to get down and get to work!

I was reminded of this, when the old hippie flower-child song above (written by Jimmy Holiday, Randy Myers, and Jackie DeShannon) was played in church today, and I remember when I heard this as a kid back in 1969 on the morning radio before I went to school. My mom was a classical music fan, my dad was all jazz and big band sound, and had just a bit of suspicion about that weird hippie stuff, but they could totally get behind this song, because they believed in what it had to say down to their bones. My dad invited, every year, a couple of young sailors who were far away from home to our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, because he thought was terrible that young kids like that would not be with family during the holidays. And my mom--good heavens. I swear I have to make an appointment to see her these days because of her very full volunteer schedule (I will boast: she won Pierce County Volunteer of the Year award for 2000, and this year won the Outstanding Volunteer award).

So, when "Put a Little Love in Your Heart" came on the radio in 1969, my folks said we could listen to that kind of music all we wanted. There is everything right with having love in your heart and helping out people in need, whether here or abroad.

It's September now, and the summer heat is giving way to cold rain here in the Pacific North"wet." I love this time of year, when the leaves turn to red and gold, when fresh ripe apples are crisp and sweet in one's mouth, when curling up underneath a blanket with your loved ones is especially cuddly, and--of course---when the love of yarn turns to an orgy of fiber-addiction.

The great thing about this, however, is that if you have a great deal of yarn, or can't help adding to your stash, you can tell yourself that not only are you going to make your loved ones all warm and loving-cuddly with the products of your knitting (or crocheting) prowess, but you are going to spread that fiber-love to the world.

I once Tweeted that "I firmly believe that if everyone took time to knit, crochet, or do some kind of constructive hand craft, we would have World Peace." It was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but I am proud to say that Lion Brand Yarns picked it up and re-tweeted it. :-D Still, tongue in cheek or not, I do think there is something to that idea.

I think of all the charity knitting, crocheting, and sewing that is done--making clothes and blankets for premie babies, hats for the homeless, Afghans for Afghans, for our soldiers, and to raise money for various other causes, both here and abroad--I have to think there is a lot of love going on there for others. What if our world leaders, while in the midst of diplomatic negotiations, decided to sit down and knit or crochet some item for the needy in their opponent's country? They'd have to get the measurement of each person they did the handiwork for, where they lived, what kind of weather they had so that you could make the outfit or blanket or whatever suitable for their climate. And you know, when you do that, when you measure out a piece of fabric, when you tailor what you make for a person, that person is no longer some vague demographic statistic, he or she has shape and form. That person becomes real

And when he or she gets that item of clothing, knowing where that piece of clothing comes from, there is less animosity toward the person or country from whence it came. It was made specially for that person, and in good will.

There is a little love in each person's heart, both from the giving and the receiving.

So, as we enter fall and look toward the winter, I'm gearing up to do a lot of knitting and spinning of yarn. One of the projects I'm thinking of taking up is to restart my Building an Orphanage in the Congo project on my Etsy site.

I am thinking, however, of also trying to find some charity that benefits rural people. I've been reading a lot about rural poverty and the stereotypes people have about it. The stereotype a typical poor rural person is some white guy with a gun and beat-up truck, a "hick." But the truth is, typical rural citizens are African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans. The attitude we have about rural people is damaging, to say the least.

I won't go into the statics about that now. I want to do the Pollyanna thing instead, and that is to look around and see where there is need, then do something to help. I'm like a lot of middle class folks--I've got a job, and so does my husband, for now. I've got a mortgage and college loans to pay while sending a kid through college. But compared to a lot of people, that's tremendous abundance. I've got enough to pay for such luxuries as a TV and computer and...a sizable yarn stash.

It wouldn't hurt me at all to do something with that yarn stash to help those in need. And I bet I'll be joining legions of other hand-crafters doing the same thing. I know the folks at CTA (Clothing and Textile Advisors) are doing it. Then there's Afghans for Afghans, and Hats for the Homeless, and so many more. Want to find a local fiber arts charity? Try this link here.

Put a little love in your hearts, folks. Spread the fiber-arts love!

Beginning a new story

All right, I'm starting the new story--the Irish werewolf one--for sure now. I've done some general history research on the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and re-familiarizing myself with Jonathan Swift's satire, "A Modest Proposal." The satire was published in the 1720's, but I plan to have it in a priest's library and in the villain's hands at one point. I'm going to start it just at the death of Wolfe Tone, leader of the United Irish. The fact that there is a prominent "wolf" in the Irish Rebellion is a nice piece of synchronicity; my idea of a werewolf in Ireland came to me years before I had done any kind of research into the Irish Rebellion.

(Sigh) It's a complex, very complex period. The English at the time did a good job of using sectarian animosity between the Irish Catholics and Protestants against the whole country, but it seems to me that underneath it all, they didn't really care what sect the Irish were; they'd do what they could to keep them from having a voice and owning land. Terrible things happened then. Terrible. But, as has been the case from the days when cities were first built to the present, the issues were still the same: absentee urban landlords who have the majority vote (if not the only ones able to vote) squeezing everything they can in the form of taxes and goods from the land and the rural people who live and work on it. And the land and the rural people usually lose. It got so bad that it culminated in the Potato Famine of the 1840s, where the English kept on exporting food cattle from Ireland while the Irish starved to death as the blight hit their potato crops. There was plenty of food in Ireland. Just not for the Irish.

One of the most touching things I read about the Irish Famine of the 1840s was the Choctaw Indian contribution of around $700 to the Irish when they heard of their plight. The Choctaw had suffered the Trail of Tears a good 16 years prior to that, and they knew what suffering and hunger was about at the hands of oppressive government. I understand there are Irish who travel to walk the Trail of Tears to this day in remembrance of that gift.

However, the great Irish famine is a good 40 years or so after my story begins. My heroine's family is going to be relatively poor, but not as poor as the rest of the village. Her family's very old Irish nobility and still holds some land, but barely. The hero is English, and has just inherited the land next to hers, and so he's coming out to inspect it, as he thinks his rent collector is cheating him (the rent collector is cheating both the tenants and the hero). So, there will be a lot of hard feelings and conflict up front that the hero will have to overcome--which will be near impossible without the heroine's help. I think I mentioned already that she's a knitter and spinner, things I have a lot of experience with, so can write with some authority on that. And what I don't know, I can get from friends who are even more expert than I.

I expect I'll shed a few tears as I write this story, but as Robert Frost said, "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader."

But don't worry--this is a romance novel. There will be a happy ending in the book. :-)

Thinking about dyeing again

No, not thinking. I went to the Dharma Trading Company and bought some dyeing supplies, including a good book on the process. I already do know how to dye wool using a crockpot, but thought the book might come in handy for some tips and tricks. The Dharma Trading Company is a fantastic place to buy basic art and craft goods, particularly fiber arts. I really do mean basic, because you will not find findings or colored threads or yarn here. This store is really for the do-it-yourselfer, for the person who dyes their own fabric, thread, yarn, roving, etc. The only color of fiber here is white, pretty much. But, the prices are very, very, very good, and the service is excellent.

I believe I have a supply of wool that I will use. I have some pink that I think I'll overdye with blue for a varied pink-and-lavender color, and I probably have some white wool I can use, too. There is something very satisfying about spinning wool that I've dyed myself, so I might continue doing that from now on, with occasional forays to Etsy to pick up some really fancy stuff. I will also probably just spin white, and then dye it afterwards, although the thought of spinning nothing but white sort of bores me. But, it'll be an exercise in spinning control, instead of color control.

Knitted result

Well, this is the knitted result of the yarn I hand-dyed and hand-spun. I'm very pleased with it. The colors blend rather nicely one to another, and are kind of self-striping. That's the result of the Navajo three-ply method of plying I did with it. The swatch was knitted with U.S. size 2 (3 mm) knitting needles, the size you'd use for socks. So, I guess I have indeed created some sock yarn!

I did try to spin it very fine, but I think I need a bit more twist than I had in this yarn. It's still very sturdy, though the ply is loose enough that if you're not careful, it's possible to pick up a strand instead of the whole ply. It worked out to about 6 1/2 stitches to the inch, but I tend to knit loosely rather than tightly.

All this motivates me to dye some more roving, which I've done, and I'm working on spinning up that one now. It's in shades of blue and green, with slight touches of yellow.

Spinning fiber and yarn - clearing out stash

The last day of work for me at the contract job (web editing) was yesterday. I liked working at the place, the people I worked with and for were fun (all younger than I am, I bet!), and the work pretty steady and satisfying. I'd work there in a minute again if I had the chance. However, I do want a permanent job (tech writing and/or editing), and so I'm looking around again.

Meanwhile, I need to clean house, and need to destash my fiber and yarn hoard. I have my handspun yarn at my Etsy shop for sale, but I really do need to get rid of my store-bought yarn, too, not to mention my bags and bags of roving and fleece, both wool and alpaca. Ditto some of my store-bought yarn.

I'm keeping the finest stuff for myself (merino, camel, alpaca, silk), but will let go of even some of that. I was thinking of selling the fleece and roving, but what I'll do is give it away for donations to UMCOR (United Methodist Committee on Relief), since 100% of donations to this organization goes directly to those in need, as the denomination members pay for administrative costs themselves.

I have a lot of fleece and fiber. I didn't think I did, but when I gathered it together from the various places I had stashed it...well, it's a lot. A whole lot. The floor of the unfinished guest room downstairs is covered in fleece and roving, that's how bad it is. I've begun organizing it into types of fiber (Merino, alpaca, Shetland wool, mixed type, etc.), so that whoever comes over to take some will be able to see what's there.

I also think I'll go to the local Arachne Guild meeting on January 3 from 10 am to 2 pm, in Edgewood, WA. I understand I can possibly unload a lot of fiber there. I hope. If I don't get rid of most of it there, then I'll also go to the MoonSpinner's Guild in Sumner, WA on January 8 at 7 pm.

Truth is, I can't possibly spin all of this stuff, since I now have tennis elbow and some carpal tunnel of my right arm and hand, and tenosynovitis of my left hand (thumb). I got it from--believe it or not--knitting too much and too fast. I had some pneumonia this fall, complicated by asthma, and so had to take some prednisone. I decided to knit an ambitious amount while I recovered, and I can knit at a very fast pace. What I didn't know was that the prednisone I was taking suppressed any symptoms of inflammation or fatigue I normally would have experienced when knitting this much. I had no idea I was injuring my hands....

Until I was finished with my prednisone. Dear God. The pain was awful. My hands were hurting from elbow to fingertip.

I'm still recovering. I can knit and spin a bit, but I don't dare do it for more than a few minutes, though, and I'm wearing an arm brace and carpal tunnel brace on my right arm. I also have a thumb-and-wrist brace for my left hand, but only wear it at night, since, geez, how can anyone expect to do anything, much less knit or spin, with a thick brace like that on one's hand? Plus, the yarn and fleece stick to the stupid Velcro, and my arms end up looking oddly hirsute with vari-colored fiber.

Ugh. This does not make me happy. Still, better those who will appreciate the fiber get it, rather than it just sitting around.

I can do some spinning and knitting, though, just as long as I don't overdo it. But I'll never get to dealing with all this yarn and fiber unless I let some of it go. (Sigh)

Yarn, more yarn

The more I wrangle with my writing, the more I spin yarn. This is actually a good thing. If I didn't spin yarn, I would have writer's block worse than I do already. Spinning yarn is a soothing activity, and keeps the highly critical part of myself subdued, if not silent. Whenever I get stuck, I spin yarn, and within 15 minutes, I know what I need to write or revise.

However. This does mean that I also knit all of the yarn that I make. It builds up. My office is 1/3 desk and writing materials, 1/3 books and research materials, and 1/3 yarn. And filling up rapidly to the point where the yarn is beginning to crowd out the rest of my stuff.

So, I've resorted to selling the yarn. I did begin selling them at eBay, but now I've switched to Etsy, a web site at which artisans, artists, and craftspeople can sell their handmade and homemade goods. It's less of a busy-looking place, and has very fun ways to search through different artists' stores.

As a result, the more yarn (as in, yardage) I have up there to sell, the more snags I've hit in my writing.

(sigh)

Finding stuff

One good thing about cleaning up--in this case, my office--is that I find all sorts of nifty things I forgot I had. It’s like finding nice surprises. Which is sort of an excuse for not cleaning up, because if everything was neat and tidy, I wouldn’t discover delightful things all over again. For one, I discovered a small zippered purse, in which I had at one time put about five dollars in coins and paper money, which apparently fell off my desk and behind some...stuff. Picked up said stuff and now I’m five + dollars richer.

I discovered I have some very nice taupe cashmere roving; I’m debating whether I want to use it as it is and spin some pure cashmere yarn, or whether I want to combine it with wool into batts and spin it that way. Or, combine the pure cashmere with hand-dyed silk of gold, silver, bronze and copper colors. That would be quite a delightfully sinful combination, but I’m not sure whether it’d be worth it to sell it on eBay afterwards. For one thing, it’s heading into summer now, which is a bad time to sell yarn, and for another, I’ve got some yarn up on eBay for sale that’s made of Lorna’s Laces roving, and I’ve discounted it twice already since it hasn’t sold. Discounted it so much that it’s below cost, and I won’t make any money on it, unless I get lucky.

So I’m thinking it’s not time to spin the cashmere and put it up, because there’s no way I’d get a good price for it. Or rather, I can spin it up now, and save it to sell later. Or, I might just keep it myself, or give it away as a Christmas present for my mom, who most certainly knows the value of a good cashmere yarn.

I did discover some lovely hand-dyed cotton roving, which I think I’ll spin up during the summer, and see if that will sell at all. I’ve never spun up cotton, so it’ll be something new.

Cleaning House

It seems as if every time I finish a book, I start cleaning. This time, it’s the office. Ye gods, but it’s awful. I mean, awful as in a narrow deer path from door to computer desk. Piles of stuff on the desk. I’m seriously thinking the only way to really clean out this place is to do it the Clean Sweep method. Just empty this room, sort, toss, re-organize, and then bring back only the necessary things.

Most of it is office stuff, but part of it is fiber--yarn, rovings, bats, fleece, parts for the spinning wheel. It’s a small room--8 x 9 feet, I think, but surely there is a way to store the fiber and such, plus have room for my books. Dare I say it? I might, might, might get rid of some books.

Oh horror! Oh, woe! My precious, precious books! To take them from me is to tear out my heart, nay, my soul!

On the other hand, when certain books collect a rather thick layer of dust, chances are good the tearing isn’t going to be all that painful. There are of course certain ones that I’ll keep--the primary source material on the Regency will probably stay, but I think I’ll get rid of some of the costume books, since I pretty much have the clothing styles memorized by year. I’ll keep my Riverside Shakespeare, of course, because all English-speaking households should have a copy of Shakespeare (or at least a book that contains notable quotes from Shakespeare) somewhere about, in my humble opinion. Reference books, such as the Chicago Manual of Style...but I’m thinking I might just get rid of some of my writing books. Twenty Master Plots, for example. I think I can say I haven’t opened that book in perhaps a decade. It’s pretty obvious looking around this room that I haven’t read through Organizing for the Creative Person by Lemkuhl and Lamping, but maybe I should give it another try.

Ugh. The more I think of getting rid of books, the more I can feel myself dragging my feet. It must be done, however. Really, there are more than a few of my books that I haven’t looked at for years. If I can just clear out one bookcase--which I am sure I can do if I try hard enough--I can use the shelves for my fiber stash. (I know there are fellow fiber and craft addicts out there who doubt I can do it, but I am strong! I will prevail! I will also get rid of some of my stash--shudder--on eBay. That will help.)

Freddie Kruger sweater

Never try to knit a sweater for someone and ask them via e-mail what they would like. You will not do it exactly the way they want it.

I so very kindly decided to knit my son a sweater, and so asked him via e-mail what he would like. He said he'd like a Freddie Kruger type of sweater, with black and red stripes. I was not comfortable with this idea at first, because why Freddie Kruger? Was there a darker side to my loving son that is only now creeping out due to some horrible influence he encountered at college?

But I have faith in the boy's good nature, and surely something made lovingly by his mother, even a sweater that might evoke thoughts of psychopathic killers on Elm Street, would counteract all evil. Yea, it would be as a shield against all wrong-doing and iniquity, because each stitch is made with love--a mother's love, which has deep and spiritual properties, as we all know.

Also, I happened to have the right amount of Brown Sheep Yarn's Cotton Fleece in Cavern black color for a medium men's size sweater. All I needed was red, and since he specifically mentioned Freddie Kruger, the red has to be blood red. Cotton Fleece does not come in Blood Red, however, which I suppose is wise of the Brown Sheep company, since the idea of Blood Red in Cotton Fleece would probably evoke thoughts in potential buyers of poor slaughtered lambs. I had to find something close to blood color for it to work, and then I had to consider whether it would it be blood red as in fresh blood, or would it be blood that has been sitting around for a bit and thus oxidized?

I asked some folks on the JennyCherries fan list (many of whom are also knitters, and Who Know All about knitting and other various and esoteric things. Do check out Jennifer Crusie's web site, by the way. Jenny's one of the best writers I know, and a danged fine person to boot), and they kindly pointed me toward a web site featuring a picture of Freddie. Unfortunately, his sweater (or shirt) seems to be made of more than one shade of blood red color--both the fresh kind and the sitting-around-for-a-bit kind, except the two reds are mashed around and splotched amongst each other within each evenly-spaced stripe. It's hard to tell which is the true color of his sweater, since the folds are highlighted and such.

The closest I could come to the color is Candy Apple and Barn Red, so of course I bought both, just in case. I started out with Barn Red, which is closer to the fresh blood color, while Candy Apple is closer to the sitting-around-a-bit color. Fresh blood is better, I thought.

I should mention that I have been writing my vampire historical romance every day, so it might be that some of it has been seeping into, so to speak, my choice of colors. I assure you, however, that this is as far as my "method writing" goes, even if my good friend and critique partner Gerri Russell gave me a "Vampire in a Box" kit for Christmas. I also received a God-and-Jesus mini-calendar that another critique partner, Pamela Bradburn Ochs (who is in seminary) bought as a souvenir when she went on a cruise to Mexico. So, if I ever feel overwhelmed by the forces of darkness, I will be able to work it out by having the vampire-in-a-box battle it out with the God-and-Jesus mini-calendar, and we all know who will win that contest. I mean, two against one, you know?

But I digress...

I decided to knit the sweater in pieces, since it's been over 20 years since I've knitted one that way. I usually knit raglan sweaters top-down using circular needles, because I didn't want to bother with sewing seams, but this time...eh, I really should learn to do sweaters in pieces. Besides, it's easier to carry around. I started out knitting the bottom ribbing with the Cavern Black, and then knitted with the Barn Red, and then with the Cavern Black again, same number of rows each. Not too bad, actually, although the Barn Red did look quite bright against the black.

Problem is...boredom set in. Black, red, black, red. Same old, same old.

But I persisted, because this is for my son, and it's the first time he has asked me to knit anything for him. It positively warmed my yarn-aholic heart, even though I know it's because for the first time, he's experienced a few weeks of persistent sub-freezing weather. By the time the boy came home, I had knitted the front piece almost to the armholes. Proudly, I showed him the progress I had made on it.

"That's a really bright red," he said. "And the stripes are all the same width."

Foreboding descended upon me. "You said you wanted a Freddie Kruger sweater. It's the closest red I could find to the red on his sweater."

He looked over the sweater-in-progress thoughtfully. "I said I wanted one with stripes like his, not exactly his. I was thinking of two kinds of red, and then varying the stripe widths in a random way." He spied the Candy Apple skein. "Like that color. If you put that color in also, it'll be good." Apparently he caught the consternation on my face, because he patted me on the shoulder kindly and said, "but you don't have to undo it, you can just add that color in the rest of the way."

Which I took to mean, he probably will only wear the sweater around me and not around anyone else if it has those wide red stripes in it. I've seen him do this, wear something just to please me, and then take it off when he thinks he'll be seen by one of his friends. And really, I don't think it'll work if I just "add that color in" as I go along. I was suspended between despair and...

An intriguing vision of what the sweater could look like if I did unravel it and knit it up with the stripes in random widths, and with both kinds of red.

I unraveled it. And began knitting the stripes in a random way.

I have to say, it's not so boring. The combination of the two reds and then the black in different stripes has a sort of Japanese black-and-red lacquer box look to it. Also, I get to change colors at whim, and not have to count each row of color to make sure they are the same every time. It will, at least, look interesting.

So, it will not be a Freddie Kruger sweater after all, which is just as well. I was having less than charitable thoughts when I unraveled the work, no doubt reducing the effectiveness of the sweater's power against wrongdoing and iniquity, but since it won't look exactly like Kruger's sweater, it probably all evens out.

--Karen H.

You Knit What??:

You Knit What??: I hate you so much.

Okay, I've bookmarked this blog. As a knitter and a creative person, I want to celebrate creativity in needlwork. But there are some people who go too far. Especially when it comes to torturing kitties with their knitting.

On the other hand, if the particular kitty was very bad about messing with the knitter's stash of yarn, it might be revenge.

--Karen H.

International Scarf Exchange

Since I love to knit, plus tend to stick to scarves a lot since I don't need to think much about them and can watch TV while knitting them, I thought I'd post this URL (click on the title "International Scarf Exchange" above to get to the blog, or click here). I can't find an introduction, but from what I can discern, you sign up (well ahead of time!) to knit a scarf for a "scarf pal" somewhere in the world, make and finish a scarf, then send it to that pal, which has to reach him or her by February.

I've not joined but I might next year.

Also, there are links to free scarf patterns. Very cool!

--Karen H.