more mitts

I finished the second pair, which looks a lot like the pair I gave my dad, and sent them to Lynne. and then discovered in the pile of UFOs one that i'd done, ummmm can't remember how long ago. There's lots of angora in it, and it's really fluffy and sweet. and now the kicker!!.. in my extensive stash, i actually found the main yarn i'd used, plus some that will work well with it. so, this time it paid off to be a packrat. i think i'd kept it because it has lots of angora in it and i don't spin yarn like that very often, making it more of a "treasure". I had used a pattern, but have no idea where it is or where i got it, so am improvising on the second one. it has a thumb in it and i think i can figure it out!! well, it's actually half a thumb and covers the joint at the beginning of the thumb (clear??)


the color in these photos is crappy. the main yarn is soft turquoise/offwhite-ish. maybe in the daylight i can do better. but for now.... here it is.

in Morristown, TN

here's a photo taken of us after the play... from L to R:
Tim (nephew), Amy (niece), my dad, Robin and me

where am i now?

well, last thursday my dad and i flew to Knoxville, TN. my sister, Robin, had a part in To Kill a Mockingbird at a local community theater, and Pop wanted to see her (and my niece's) performance and needed someone to accompany him... so.. here we are! We went to the play Friday and Sat. nights, then rented a car Sunday a.m. and drove to his ole stompin' grounds in NC, around Hickory, Statesville, Rutherford College, visited my (step)mom's gravesite, visited some of her relatives and drove back this afternoon to Knoxville. oh, yeah, we stayed overnight in Hickory! and tomorrow we fly back to Portland. so, Pop got to have his stroll down memory lane, we got to see a play which was very well done and enjoyable, we got to hang out with Robin and her kids, and it's been a nice few days! For anyone who doesn't know, my dad is nearly 91 years old, almost blind from macular degeneration, practically deaf even with hearing aids, is otherwise in pretty good health, but tires easily so need some help in getting around. I'm just happy he still wants to go places and do things, so when he needs a travelling companion I go with him when I can!!

And those fingerless mitts in the last entry? well, Pop's hands were cold when we were on the plane, so i offered to let him wear the mitts... after a while he told me they felt really good... then asked if this had constituted a "formal presentation". And now... my current WIP is a pair of fingerless mitts!! I'm hoping my hands won't be cold enough to use them before next winter!

socks????

well, they started life as socks and morphed into fingerless mitts. having decided to do a ruffled cuff on socks, i cast on 88 stitches, then decreased down to 44 on the first round. after about 3 inches, it was obvious that the cuff was just too loose and floppy for socks, and wouldn't be so bad on a mitt because the cuff could come up over a shirt or sweater sleeve. so, i kept on knitting til it was about 5 inches, then bound off 10 stitches and cast 'em back on in the next round. 'twas a perfect thumb hole... so i kept on knitting for another couple of inches. kept trying it on til it covered my knuckles... and now i have mitts. they feel really warm and comfy and keep my gnarly ole knuckles toasty. the photos aren't the best... it's hard to get one hand/arm far enough away from the camera and still be able to push that button with the other hand. hmmm, guess i could have set the timer...

photos

since i haven't put up photos of the grandkids in a long time... here's a couple of cute ones that Kate took (and i took from her blog)

Zylie is a budding ballerina and loves her dance class:


and Alex knows there's more than one way to enjoy water!


cute, huh? ok... i'm done for now......

newest socks

can't remember if i've ever put pics of my socks on my blog, but for the record, here's the latest pair. they are made from stash yarn, which is quite obvious... including some yarn spun with mohair locks and plyed with a silk single. it makes the cuff soft, warm and cushy. i especially love the way the colors go in the heel flap of the sock on the right.

spring????

can spring be far away?? 2 of my "signs" that spring is on the horizon have shown themselves: the fresh asparagus is less than $2/pound this week, tho price will probably go back up before it really drops... and, Meika the husky has gone into her projectile shedding phase. how can she possibly have that much hair? seems i walk past her and if i'm within 2 feet, her fluff leaves her and attaches to me. and the sun is shining and i'm feeling that pull to go out with a rake and clippers and get involved with the weeds and overgrown bushes... uh, shrubs. and my best news today is that i had my medication induced (nucular* injection) cardiac stress test... and the radiologist said i'm normal, and since it is extremely rare that anyone says i'm normal, i will take this as an exceptional day. so, i'm happy about that, but guess we still need to figure out why my blood pressure has gone off the charts.

*yes, i do know how to spell it and pronounce it!

more about Frank

I totally agree with Charleen's comment about being that fly on the wall when Frank tells the stories to his friends at home about his adventure! what would be especially fun would be seeing him with his *7* children when he gives them the gifts he's brought for them!! the youngest are twins, about 3 years old. Rach took him to shop at Target, and has a lovely photo of him standing in an aisle with other shoppers milling about... and there's Frank grinning. He had Rachael take pics wherever they went... grocery store, walking in the snow, Frank wearing his new sweater that they bought to keep him warm.

had a twisted sister spinning day here today, with about 7 of us. Jane let me borrow her woolie winder for my van Eaton wheel, so i had a good spinnin' time and got lots of yarn spun. sure do love that gizmo and will be very happy when i finally have one of my own (it's been on order for a couple of years... i ordered one before he'd made one for a van Eaton.) it's odd getting used to not having to move yarn to another hook... but i'm willing to make the effort :-]

tho it isn't the result of any kind of new year's resolution, i've been motivated (for some obscure reason) to go thru stash, reorganize ... and lo and behold, i found a top down raglan sweater i started.. um.. maybe 4 years ago and started knitting on it again. damn! i should not have even mentioned it. that seems to be the kiss of doom for my projects... talk about it and something goes wrong with it. this one, however, has all the yarn spun for it and i haven't dipped into it for another project (a miracle in itself), and body of it is done down to about 6 or 7 inches from the bottom. there is hope. also found a pair of almost finished socks and got 'em done and off the needles and almost finished weaving in the hundreds of end. i love to do patterns and use lots of colors... but sure do hate all those ends. of course, i don't remember ever hearing anyone say they love dealing with all those yarn ends!! and got a new pair of socks started for that take-along project, which i should get a lot of knitting done on tuesday. i'm having a cardiac stress test done which takes 4 or 5 hours, most of it just sittin' around and waiting. i think the worst part of the whole thing is having NO caffeine for 24 hours before (includes no chocolate... eeeek) if that's the worst of it, that's ok. but not looking forward to 2 mornings of no coffee.

interesting evening

Tonight Rachael came for dinner and brought Frank, who is the elementary school teacher in the village she was in when in the Peace Corp in Tanzania. He's the only one who spoke english, so was a huge help to her in their village. She arranged for him to come to the US and observe classes in several schools, and is giving him a tour of our little corner of the world. This is the first time he has traveled out of Tanzania, and he is quite wide-eyed with the whole experience. He flew into Seattle, Rach met him there and they took Amtrak to Portland, and they've been shopping at a mall, to Powell's Books, to a grocery store, walking in the snow and all kinds of new adventures for Frank. On Sunday they'll to up the gorge to Goldendale, where Rach and Matt live and he'll spend time in the schools there. I just can't imagine what this whole experience is like for Frank.... he lives in a village where they don't have running water, no stoves in their houses or refrigeration, any travel is on foot or on a run-down bus on dirt roads ... you get the picture.... He was interesting to talk to and was very willing to try the food we served... I had tried to keep it to a pretty simple menu. He didn't quite "get it" why I like pink flamingoes and why the guest bathroom looks like homage to the pink flamingo... and I knew he would'nt understand that i love 'em just because they're so damn tacky!! so i just smiled sweetly and said i think they're pretty! Here's a photo of Frank, Jim and Rachael looking at the world atlas:

New fibers for sale

I have some newly dyed Merino/Tencel and a Superwash Merino with Alpaca on my fiber blog:
http://woolgatheringsfibers.blogspot.com

new PC information

I just cain't hep it....

Due to the climate of political correctness now pervading America, Kentuckians, Tennesseans and West Virginians will no longer be referred to as "HILLBILLIES." You must now refer to them as APPALACHIAN-AMERICANS.
And, furthermore,
HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT WOMEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. She is not a "BABE" or a "CHICK" - She is a "BREASTED AMERICAN."
2. She is not "EASY" - She is "HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE."
3. She is not a "DUMB BLOND" - She is a "LIGHT-HAIRED DETOUR OFF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY ."
4. She has not "BEEN AROUND" - She is a "PREVIOUSLY-ENJOYED COMPANION."
5 . She does not "NAG" you - She becomes "VERBALLY REPETITIVE."
6. She is not a "TWO-BIT HOOKER" - She is a "LOW COST PROVIDER."

HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT MEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. He does not have a "BEER GUT" - He has developed a "LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY."
2. He is not a "BAD DANCER" - He is "OVERLY CAUCASIAN."
3. He does not "GET LOST ALL THE TIME" - He "INVESTIGATES ALTERNATIVE DESTINATIONS."
4. He is not "BALDING" - He is in "FOLLICLE REGRESSION."
5. He does not act like a "TOTAL ASS" - He develops a case of RECTAL-CRANIAL INVERSION."
6. It's not his "CRACK" you see hanging out of his pants - It's "REAR CLEAVAGE."

I'm back

just returned this afternoon from Duvall, after spending a week helping Chris with the kids while Kate is in London for a week, then Russia for 2 weeks. Loved spending the time with them... and am now exhausted and happy to be home in a very quiet dome central. the deities in all their wisdom certainly did it right in planning for women under 40 (in general) becoming mothers. sure takes a lot of energy and patience that i left behind years and years ago!

Winter Solstice

It's been almost a week since the party to watch the Al Gore dvd, and that was an interesting evening. There were 6 people who came, and first we connected to the MoveOn.org website for a message from Mr. Gore and then a Q&A. It was good to spend a few hours with kindred spirits, but as i said before, it was like preaching to the choir. It does tend to get one focused on the global warming issue again and to exchange thoughts and ideas about what individuals can actually do to have an effect on the problem. We got almost to the end of the movie before we lost power again... but it was only out for about an hour.

And today begins the return of the light and signifies to me the new beginnings in the cycle of the earth. hey, happy solstice and return of the light... yippee! We are going to McMenimen's Grand Lodge in FG tonight... live music celebration of solstice. Solstice is always kinda bitter sweet because the 22nd was when my mom died 13 years ago. i remember that day.... Mom was in ICU, unconscious and not responsive. The sun came out for a while and shone thru the hospital window onto her pillow, and i started talking to her about the return of the light and the days getting longer. I was standing at the head of her bed and stroking her hair, and looked down to see a tear rolling down her face. She was so much a sunshine person and had a difficult time getting through the shorter and dreary days of winter. She always started dreaming and drooling over her seed catalogs the week after xmas, and had her garden planned by early January. She waited that day til my sister, Robin, arrived from Tenn, and all her kids were there around her, and then her spirit left.

****
it is later now... and we enjoyed the live music. The group of 3 included a harp, guitar and bass and they sang mostly Celtic music. It was lovely and i'm really happy we went. The leader of the group, Lauren Sheehan, will be at the Grand Lodge once every month until May, and we plan to go again!

Bring on the light... I'm so ready!

powered up again

We were only out of power for about 19 hours, which makes us part of the fortunate few! There are homes all over the northwest which may be without electricity for days. That was a vicious wind storm with 100mph wind along the Oregon coast and several major highways were closed today because of fallen trees across them. DIL Kate called today and said they had lots of downed trees on their property east of Seattle, but none damaged their home or cars... whew. They do have a small power generator to run the pump so they have water from the well, as well as use of a small microwave... but that's all. If the kids get too bored without their tv, computers, video games, lights, etc, they'll be heading down this way for the weekend.

Tomorrow night we are hosting a MoveOn-organized viewing of Al Gore's DVD An Inconvenient Truth. There are 12 people from the neighborhood signed up to come... and I don't know where the hell we're going to seat them... our TV room is quite small. Maybe it will seem bigger when I get my fiber stuff moved out of there
(2 spinning wheels and 3 big plastic containers full of fiber and yarn). That should make room for about 4 or 5 chairs, not that my stash runneth over..

can't tell you how happy I am to have electricity again. was not looking forward to my pioneer woman routine. Yes, i'm very spoiled now and have become a delicate flower... but I did too much of that pioneer shit back in the "old days", when we heated with the woodstove, the power went out several times every winter, had to fix meals on the stove by candlelight, take care of sheep and lambing with no lights in the barn, and it snowed a lot back in those days. I'd rather be spoiled!

Power less

that's without power. huge windstorm last night in the pacific northwest, many trees down and power lines hangin' all over the place. we are lucky in that we have a wood stove, tho we haven't used it much since we got the heat pump. anyway, i'll have to see if i remember my pioneer woman skills for cooking on the woodstove. my computer is down to the last hour on its battery, so i'll be without it soon... sigh...

that's all for now. will check in again when we are powered again and power-full

A New Project

(like I need a new project!!) When I did my excursion to NW Wools in Portland on Tuesday, I found a new book which I spent a lot of time with and was not able to talk myself out of having. (and I do need another book like I need a new project) This one really appealed to me... AlterKNITS written by Leigh Radford. It is filled with ideas and projects which kind of call out my creativity and my muse. There are really inspirational quotes, many of which strike a chord with me, and it's not all sugar-y sweetness! (that stuff annoys the hell out of me!) (but in a literal sense, wouldn't it be a good thing to have the hell annoyed right out of you/me??) Anyway, there are several projects which I might try... and today I got myself armed for the first one... felted bags. And these are done the easy way... the buy-a-wool-sweater-at-goodwill-and-felt-it way. I have resisted the call to get on the bandwagon for knitting a huge piece and then throwing it in the washer to shrink it down to felt, and make a bag. This method is remarkably simpler and less labor intensive. There is already one sweater in the washer, and this one has a hood on it, which if all goes well, i will use for making a pocket on the outside of the bag! I really had no idea how difficult it would be to find an All Wool sweater in a pleasing color... so there was a lot a pawing thru the racks before i scored 2 likely bag candidates. Stay tuned for photos...

SAFF

yeehaw! It's looking like there is a possibility I'll be going to SAFF next fall. Jim has been wanting to go to the Outer Banks in NC, and we've discovered that our vacation time share has a place there... so, we'd go in Oct.... and SAFF is Oct. 26, 27 and 28, '07. And, if I'm in that part of the country, i'd most certainly need to go to TN to see Lynne and some twisted friends. Ahhhh, the planning has just begun! and making plans for a vacation is a wonderful way to see past the gloomy, grey, rainy days of this time of year. AND, just 8 days til Winter Solstice and the days start getting longer! ahhhh...

returning to real life

well, it took a really long time to recover from that trip back from Crete... must be the age thing. wasn't able to sleep longer than 2 hours as a time, then awake, but not awake enough to get up and do something. that kind of sleep schedule doesn't do much for reviving my (alleged) brain cells. and finally last week my muse kicked in and i got my studio up and running again, started pouring dye on fibers again... and whoooopee... feelin' groovy (Here you should picture Snoopy dancing around and singin') So, a bunch of fibers got labeled and taken to NW Wools today to fill in some gaps in the fiber room... actually, not so much "gaps" as bare nekkid shelves. And now I have some superwash merino/tencel to work on next and will put some up on the fiber blog soon as i can.

holiday plans are beginning to shape up. My sister, Robin, arrives 12/25 from TN about noonish, many of the local family will come for the afternoon and dinner, no family from the seattle area will be here and we'll miss 'em. This is actually the very first time I won't be spending xmas with my very dear son, Chris... but his kids are at the age where they really want and need to stay home and play with the loot that santa leaves, and not be piled into the car and driven to portland for the chaos of family events at Kate's mom's and here! maybe next year we can plan it so that Jim and I can go up there for xmas.

Jim and I will celebrate Winter Solstice by decorating with greens cut from the many fir trees around here, lots of candles and then will go to a live music solstice celebration at McMennimen's Grand Lodge in Forest Grove. We decided not to put up a tree this year, and i'll probably just bring up a few decorations from the stash in the basement. Maybe we should build a big fire and initiate the raki still... hmmmm...

our sweet dawgs!

We retrieved the dogs from "doggie camp" (please don't ever tell them that it's a boarding kennel!) on Friday. Actually, it is more like a camp, with all the love and attention they receive, than like any kennel I've ever seen! Today I received photo files of our little dears in their deer antlers holiday attire. Here is Tasha looking like a "deer in the headlights". She was probably loving every minute of the attention, even tho she doesn't really look like it...

and then there's Meika, who we are told was not very cooperative about sitting still while wearing the antlers. I'm quite sure she'd much rather be wearing the tiara she feels she is entitled to...


The doggie camp is actually the kennel at Project Pooch in Woodburn, OR
http://www.pooch.org I'm pretty certain that I've described this program earlier on this blog, but here's the description from their webpage:
"Project POOCH, Inc., is a non-profit, 501c(3) organization that has successfully paired youths incarcerated at the MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon, with homeless shelter dogs for over a decade.

Youths (guided by professionals) learn to train the dogs, groom them, and find them new adoptive “forever homes.” The dogs leave the program ready to be great pets, while their trainers re-enter the community with new job and personal skills and increased compassion and respect for all life."

As I understand it, there has been zero recidavism with the youth who have been involved with the program... which I think is remarkable!! We adopted Tasha from Project Pooch, and were delighted to find her and get a dog who needed a home and who we knew something about

home again

arrived at pdx a little after midnight, about 27 or 28 hours after crawling out of bed in Vamos, Crete. i'm feeling grateful to all deities that it was an uneventful trip .. tho with a lot of sitting around in airports waiting for connections...AND our luggage made it here at the same time we did, which is rather miraculous considering it had to be transferred 4 times!!

more later. feeling quite sleep deprived as i don't sleep on airplanes!!