Hood/cowl finished!

After over a year on the needles, the commercial and handspun yarn collaboration is finally finished! I am very pleased with the results too! My model wasn't feeling very well that day, as you can see in on of the pictures, but she put on one cheery face with effort.

This was designed with two thoughts in mind: keeping warm and showing off Sarah's beautiful handspun yarn. I made it very loose fitting, so even when it's up in "hood" position, if you have long hair and it happens to get worn up a lot there's plenty of room for a pony tail or bun. (Of course it will look funny in the back, but as an avid hater of static electricity it's worth it!)



When worn down it cozies up to the neck very nicely. In this picture the model is feeling very puny, but loved the cowl so much when the shoot was over she left it on. (Sore throat, in case you were wondering and she's feeling fine now).



Here Chicky is demonstrating how long it is. I love the purl rows of handspun strutting their stuff and contrasting with the white commercial yarn. It took one skein of Sarah's hand spun and one skein of ggh "Bali."



There's another on the needles already. It won't take a year this time, I hope.

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MIddle school, lots of yarn, new smalls

The first week of middle school was kind of rough. Granted, we had an experience (as a family) a few years ago that rocked us to the core of our being and transition continues to bring it to the surface. One of the boys has been terrified every day of school while the other has been nervous, but dealing in a very brave way (this is EXACTLY the opposite of kindergarten, just for the record). There have been tears every morning, nightmares each night, a boy in my bed around five literally shaking with fear, and the horrid realities of motherhood: the ones where you are the hard ass. It's a hard one to balance, the mom of kindness and support and the mom of you-just-have-to-suck-it-up-cause-it's-life. I hate it.

For the past five years I've had a week off at work and my children have been in school. While that means I've made 140 mile round trip drives for each of those five weeks, it also means I've had time to myself while my kids are in school. This year the boys had their last week of vacation while I was off. I still had to drive 140 miles that week for school trips (Chicky's been back in school since mid-July), and since I hurt my ankle we couldn't do anything really fun, but it was nice spending time with the boys alone. I haven't gotten to do that since Chicky was born!

After a really crappy day at work and the middle school transition sadness I came home to find a box on my front stoop from my very dear friend Sarah. She and I have NEVER met in person, but we met through Ravelry and send messages as often as we can. We send boxes to each other every so often and when I opened mine, here's what I found:



Let me just say that it is almost scary how well this woman knows me! Favorite colors, favorite weaknesses, and humor right up my alley! Her box absolutely made my day! The rovings are stunning as usual, and that is no small compliment. I've bought rovings that look good on-line but are dull and a mere shadow of their pictured selves when seen up-close and in person. The superwash Blue-Faced Leicester looks like fun to spin and the brilliant colors will shine through - I can't wait!

Before back-to-school week I dyed a lot of yarn and am still re-skeining it - I don't like buying skeins and having them tangled and I would hate someone cussing me while they try and make a center-pull ball. I have 22 done and ten more to go! All the yarn is headed for Cozy on September 7. Here's a sneak peak at some of the yarn.



At work we've begun a new session with new children and getting to know them is a great joy and emotional sacrifice. In order to get to know small children you need to build trust with them, which typically means letting them be sad for as long as they need to and comforting them so they realize that you are able/willing to do that for them. The good part is that when they are not sad getting to know them it is incredibly fun. Emotionally it can take a toll and my children know from being in my class while it was happening, as well as talking about it with me during each new session, that it can be physically exhausting as well. Since I haven't gotten much sleep this week from my own boys' anxiety, I'm hoping the next three nights will give me some time/space to rejuvenate and be have some fun on Monday with my children and be ready for other people's again on Tuesday.

I'm barely awake and would love to go read The Sotry of Edgar Sawtelle but I think If I did manage to keep my eyes open, I'd never remember what I had "read"!

Here's to good sleep and better dreams!

Fiber love

All the dyeing I've been working on is dry, named, and up on Etsy. My new favorite is called Beginnings and is 4 oz of Falklands dyed some bright, happy, flowery colors that remind me of life's potential in spring.



The next is Berry Fun, and I think it will be lovely spun with the white to contrast the bright orange and magenta.



Boo was going to be called Parfait, but my short-term memory is so bad I forgot! It's too bad my memory can only go downhill from here.



On the subject of memory, I saw an article in Newsweek about a woman that remembers EVERYTHING since she was four years old. She can tell you what she ate for lunch on a certain day 15 years ago. That must be annoying to be overwhelmed by the mundane. If you were married though, you'd have the advantage in arguments! I'd just like the healthy balance I had before I had children.

The last roving is destined to be spun and knit into something for Sarah's mother. She kindly bought raffle tickets even though she doesn't spin or knit! There's a woman that deserves some fibery love! Sarah told me she loves blues, so I dyed some gradated blue Falklands. I wonder what it will become?

A much appreciated Thank You

You may know that my dear friend sarah held a raffle for me (and generously donated half of her sales in April) to help with expenses towards a vehicle after Inga was tragically totaled. That extraordinary woman's vision and many people's participation raised $678 for me. I have never been so touched by so many people - and all of them people that only know of me through the internet - mostly through Ravelry. What an amazing community! Thank you to everyone. I do have a "new" 2004 Honda Odyssey. In addition to the car payment I have higher insurance rates, so that money is coming in handy right about now. Not to mention a court date next month where I'm hoping the charges will be dropped so the insurance rates don't go up even more.

The short and sweet of it is: thank you - very, very much! It was an unexpected blessing I will remember.

Day of firsts, fits, and tears (all mine, I'm afraid)

If Wednesday is the hump, things can only get fucking better. The good news first, today is the Vegetarian Special day at Bahn's, my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Durham (cash only, small seating area). Lunch was spectacular as usual. Next up, Morgan's last visit to the orthopedist for his broken finger. I'm slightly concerned about the NINE x-rays he's had taken of his hand over the last month, but it all looks good. No more splint, except for soccer for the next two weeks. We've had our day, and we're on our way home. A mere two miles from our house, Bowen was talking to me in the back seat and I turned around to look at him and when I turned my head back the pick-up truck in front of me (without it's break lights on) was sitting there and we were approaching quickly. I slammed on the breaks and said, "oh shit!" because I knew we weren't going to stop in time... and we didn't. I hadn't been going 55 mph and the airbags didn't deploy but the front of my '98 Volvo with 161,000 miles was SMASHED TO HELL. The hood had that terrible angle that means doom, antifreeze was leaking all over the road, and those really expensive headlights? they really ARE glass! The car wouldn't start to move it off the road, it had to be pushed. I hit the pick-up truck AND the pick-up truck hit a woman in a rather new looking Toyota SUV of some kind. Sigh. I haven't ever rear ended anyone and the shock was pretty impressive. My mental capacities flew out the window for the next minute or so and then I came to my senses and started looking for my license and registration. Fifteen minutes later the police (state trooper) finally arrived. We each got to make a written statement and I AM FUCKED. I'm bummed about the citation (haven't gotten one of those before either). If I go to court the chances are pretty good they'll drop the charges if I prove I'm taking care of the accident. I'm bummed about MY CAR, cause there's only the one and I was hoping it was here for the long haul (I had money set aside to fix the air conditioning I haven't had for the past two summers) and now she (Inga) is probably gone. There are so many accidents in the area a claim representative can't get to my car until MONDAY! The insurance has arranged a rental which they will cover $30/day up to $900 but I worry.

The amazing news, the stuff that makes me cry ( from sadness earlier) but now from the kindness of virtual friends. Sarah is organizing a raffle to benefit ME! I can't believe it or even wrap my mind around it right now. Prizes include roving, hand spun, and commercial yarns. If you want to get into the action and help me out in the process, head on over to theytoldmesew. Tickets are $1 for ONE ticket and $5 for SIX tickets. I'll post more details as things get more organized.

I am also offering free domestic regular shipping for the month. There was a scheduled update happening this week anyway, but today I was a little distracted. I'll post more rovings tomorrow.

Do I have any idea how lucky I am?

Hell yea! I got a package today from Sarah! It included French lavender soap, the beautiful Mountainscape in superwash corriedale



Cheerful Ember, also in superwash corriedale,



and a sample of Squoosh in superwash merino



I haven't been knitting so much, and now I doubt I will for another few days! Here is the lovely, cabled Broken Yolks. It came out to 195 yards (would have been 390 as a two-ply), 14 WPI. I love it!



And up close.



Betcha' can't guess what I'm doin' tonight!

Weekend fun, fiber swap, and spinning

It's been quite a week. It started off at the beach (Wrightsville) with a little walking around and photography in Wilmington. There are old steamboat style houses, along with all manner of Victorian, and just some grand old houses. Almost every house down town has a plaque on the side declaring the year, style, and which person of importance formerly inhabited it. This tree is grafted and has two different flowers on it, I have no idea what they are, but they're lovely. (You can click on it to make it bigger.)



This house was for sale so there was some window peeping. Glancing up, here is some gorgeous design.



That gives way to some amazing cast iron around the porch itself.



Right next door is a Bed and Breakfast with garden. I can only imagine how enjoyable it will be when it's actually blooming.



Back here on the home front, Morgan's hand seems to be healing nicely. He has his check up tomorrow and another two weeks in the splint.



And some happiness in the fibery world, Sarah, and I are swappin' some fiber! My package arrived today:



The roving is superwash merino called Broken Yolks (LOVE IT!) and the yarn is her scrumptious handspun, Secret Garden. Plus, some Hershey Kisses and Peeps! The kids had no idea candy and fiber even existed in the same universe. They said that Sarah can come and stay at our house anytime.

Gratuitous Fiber shots ahead, avert the eyes of the young:



Broken Yolks up close and personal.



And Secret Garden. I'm giving some serious thought to what this should be knit into. The blues and purples are fabulous together. Can't wait!

In order to spin Broken Yolks, I have to ply some more random spun yarn. I've got one skein soaking and the other is on the wheel. Can I just tell you how much I love my tensioned Lazy Kate? Makes the whole thing so much easier, I can't believe I waited so long to buy it. I tried doing it myself on my old Kate and it didn't work out so well. Those Ashford people know what they're doing!