Beret for Sophie

Grandchildren are your reward for not strangling your children when they are teenagers! I read that somewhere and never really considered it. I mean, everyone knows the stereotypical grandma who, at the least provocation will whip out her latest grandchild picture and foist it on anyone and everyone in sight. Never thought it would be me, but...me...that's me now! Sophie has come for a visit. She and her mom will be here for a month while Beth does a rotation in the ER at Brooke Army Medical Center. We will be Sophie sitting while Beth works. Trips to the park, toys everywhere, no spinning while she is awake...hmmm...the depths of a grandmother's love - NO SPINNING WHILE SOPHIE IS AWAKE!!!

At least the Sophie beret is finished. One small hitch - it fits Beth better than Sophie! The Lorax yarn spun from the batt (a batt is a piece of fiber that is made from different smaller pieces combed together, in this case merino, bamboo, silk, and lots of sparkly goodness!) that CJ made turned out beautifully, but I miscalculated when adapting the pattern for a toddler. At least it fits someone I know. Knitting is an art, not a science, I keep telling myself. It will probably be frogged tomorrow so I can rework it to fit the baby girl!

It has been several years since we have had both of our children home at the same time. This weekend was the first time we were all together. We ate our favorite meal - marinated filet and mashed potatoes - , took Sophie to the park, and spent Saturday evening looking at old slides. They were sooooocute!!! Time has flown since Joshua and Beth were small. It only seems like a couple of years since they were Sophie's age and now we are watching them with Sophie...

One last note. I got my spinning wheel for Christmas and it took me a couple of weeks to really get a good result with my yarn. Beth sat down at Queen Mab and immediately had a feel for drafting, tension, and producing a consistent fine single! She amazes me!

You might be a spinner if......

You might be a spinner if:

-you pull the lint out of the dryer lint trap and seriously consider whether or not you could actually spin the stuff

-You brush the cat (long-haired) and think, hmmm this cat fluff would really blend well with that alpaca I'm going to card

_people are always picking little bits of sparkle off your clothes or hair, after all, angelina multiply!!!

-you know that Kromski, Louet, and Ashford are European cities, but are spinning wheel manufacturers

-your key decorating element in the living room is the spinning wheel

-you have an emergency drop spindle in your bag just in case you have to leave the house for an extended time and be away from your wheel

-you cruise through yarn shops or online stores and think "I could make that yarn!"

-you plan vacation trips according to fiber festival schedules

You know who I'm talking about - don't you???

Ravelympics, now... I've actually started several projects for Ravelympics. Spinning enough merino from Diana at www.etsy.com/shop/fiberfancy to make a sweater for Sophie, finishing an afghan for Ryan, spinning the rest of SpinAlong from CJ at www.etsy.com/shop/extremespinning
to make a Baby Beret, and finishing the Pretty Thing mitts for Julia! Mitts are done, 1/4 of the fiber is spun, the Lorax batt is two-ply yarn and the brim of the hat is finished, and Ryan's afghan is 3/4 finished. And the Olympics is only half over WOOT!!!

A friend on Ravelry lost her husband last week. Together, a few of us are putting together an afghan made of individual squares each of us has made. It is a way of saying with our hands what can't be said with words. There are no words that can really help. As we get older, we are confronted by the loss of friends and family, and there are no words for those losses either. But we keep on going...sending cookies, cards, a prayer shawl that we hope will keep a friend with brain cancer warm during chemo, a small square of handspun yarn knitted with love that we pray will help bring comfort. Little things, but all we can do. And we know that our turn will come, and pray that it won't be soon. My friend Debbie is going through the trauma of watching her mother descend into Alzheimer's. Having lost my mother-in-law to this devastating disease in September, I can only sorrow and pray for her.

The wind is really howling outside. A good night to stay in and watch NCIS. The relationship between the characters is so much like families we know - respect, teasing, love - it strikes a chord with everyone we know who enjoys it. Long live Gibbs and his crew!!! While visiting with my parents in Irving, I went to breakfast with them at the golden arches. A man sat down at the table next to us, wearing a hat with the NCIS logo on it. Daddy's eyes lit up.I think he needs one for his birthday!

Spinning for today - batt gleanings from CJ at extremespinning in colors of dusty rose and blue with lots of sparkle. I think it turned out well - 20 yards of sparkly worsted weight. It was a little too lumpy to spin any finer, but will make a great border for something else.
Tomorrow I must knit!!!

Beth, facebook (for real this time!), and firestar

Beth came to San Antonio today!!! Our daughter lives in Maryland with her husband and their daughter, and we don't really see them very often (Skype every other day, but that isn't as good as a hug!) She is doing a trauma training at an Army base nearby...in the rain...for a week...she seemed really excited - not!!! But she will be coming to stay overnight next week before she goes home. Mexican food, here we come!!! She wanted to go to Jason's Deli for lunch and Half-Price bookstore on the way to the army base - just make me go to a bookstore! She got a couple of books, but I walked out with eight! In my defense, they were all books that have gone missing from my bookcase, so they were really just replacement books, not new books...yeah, that's my story!

OK, facebook...in my title yesterday, but I didn't say anything about it. What a weird and wonderful virtual community. And a way to get sucked into spending waaaay too much time on the computer! Games, conversation, keeping up with family and friends who are so far away or so busy you don't have time to talk face to face. Science fiction stories of 30 years ago predicted this, but were never completely accurate in describing how natural and easy keeping in touch could be in a virtual community. And I thought e-mail was a great invention! It fascinates me how open and comfortable people are about sharing details of their lives, their hopes and expectations and their family pictures online. On Ravelry (online knitting community) there is much the same feeling, and I like being able to interact on my terms - turn off the computer and walk away, or communicate when I have a question or a comment. It is a no-stress way to be part of a larger group - on my terms. Being basically antisocial - big parties are absolute nightmares for me! - online communities make me feel comfortable. hmmmm...weird.

Finished the GalesArt merino (really soft wool fiber for spinning)last night.
I had gotten some of her dyed firestar (sparkly fiber, also for spinning) in a package last fall, so I added it in as I was spinning and I think it turned out really well. Yarn picture later after it dries.

It is still raining, so soup for supper - time to go make minestrone.

Spinning merino, joining Facebook

Spinning wheels have always fascinated me. It seems like magic to be able to take a hunk of fluffy stuff and put it through a spinning wheel and yarn. At first the yarn is ugly and wonky, but soon it actually starts to look like real bought-in-a-store, you-could-actually-knit-with-this-stuff yarn!

The red and green stuff is the first "yarn" from Queen Mab (explanation of name to follow) and the pale lavender is from a couple of days later. Quite a difference! The thing is, spinning is really, really addictive! Now, I have to make myself step away from the wheel and actually knit up some of this magic stuff that comes off the bobbins! A friend on Ravelry (really cool online knitting community) says that she puts her handspun in a basket in the living room to pet and admire! Sounds good to me - I love, love, love these yarns!
Queen Mab: the name comes from the fairy queen of the same name, who can make beautiful magic, but if approached without respect can really snarl up your life...pretty much the definition of a spinning wheel and the fiber you put through it! Oh, and she can take you out of your ordinary life to a world where time passes without you realizing it has passed - again, definition of spinning...now where did that afternoon/evening go??? I just sat down a minute ago to spin a little bit of that yummy merino Diana sent me from fiberfancy!!!

Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of the day Robert asked me to marry him! I would say yes again today!!! He picked the perfect spot - the garden of a deserted villa on a hillside on the outskirts of Rome, with the sounds of the bells from the nearby monastery filling the air. Beautiful... Romantic...He set me up - I couldn't say no! So all these years later, I'm still glad I said yes. It has been a wild, weird, and wonderful ride!

Maiden voyage!

Being the first post on my new blog - in which will figure regularly : family, knitting, gardening (read: roses), spinning, travel and whatever else crosses my mind. So, yes, there are approximately a gazillion blogs out there and the chances of anyone reading this one are miniscule at best, but I really don't care - I will just enjoy writing it!

It is funny how people who never seem to hear what you say ( the person next to you makes the exact same suggestion/observation that you have made a scant thirty seconds before and is hailed as a genius/philosopher extroidinaire when your suggestion/observation is completely ignored ) when you speak, will pay rapt attention to what you write!

So, OK, I knit. And for Christmas I was gifted with a spinning wheel - a Kromski Sonata - by my DH, who traipsed from fiber store to fiber store and fiber festival with me in search of the "perfect wheel". So, I spin. I love roses and orchids, especially antique roses. I adore the children who call me Nana - Sophie and Christian. I will read anything that catches my interest, from sci-fi to travel books to stodgy biographies about people who lived so long ago that few today even know who they are - or furthermore, care! My weakness in reading is impatience: after reading the first two or three chapters, I flip over and read the last chapter. If I hate the way the book ends, I put it down and rarely pick it up to finish it! ( yes, I can feel the collective shudder from here, thank you very much!) Why waste time reading a book that will only leave me sorry that I spent the time?

Just recently, I succumbed to curiosity and joined facebook - a strange community that seems to grow as you watch it. And today I am blogging - weird!