Geometry, Hexagons, Beekeepers

I'm reading The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal. Good book. Rather than focus solely on "Willpower, it discusses  "Will-", "Won't-", and "Want"-power, along with a number of different strategies for sticking to one's goals. I'm not very far into the book, and I'm hoping for a chapter on how to smash the broken record that plays in my head, the one that tells me, over and over ad nauseum, that I'll never be able to do it, so I might as well give up before I even try.

It's hot and humid and not the best weather for feeling energized, motivated, positive.

On with the fiber update. A few years ago, "The Beekeeper's Quilt" pattern hit Ravelry and took the knitting world by storm. Stephanie Dosen is a genius, and a funny one at that. This year I decided to get in on the fun, and not coincidentally, start to make a dent in my serious sock yarn leftovers. I've knitted 183 of the little puffs so far this year. At first I stored them in a large glass bowl on the dining room table, but they soon spilled over into a larger basket. It takes at least 350 of them to make a lap blanket, so I've got my work cut out for me. Each one takes just about 30 minutes to complete. I've got NO shortage of sock yarn, so I imagine I'll be working on this project throughout the remainder of 2013 and pretty far in 2014, at a minimum.

Bowl o' Puffs!

Backlog...BackBlog

Delicate Ruched Scarf from Churchmouse Yarns & Teas

I'm back, and it's been less than 24 hours. More to show, featuring scarves and shawls and cowls knit since Christmas 2012. Shown in no particular order.

Bubble Ball Cowl - it looks much better against black

Detail showing beads

Heather Undulating Waves Scarf by Laura Nelkin

Color Affection Shawl by Veera Valimaki

Olanthe Scarf by Louisa Harding

I Guess You Could Call It a Hiatus

July 14, 2013. Back from blogging limbo. It's summer vacation, which is supposed to mean that there is more time to do all sorts of leisurely things. We'll see.

Updates:

• Younger son is now married
• Older son has a love interest
• I am 54 now
• I am still in love with my 55-year-old husband
• We just bought a treadmill 
• My two older sisters are both retired, leaving me just a BIT envious

So, what have I been up to craft-wise? Lots. So here's what I'll do - I'll post photos of different types of items/projects that I've finished since (gulp) last November. Since the last post mentioned secrets, I'll out myself.

Hats were a big theme for Christmas 2012. I knitted a total of eight Button-Tab Hats and gave them all away.

More Button-Tab Hats by Marcie Nishioka

This Big Snowy Owl from Purl Soho was for my future daughter-in-law. It's really more like like a Gray Owl.

Ferryboat Mitts for a dear friend. One skein, quick knit, lovely. From Churchmouse Yarns & Teas.

Ferryboat Mitts redux for another dear friend.

Many, many Colorwork Ornaments by Amy Munson were given to friends and family.

My own needle-felted Santa. Selfish ruled - I kept him for our tree.

Boot Toppers by Kristin Nicholas for Jess

Shhhh...It's a Secret

I can't post any photos because everything I've completed lately, or that I'm still knitting, or that I'm GOING to be knitting, is meant to be gifts at Christmas.

Suffice it to say that the fingers are flying.

First Snow, Kerhonkson

By Diane di Prima

(excerpted)

for Alan

This, then, is the gift the world has given me

(you have given me)

softly the snow

cupped in hollows

lying on the surface of the pond

matching my long white candles

which stand at the window

which will burn at dusk while the snow

fills up our valley

this hollow

Jane Eyre

Jane's Ubiquitous Shawl

I just finished knitting, blocking, and photographing this shawl. It took almost 1400 yards of sport weight alpaca yarn. I knitted it during a KAL (knit-along) organized by the WWMDFK? group on Ravelry. WWMDFK? stands for What Would Madame DeFarge Knit?, a book edited by Heather Ordover of the Craftlit podcast, and published by Cooperative Press, which features patterns inspired by a variety of characters from classic literature. This particular shawl, known as "Jane's Ubiquitous Shawl", was designed by Erica Hernandez as a tribute to that most upstanding heroine, Jane Eyre.

Whew. I think that's enough links, thank you! Now, on to Christmas knitting...

 "Next day, by noon, I was up and dressed, and sat wrapped in a shawl by the nursery hearth." - Jane Eyre, Chapter 3

"I folded my shawl double, and spread it over me for a coverlet; a low, mossy swell was my pillow." - Jane Eyre, Chapter 28

Wovember

Thicker than rain-drops on November thorn.
Fragment 8 By Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Handspun 3-ply Blue-Faced Leicester

November? Nope. Wovember. Click the link and you'll see what I'm talking about.

As Wovember settles in - or I settle into Wovember - I am surrounding myself with wool. As of today, when I sit down to knit I am literally covered in the stuff: I'm working on Jane's Ubiquitous Shawl as part of a knit-along for Craftlit's reading of Jane Eyre. The reader, Elizabeth Klett, is doing a marvelous job of portraying the mood, landscape, and persona of heroine. The project uses 10 skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light - almost 1500 yards of yarn. The KAL started in late October and ends in December, but for some reason I'm feeling driven (in a good way) to power through and finish before Thanksgiving...probably because of all the Christmas knitting I hope to accomplish. This shawl currently looks like a great lump of charcoal-gray fuzzy stuff. I anticipate the miracle of blocking, and hope that I will end up with a large square of lacy goodness when I am done.

The center section of Jane's Ubiquitous Shawl

Zig and I are making plans - BIG plans - an actual BUSINESS PLAN - for opening a yarn shop. We sat on the beach this past summer and brainstormed (well, MY brain was storming and Zig was recording the thunder and lightning) ideas for creating the be-all and end-all yarn and fiber paradise for knitters and spinners. It was fun to come up with a list of things, people, and events that would have to be in place.

Now we're (well, he) is slogging through the work of figuring out if this idea is even remotely feasible in a financial sense. What to call the enterprise? How much inventory to stock? Where to rent a storefront? When to open for business? Who to hire, if anyone? Why does our chosen location need a yarn shop?

Whether or not we actually see this through, and end up the proud owners of a fiber-related business, remains to be seen. But it's SO interesting to take the idea - the dream - and tease it apart into its separate elements (mission, location, financing, store layout, hours of operation, inventory, education, special events, licensing) to see how we could actually open for business.

Apologies for the long absence. In lieu of blogging, I have been knitting a LOT:

Jidai Raglan Pullover in Berroco Vintage DK

Wingspan shawlette knitted with Colinette Jitterbug Sock in "Mardi Gras"

Norah Gaughan's Ostrum Cowl in Berroco Boboli

Polka-Dot Ribbon Scarf

Penelope Shrug knit in Quince & Co Finch

Quick  broken rib scarf in Misti Alpaca Chunky

 and doing a bit of spinning, as well:

River's Edge Fiber Arts Mountain Mist 60/30/10  Merino Bamboo Nylon in "Riverstone" colorway

Time Folded

Green Pear Tree in September

By Freya Manfred

On a hill overlooking the Rock River

my father’s pear tree shimmers,

in perfect peace,

covered with hundreds of ripe pears

with pert tops, plump bottoms,  

and long curved leaves.

Until the green-haloed tree

rose up and sang hello,

I had forgotten. . .  

He planted it twelve years ago,

when he was seventy-three,

so that in September

he could stroll down  

with the sound of the crickets

rising and falling around him,

and stand, naked to the waist,

slightly bent, sucking juice

from a ripe pear.

"Robin Red Breast" Gotland 2-ply

August is gone and I don't really know where it went. That tends to happen in August. Now it's September and I'm back at school, beginning my 29th year as a children's librarian.

"Field of Dreams" shetland 3-ply

This summer I spun more yarn than I ever have in such a short period. Now that work intrudes, the wheel sits more than it spins, but that's okay - a significant dent was made in the fiber stash.

"Big Bang" BFL 2-ply

Very little knitting happening, since finishing the Elm socks a few weeks ago. I've started the 8th pair of socks for the year - just a vanilla pair but with most lovely Cherry Tree Hill sockweight merino. This knitting competes for attention with the Penelope Shrug I'm knitting from Quince and Company Finch in a deep charcoal gray. Usually I can find a few minutes during lunchtime at work, but the first few weeks of school are too busy to breathe, let alone knit.

"Northern Lights" Targhee - what I'm working on in early September