The New Year Beckons

All day I’ve had the niggling feeling that a cold is trying to take up residence in my head.

Not wanting to deal with a cold I decided to stay home this evening rather than join the games and music up at the church. It would have been fun; friends, table games, puzzles, jamming with other musicians, food and hot drinks until midnight but a quiet evening in our woodstove toasty home is more sensible.

I took the spindle for a walk for the first time in what seems like months early yesterday morning. The spinning and exercise felt so good and natural! Here’s to having more sunny days ahead than the extra rainy autumn and December which were not conducive to spinning wool in the rain.  A neighbor and I walked out to the cemetery and back before church time. I ended up not going. We were deep in one of those conversations about life stuff that sometimes need to be shared and it was more important to listen over a cup of coffee when we returned to the house. We plan to walk again in the morning before I head over to spend time hanging out with Aurora.

2013 is a good year to get back into weaving on a more regular basis! I miss sitting at the loom and getting into the rhythm of watching the cloth grow.

Yesterday afternoon I began the process of measuring out warp and sleying the reed for my next weaving project. Super time and darkness fell before the last bout was sleyed and today there was no time. I want to get the loom completely warped tomorrow afternoon while there’s still good daylight. My eyes feel the strain of the close work of sleying the reed and threading the heddles with artificial light. This will be a small project but using a technique that’s new to me: 3 shaft weaving . I’ve had the pattern and materials for months but haven’t been able to hurdle the idea of manipulating only 3 shafts on a 4 shaft counter-balance loom. Sometimes a person just has to take the plunge and hope that the muddy surface was just an illusion and that once in everything makes sense! It’s a short enough warp that if it doesn’t work out as intended then it’s a small loss that will have been worth the trying and learning.

A Pretty Thing cowl seemed the perfect way to close out 2012. Except. I’m slow. It’s only 1/4th of the way. But there’s no rush, it’s not for any particular birthday or occasion.  We’ve been watching Tripods almost every evening and I couldn’t keep track of the pattern while watching the show.  Ed ordered dvds of Tripods from England a few weeks ago and they arrived just in time for Christmas. He decreed we’d watch only three episodes a day. Sometime back in the 80s or 90s we stumbled across the weekly BBC show but on our local station it was always hit or miss and then suddenly it was off the air leaving us hanging. It’s one of those low budget shows which wormed its way into our hearts.

A new blog was started today at our Yarntools website!!! It’s been at the back of my mind to have one at that site, mostly for those times that Ed’s up to something new or information needs to be available. The past couple of weeks so many people were expressing concern for Ed’s back that rather than try to answer via email it was easier to put it out in one place where customers could easily find it.

Fiberjoy will continue to be my main outlet.

One spinning project that’s been in the works off and on for too long only needs one more braid (maybe 2) to spin for the final color. I just might get spinning on it tomorrow evening. A good way to begin the New Year: an early morning walk followed by girl time with my daughter, some loom work, and finishing the day off in the evening with spinning. Wednesday, the 2nd, is our 35th anniversary. Another day of celebrating!
Here’s the skeins of yarn spun up so far, the 2nd and 3rd from the right are each about 270 yards, the others are about 140 yards each

All from various braids of Picperfic Polwarth, Polwarth blend braids. (oh! I must not look at her shop! There are more colors that would be great with this blend of yarns!)

Blessings on the New Year! May it be filled with Peace,  Industrious use of time, hands and mind,  Contentment and Joy

 

Life encapsulated

Oh the irony. Just as the last picture was loading on a very long post late last night, the internet connection was lost, not to be restored, so I went to bed. Can’t turn back the clock so the title is changed from the oh so entrancing 12.12.12. But the worst is that the normally faithful WordPress draft saver was also on the blink and only the first two paragraphs were saved. The first was now irrelevant.

Thanksgiving seems like it was eons ago. We had a good time with lots of family and lots of food. Hanging out with the grandkids once again was the bonus. Some knitting was accomplished but since I’m the only knitter of the bunch and with three little children around, especially two who like sliding down the carpeted stairs on grammie’s lap as well as having books read to them, finding moments to sit still with needles and yarn in hand were few and far in between.

Our neighbor had her baby daughter on the 25th. Little Mina gets to share her birthday with her grandfather. She’s a cutie and seems to be a content baby. No picture yet of her with the little hat I made, maybe next time – I’d love to see how it looks on her.

Squeezed in between watching Violet Tuesdays and Thursdays, trying to stay on top of orders – especially those destined for gifts (I think we’ll have the last of them in the mail by Tuesday) spinning yarn for a gift and knitting I’ve tried to dedicate enough time to music practice.

Part of our Scotts Mills Friends/Crooked Finger group played Christmas songs for the Community Christmas tree lighting, the next day we went to the funeral mass for the mother of our banjo player, the following day we played for a 60th wedding anniversary party, which was a blast. The couple have lived in the community their entire lives and are a huge part of getting things done.

Next up is the Christmas Sing-Along with a slight bluegrass flavor and over 60 songs for the people to chose from. If you’re in the area Saturday evening the 15th please stop in at the Scotts Mills Friends Church where there will be finger foods, hot drinks and lots of music. People are welcome to come and go as they need and everyone seems to enjoy this tradition which will be the 11th or 12th year.

Remember the Baby Surprise Jacket (BSJ) I had to frog after finishing about 3/4th of it and realizing it was too small. I managed to get about half of the new one knitted, on size 4mm needles this time, when my attention was drawn to the Spirograph Headband/hat and suddenly needed to make one for my very active daughter-in-law who has thick, long red hair. I knew exactly what yarn to use: Two years before she’d gifted me with the lovely skein of camel colored Austermann Natura. There was only 100 meters which I hoped would be plenty. Half way through it looked dicey so modifications were in order. I’d not been crazy about the way the hat pooched in the back so I started the decrease rounds seven rounds early and added extra decrease rounds before the final k1p1 band rounds. Her best friend modeled it for me before our Christmas sing-along practice on Sunday.

Picking up Violet last Thursday I was struck by how big she’s getting and had an “oh no!” moment realizing the BSJ might once again be too small. By the time she arrived Tuesday I was onto the hood and so tried it on her for size.

A bit on the small size so yesterday I picked up stitches along the left front edge and knit several ridges for a button band. More length needs to added to the sleeves and sew on the buttons, give it a bath and it will be ready for wearing.

Life is full, we feel very thankful and blessed. Blessings on all for contentment and joy during this oft too crazy season!

 

Birthday crocheting.

Six years have passed since our first grandchild was born on this day. (Blog posts of the occasion on my old blog.)

It seems like overnight that she’s gone from being a wee baby, to a toddler, to a little girl and now a young girl who’s growing up so quickly. I managed to crochet a beret for her in time to wrap up with a few other gifts and send it in time to be opened today.

Last autumn during email exchanges with Scarlet of Huckleberry Yarns (“Where Colors Sing”), I’d mentioned having a hard time finding purple yarn with deep saturated colors to make something for my granddaughter, Faith, (usually blogged as Feather) who loves purples and violets.  Within no time at all Scarlett made up a brand new colorway just for her. The colorway? Faith  Oh look, Scarlet has some in stock right now on etsy!

Stitch Diva Studios has a crochet beret pattern which looked like it’d be adorable on Feather. Crocheting this beret was a breeze! So quick and fun. Casting on last Sunday afternoon it was wrapped in Happy Birthday paper and mailed by Wednesday.
Pattern: Slouchy Lace Beret
Hooks: Size D 3.25mm for the main part, C 2.75mm for the brim edge. These are one size down from the pattern recommendation due to using a sock yarn instead of the recommended DK weight yarn. After all, the beret is for a child, not an adult for whom the pattern is written.

It was blocked on a dessert plate balanced on top of a mason jar overnight Tuesday. (This is closer to the true color though more purple than blue.)
Lacking a suitable model to test the size, her 7 month old cousin, Violet, was a willing tester when the beret was about 2/3rd finished.

The Baby Surprise Jacket I was zipping right along on in the previous post…

Frogged.

I tried it on Violet when I baby sat her a week ago Tuesday. It fit, barely. Better to start over than to complete something that will quickly be outgrown within weeks.

The problem was caused by using size #2 / 2.75mm needles with the sock yarn. Or, perhaps better to admit the problem was in swatching but not taking the time to figure the math. The swatch looked great.

After finishing Feather’s beret I cast on the BSJ again, this time with size #4 / 3.5mm needles and it’s making quite the difference.
It still remains a fun knit.

I had a blast at the hands-on Turkish spinning demonstration I was asked to do at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art at the Willamette University in Salem last Saturday. There is currently a Turkish Flat Weave exhibition at the museum. I’ll blog about this in my next post.

And now to close with a picture Feather’s mom took of the birthday girl this morning as they were about to take part in a Harvest Celebration and costume party. Introducing six year old Faith, aka Feather, aka Cindy Loo Who:

 

Food, Knitting and A trip to the Zoo

That nasty flu bug was far more stubborn than I’d realized. There are still days when I don’t feel very well. I certainly have not yet come up to speed, as much as I desperately wish to be.

Originally I’d planned to spend most of the weekend hanging out at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival (OFFF) spinning and chatting with people but I’m so far behind that I’ll only be going over there for a few hours Saturday and Sunday afternoons. I’ll be delivering spindles to Carolina Homespun and Herndon Creek Farms tomorrow afternoon and maybe look around a bit but the festival doesn’t officially open until Saturday (except for workshops). Ed and Aurora want to go with me on Sunday so that should be fun.

There are still some gravenstein apples from our tree to make a last batch of applesauce. The tree produced the best and biggest crop this year. So tasty! I made numerous pies – mmm, gravensteins make delicious apple pie! (Pictured, one huge apple with a 1 cup measure.)

The last of the corn needs to be picked and preserved, and all the green tomatoes to be picked to let ripen indoors. It’s crazy but I never transferred the knowledge that tomatoes shouldn’t be refrigerated (they lose flavor) to picking them before the temperatures dip into the forties. Makes sense! The temps have been in the low forties several nights though we’ve had wonderfully sunny warm days, until today when it only reached about 70 after morning clouds burned off. The beets, squash and potatoes will stay in the garden for now.

Our poor garden. It was shaping up to be a bumper year but we were gone during the peak harvest time for the green beans. If I hadn’t gotten sick I still could have put up a decent amount of beans but by the time I had enough energy to deal with canning them (with the help of Aurora) lots of the beans were too big and woody so we only got 8 pints. We’ve had several more small pickings for supper and there are still a few young ones coming on. The corn also went beyond their peak so we’ve been letting them dry on the stalk, picking an occasional cob and using the kernels in soups. (Lots of homemade soup the past three weeks, plus juicing fruits and vegetables to consume every evening.) We are determined to never take a lengthy trip again during the end of August into the first few weeks of September, not after putting all that time and water into a garden.

A picture of the Pikku-Lilli making the piping at the back, knitting the two rows together around the back circle. This took four sets of 16″ circulars since the circle was smaller than 16″.

I love the cute back details.

Sadly I didn’t get a picture of it on the tiny recipient – a wee granddaughter of a neighbor who was born late August.

The day after it was off the needles and blocked I weighed it, 25 grams, and determined that the 31 grams of left over Cherry Tree Hill yarn would be enough to make one for Violet so I cast on with #3 / 3.25mm needles instead of the 2.5mm needles I’d used for the yellow one.

There were a number of days that the needles didn’t see much action but the bonnet is now only 8 rows short of working the piping for the back. At about the eighth set of the four row pattern repeat I started to get a sinking feeling. Weighing the ball of yarn and figuring the amount left to be knit I was optimistic so kept knitting. Last night after finishing the 11th repeat set I looked at the tiny ball of yarn. The sinking feeling settled into the depths of my gut. The remaining yarn hit the scale. Only 10 grams. Instead of making I-chord ties I could use matching ribbons. Even so it’s going to be very close. The bigger needles are using up more than I’d anticipated. This morning I knit a couple more rows in grim determination that there will be enough. Ha, not likely. Sadly it’s destined for the frog pond. argh So much wasted time. It wouldn’t be so bad if three weeks hadn’t elapsed.

Spinning has been fun and cumulative. Two more bobbins are filled and plying commenced today. We’re now watching Violet on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week. After her mid-day bottle I’ve been putting her on a blanket under the tree and spinning alongside her. She loves watching the action and tries to grab the yarn. Sometimes she sits on my lap and watches the spinning from that vantage point. Maybe she’ll be the one who loves playing with string. She turned 6 months on Monday and is almost able to hold her sitting position alone but topples over after a few moments of a swaying balance.

 

We took Feathers and Gus to the zoo while in Idaho and had a great time there with them watching the tigers playing in their water pit.

 

Spending time in the butterfly hothouse having thousands of them flutter all around us, and hitch rides on us. Feathers said the little feet hurt her skin! She had a number of them attached to her at different times.

 

Lunch time while waiting our turn to go into the butterfly hothouse.

                                                                                                                            

 

Before we’d left for Idaho Ed bought us some shirts at an Arts Festival.   

The words don’t show up but Feathers’ and my shirt have the words, “Never trust a sheep in wolves clothing.”  Gus’s reads, “Just hanging around”

 

Last, but not least, the sunset our first evening in Idaho.

Thanks to all who’ve left comments. I do love getting them!

 

A few extra hours!

It’s bed time for people east of us and I want to post this to give people another chance to get another name on a slip for the drawing.  Thanks to all who’ve been leaving comments! What fun it’s been, although I’m remiss about replying to each person. Don’t worry! Each time you’ve commented on an individual post I’ve added your name to a slip of paper for the item you wish for in the drawing.

Because it’s much later than I’d originally intended for this final post of the contest I’ll extend the comment acceptance until tomorrow morning at 10 Pacific Time. Hey, tomorrow’s my birthday, I can slightly change the rules to benefit as many as possible. Hope no one grumbles at this time adjustment.

We had a very good Christmas day. Just about perfect. Having celebrated with our daughter and s-i-l  yesterday, since they were expected at his folks home today left us with a quiet day to enjoy pondering the birth of Jesus some 2000+ years ago.

It was good to help in singing carols and to listen to the familiar, beloved record of Jesus birth, with the elderly people at the rest home. There weren’t many as most had been taken to homes of family and loved ones. By the time I left for the rest home Ed realized it wasn’t allergies messing with his sinuses as he’d thought for the past few days but a full blow cold, which developed into coughing this evening. It was a true blessing that we had nothing pressing on the schedule for Ed to endure. A restful day at home reading, napping, watching an old movie was exactly what he needed.

I’d planned to gift the handwarmers to Aurora but they’re not yet finished. She did get to try on the completed one yesterday and seemed very pleased with it. I’d gotten up at 5 in the morning knowing that with 2 hours of free time I’d have the second one nailed, with plenty of time for  a quick soak followed by blocking action (assisted by a low blowing hairdryer) and they’d be wrapped in the nick of time.

Unfortunately they endured more tinking and reknitting then should have been necessary for a relatively simple, straightforward pattern. If I could have kept count of how many extra pattern repeats I decided to do on the first warmer. Or, taken the time to size them together before sailing merrily along the thumb gusset only to find I’d done two more repeats than on the first warmer. Eight rows to be taken out. No, 12 rows for the gusset needing moving down another set to come in at the right place. And suddenly the daylight was shining in the window and rolls needed to be made and put to rising.

There’s only the picot edging and the few rows of the thumb and they will be finished. Tomorrow they’ll be soaked and blocked.

Last Thursday’s morning drive mentioned in Friday’s post? A Christmas surprise delivery while the people of the house were away at work.
A washing machine? Dishwasher?

No! Ed made these (2) for Aurora and Haymaker:

I’ll be back tomorrow!

 

The sun continues to rise later each morning

It was a surprise to learn that our days don’t lengthen at both ends on the 20th of December as I’d always been taught. In fact, in our area the sun won’t begin rising earlier until January 7th!

Dawn, forty-five minutes before the sunrise on December 16th.Yes, the earth has begin its slow tilt on its axis back towards the south and the sun actually began moving back one minute on Dec 16th when it set at 4:30 pm, after 11 days of setting at 4:29 pm. (Referring to my zip code area which is close to the 45th parallel in western Oregon.)

Sunrise will continue to linger later and later. New Year’s Day Sunrise is at 7:49, Sunset at 4:39 (16:39), it will continue rising at 7:49am (setting a minute or so later every day or two) until January 7th when it finally rise a minute sooner and begin the countback to incrementally earlier dawns.

Here’s a good website for figuring out what time the sun will rise and set in your zip code area.

What makes it so?  As I understand it there are a couple main factors: the earth is tipped on its axis; the earth journeys in an elliptical pattern, a figure 8, properly known as the analemma around the sun. The path it takes during the yearly orbit brings it closer to the sun in the winter. Here‘s a better explanation for those who are curious.

Another fun fact deduced by astronomer & mathematician Johannes Kepler some 400 years ago is that planets speed up when closer to the sun.  No wonder Christmas always arrives sooner than we can scare believe. Um, not really: the spin-rate of the earth stays basically constant.

Have you left a comment yet? For the drawing? (See previous post: Dec 18th for pictures)

To clear up a bit of confusion
1) Please state in your comment which of the five items you’d like most to win. This way your name will go into the corresponding bowl for the drawing of that specific item.
2) Each comment on subsequent posts will get your name added again. If you comment on 3 different Fiberjoy blog posts from 18th through Dec 25th you will have your name put on 3 slips of paper.  If you comment 10 times on one post you’ll still only get one slip of paper with your name on it for that post.

Yes, I have been knitting a Christmas gift. It should have, would have been finished by now but I keep getting off on lace row counts necessitating ripping back 2 rows. Handspun yarn from Picperfic Roving “Twinkle” spun in June ’11.

Time for a cup of tea and knitting whilst listening to Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey at Librivox.

 

Unproductive Days

It’s been a month and the Jenkins Woodworking website still isn’t near where I want it to be.

Nothing has gone as planned. Nothing concerning getting the website updated has progressed smoothly. Nor has transferring files and setting up email accounts on the computer built for us by a friend Ed hired. All day I chased shadows and hopes. Progress on several fronts has been made but by 7 this evening I ran out of steam. There’s still so much to do. I’m almost at the point of plugging the old beast back in just to update the website a little.

Tomorrow I have to take the car in to be serviced and do a bit of birthday shopping for our son who, along with his wife, will be riding here from the Boise area tomorrow on his motorcycle. One of their longtime friends is getting married Saturday and they decided it was a great excuse for a road trip. Their kids will stay home with friends minding them.  His birthday is Friday. Friday afternoon I’ll deliver Standard Turkish spindles and Delights at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival for Morgaine of Carolina Homespun and Jim Pritchard of Herndon Creek Farm. (Ed doesn’t wholesale his other types – simply too much skill and/or time involved in them.)

Gotland sheep and spindles are the featured items for this year’s festival and we were asked to put some of our spindles in the display upstairs in the 4-H building. It’s been fun pulling together a sampling of our spindles and working with Kristi Gustafson who has been a delight. I am looking forward to meeting her in person on Friday. If you make it to OFFF (open on Saturday and Sunday) please check out all the displays upstairs – it’s also where the items that have been entered in the competitions are displayed, it’s always interesting to look at the different items.

Our daughter-in-law’s mother is moving out of state the end of this month. It’s sad to see her leave the area but for years she’s dreamed of living where she’s moving and she realized that she could either dream of it the rest of her life or do something about it. Last night four of us women friends got together for pizza and a puzzle. We had a lovely time celebrating our friendship with good conversation, food and a puzzle. We’ve watched our kids graduate from high school then college, witnessed their marriages and held their babies, and marveled that we could be so old already. We’ve cried, prayed and held two of these dear friends close in our hearts as they battle cancer. It wasn’t goodbye yet as we will all be at the wedding on Saturday that all of our grown children will also be attending. A huge family reunion, tied not by family blood but by the love of Jesus Christ.

As a children who both grew up in families that moved often: changing schools several times, new sets of friends every few years (more often for Ed), new scenery, new churches, it’s a wonder to Ed and I that we’ve been in one place for over 24 years. Roots settling deep. People in the church become our family and as with family members we take the good and bad in each other and try to have a sense of humor about the “trying” personalities.

Not all has been totally unproductive on the home front! Two more items have recently been finished:
This is the last of the rugs from the summer’s warp, shown draped over the loom. It wanted to live with us and now gives our toes a cozy cushion in the bathroom.

These socks make me happy! The superwash wool/nylon yarn which was a gift from a dear customer and his friend, Christiane who dyed the colourway for him, the color, the way they fit, and the fact that though they accidentally ended up in the washing machine they suffered no ill effect! They’ve been worn twice and feel wonderful.
Toe up, short row heel  – no pattern except for what was in my head.
Needles: double-point #2 / 2.75mm
Yarn: Drachenwolle  420 meters/100 grams – plenty left over to do a pair of socks for a small child

To avoid 2nd sock syndrome both socks were cast on the same day. The toe of first one sock was worked and then the other toe. From then on I alternately knit an inch or two on one or the other sock.  I debated doing 2 socks at once using 2 circular needles but in some ways it’s easier not to have two dangling socks going round and round, sorting out which the pair of needles.

I’m in that limbo between knitting projects! The vest weaving is still on the Julia loom. A hairpin prayer shawl is well underway but neither of those are for traveling. With OFFF coming followed a few days later by another jaunt that should have some good knitting time built in I need to settle down and decide what to cast on next.

 

 

Whitfield Jacket

Who sends a fax with private personal information without double checking to verify it’s going to the correct number? Late this afternoon a fax with someone’s entire 200_ tax returns, schedules and all, came through our machine. There was no accompanying paperwork showing who’d sent it or where it was faxed from. Crazy. Twill be fodder for a fire.

Woo hoo! Ed’s sweater jacket is finished. After binding off the last edges on the 19th it took almost two days for the blocked pieces to dry.  In the meantime I knit two of the front pockets to sew on after seaming the parts, only to have Ed nix the idea. Once dry the neck stitches were picked up, the collar knit then the side and sleeve seams tackled. Surprisingly I actually liked the seaming process. Cold damp weather had settled in for several days so sitting under a very heavy wool sweater jacket was lovely. It’s not the neatest job but with experience I’ll improve.

After completely finishing it I soaked it in warm water, rolled it in a towel and smooshed it hard then spread it out to dry. It might still be wet if Saturday hadn’t turned warm and sunny day. I even tossed it in the dryer for about 10 minutes hoping to encourage the moisture to leave. That was a bit scary and I’m glad I didn’t leave it in for very long. There was room for shrinkage but I didn’t want to felt it.

It’s  big on him but he likes to wear sweatshirts underneath sweaters in the winter and he’d emphasized that he likes lots of room. If I’d paid strict attention to the pattern notes, and had had faith in them I would have continued with the size I’d first started knitting  but moved up one size for fear that it’d be too small.

While I’m happy enough with the buttons, and Ed likes them, I’ll keep a look out for pewter buttons.
Pattern: Knitspot Whitfield Jacket Loved it!
Yarn: Briar Rose Fibers Robusta It’s a bulky, heavy yarn 1 lb = 500 yards! It will keep Ed toasty warm this winter.
Needles: Size 7 & 8 wood circulars made by Ed.

Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival was this past weekend. I look forward to this weekend all year but had to stave off pangs of guilt as Saturday dawned bright and beautiful – the perfect day for catching up with yard work and garden maintenance. Ed declared that they’d be here next week and that I needed to go enjoy spinning. We delivered spindles to a couple of vendors then Ed returned home to work while I played.

Stay tuned! For OFFF happenings.

Ed standing in front of the gravenstein apple tree reminds me of a couple of pictures taken in early August when the Grandkids were here.

 

Spindle Mania

Ed’s been making spindles for five years. During the first couple of years he worked to refine his design of the Standard Turkish spindles until he felt he had a good understanding of what makes for a well balanced, good spinning spindle. In the Spring of 2008 he designed what to us seemed like a mini Turkish spindle, our Turkish Delight. Around that time he also experimented with making a Ladakhi man’s spindle, the Skuru by using the proportions from a picture sent to us from Celtic Jo, who’d taken the picture while visiting in Ladakh, asking if Ed could make her one. He made a couple but wasn’t happy with the imperfect balance and seemingly cumbersome appearance.

I took one of his skuru’s  to Sock Summit 2009 as part of our display. A woman who saw it asked us if we’d be interested in seeing a Turkish spindle she’d picked up years ago while touring through Turkey. We arranged to meet at Oregon Flock and Fiber. Ed was fascinated with the spindle and he made a couple more sort of based on its size and shape which was very similar to the Ladakh skuru but this one had chip carving on it. And weighed almost 4 ounces! Surprisingly they spin half decently, it just takes more concentration and experience.

During that same time he began developing the wee Kuchulu which was released in October. From huge to tiny, both intriguing and fun to spin, especially the kuchulu which is like a little turbo of speed and energy spinning out cobweb and lace. We can hardly keep up with orders. It doesn’t help that he sands the skin off his fingers and needs to let them heal for at least a week before making another batch.
Somewhere along the way he dreamed of a sleek mid-whorl spindle and next thing I knew, he put one in my hands asking me to give it a test run. The elegant sweet spinning Lark which debuted this past Spring.

Imagine our surprise when hardly had the doors at Black Sheep Gathering opened when a woman zoomed straight to our table with a contagious air of excitement. She reached into her bag and plunked down a spindle much the size of our Larks. Fifteen years ago she was strolling through a marketplace in a small town in Greece when she saw this item and was totally captivated. She thought it was simply a child’s top. After learning to spin a year ago she was shocked to realize it was a real spindle.
Pictured on my book for size reference.

Dana placed it in Ed’s hands and asked if he could make her something like it.

A couple months have gone by with the Greek spindle never far from Ed’s thoughts. Meanwhile, Chrome64 (you must see her amazing sweater knit as she finished spinning fiber samples) accidentally let one of her kuchulus get to chummy with one of her Larks and she loved the resultant spin. She contacted Ed pleading with him to make this hybrid spindle for her.  Oh my, how these offspring of the Lark/Delight/Kuchulu fly! Other than Ed’s first seven prototypes, named Jay, he hasn’t yet made more, but that will soon be remedied. The other very very cool thing about the Jay is that if a person owns a Lark, Ed will made a Jay shaft to fit it so the Lark can be converted into a Jay.                                                                     Jenkins Jay on the left,  Jenkins Lark on the right

While all this new flurry is kicking up the sawdust around the home place yet another type of spindle has quietly made an appearance, known only to three of us.  Until now.

A couple weeks ago Dana of the Greek spindle contacted me and invited us to her house. Ed needed to work but I arranged to visit her last Friday. Thursday Ed came into the house from the shop and set two spindles on the kitchen table to be weighed and signed. Taken completely by surprise I held each in turn then ran and grabbed a bit of fiber to test spin them. Finally the weights were recorded and the spindles returned to the shop for the first coat of finish. Friday morning I applied Wood Beams as the final coat then tucked them in with the wool from last week’s post to take along to Dana’s.

While Dana’s back was turned I slipped the two spindles onto the table. Gobsmacked, she was. Simply gobsmacked.

She hardly knew which to pick up and spin first. We compared Ed’s with hers and declared them a decent match though hers has the wonderful patina of age. Then we set them up and tried spinning all three at once while running the camera. Hmm, still need to get that video on YouTube.

Cherry chip carved spindle left 18grams/0.64oz , Greek spindle middle, Pear chip-carved spindle  right 19 grams/0.67 oz. I have no idea when Ed plans to start making them to sell, or what we’ll be calling them. I’d love an easy to pronounce Greek word for some type of song bird.

Our daughter’s birthday is coming up and her handwarmers aren’t finished yet. (I’m a bit astonished that I got sidetracked into posting here tonight when my one focus was to be knitting!) One has only the final ribbing to finish, the other has the thumb to finish and the final ribbed edge. Here’s hoping I don’t get sidetracked to much in the next couple of days.

 

Feeling Blessed

The longer the stretch between posts, the harder it is to write. Too many partial posts blogged in my mind that never made it to the keyboard.

Two more hats have been made and only the crown is left on the one I’m knitting for our son. How could I resist when he slyly said, “Where’s my hat?” as he fondled Wesley’s small grey hat. Trying to capture the pattern in written format for three sizes has been a challenge but it’s coming along.  Thank you to all who waved their hands and offered to test knit! I’ll be sending you the pdf as soon as it’s finished.

Feather’s hat is made out of Cascade 220 to see how well the pattern would adapt to a bulkier yarn. It turned out okay but looses the soft drape and wispy charm of the softly spun fingering wool which I’m convinced it partially mohair.
Green is her favorite color these days.

Little Bud was intrigued that Faith has a hat kind of like his.

The cold bug that seems to be going in circles looped around again and settled in for a two week visit. It’s not wanting to depart either. Almost everyone I know has been hit with this bug. Ed’s been keeping it at arm’s length which is good since he’s as busy as ever. He was able to take the weekend off and get away to the coast for the regional Friends men’s retreat.  I packed up the last of several store orders that had pending deadlines on Friday and heaved a huge sigh of relief that Ed was able to make such a massive amount of hooks, spindles and hairpin lace looms in about six weeks, get them finished and shipped. At the moment we have mostly spindles that still need making for various individual.

While getting ready to go to bed a couple weeks ago, I was thinking of all the good in my life and counting my blessings for the things I’ve been able to accomplish. Most times it seems that I don’t do much of anything worthy, or significant and it’d been one of those days of feeling a bit down and insignificant. We all want to leave some mark of our passing life for a brief while in this world.  It was good to take measure of things that I’ve been to be able to take part in:  Raise two children who are doing well as adults; composed a few pieces of music – one, a  jig, which has been written down and met with approval when Crooked Finger Band has played it for several occasions;  wrote a Christmas play that the kids had fun doing; contribute to our business wih the spinning book/dvd,  lifelong friendships…  But mostly what keeps repeating in my head for the past month is the saying that was on a plaque at the head of the stairs when I was little. I could read it by the time I was five. Daily I would stop and read it as I climbed the stairs to go to bed.

“Only one life twill soon be passed,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

I tend to hold my faith quietly and close to my heart. I wish I were bolder in sharing the wonders of the magnificence of our God. Sometimes I want to shout of His incomparable love from the housetops, the mountains – to shout, clap and dance with joyful abandonment. The reality is, I’am shy and feel inhibited most of the time. But, you see, it’s really not about me, I need to get out of the way and let God do the work.

Today I had one of the greatest privileges in my life: give the message at Meeting this morning. The pastor and four other men went to the men’s retreat, including the man who usually backup preaches. Two weeks ago when the pastor told me he’d like to go I’d offered to find the replacement but in the busyness of life time slipped past and suddenly  there were seven days left. What I’d been ignoring was a small inkling that kept growing with each passing day: there was a message I was to give. The first couple days as I processed and packed orders I prayed and thought and prayed. What a wonderful time it was! Inspite of interuptions of Justin dropping by with the kids on Monday, fixing food for a funeral on Wednesday, while working to get out that one huge order (100 hooks + knitting needles + hairpin lace looms) by Thursday,  babysitting Friday morning, there was a strong, steady communion with God. Reading the Bible in the morning as I ate breakfast and again in the evenings, trying to be open and listen to God’s leading, slowly the sermon came together. Gathering my Bible, extensive notess and purse, heading out the door to church this morning I wished for one more hour to meld it into a cohesive written whole rather than pages of written notes and an outline.  But the groundwork was well laid and the Holy Spirit was very much present. When I stood at the pulpit and started to speak the minutes flew by. The verses flowed, weaving naturally throughout the message of the Name that is above all names. The Word through whom and by whom and for whom everything in the heavens, on earth, and under earth exist. The One who spoke a name and I was created. Someday He will give me a white stone and on that stone will be a name that no one knows (Revelation 2:17) – my own unique name, the name that He spoke me into being. Every fiber of my being will shout YES! That is who I am.

I will be complete.