This Yarn Taught Me…
Posted on July 2, 2008
Filed Under this yarn taught me, yarn philosophy, personal, yarn | 2 Comments
Well, this IS primarily a knitting and spinning blog, so I should probably have more knitting and spinning content on here, don’tcha think?
In what I hope will become a new regular feature chez Divine Bird, I plan to look back at some of the yarn I’ve spun in the past few years and talk about what I learned from spinning that particular yarn.
First, though, a little background for those just now joining us. I’ve spun…well, LOTS of yarn since I learned how to spin almost three years ago. Has it really been that long (or has it really been ONLY that long)?? Let’s see…I learned in July or August that year. Bunny and I were still in the old apartment then, the teeny tiny two-room thing that was downstairs from our previous place, a spacious second-floor apartment in Enfield. (This is significant because I remember trying to find a place to store my borrowed spindle where it wouldn’t get lost or broken on the tile floor.) Since we just signed our third lease on this apartment, that means we’ve been here for just over two years. I guess that puts us at 2005–just about three years, then! Wow!
Erica of Criations in Somers, CT taught me the basics. She heard me sigh wistfully about wanting to learn to spin, so she thrust spindle and wool into my hands and told me to just do it. Several months later, I returned the Turkish spindle to her and bought more wool. I was given a drop spindle during a yarn swap–the one I affectionately refer to as my ‘boat anchor’ because it’s so heavy. I began spinning like crazy with it, big thick tight overspun singles that looked lovely and fine and even to me at the time. In April 2006, I joined the Nutmeg Spinners’ Guild and began to actively learn about spinning from many different teachers. In October of that year, I finally bought my very first ’self-selected’ spindle, then another in December. My yarn got better, finer, more even. I spun every material I could find–wool, alpaca, angora, silk, cotton balls…even steel wool, just for ha-has.
February 2007 saw me borrowing a wheel from a lady at my local Guild. By April of that year, I had acquired two wheels of my own, both of which I used daily. I tried my hand at production spinning which worked for a while, but took too much time away from my own spinning. I began selling my yarn in an online shop. I did demos, fairs, and even entered some yarn in a skein contest (I got 2nd place with one!). Then, in January of this year, I swapped out my old wheels for a brand-new Lendrum folding wheel, which is my pride and joy. It would go with me everywhere if I could manage it. I’m putting together fabric for a custom-made carrying bag for it so I CAN safely bring it with me more often.
Today, I am Vice-President of the Nutmeg Spinners. I have taught dozens of people to spin, and seen some of them turn around to teach others…who then turn and teach still others. In the Fall, I will be offering a basic spinning class through my local Adult Education program. I have won another 2nd place ribbon, as well as a 3rd and even a Best of Show. I spin every day if I can, sometimes for hours on end. I photograph every single skein of yarn that I spin, whether for sale or for my own use. I know every yarn I’ve spun and what it was like to work on it, how I felt, and what was going on in my life at the time.
I’m looking forward to sharing a lot of that with you. Here’s a glimpse ahead at the first few yarns:
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Summer Goals–One TWO Down!
Posted on July 1, 2008
Filed Under organization, yarn | 3 Comments
Finished the green Monkey Socks!!
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| First pic, a rather poor image of the finished socks. Second pic is from SEP-FREAKING-TEMBER 2007. Gah. | |
Seriously, all they needed was the foot and toe and grafting and done. The ends were already woven in on the first sock, even.
The Trekking sock wasn’t doing anything for me as it was. I kind of ended it early, just over the ankle, and used a crocheted bind-off that gave it a ruffly edge on top. It was kind of…awkward-looking. I undid the bind-off and continued knitting for a few more inches, THEN bound off. They’ll look really cute with jeans or shorts with sneakers that way.
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| First pic, the finished socks. Second pic, see how they used to look? Cute, but not so much on my feet. | |
The funny thing is that when I originally wrote this post, it was before my weekend in Maine. All the Trekking sock stuff was written in the future tense; now, though, I’ve finished the pair! I’m much happier with them now. Basically, I did the frogging and continuing of the cuff on the first sock during the drive up to Southwest Harbor. Then I did the toe on Friday night and Saturday morning, and by Saturday evening I was halfway through the foot and knitting along happily. Morgan did a row for me during a quiet moment (good bride & knitting mojo!) and I turned the heel on Sunday. I had planned to finish the leg while Bunny took his turn driving, but I ended up having to drive the entire time due to an ill-timed kidney stone on Bunny’s part. Feh. No matter, I just worked on it on Monday & Tuesday, and lo, there was a second pair of socks!!
Oh, and true story–I randomly decided to stop knitting the first cuff when I hit the black section, thinking they were just long enough and I liked the way the sock looked. Then I randomly (again) cast on for the second sock, figuring I’d never match the striping if I tried, when I realized that in fact I WAS knitting matching socks! It’s totally awesome. I don’t usually worry if my socks match, so this was a pleasant and unexpected bonus.
So anyway, naturally, when I got a new pseudo-Pod (as opposed to, you know, an iPod), I needed to knit a cozy for it. I had just enough of some Jenny-Colored sock yarn left over, and it made a lovely little pseudoPod sock. It’s just a K2P1 rib in the round, grafted at the bottom. Love how the shading worked!
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| First pic, a cozy pseudoPod. Second pic, the pseudoPod wants to be back in its little home. | |
And now for some spinning:
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| 1. BFL from Mama E’s C*eye*ber Fiber; bulky, 270yards. 2. Corriedale/Alpaca from Spunky Eclectic, 70yards. | |
What I Did On My Summer Vacation
Posted on June 23, 2008
Filed Under personal, general | 1 Comment
Seriously, this was one of the loveliest weddings I’ve ever seen. The ceremony was short, simple, and utterly unique without being strange or over the top. I felt real joy when I saw this couple get married. Usually I know one half of the couple really well while the other is a newcomer to our social circle, but Morgan and Adam have always been…well, Morgan AND Adam…as long as I’ve known them. We met Morgan about a month before we got married in 2001, then met Adam just after returning from our honeymoon. We all seemed to have everything in common, and it just worked out that we grew close despite the growing physical distance between us. When I received the ’save the date’ card in the mail last year, I cried. Like many people who know these two, my first thought was, ‘it’s about darn time!’ My second thought was, ‘of COURSE I’ll be there!’
The drive to Southwest Harbor, ME is about 6.5 hours door to door, not including stops. We made the drive up in a leisurely 8 hours, partly due to an accidental turn while looking for a certain yarn store. (We found it–the Knitting Experience Cafe in Brunswick is small and sweet, and Wild Oats is a fantastic place for lunch.) When we arrived at our motel, we were happy to discover a clean, comfortable room with a kitchen and a private deck that looked out over the harbor.
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Apparently, lupins are EVERYWHERE. The place is covered with them.
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Saturday, the day of the wedding, we had the whole morning and most of the afternoon to ourselves. We walked (Yes! Us! Walked!) around Southwest Harbor for a while. I shopped at the Lilac Lily, where I met another wedding guest/knitter/friend of Morgan’s!
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There were also some protesters along the road. These people were protesting the war:
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While this guy was across the street from them, supporting the war:
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They all supported the troops, though, so yay.
We headed out to the Seawall Motel for the wedding around 3pm, figuring on getting there a little early. As we drove from our motel to the Seawall, I noticed what looked like smoke up ahead on the road. It was a wall of FOG coming in from the water!
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That sign in the background is for the border of Acadia National Park, and normally you can read it if the weather is clear. Seriously, we were getting worried that it would rain and we’d have to move indoors. Not a tragedy, of course, but still. It was pretty thick.
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Then, miraculously on cue, the sky cleared and we had blue sky and sunshine for the ceremony itself.
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All in all, it was entirely worth the trip just to see this:
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Congrats, Mo-chan and Adam! Jatt & Menny love you and wish you both happiness and health for many years together.
Most Important
Posted on June 15, 2008
Filed Under personal | 2 Comments
This morning, from some forgotten corner of my brain, my subconscious dug out a conversation tidbit that I can’t place, but definitely remember. It inserted the moment into my dreams and the implied emotion within it caused me to wake up in tears. It went kind of like this:
My dad is talking to someone, probably my brother or me. “What are the three most important dates you can think of?”
Someone begins to say, “Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, Lincoln’s–” when my father stops them.
“No,” he says, “The three most important dates are the days my children were born.”
I don’t know when or where this conversation took place, or even if it actually did in the real world, but knowing my dad, it’s true. He has been more than just the quintessential American Dad. Every word he speaks to my brother, sister and I is backed up by an unending reservoir of love. When he yelled at us, it really was because he loved us. When we made him proud, he let us know the depth of his pride. When we disappointed him, it hurt–not because we would lose his love, but because we knew how much HE had invested of himself in our success, and when we made stupid decisions, we knew we’d squandered something precious. Maybe it would take a while for it to sink in, but we would always look back and chide ourselves for being so cavalier.
Dad isn’t always right; our differing views on politics and social issues have caused plenty of bitter arguments where neither side is willing to give ground to the other. Sometimes he can be downright ornery, insisting that some bit of trivia is true when I know it’s not…it never pays to try to change his mind. But then, I’m often the same way.
He is full of quotes, factoids, trivia, interesting conversation, and often silly humor. With a straight face, he will tell you that ‘rubberneckers’ are escaped convicts wearing large rubber collars who run out into traffic to escape the police, causing traffic slowdowns. He will happily show a ‘magic’ trick to a five-year-old. He will challenge children to answer tough history and geography questions (and he’ll put money on the table!). He will order the best wine in the house (and insist upon paying for it) at his own birthday dinner.
I hit my lowest point in 1996, when the house I was renting was sold by our landlord, in the same month the coffeehouse I worked at was forced to close. I had been working for food and a pittance of rent money. I had no savings. I scoured the car floor and cushions to find change to put another couple pennies into my gas tank. It was awful. I packed my things and then realized I just didn’t know where I would go. My roommates had other living situations planned, and I had lost touch with many of my friends. In the end, I called my dad in tears. “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” I said, “I don’t know where I’m going to go. And even if I knew, I can’t even get there because there’s no gas in my car.” It never occurred to me to ask to come back–I was out on my own, so I was supposed to stay there, wasn’t I?
All he said was, “I will be there in an hour. I’m coming to get you.”
He showed up in his old blue minivan, with the seats removed, and we packed whatever we could fit into it. I left behind a lot of stuff, but I didn’t care. We drove back home and he never yelled at me about it, never shook a finger at me and said ‘I told you so’, never said a thing to make me feel worse. I expected it, even, because I knew I deserved it.
I got a second chance that day, to get my life in order and pick a direction. I chose to go to college, where I met my future husband and the beginnings of a new circle of friends–people who weren’t losers or toxic or burned out. All because my dad wouldn’t abandon me even when I was an adult. Whenever I think of the most important moments in my life, the sight of that blue minivan pulling up in front of my house is one of the biggest. It was like a glimpse of relief and serenity in the midst of the chaos my life had become.
I think if there was one phrase to distill my dad’s presence in my life, it would have to be that simple, “I’m coming to get you.” How many times have I been stranded on the road, or needed help of some kind, where as a last resort I call Dad because I just don’t know what else to do? How many times has he said that to me? I have lost count. But if he can get there, he will. He is always, always there for me, as he is for my brother and my sister.
Dad, the card didn’t say it well enough, apparently, because I really needed to write this to make sure it was clear.
Happy Father’s Day.
Summer Goals 2008
Posted on June 10, 2008
Filed Under organization, yarn, general | 1 Comment
Since Kris of The Painted Sheep and PoMoGolightly have been doing this, I’ve been giving my own goals some serious thought. So, courtesy of Skeins Her Way (which is an awesome blog name, btw), here are my KNITTING GOALS for summer 2008!
To Finish:
1. The green Monkey socks that apparently I forgot about…I am about halfway done with the foot on the second sock. Should be easy to finish!
2. The turquoise bamboo socks, which I was working on until I realized how close I was to finishing the Monkey socks…I’m about done with the feet on both and about to turn both heels.
3. The second sock to the Crazy Tabi Socks. These are being done with the yellow and the orange variegated Koigu yarn from a few posts back. One is complete; the other has been cast on and just needs a kick in the pants.
4. The second Trekking sock. The first one was an experiment in toe-up socks that I did last summer during the Ninja Dungeon weekend. The other one shouldn’t take long at all!
To Work On:
1. Eleanor. I started it in the spring of…2007, I think. It’s been languishing at about 1/3 done. This is the only thing I’m not sure I’ll finish this summer, but at very least I want to work on it. The goal for this one is just another 12″, to keep me thinking about it and working on it. I think Eleanor qualifies as the ONLY UFO I actually have.
To Start:
1. Christmas gifts. I have a short list of gifts for people this year–simple ones, but I want them done before October, which means starting them soon.
2. A lace neckerchief for myself, using some small bits of handspun I’ve set aside for that purpose.
And…I think that’s it. :D I’d probably have more, but I do have a lot of spinning to do, too! ;)
Shop Update
Posted on June 5, 2008
Filed Under shop, yarn, general | 1 Comment
I added a few new yarns to my shop today, so go check ‘em out while they’re still here! I’ve been feeling Springy and you can tell by the colors I added!
Left to right: Chickie (Cormo wool); Chlorophiliac II (wool/mohair); Begonia (wool/mohair); Lavender (wool/mohair).
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Since the middle of March, I’ve completed twelve yarns! I couldn’t believe it until I started compiling the thumbnails for another ‘yarn quilt’ image for my notecard series. That’s twelve different YARNS, not skeins. (Some of the yarns are made up of multiple skeins due to the size of my spinning wheel bobbins or were done in different batches.) I have two more in progress and then I’ve got a few more planned, as usual. I’m dying to get started on the stuff I bought from Spunky Eclectic last week, and I want to really dive into some of the larger amounts of fiber I’ve got, if for no other reason than I want to clear out the fiber closet a bit.
You know, stuff like this. Finally–pics of my haul from MA Sheep & Wool!! From left, Merino/silk; chartreuse Mohair locks; Spunky Eclectic corriedale/alpaca; Wool/Mohair/Alpaca grey roving:
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And some better pics of things you’ve seen, plus other random new fibers. Left to right: Abby blue batts; Abby camel/silk; Mama E’s C-eye-ber Fiber (which is already spun onto 2 bobbins and waiting for plying):
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I also have rediscovered the joys of spinning on a drop spindle. Especially for things like small bits of fiber that don’t really go anywhere–I’ve got a bag going that holds all of my little tiny skeins. I’ll probably do a project with all of them sometime, maybe when I’ve got a huge bag of them.
Here are some wheel-spun skeins I’ve been doing for myself! The emerald green is wool/silk/mohair; the purple & green yarn is BFL.
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This next yarn is an experiment that may just have worked out exactly as I intended. If it has, then I’ll be making a much larger batch later on, perhaps after I get my plying head from Lendrum. At this point, the regular bobbins are just too small for a heavily textured, often-bulky yarn with any kind of serious yardage.
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The girls at SnB think I should call it “Rhinebeck”, partly because it reminds them of the drive there, but also partly because most of the fibers were bought at Rhinebeck 2007. No matter what it’s called, I’ll be knitting it into something for myself pretty soon!
What have YOU been up to? Show me!
No SOAR for Me
Posted on June 2, 2008
Filed Under personal | 7 Comments
I got my response today, and I was not accepted for this year’s SOAR scholarship. I’m terribly bummed about it and may need some fiber therapy to get through the disappointment. Or something.
Seriously, I really am sad about it. I wouldn’t have been able to afford going without the scholarship, and next year SOAR is in Oregon–not exactly a driveable distance. Feh.
I have sent emails to the lovely people who wrote letters of recommendation for me; their notes are going into my scrapbook because no matter what the outcome was, I will always want to read the encouraging and wonderful things they said about me.
Hey, fellow bloggers who applied–did you guys get in? If you didn’t, maybe we should have a pity party. :)
More later–just wanted to get this up for now. Thanks for all your support, guys.
Late Pics
Posted on May 31, 2008
Filed Under personal, yarn | 1 Comment
Here’s a few from Mass Sheep & Wool 2008! Click to embiggen.
Friends:
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Fiber:
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Fuzzies:
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Yarn:
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And the Sky:
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I still haven’t got much in the way of pics of my haul, as they didn’t come out well yesterday. Guess you’ll have to just keep checking back! ;)
A Winner Is Me–Again!
Posted on May 25, 2008
Filed Under personal, yarn | 6 Comments
That’s right, my yarn won in competition again! :D For the first time at Massachusetts Sheep & Wool in Cummington, MA, I managed to get some skeins in on time (as opposed to last year’s debacle). I tried to take some pics of the winning yarn on display, but they came out really poorly. So here are pics of the yarn from my Flickr account:
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Glamour Bunny took First Place in the Novelty category. Novelty was for all yarns that weren’t 100% wool. Glamour Bunny, as you may remember, is Merino/Silk/Angora. My first First! :D
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Just Before Dawn took its second Second Place ribbon, also in the Novelty category. This is the yarn that won at the Big E last year; I’m ready to start knitting with it once I get it back. JBD is from Abby’s July Batt Club from last year.
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I received a bit of a surprise when I saw which of my remaining yarns got ribbons. I had submitted Turning Leaves, as well as some spindle-spun Shetland and a skein of Rambouillet/Border Leicester–any of which I expected would win over the actual winner. My last yarn to win a ribbon was a skein of Wensleydale in the Fine category, with a Third Place. This was a random pick of one of four skeins I’m offering for sale in my shop; I felt all of them were fairly identical, with this one being the prettiest and neatest (meaning I didn’t have to re-skein it for the competition). The judges seemed to like it, though, so I’m happy!
The great thing about this competition was that it also included Deb’s first win! Her fractal-plied BFL won a well-deserved Second Place ribbon in the Fine category, which meant she beat out my Wensleydale! I’m so proud of her! :D
We had an awesome time at the festival. Once I caught my breath from running to get our skeins in, we walked around a bit with Lilith, met up with Tina, bought some fiber, had lunch, enabled helped Lilith choose a spindle at Spunky’s Booth and further enabled watched her buy some handpainted silk to go with it. Then she had to depart, and we entered the speed spinning contest. I won that, too, though it was really kind of silly with just Deb & me on our spindles while everyone else had their wheels. It was tons of fun anyway.
After that, we shopped around some more, then ran into Blogless JKaz and Kim, who were hanging out together! Awesome. And then, as we were leaving, I got to meet Kristin Nicholas. How freaking cool is that?? A woman after my own color-saturated heart. I would love to really talk with her sometime when we can sit down and get into how to use color and how not to be afraid of the stuff. ;)
Kim, JKaz, Deb & I hung around talking for a while until we realized it was after 5:30pm and we were starving. We found a great little diner on the side of the road on the way home and had some delicious food there. I sense the beginning of a tradition–maybe next year, we’ll have more people with us and we can have a real after-fair party!
All in all, it was truly a gorgeous day. I have pics of animals, people, fiber, and my haul, all coming when I can get onto the PC to upload them.
Have a great rest of the weekend–it’s Memorial Day here in the States, so we’re picnicking and barbecuing and all that great stuff. Hope your weekend is nice and relaxing!
Also, Snarklight
Posted on May 20, 2008
Filed Under general | 1 Comment
We miss you, Miss Snark! Thanks for your time and your advice! Here’s a light in the memory of your blog.
(No, Miss Snark is not dead–but her blog went dark on this date in 2007.) I remember it myself; the surprise, the sadness. Hurrah for her wise words!
Back to your regularly scheduled blogging.
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