Escape

We spent the weekend upstate. Had visitors too. Welcome guests

Jerry did some repairs on the deck. Some of the boards are rotting so we're going to paint on our next visit. Thinking green to match the house trim.

Went to the antique mall to get vases for the girls. Found this handsome little fellow and brought him home.

And speaking of vases.... I did some experimenting with cut flowers from our yard. The purple flowers are water hyacinth which we have in our yard in a little water garden.

These are the water hyacinth after they opened up. They are very pretty but they only lasted the day. Next day they were starting to close up. Not good for cut flowers. Too bad. I really like them.

We went for a walk at Dunn's Creek. I like to walk back in there. It's quiet and there are very few people around. I feel I need that more and more. The deer must have been having a party. Their hoof prints were everywhere.

Remembering...

This is a woven wall hanging that I made for my friend Jess back in July 2013. I've been thinking about her a lot lately...

Things always pop up to make me think of her. But lately, I had finished the Lydon book Knitting Heaven and Earth. In the book, the author talks about how she knitted a sweater for a terminally ill friend and how she felt she was trying to knit her friend to the earth. Then last week, I read an article in the new Handwoven by Jenny Pelc about weaving memorial banners for loved ones that have passed. Was I doing that with the wall hanging? I didn't think about it at the time, but I think maybe somewhere in my heart I was.

When I was getting ready to go for treatments back in July, I started crocheting a baby blanket. There are no grandchildren on the horizon as of yet, but I felt compelled to start this little blanket. I went to Joann's, bought 3 skeins of neutral baby colors and started crocheting. I just felt such a strong pull to do this. Maybe I was crocheting myself here to Earth. I need to stay here. I want to see the grandchild that this blanket will eventually cover.

My friend Jessica did not win her battle with cancer. She was 38 years old and left 2 beautiful and sweet little boys as her legacy. She has been gone for a year. I know she is ok though. More than ok. And here's how I know...

I have to back up first. When my dad passed 12 years ago (has it been that long?), we saw a rainbow on the day of his funeral. My mom said that was his way of telling us he was happy. A few years ago, I was at work and feeling very frightened and depressed about having an acoustic neuroma. While sitting at the information desk, a little girl who I had never seen before, or since, came up to me and gave me this...

...she said it was for me.

Shortly after Jess passed, I was walking along the beach and thinking about her. I sat down on one of the benches to rest and look at the water. I was thinking how much I wished she could tell me what it was like and how she was doing. I glanced down the beach a way and saw two people flying a kite. And guess what was on the kite... yes, a rainbow. And that's how I know Jess is happy.

Random weavings

Randomly woven scarf... I like the way it came out, especially the drape. I'm not sure if it is technically saori or not, since I've read that in order to be truly saori, it has to be woven on a saori loom. I wove it on a rigid heddle loom. I put the question to the Weavolution saori group as to whether or not a piece had to be woven on a saori loom in order to be considered saori. Well that's not exactly what I asked. I asked if there were any difference between the saori loom and any other 2 or 4 harness loom. I mean the weaving is either plain weave or 4 harness, right? I've gotten no response as of yet.

I really liked the way the weft undulated between the warp... like ripples across water. I used a very light beat to achieve a gauze-like feel.

The heel she is done! And the stitches all look right. Now to conquer the ankle

This is Paton's Kroy sock yarn, color Blue Strip Ragg, over dyed with black. I love the way sock yarn looks when it's over dyed.

I finally decided on how to use the little green ball of yarn... Potato chip scarf!

The heel

I've been working on the heel of my sock for a while now. It's taking me a long time because it's my first sock ever. And now it's going to take longer.

I realized a while back that my heel wasn't looking right. By that I mean it wasn't coming out in stockinette stitch like the rest of the sock. So I thought, "well, maybe it's supposed to look different", and just kept going. I was getting so caught up in the process (I'm definitely a "process" as opposed to "finished product" sort of a crafter...it's all about the process for me), and kept ignoring the little nagging voice in my head saying, "something is wrong doofus... something is wrong".  The heel was in fact knitting up in reverse stockinette. Finally good common sense broke through and I realized I would have to do the thing I have always feared most as a knitter... frogging... rip it! rip it! 

This was scary, especially since I have never frogged on circular needles before. I've never really done much frogging at all. So I did it. Took me about an hour to get the needles back on. My glasses are old and we're talking tiny, size 2 needle stitches. But I finally got the stitches back on the needles and started again.

Now, let me say why I'm glad this happened. Yes, glad. Because I was forced to do something I feared. Because I learned more about the anatomy of stitches and how to fix dropped stitches. Because I'm not afraid to correct mistakes anymore and I feel like that fear probably kept me from trying new things as a knitter. Kept me from pushing and learning new techniques.

And as Leonard Cohen says:

Ring the bells that still can ring

forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in

Saori musings

I started this scarf back on the 14th and just thought I'd let it flow out as it would. The warp colors are the colors of a cow pasture that I saw on my way south from the parsonage a couple of weeks back. Blues, greens and golds. It's one of my favorite things about Florida; the endless horizons. I'm always able to get inspiration from the horizons.

So I'm weaving the scarf, using stash yarns, with no particular plan. Then, the other day, I got an invitation to join the Saori weaving group on Ravelry. What is Saori? It is a form of free weaving in which imperfections are welcome. This sounded familiar and upon reading the philosophy, I realized they were talking about wabi-sabi, the Japanese philosophy of finding the beauty in imperfection. I've always been drawn to this philosophy. Imperfection, decay,

And only a couple of weeks ago, I found this little mat that I wove a few years back in much the same way as the scarf I'm working on. No plan... just free weaving with imperfect selvedges. I was Saori before I knew what Saori was I guess.

My sock is coming along. I have started the increase on the heel. I am really enjoying sock knitting.

Beautyberry

Watched the storm over Lake Crescent while slurping Frosties

Inkle done

Fresh off the loom this morning. I like to let my weaving rest for a day before I start finishing. Let me rest too.

Saw my doctor Monday for my 6 week post CK treatment. He said I was doing good and that I will get an MRI at 6 months to see how things are going in the old insane mem"brain". He also told me that he wants me to now put this behind me for a while. I think he is right. And I will try. Besides, I have to see all my other doctors that I've been neglecting. Saw my eye doctor this morning and got my glasses prescription fixed (too strong). Then I'll need to see the dentist ... ugh! Then the "lady doctor" tee hee! Then dermatologist because I live in the sunshine state. I can only take one doctor at a time though.

Last Sunday I made the Lazy Day Casserole. Let me just say that awesome would be a good way to describe this recipe. I modified it a bit, using Uncle John's Pride, Country Smoked Sausage. I also didn't add the fennel bulb, as my store didn't have any. Served it over some wide egg noodles. It was goooooood! And very easy. I like easy.

S.T.E.A.M. on a Sunday

I haven't worked the rigid heddle loom in a while so I thought, what the heck... I could use a scarf for winter. More on that next post. Anyway, I had some left over yarn. Then I got to thinking, what can you do with yarn you don't seem to have any use for? How can you reuse? Experiment time. 

I cut some bits onto the carders and combed them out.

Made some funky, colorful batts!

Which spin into funky, colorful yarn! Groovy! I'm doing a spinning demo for kids in November, so I'm thinking this would make a good STEAM program. Teaching the kids about spinning and recycling and reusing materials. Anyone wanting to do this with their class or group, fear not. You don't have to spend a lot of money with this project. You can substitute wire dog brushes for the cards above and you can make spindles easily and inexpensively. Spindles can be made from CD's or toy wheels.

The sock is coming along. Coming along slower than I'd like but it will get there.

Isn't he cute? Che made him. She was so nervous waiting to hear back about a job she'd applied for that she cranked out a bear in a day. Much faster than her mom...

Remember the muscadine grapes from the last post? Well, here's another yummy thing you can do with these southern grapes