August Socks

Dear Mom,
I am woefully far behind on August's Socks. Woe.Full.ee. I turned the heel on the first sock only this afternoon. What's today? The 25th? That gives me 6 days to knit 1 and 1/2 socks if I am gonna finish before the end of the month. I know I'll get plenty of good knitting time while watching Project Runway tonight and if I knit nothing else for the next 6 days, I can probably beat the deadline.
This is more Vesper sock yarn, but it seems I've lost or thrown away the ball band so I can't tell  you the name of the colorway. Actually, I found a ball band in my sock knitting case, but it was for the colorway "Candy Corn" and I knit those socks way  back in January. I also found the business card for my neighbor's orthopedic surgeon and she saw him early in 2010.....

Love,
Kim

Mittens

Dear Mom,

I've been asked by the Village Yarn Shop in Zionsville to teach some knitting classes- my North Porch Hat and a mitten class, to be specific. Teaching knitting classes is something I've resisted for a while now. There is so much knitting in my brain that I am afraid that in my excitement I will try to regurgitate it all up at once and confuse/overwhelm/scare any and every one of my "students". I have been giving it some thought, though, and guiding knitters through some simple patterns, sharing my little hints and tips for turning out something worthy of their time and efforts is something I want to do. I've taught individuals how to knit, and certainly done a decent amount of problem solving and question answering in my past. I should have no problems (I hope) with a room full (I hope) of friendly (I hope) knitters.

Along the lines of keeping it simple, I needed a very basic pattern for the mitten class. A quick perusal of the patterns out there convinced me that I would be better off and more comfortable designing and teaching my own. And the Village Mittens pattern is born.

Village Mittens

I've got a girl's sweater design on my needles- an update of one of my favorites sweaters I knit for the Young Lady when she was just a little girl. Nothing much to show right now, but here is a little peek:

I am not getting an accurate color in this shot- the green is much more a dark evergreen and the red is very cranberry. I'll try to do better when the sweater is finished.

Love,

Kim

Here we go again

Dear Mom,
There comes a day every summer when I Need Them To Go Back To School. Yesterday was that day.
Which is pretty good. Probably the longest stretch of summer break before the alarm on my internal Back-to-School clock went off. A testament to the busy-ness of our summer, I think.

I realized I'd crossed that threshold when I stopped vacuuming so I could say things like "wasting time" and "good books" and "make stuff" to the Young Lady. Being the smart sort of teenager she is, she quietly slipped out of the room and found a less obvious spot to communicate with whichever electronic device she happened to have in hand at the time.

Tuesday is the official First Day of School, but the High School tennis season is in full swing and the Young Lady has already picked up her schedule and loaded school supplies into her locker. I've written checks for yearbooks, school directories and in-line skate rental. If we are gonna do all that they might as well be there. I may not be ready for the early alarm clock, but I am definitely needing the routine. Plus, I am tired of cleaning around the extra bodies.
And, I know. I KNOW! I should be making them pitch in with the housework more than I do, but some battles aren't worth fighting.


This next bit has nothing to do with the first paragraphs, but it is definitely worth sharing....


Earlier this week we discovered that Patsy is a hot tub kinda gal. Why doesn't that surprise us?

Patsy didn't stay in long (hot), but the duck and the beach ball were too hard to resist.

She jumped in and out a couple of times. Maybe the best part was watching her race around the yard after she jumped out- like dogs do after they've had a bath. That, or watching her head pop up in different spots around the hot tub while she tried to figure out the best way in.


It isn't a full blown case, but that Startitis I felt coming on has arrived. Details coming soon.

Love,
Kim

And we even had cute shirts

Dear Mom,
Saturday night's tragedy at the Indiana State Fair understandably cancelled all fair activities on Sunday, which meant there was no Sheep to Shawl competition at the fairgrounds. Lives were changed forever and a little spinning and weaving contest is nothing in the shadow of that. Still, Team Ewephoria was disappointed not to be able to compete after so much went into preparing for the day. And even though we were the only adult team competing, we were anxious to complete the task of carding, spinning and weaving a shawl in 4 hours. We will be ready next year for sure, and hopefully more adult teams will join us.

On a happier note, my Dragon Wing Shawl is finished and thanks to your floorspace, is blocked and modeled here by cooperative Elle.

Little projects on my needles now, bigger projects swimming in my brain. I feel a bout of startitis coming on.
Love,
Kim

Dragon Wing Shawl

Dear Mom,
I have a shawl on my knitting needles that is very nearly finished. I've loved knitting every stitch of this pattern and it may be the quickest, biggest shawl I've ever knit.

I purchased the pattern at Earth Guild 3 years ago, and the yarn (one sport weight 16 oz cone) was purchased last summer at Marr Haven Farm. It took almost a year for me to figure out that the two would be perfect for one another, but once the match was made, the shawl has practically knit itself.
The shawl is a full circle with an opening along the radius. Magic happens with lace knitting when it is blocked out and I can't wait to block this one. I may have to clear out a room to have enough floor space. (Or borrow some from you- hint hint.) I imagine the diameter of this shawl will be longer than my wingspan when it is blocked.

MelissaMySpinningFriend came over last night for an emergency Sheep to Shawl practice session. We worked out some kinks, honed our rookie skills and feel we're as ready as we ever will be. Nervous, excited, curious, a little scared, but ready for the new experience. I've realized that once I start spinning it is hard to stop. It's like getting into a good book that you can't put down. Seeing the bobbin fill up with pretty yarn inspires me to keep going. And then two full bobbins practically DEMAND to be plyed Right Now. I stayed up way past my bedtime last night.

And haven't the past few days been Perfect? Sunny. Mild temps. No humidity! Cool breeze. Blue BLUE sky. Just makes a person want to sit out on her back porch all day and pretend she is on vacation....between loads of laundry.

Love,
Kim

Patsy

Dear Mom,
I've had a few people ask me about Patsy, and I've neglected giving the blog a progress report. And Progress it is.
I haven't been fair to Patsy in adopting a  'No News is Good News' attitude. Especially after having been so quick to report her antics, and even more especially after having worked so hard to get her where she is today- a Good Dog. Well. Mostly a good dog.
The joyful pup that bounded into our lives back in January 2010 is maturing. We are nearing that magic number in a dog's life- sometime this fall Patsy will be 2 years old. She can often be found sleeping in a cool spot inside, or sunning herself on the patio.

yes, that is my knitting bag she is laying on

She has a particular fondness for curling up in chairs that she shouldn't, but it's hard to kick her out when she is being so "good?".

The flower boxes we've strategically positioned around the fence are keeping her contained for the most part, although if she really NEEDS to get out she finds a way. In other words, our flower boxes did not stop her from chasing a raccoon at 4 in the morning a few weeks ago or from coming around to try to enter the house through the garage door when I locked the back door. Yes, Patsy can open EVERY door in this house. We even caught her trying to push down the knob and PULL the front door open.
Without a doubt, Patsy is the smartest dog I've ever known.

I hope never to meet one smarter.

All our efforts haven't trained all the impishness and Alpha dog out of her. She'll still block Bumper's entrance or exit through the dog door- just because.

a very good dog

Or pull on his collar to make him go where she thinks he needs to be.
Her super sonic ears hear everything and the guard dog in Patsy wants us to know it.

Our goal was not to erase the Patsy out of Patsy, but to manage it. We've eased her fears and found the loving dog we knew was in there.

Love,
Kim

A Whole Bunch of Random Stuff

Dear Mom,
The stitches are out. Frankenthumb is still very tender, but looking less like Frankenthumb and more like Kim's thumb. I know my thumb will feel better eventually, but I am not sure I'll ever be able to look at the lid from a ravioli can without shuddering.

Before the detour to the ER, I finished some spinning which I want to show you.

Yes, there are weeds in that picture. That Pinch of Death needed to thoroughly pull a weed requires the use of the tenderest part of Frankenthumb. A Weed-free garden is another casualty of my injury.
This yarn is spun from "Screaming Wild Monkeys", colorway On Golden Pond, from River's Edge Fiber Arts.

I have to confess/admit/acknowledge that I have been all about the weaving lately. It's like Donna Reed is my new best friend and I have a wild crush on weaving. I am still knitting and I am getting pretty darn close to finishing a shawl...And I've done a little spinning, but mostly just to see if I could spin with my thumb all wrapped up. (I could, with a latex glove to keep the fibers from turning the adhesive wrap on my thumb into a giant fur ball.) I had to know- we had Sheep to Shawl practice last night.

FYI- The Sheep to Shawl competition at the Indiana State Fair will be held on Sunday, August 14 from 10-2.

Okay. So Back to the Weaving.

I couldn't stand to see Donna Reed resting naked, so I dressed her up in more kitchen towels.

I love weaving.

Yesterday, while trying to ignore the weeds, I cut some flowers from the yard.

                                            
Zinnias, Black-eyed Susans, Purple Coneflower, daisies, lythrum and yes, Queen Anne's lace from seeds I scattered into my perennial garden last year for exactly this reason-so I could have some to cut for flower arrangements. It may take over and make me question that decision, but for now I am loving it. And the bouquet is happily collected in my favorite vase- handmade by my Young Man in grade school. It leaks, which makes it priceless. (I have a cellophane bag tucked into the vase to hold the water in, and the rubberband holding the bag in place is disguised by the ribbon.) So. That was yesterday. Then this morning I see all the pretty vases and small flower arrangements on Susan Branch's blog and I was inspired to go out and cut another bunch. When she said she had mint in one of the arrangements a  ! went off in my head. Heck. I have mint in one of my flower boxes! I grabbed a tiny old pitcher and Out I went, in my jammies, and came in with this:

 which I put it next to my side of the bed- more Queen Anne's lace, a hydrangea, some russian sage, a sprig of mint and a peace lily.

But my favorite way to share cut zinnias is like this:

In a recycled glass jar inside a brown paper bag and tied up with a bit of leftover ribbon.

Love,
Kim

A Boring Post about Kitchen Towels

Dear Mom,
I finished weaving the kitchen towels.
If I fold them just so, and you don't look too closely, you might be fooled into thinking they are perfect.

They are not.

They are riddled with errors, which seem to only show up on the underside of the weaving, so I didn't notice them until the towels came off the loom. Before I start my next project (more towels) I am going to have to figure out what I am doing wrong. I know enough to figure out that this is not a treadling error- the mistake is not carried all the way across that "row". I think that somehow I am going under threads I should be going over and I need to figure out how/what I am doing to make this happen so I can figure out how NOT to make it happen. Gotta fall down a few times when you are learning to walk.

However, they are just kitchen towels, they will be quite functional whether they are error free or not, and I've been weaving for less than a month and should cut myself some slack. I guess these are the weaving version of all those wonky, pitiful, one-skein scarves I knit when I was 11. I just hope I end up with fewer wonky dishtowels in my kitchen than the closet held scarves back in the early 70's!

Love,
Kim

The story of FrankenThumb

Dear Mom,
It was the Classic "Mother presents to the ER with hand wrapped in a kitchen towel'. One has to wonder what the statistics are on that.
In a cleaning frenzy Tuesday evening, I forgot about the lid from a can that was tucked into the stuff in my hand that I was throwing away. Noticing that the trash can was getting full, I used the stuff in my hand to compact the trash in the can.... and forced the lid well into the meat of my thumb. What I'd done registered before I felt anything more than pressure. And boy was I mad at myself.
Thankfully, I have a high pain threshold, and no nerves of tendons were damaged. My thumb would be feeling a whole lot better right now if I could stop whacking it into things.The stitches come out next Thursday.

In the meantime, I have discovered that I am able to dress up Donna Reed without hurting my thumb, and last night I was able to gingerly and cautiously knit, being careful to use the side of my thumb when I needed it. It is also about the size of Fred Flintstones thumb with all the gauze and tape I have protecting it, but where there's a WILL there's a WAY and you can't keep a determined knitter away from her needles.

Before FrankenThumb, I wove another scarf with leftover bits of sock yarn as my warp and yellow cotton as the weft that was leftover from the placemats and table runner I made in class. My selvage edges are improving, but this scarf  isn't without its mistakes either. I've decided to stop playing around, and what you see on the loom up there is the beginnings of some dish towels. I'm following pattern instructions on this one. (In weaving, patterns are called "drafts".)

I'll let you know how the towels turn out. The cotton I am using is much finer, and I have over 400 warp threads to thread through the loom, so this is taking awhile. Exciting though!

Love,

Kim

This is not part of the plan....

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING BLOG POST CONTAINS A GRAPHIC PICTURE THAT MAY BE UPSETTING TO DELICATE READERS.

Dear Mom,

Seven Stitches.

This is definitely gonna slow down the knitting, spinning and weaving I had planned.


Love,
Kim

Off the LOOM!

Dear Mom,

It's not the first project off my loom, but the first project that is worthy of sharing on the blog. The placemats I made at home to reinforce what I learned in class aren't bad- we'll use them- but there are places where I made treadling mistakes and my edges...well, my edges can only improve.

Almost as soon as those placemats were finished I was planning the next project. A simple scarf. Very simple. One that would allow me to concentrate on improving those edges. I dug through my stash and found some sock yarn from a long ago sock-of-the-month club and some coordinating bits of leftover sock yarn. I did the math, warped Donna Reed and a-weaving I went.

My edges are better. Not perfect, but much improved. And let me just say this about weaving: It. is. FAST.

I started warping the loom on Saturday afternoon and finished the scarf on Sunday afternoon. And I didn't sit there weaving for 24 hours straight. I did other stuff, too.

Also, I figured out ANOTHER good thing about weaving: You have to finish the thing on your loom before you can start another. Unlike Knitting. And you don't have to look far or hard around here to find knitting projects that have been cast on at a whim.

Also, just the idea of putting all my leftover bits of yarn to use in weaving projects is maybe the best thing of all. Just thinking about it makes me want to stop writing this and go dig through my yarn and start a new weaving project.

It hasn't been all weaving around here. I've done a bit of spinning- no pictures to show- and July's socks are finished.

Here is a close up of the stitch detail I knit in to break up the stripe pattern.

Before it gets too much hotter I need to get out to the garden a pick beans and blackberries. For all I know, they may be cooked already!

Keep Cool.

Love,

Kim

Happy Birthday, Bonnie Jo!

Dear Bonnie,

I hope...
   
    someone gives you a calico kitten
    you do whatever YOU want to do today and nothing you HAVE to do
    that you can take time to sip something cold and slushy on your back porch
    that your bees give you lots of honey
    that your chickens lay an extra egg or two today
    that we have many many more years to share.

Love,
Kim     

The Birds and The Bees

Dear Mom,
As you know, upon Bonnie Jo's request I reported bright and early Saturday morning to your backyard, camera at the ready. Bonnie Jo would be inspecting the beehive she recently set up there and wanted me to document the event for the blog. It is hard to take pictures when you are dressed like this:

Things seemed rather serious when I arrived because there was crouching down and leaning in involved.

As I understand it (and Bonnie Jo may have to jump in and correct any errors), the main purpose of the Hive Inspection was to search for Queen Amelia. When a Princess Bee comes to live in her new castle, it seems the first thing she does is fly away to go visit some bachelor bees before she can come home and be Queen. Sometimes the Princess Bees never come home. Maybe because they can't find their way back, or maybe they just really like the bachelor bees. Considering that this Princess Bee was named after the famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart, there was some concern that she may have lost her way somewhere over the reservoir never to return.

Thankfully, unlike the other Amelia, this Amelia's flight had a happy ending.

Bonnie Jo was pleased and proud to find Queen Amelia in the hive and laying little bee eggs like all Good Queen Bees are supposed to do.

In her official capacity as family beekeeper, Bonnie Jo declared that Amelia "IS A BEAUT!"



Where's Amelia?



All those jigsaw puzzles we did with Daddy when we were little must have been practice for finding bees later on. And if I remember correctly, Bonnie Jo was a gifted jigsaw puzzle piece finder.

Anyway, now that I know where Amelia is in that photo, I can find her, too. Let me give you a close up.



Queen Amelia

Before leaving, we took a peak at your nest of Barn Swallows.

It looks like these guys are running out of room and will be making flights of their own soon.

Especially this guy.

And let me just add here that the way "the Birds and the Bees" was explained to me all those years ago included NOTHING about spending time alone with a bunch of bachelor bees.....

Love,

Kim

Simple Pleasures

Dear Mom,
Yesterday's harvest-

a beautiful cabbage, some blackberries and green purple beans.
We ate the green beans for dinner last night and we're having coleslaw tonight. I've been snacking on the berries and will eat them with peaches and yogurt for breakfast. And the even better thing is- there are lots more of all of those things growing and ripening!

Love,
Kim

My Green Beans Aren't Green

Dear Mom,
They're purple.

I've never seen purple green beans before. I can't even tell you what "kind" of beans I planted. The package that contained the seeds was probably especially organic and biodegradable because it fell apart practically before I could get the seeds in the ground. All I can tell you is I purchased them at a local nursery and I was taken in by the charming art on the package and the fact that the seeds were supposed to be heirloom/organic/tailored for midwest gardens.
The plants and beans -despite the pretty purple color- are thriving and healthy.
My Concern, however, is that GREEN beans are one of the few vegetables I can count on the Young Lady (our picky eater) to eat. We never have leftover green beans. But Purple beans?

I gave serious thought to pulling up all the purple bean plants and starting over. Before doing so, I cooked a handful of purple beans as a taste test, in hopes that I could somehow convince the Young Lady that the purple beans were as good or better than green beans.... if you close your eyes.

All my worry was for nothing, as magic happened in the pot of simmering water.
The purple beans turned GREEN! And they were delicious.

I should go out there and harvest some this morning before it gets hotter. Steamy hot doesn't begin to describe how it is out there. In fact, that purple bean picture up there was not taken with some fancy movie star wrinkle-erasing lens filter on my camera. I had trouble taking pictures before the lens fogged over!

My corn is as high as an elephant's eye and I see little ears of corn growing. We'll be having fresh corn on the cob soon.

Love,
Kim

Introducing.....

Dear Mom,
I'd like you to meet Donna.

After spending two full days in weaving class and then coming home to repeat what I'd learned - or at least what I could remember!- on my loom, I knew her name had to be Donna. As in Reed. Because there is a part on the loom that the warp threads go through on the beater called a reed. And Donna is a good wholesome American name for my American made loom. And it makes me smile to know her name. We are already good friends.

In fact, I was beginning to be a little bit alarmed. I hadn't picked up knitting needles for almost a week and the last time that happened was because I'd had carpal tunnel surgery and had no choice. I've been spending all my knitting time either spinning or weaving. So last night I forced myself away from Donna and cast on for July's sock.

In weaving class we made a table runner to practice different types of weave- plain weave (good ole under/over), a twill and a basket weave. I am making coordinating placemats at home to practice and try out different patterns. This is the part that is addicting. I want to see how different things can look, and it is simply a matter of changing how I treadle my loom.

My head is also spinning with possibilities for scarves using sock yarn. And yes. I DO remember saying that I was "only going to weave placemats and dish towels". I have a way to go to get my edges neat, but that is one of the things I am hoping to accomplish on these placemats and I know I'll get there.

As you can imagine, being away weaving for that amount of time on the heels of vacation, and having left 2 dogs and 2 teens at home, things are pretty sketchy around here. My challenge for the next few days is to ignore the Call of the Fiber and tend to the house, shop for groceries, prepare healthy meals and try to get caught up on laundry.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about my garden.

Love,

Kim

Catching Up

Dear Mom,

After a week's vacation where we've touched our toes in the Atlantic and our fingers on a moon rock, sipped Butterbeers in Hogsmeade and mojitos on the beach, sent boys off shark fishing and girls 800 feet into the air on a parasail only to return home to house guests and the annual Cul-de-sac 4th of July celebration, I am slowly catching up and happy to home.

Despite having been  home since very late Saturday night- verging on the wee hours of Sunday morning- I didn't feel like I was truly able to relax and really Be Home until I brought Patsy home from the kennel yesterday. Now the family is all under one roof again and All is Well. (Bumper may feel differently. I think he enjoyed being Only Dog for two days.)

We planned our Florida vacation and the trip to Cocoa Beach in the hopes of seeing the last shuttle launch. As these things go, as soon as the condo was reserved and flight plans in the works the mission was delayed. And I heard this morning there is a good chance that rain will cause another delay and Atlantis may not launch on Friday. We may not be able to cross "Watch a Shuttle Launch" off our Bucket List, but we did tour Kennedy Space Center and got a peek at Atlantis on the launch pad.

Our trip was a very good one; the first family vacation we've taken where our kids brought friends with them, and despite being outnumbered by teens, all went very well and everyone had a buddy.
The buddy strategy allowed My Hero and I time to relax and read. And knit.
I finished June's socks.

And I knit this shawl with my very own handspun.

This is the result of that first bag of dirty wool I brought home. The Bag o'Wool that turned me into a spinner.

I've seen many of these To Eyre shawls on ravelry and Dianne made a beautiful one that you can see here. I wish mine were just a bit bigger. I prefer a shawl that I can really wrap up in, but this one will probably be just right for warming the back of my neck and shoulders while staying put and out of the way. The pattern instructions include directions for modifying length and width, and this was a soothing, quick project, so I may have to give it another go.

And before we left I finished this wrap.

I purchased this pattern and yarn on vacation last summer, so I guess it sort of fits to post it with stuff from this year's vacation. The pattern is Braided Glory, the yarn is Louisa Harding- a silk- I don't remember the name of the yarn and right now I am too lazy to get up and go looking for the ball band. The yarn was nice to work with but I think it may be too drape-y for this pattern. Also, I didn't do all the finishing on my wrap as the pattern suggests. I was ready to be Done With It and omitted some small edging details that didn't impress me. IF I ever make this again I will be making several modifications that, in my opinion, would neaten things up. However, with so many other things I want to make, I really don't see myself making another one of these.

I have weaving classes scheduled for the end of the week. The plan is to work on a loom in class and then come home and repeat the lesson on my loom at home to solidify what I've learned. I think we do placemats or table runners in class. So, whichever I do in class, I'll do the other at home. (I may appear calm, but my Insides are doing that happy dance kids do on Christmas Eve!)

Love,
Kim