the red scarf project

I happened to come across a thread on Ravelry about this year's Red Scarf Project and decided to set aside my other knitting for a day or two and knit up a scarf to send along.

The deadline to send in donations is just a couple of weeks away, but if you'd like to participate, there are tons of quick-to-knit patterns out there.

If you have some red yarn in your stash and a bit of time during the busy holiday season, then why not cast on for this easy to memorize scarf?

The pattern is quite literally the same row over and over until the scarf reaches the desired length. What could be easier?

thankful for many things

Among the far more important things that I'm thankful for, I'm very glad to have a bit of Internet connection today. My computer was invaded by a virus that prevents us from connecting to the Internet, or staying connected, more often than not. While we're waiting to get this problem resolved, I've mostly stayed on top of my email and my cyber goings-on with my iPhone, not the greatest for blogging.

Today, though, we seem to have been blessed with several hours of reliable connection and I'm taking full advantage to update the blog quickly. There has been knitting and spinning going on, mostly on the weekends although I do get a bit done in the evenings at the end of the workday.

I finished, and have worn several times, the Featherweight Cardigan from Hannah Fettig. No photos of the finished object since I finished this at the height of our computer woes, and it's in the basket right now waiting to be washed! I knit it up with some taupe-colored Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight wool/silk that I've had in my stash for several years.

About 12 years ago, I bought a little taupe-colored cardigan and have worn it many times over the years. Two or three years ago, I brought home yet another little taupe-colored cardigan, and now I have a hand-knitted one. One day recently I looked at the laundry drying and noticed that all three were together, having been worn the previous week. I think it must be my uniform.

In October, I spun up 8 ounces of handdyed Merino roving from this Etsy vendor for a spinalong/knitalong on the Ply by Night Ravelry group. I made a pretty 'thick and thin' 2-ply yarn that comes in at roughly a worsted weight. The pattern for the knitalong is La La's Simple Shawl and it calls for a bulky weight yarn. I tend to spin a fingering weight singles and merino is a bit of a challenge for me, anyway, with its shorter staple and soft slipperiness.

As soon as I opened the package that the roving came in, though, and my daughter saw the Midnight colorway with its dark blues and silvery grey-blues, she was all 'oohs' and 'aahs' and I knew whatever I made with it would be for her.

I started knitting the shawl about a week and a half ago and finished it last weekend. It absolutely lives up to its name and was a simple and relaxing knit. The shawl came out on the smallish size, a 56 inches wide by 24 inches long triangle, but will wrap nicely around her neck under a coat or a demin jacket. The colors in the finished yarn did come out looking a lot like stonewashed jeans.

And I finished another pair of very thick and warm socks for my son who suffers from poor circulation in his feet. I was on my way to bed one night when my phone buzzed and there was a text message from him that read, "Can you knit me up a couple pair of soft warm socks?" I don't care how old your children get, that kind of message makes you feel like a mother as nothing else can.

I have made him several pairs of socks that fit that description, but of course they were lying in his sock drawer here at home. He left for school in late August, not really thinking about cold feet. I mailed his old socks off to him the next day and dug out a few balls of the workhorse aran weight grey wool that I seem to have a neverending supply of and cast on for these very basic socks.

My son is now home for Thanksgiving and the socks are sitting on top of my dresser, ready to return to the cold north with him on Sunday afternoon. While they definitely will be warm, I'm not so sure about the soft part. Just look at the 'hairiness' of these things!

The wool is actually a much warmer natural grey than the photo at the right shows. Here's a closer look.

I'm just afraid that he's going to have to wear something else under them next to his skin. Even for a confirmed wooly person like me, they do seem a bit, well, itchy.

On the needles still are the mitred squares blanket and the Rogue, both destined for my daughter once they're finished. I predict they will be on the needles until just before the New Year. Right now, I'm mostly working on a pair of socks for me and spinning up some beautiful Wensleydale top in the Petroglyph colorway from Lisa Souza Dyeworks. I'm still spinning on my very old and faithful Louet S10, but a cash bonus I received recently went to purchase an additional wheel - a Schacht Matchless - and I'm waiting patiently for it to arrive.

Trying to find peace and calm in my home with my family and my fibers these days as the troubles around me in my workplace and the rest of the world grow larger with each passing day. I am grateful, however, that I do have a job and that my family and I can enjoy security and relative prosperity.

I hope you are well and that you, too, are finding your own peaceful place.

October's been a good month!

First came Rhinebeck and what follows are the obligatory sheep photos and then a few shots of some of my haul.

The featured breed at Rhinebeck this year was the Leicester Longwool and I really like the look of this sheep. I kept going back over and over to visit them in their pens and spent quite a while talking with some of the breeders.

I missed my chance to get a bag of washed Leicester Longwool locks when I saw them early Saturday morning. I figured I'd walk around the festival and then come back later to buy them. Bad idea. By the time I got back they were gone, but I was able to get some pin-drafted roving from a couple of different breeders, and later in the day I bought a couple of bags of Wensleydale and Teeswater washed locks from the Spirit Trail Fiberworks folks.

And, for the first time, I bought fleeces! I got a lovely dark brown Romney and a mixed medium and dark grey Icelandic. I would love to process a fleece myself one of these days, but living in a NYC apartment with one bathroom and a family, this just isn't practical for me right now. So on Sunday, I dropped both bags off at the Still River Mill booth. I should have the fleeces back, all scoured and prepared as roving, by January.

With my mind still on spinning, I went looking for drop spindles. And I found three beautiful ones ~ two from True Creations and one from the Bosworths. And on Sunday, I finally found Sheila and Michael Ernst's booth. I must have walked past it at least four or five times without realizing it. But I made it and they still had a number of lovely glass orifice hooks. I found the perfect one for me, all shimmery amber and beautifully autumn-like.

I had thought that I wouldn't be buying any yarn since I have plenty in my stash, but I did end up getting some Shetland wools, some yak and bamboo yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch to knit the Sweetheart Tunic, and enough of this lovely plant-dyed worsted weight wool from the Hope Spinnery in Maine to fill this wonderful little basket. I got the basket from a couple who learned to weave these kinds of baskets as children and have carried on the tradition here in the United States. I had a little flyer from them but it went astray. I will have to look for them next year and get a bigger basket to keep by my spinning wheel for my fiber.

I took along my copy of the book Knit Green by my friend Joanne. She was at Rhinebeck on Sunday, in the authors' area, signing copies of her books, and I got to spend a little time with her. Not enough, but better than not seeing her at all, now that she lives all the way up in Winnipeg! And I spent some time in the International Tent helping to finish knitting to match donations to the Keep the Fleece project. I got to meet several of my favorite podcasters. And, best of all, I was surrounded for two whole days by hundreds and hundreds of people who, like me, are passionate about fiber! It was wonderful to walk around and be among people getting all excited about the same things that fill me with so much joy.

The last few months had been difficult for me and I didn't write about it here. But work became a place that didn't feel the way it had for the last two years, and I was a bit at a loss to get myself moving in a positive direction again. The last school year ended in uncertainty about what I would be doing this school year. My trip to the Dominican Republic in July helped me to move away from some of the disappointment, but Rhinebeck restored my soul and got my spinning and knitting back in a very good place. When the fiberwork is humming along, all the rest seems to fall into place. While my teaching situation now isn't what I would have hoped for, it's good and I'm good.

And - what can I say - the Yankees clinched a spot in the World Series last night at Yankee Stadium, and I got to be there!

Yes, October has been a very good month.

fall knitting

I've been thinking I'll cast on for that Muir I've been meaning to knit for the last 2 years...

Shelridge Farms Laceweight in Heath
Photo taken at the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival, October 2007


Maybe I'll see you at Rhinebeck?

it's in the mail

I took the package to the post office on Saturday morning and it's on its way to Jane right now. Since she said she likes surprises, I am not posting photos of what I sent her. Let's just say, though, that when I read her Ravelry page and she listed her favorites colors with pink in first place, I took my cue from there. :)

With the raffle over and the package mailed, I'm going to be taking a little blog break for a few weeks.

I'm settling back into my teaching job and trying to get more reading done as well as my knitting. Also, over the next few weeks I will be very busy taking care of my dog who has a corneal ulceration in his right eye.

He has to be medicated six times a day and, because of my job, I am not able to be home to do this. I have had to board him at the vet during the work week and will be visiting with him in the evenings. I would love to bring him home at night, but the vet's office opens an hour after I have to be with my students. Even on the weekends I will have to take him to the vet's office for the medications to be applied since he is not a dog that will docilely lie there and let me fiddle with his eye. That's a lot of back and forth.

I am very sad that my little dog isn't home with me. I am gratified that he is in very good and gentle hands at the vet but I can't wait until his little face is the first thing I see when I walk in the door at the end of my workday.