travel

>Hmmmm…while I was happily knitting away on my new Swallowtail Shawl with my twice frogged Art Yarn called Alfabeto, I was tagged by the mysterious “Power of 7.” Unfortunately I have to pass along this curse to other bloggers who’ll be named shortly. It was very sneaky BadCatDesign who got me. Go take a look at her blog, where you’ll be happily lost in lace knitting for many hours!

Here are the rules for us ‘taggees:’

>Life is good! I’m getting my mojo back, I’m full of ideas and excitement to carry out some of them! Whew!

I’ve started all kinds of things in the past week. Maybe I’m manic/depressive, and this is my manic stage? Hmm…. I basted together the back and one front/sleeve of the Sunshine Circle Jacket (already knitted twice, too big each time) for Lauren (future daughter-in-law) to try on, and it fits. Whoa….I’m in shock, and I’m celebrating! Onward with the 2nd front/sleeve…..

After gestating (for months) ideas for weaving a minister’s stole for the soon-to-be-ordained, wonderfully-nurturing, first-female-minister-I’ve-ever-met, today I actually made the warp. It’s a mixture of things that finally came together into something intriguing. I bought a large 1/2 lb. hank of 8/2 tencel from Heritage Yarns in Missouri at least 2 years ago. When it arrived I didn’t really want to make scarves with it. I started a warp, but then rewound what I’d done back onto the hank. Today that hank suddenly came to mind, and luckily I found it without too much effort. I took four solid shades of tencel that coordinate with the colors in the painted tencel, and I shaded from dark at the edges to light in the center. I blended the four shades to create seven shades. I held one strand of painted thread with one or two strands of solid to get the shading. I wound the warp on my AVL warping wheel and wound it in 2″ sections onto my 16S mechanical dobby AVL.

Tomorrow is a free day since my normal tapestry class is canceled this week, so I will thread that warp. What an exhilarating feeling to have made a decision and started the project! I have a twill in mind, a pattern that creates the illusion of woven ribbons, but I have back-up ideas if I don’t like the look.

And life gets sweeter yet! Last week I happened to see a lovely little shawl on Knitting Daily. It’s from Interweave Knits, Fall ’06, and it’s called Swallowtail Shawl. When I saw it I dashed upstairs to get that issue and grab some kiwi green mohair. I started knitting and have barely taken a break until today. I’m about to start the final border so I can vouch for how quickly it knits up.
Partway through the body of the shawl I realized that this pattern is the ideal solution for my Art Fibers silk yarn which was never really destined to become the Muir shawl. When I run out of the painted alfabeto I can just start one of the borders with a coordinating solid color and continue in it.

All is well now…… I think I’ll make a marguerita!

>EVERY DAY IS A STRUGGLE;
THEREFORE WE MUST BE KIND TO EACH OTHER.

My son noticed this saying posted on the wall of the little hamburger place where we ate before the opera last week. At the time I thought it was a little overstated. Surely every day is not a struggle. But now as this I begin to tire of winter so early in the season this year, I imagine that each day is going to be harder and longer on the slow road to April!

I’ve already got a pretty bad case of the winter blues and it’s only mid-January. Yikes! I’ve got a long way to go…. So, look at these colors! The hot red and yellow, the soothing white and purple.  I think it was May last year when we visited Longwood Gardens. I’m trying to remember how it smelled on that glorious day in May.

Now would be a good time for spinning. I’ve got a rather imposing project going on my spinning wheel, something I admit I’m avoiding right now. But my lovely Steve spindle might be just the thing to cheer me! The fiber I haven’t finished spinning is a combination of merino and silk. It’s a very pretty grey/green with white silk streaks. And the finished yarn would make a wonderful lace shawl.

I have borrowed my son’s monitor for the past couple of weeks since mine died. He is going to pack his up and take it back to school today, so I will be visually impaired until mine returns from being fixed. So…..I won’t be here, and hopefully I’ll be spinning….