Ahhh, October, how I love thee!


This month must be one of our best months: it is not usually too hot or too cold, it's pretty much just right.

October brings the New York Sheep & Wool Festival, ie Rhinebeck, & I get to see pals, work int he Spirit Trail Fiberworks booth & have a fabulous time.  And then the Knitter's Review retreat is just around the corner.

Because I have more time at home than usual, I have been on-line more than usual.  It is important & vital for many things & yet, at times I know I am postponing other things.  There is that goal of doing a better balance of that.

Knit-time: lots of charity knitting for our 3 Retreat charities.  I have a goal of 2 items per charity.  I have a cowl & a hat done.  Two scarves are in progress, ditto a kid hat & an adult hat.  The Retreat is less than 2 weeks away.  I'm off to knit. 

 

Dang, I missed August.

OK, so it is only September 1 so I didn't miss it by much.  I have been trying to have one post a month & have done pretty well.

I just had a great opportunity for a wonderful life lesson in knitting.  Our excellent & awesome pal, Dave H., is a peach of a fellow, a friend whom I inherited via my relationship with Sweet J.  He is a BIG gaming & sci-fi fan & a biggie fan of "Firefly."  I made an offer to knit him a Jayne hat & the length of time that has gone by is cringe-worthy.  (steeling myself for the typing of the date.) This was right about now in 2009.  Crikey.

Our pals, Purlewe & her wife Sue advised me early on re the colors I chose so that was done.  And for about 4 years, so was much of the hat.  I began to work toward completion & all except for the pom-pom, it is done.  We saw him at Folk Song Week-end this past week-end, he tried it on & it fit, he was thrilled & there was not a single "Jeez, what took you so long!" uttered by anyone but me!  He was thrilled to pieces & will be even more after I learn how to knit the pom-pom, put it on the hat & mail it to him.  (Somehow I tho't I could skate through my knitting life without making one but nooooo, that is not to be.  Dave is worth it!)

My take-aways from this are
++  complete gifts sooner.
++  keep picking people like Dave who are joyful & terrific & sweet.
++  while making lists, think about priorities & keep your friends & loved ones right at the top!
++  as a giver of this hat, I feel like I am receiving the gifts & that is a beautiful thing.

Blog reading & pie in the sky daydreams

While reading blogs still peaks my interest, it seems that some of my tried 'n true faves are on hiatus from writing & posting - many folks use Facebook in place of a blog.  My sidebar lists some that I do still check - being a hopeful traveler, I still see if anything new has been posted.  Then I consider that I am posting so sporadically, that I have not included any photos (hope to! plan to!) & that I write once a month pretty much for myself (all OK) & I understand why they are on a break.

When reading Boogie Blather today (see sidebar for a link just in case you don't know Amy), she mentioned a few things that grabbed me - she had a pie in the sky idea to do something (oh yes, I know those!), she wrote of her doodling (you are such an artist, Amy) & she wrote of sewing.  I have been making steps forward to getting the sewing machine (an older Bernina) set up in Young Man M's old bedroom which we are redoing since he is living elsewhere & putting the pedal to the metal so I can sew again.  There are some little things I would like to sew like cat nip bags & sachets, some mending, maybe a couple of baby quilts.  Curtains too.  There was a photo in the post of the garden she shares w/her parents.  I am starting to plan a re-do of our yard & gardens - where can I place new beds, shall we put together raised beds (yes!), how to divide some of our perennials, what to plant where.  We have a nice start of a garden with our side/driveway perennial bed & the "crop circle" we made in the center of the front yard.  I am eager to use the gift of time I will have over the next couple of months to expand our flower space.

Thank you, Amy Boogie, for your inspirations!!  Hugs to you. 

My work life is in a period of change & I look forward to seeing what doors I step toward & how they open.  Lots of changes are coming up soon!

To help w/this, what am I doing, you ask?  Knitting, reading, time w/SJ, naps, making to-do lists, having tummy upsets & headaches, thinking deep tho'ts, walking w/SJ in the AMs, day dreaming of pie in the sky ideas.  Send a good tho't or two please.   

It is summer & I want to start a sweater.

Hmmm.  That kinda goes against what may come to mind & yet, that's where my tho'ts go.  Maybe it is where others daydream & I am late to that party - knit in the summer, wear it the fall & winter.  I completed a Bandana Cowl & am 2/3s through a Broken Rib Cowl, using some Spirit Trail sock yarn in fall colors - really pretty!.  Projects that need my attention: 2 different socks, the ear flaps of a Jayne hat.  Two cowls designed by Purlewe that are cool colorwork projects are in my "cannot wait to start" pile. 

Recently Sweet Jean & I along with Girl M held a successful early June yard sale. We had devoted a lot of time & tho't & energy to purging & letting go & we rocked with the dough we had at the end of it & with all we sent off to new homes.  While I did not sell much stash yarn, I did pull out many skeins that I want to sell.  Next steps: photographs & prices that will go on Craig's List & Ravelry.  Leftovers will go the Swap Lounge at the Knitter's Review Retreat.     

This is a period of over-all clean-out & starting new projects & it feels great.  Yep to a bit of nervousness & yep, the butterflies are good ones.  I have reviewed almost everything I have, plunging through drawers, the garage,  jewelery boxes, yarn totes, the closets & linen closets, book shelves.  It is all good ^ .. ^

May 10th already?  Holy cow.

Lots of things are going on & I wonder if that is why I think "May 10th already?" or if time is flying by or both.

My time at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival was a delight & seeing some of my very best peeps was sweet, thrilling & joyful.  How do I adore these folks?  Let me count the ways.  I felt validation, love, respect, care & encouragement.  Thank you to you all.

Knitting ADD seems to be upon me.  I have some great projects on the needles & while those should satisfy me, somehow I long for more: a sweater, another cowl, an easy scarf or hat.  Do you get in that space?  Perhaps I am partially there as I have missed the last 3 knit nites at Hidden River Yarn & have missed the creativity & energy vibes I get there.  Last Thursday a colleague went home ill & there was no one to fill in for her so I stayed for a few extra hours.  Two weeks ago my work day sucked & I was not about to inflict that pain on them (I did that a week before & Lisa was a sweet gem to me) so I came home.      

If you have an extra good tho't, send it my way please - a big change will happen in the next 60 days or so & some extra luck would be appreciated.

Just back from Ohio ...

and seeing Dad - he is in good shape, thanks for asking.  Sweet J & I had a lovely time.

It is one very long drive from here to there & we are glad to have gone & glad to be home.  I did a bunch of knitting including ripping back my close-to-being-done hat.  For heavens sake, I lost track of how many rows I was knitting & the hat could have fit a teenage Hagrid.  Back I went w/the frogging & then picked it up again.  Now a nicer version is 1/2 done.   I have the Jayne hat finally done & now can do the ear flaps.

The best & the most fun I have had with recent knitting is my Beecomb Cowl, a Purlewe pattern & her class which I took at Hidden River Yarns.  She is an encouraging, positive & fun teacher & I am finally learing to do color work.. You are right: what took me so long?

If you would like a good memoir, allow me to mention SIMPLE DREAMS by Linda Ronstadt.  She is one of all time fave singers & in this book, the story of her family of origin, the musical heritage she has, the 70s folk rock scene & the cast of characters who made great music including J.D. Souther, Emmylou Harris, the Eagles, David Lindley, the musicians & arrangers she worked with unfolds in loving detail.  A ton of folks are included & you get the back ground of how some of the music came to be.  She does not dish dirt on anyone & she does not write of her partners or lovers nor does she say much about her children nor use their names.  How lovely to have someone who really does keep her private life pretty private.   

Ambition is a beautiful thing ...

and it can lead to good things, new ideas, reminders of good projects & renewed energy.

As a long time list maker, I find myself dong better & doing more when I am organized via lists, be it a to-do list as I used today - a list on Goodreads - a list of knitting projects I hope to do.  I find comfort in lists too & that can be helpful.  I am also a visual person & seeing things on a page or a computer screen or in a pile or folder is helpful to me.

As I lay in bed this AM, trying to steel myself to the fact that we had to get up & get moving,  I began my lists for the day & week-end.  It is a working week-end for me & thus I have relished today even more.  My list was checked off in a pretty good clip & that feels terrific. 

Knitting wise, I am in the last 1/3 of my Turn-A-Square hat & let me tell ya, I envision more of these to come.  Of course, when I read Jane's blog post re hats, I hmmmmed to myself re the pattern she is using & mulled over that one as a stash buster project.

Alas & yay: I frogged the sock yarn shawl I was doing & have passed that exquisite sock yarn on to a dear bud who is a Sock Knitting Queen & feel better about it.  My hands were challenged by the amount of nylon in it & I saw the light re it after a phone conversation with the exquisite Bullwinkle.  Our dear pal has the ability to make a statement to me & the world becomes brighter.  Love those Virgos!! Other yarns that have been challenging: cotton, silk, boucle.  Those are all gone from my stash.  Mohair can be funky & the fact that I love it leads me to want to use it & to try to figure out ways to knit with it..

Soon I will be taking a class at Hidden River Yarns with Purlewe - another pal I am so grateful to have in my life.  While I am doing manageable projects that bring joy & quicker results, I am mulling over the knitting of a sweater, which pattern & what stash yarn to use.  Ahhh, back to that ambition.