Woolythyme

Light as a feather...

 

I do believe this might be my favorite knit of all time (I say that a lot after I finish something, so you might want to just ignore that last statement).  Featherweight cardigan by Hannah Fettig is just what its name implies---it's light as a feather, drapey, simple; the first thing you want to grab when you need just a bit to ward off the a/c chill (or the cool of early fall evenings that I hope arrive sooner rather than later!)   I love shawls, but I hate that they need constant adjustment---and don't always stay put if you are toting market bags.  Featherweight cardi stays put.  I'm in love.  

 

 

(Necklace is sea lace by Sarah Punderson.)

weekending.....

:: filled the cookie jar

:: made a zucchini chocolate cake

:: enjoyed the gentle rain (did it really last longer than 2 minutes???)

:: watched a little Olympics

:: refrained from casting on something new for the Ravellenics...

:: but knit a few teeny hats for the tea-ny hats project for Seaman's Church

:: gave some thought to holiday knitting (came up with a big -0-; any one with great ideas out there????--please share!!!)

:: got totally engrossed  in this

:: had breakfast for dinner

It was a wonderfully quiet few days.

single moment.....

joining Amanda at Soulemama for a single moment from the week....

 

Yarnalong and WIP Wednesday....

This book appeared in the mail yesterday--gifted to me by a dear friend.  Leave it to a former librarian to find a fiber-lover's treasure of a reference book!  Fleece & Fiber by Deborah Robson and Carol Ekarius is not a book I'd ever attempt to read cover to cover, but between those covers is everything you could ever want to know about over 200 fiber producing animals and their fleeces.  While I think this book might be actually indispensible to a spinner (with fleece weight, staple length, fiber diameters, and lock characteristics about each animal), each entry also contains a statement on how the fleece holds up to knitting,  the most appropriate kinds of uses, and overall softness of the yarn.  It really makes me want to try to find some Dalesbred or Hog Island or Lincoln Longwool, or maybe Svardsjo or Dleu du Maine--- or how about Pygora or Pycazz (they are goats).  It's a fascinating reference and makes the Zephyr that I'm knitting with now (50% tussah silk/50% merino wool) seem simply mundane.

On the needles.....that black blob will someday be  Featherweight by Hannah Fettig.  After seeing Karen's at pumpkinsunrise I'm a little sad that I didn't choose some other lace weight yarn in the stash with a bit of color; hers is quite gorgeous; mine will be very utilitarian---but, who can't use a BASIC black summer weight sweater?  

  

Joining Ginny for Yarnalong and Tami for WIP Wednesday!  Come get inspired!!!

Dear Dusk....

Dear Dusk,

Is it possible that it was just a week ago that we met?  You were the love of my life!  Every waking hour I wanted to spend with you!!  Oh, those few hours we were apart, you were in my every thought.  I dreamed about you.  I loved everything about you.  Your yarn (using stash yarn is always a bonus) brought back such wonderful memories;  your pattern was easy (I read Wildwood and Midnight in Madrid while working on you!).  I could knit on you forever!!!

So tell me, dear Dusk, what happened??  Was it your wooly wool (and what seems like 10 pounds of it) sitting on my lap in 100 degree temperatures?  The realization that said fingering wt wool is never going to knit up like the Isager lace weight?  The fact that I really can't tell how big you are and I keep running out of colors that I thought would carry me through to the end?

 Are you too big?  Are you not big enough?  I'm just about to the point in our relationship that I simply don't care anymore.  Your 800+ stitch rows (which seem more like 2000) are wearing me down.  You hardly fit on your 40" needles anymore.  I'm only halfway through your chart, but... I'm pretty done with you.  So there.  

OK.  So you turned out rather nice.

And when not doubled over for a shawl, you make a very cuddly throw.  You are versatile. 

But, you are still very very HOT.  Off to the cedar chest with you!  Maybe some of the love will return by November.  

 

But now...

Dear Featherweight, love of my life.........

Weekending.....

:: too hot to work in the garden

:: too hot to even go outside  (for some reason, it isn't too hot for  7 and 8 year old boys, so I sent the grands to raid the garden---they are pretty indiscriminate with their harvesting, so we now have a lot of green tomatoes on the window sill, as well as mega-zucchinis--that I must have missed on my last foray--and a cotton boll.)

:: the CandyMan and I turned the ripe tomatoes into sauce (8 year old boys are GREAT at seeding tomatoes!!!), and then stood in front of the freezer a L-O-N-G time finding just the right place for it.

:: the CSA peaches turned into a pie (with some leftover blueberries; it looks like a blueberry pie, but trust me, there are peaches in there, too.)

:: dinner with dinner club!!  what a great summer feast it was!!! (and I didn't have to cook!)

:: popped in to our new market for some Jeni's wildberry lavender ice cream!  OH YUM!

:: spent too much time looking for a misplaced lens cap (which remains MIA)

:: did a whole lot of knitting....it was too hot to do much of anything else.

Lazy days of summer......

hope your weekend was everything you wanted it to be---joining amanda at thehabitofbeing.

single moment.....

joining amanda at soulemama with a single photo from the week....

 

Bathroom drama....???

I have no pictures.  I wish I had had the presence of mind to grab the camera.  Maybe this is another reason I should have the camera close by always, but honestly....in the bathroom?

It was jammie time last night and I was well on my way to getting said jammies on when I glanced over at the shelf in the bathroom.  YIKES!  Now, I'm not usually a girly-girl about stuff; I can often hold my own with assorted critters (although I'm much better with the 4-legged variety than the legless or 8-leg ones), but I figured there was really no reason to deal with this by myself, so I called out to PapaGeek..... I could use a little help in here. (nothing)   Hel-lo!!!  I really could use some help!!!  Freddy came running. I'M NOT KIDDING---I need help RIGHT NOW!!!  (finally)

His response......Holy crap!!!  (potty pun not intended)  Yes, it was the BIGGEST darn spider with the longest darn legs I've ever seen in my life, and it was standing guard over the potty.  It was easily the size of my hand (I do have rather small hands) and it's just slightly possible that I'm now remembering this thing as slightly larger than it really was, but take it from me----it was a whopper.  

The two of us just stood there looking at it.  Now what?  This shelf is slightly blocked by said potty, so it isn't easy to reach in---and we were both pretty convinced this was an attack spider, so no way were we (he) going to put our hand in there to squash it.  OK.  Be brave---move some stuff off the shelf----and spidey immediately hightailed it to the back corner.  I decided (in my near state of be-nothingness ) to go on a recon mission in the house to find something useful.   I found a jar (thinking relocation might be in order) but this was rejected.  I found a fly swatter (????) but the handle was too long (which is what I thought we wanted).  Off I went again, looking for some other means of disposition---came back in to find  PapaGeek poised with a can of Niagara Spray Starch.  No joke.  He sprayed it---it flew off the shelf and immediately disappeared SOMEWHERE.  We couldn't find it.  Anywhere. Gone.  We have an old house.  PapaGeek is SURE it went in a crack in the wall and is somewhere in the "scary cellar" starched stiff.  

I'M sure it's coming back with revenge on its mind and will show up next in bed.

Starch?!!  Why couldn't he have used the bug spray I was holding?????

yarnalong and WIP Wednesday....

When Miss V and I were at Squam last month, we shared our cabin with some of the nicest women.  You know how women are---we share differ information with different people, and somehow, that information gets passed around.  Someone said--you know Grace Anna is a knitwear designer and has published a book?  NO WAY!!  It's called A Fine Line.  

What a coincidence!  One of my FAVORITE books (one of the two books I would take with me if I was stranded on a deserted island---as if I could plan that ahead of time....) is also called a A Fine Line, but I'm sure it's a Marianne Isager book---I bought the yarn for one of the shawls and the book  from David Codling (US distributor of Isager yarn and the person who organized our trip to Shetland in 2005).  Funny that there are two books with the same title.  Must chat with Grace Anna about hers!

Grace Anna---TALL (as in 6'2"), stately, drop-dead gorgeous, sweet, soft-spoken, quick witted,  very pregnant--and extremely humble.  A Fine Line is HER self-published book, using all Isager yarns, and distributed by David who is a friend of hers and owns her "local" yarn shop in Santa Fe (Tutto--I've been there; it's FABULOUS).  

I had bought the yarn for Volt which is still one of my favorites, but Grace Anna had Dusk with her and I just couldn't get it out of my mind.  When I was stash diving last week (looking for that pink yarn to finish Catkin--which I never found), I unearthed some Jamieson spindrift that Miss V had gifted me from a buying frenzy  purchase on that Shetland trip.  (She doesn't even really like brown....it was a buying frenzy!)

David (Shetland trip/Anna's friend and book promotor); Miss V (my Squam roommate/gifter of Shetland yarn from our trip to Shetland); Grace Anna (author of the book/cabin mate at Squam)--OK, when I write it out, it doesn't sound quite as coincidental/meant-to-be as it does in my head....trust me, though....it WAS meant to be.

stunning....

(and, lucky me-- I'm only 5'4".  I won't have to make the largest size!!!)

joining Ginny for Yarnalong and Tami for WIP Wednesday!

Tuesday Ta-Dah

Catkin designed by Carina Spenser, yarn Dirty Water Dyeworks, size 4 needles.

An interesting construction---knit in quarter sections which makes the shawl really hug your shoulders nicely.  The colorwork is achieved with slip-stitches, so there is no yarn tangling or dragging floats across the work.  The buttons (mine are Gita Maria) turn this into almost a cape/poncho.  It was very fun to knit (in spite of that little adjustment I had to make when I ran out of the gooseberry).  I forgot one buttonhole chose to make just 7 buttonholes instead of the 8 the pattern called for (I like the idea of doing odd numbers).

The colors are a tad bit brighter than I usually do....

(This from a woman whose closet looks like this.....)*

(sad, isn't it, when your hangers have more color than your wardrobe!!!)

 

*I know someone will ask....my collection of black, white, and beige pants and black, white and beige t-shirts live on a shelf!! (and looks just as drab as the closet)  

I  blogged here  (early early on) about my love of grey  (The shawl in that post is still my hands-down favorite one !!!)