Picking up Speed!

We spent the weekend at the cottage. This is always (let's make that USUALLY) a good place to relax and knit, spin or dye in harmony with the lake and the woods, Ahhhhh. I put the usually in there since the last time that we went, we re-decked both the front and back raised decks. No, we did not hire someone, WE did three twelve hours days of hard labor, looking at the beautiful blue lake and the sunny sky, but never touching the water. Ouch, we sure deserved to return for the fun of it.

As it turned out, I got a cold, maybe I am feeling a little run down. It was cool and damp with wild waves all Saturday, so, no kayaking. But I did work on a little bit of the pounds and pounds of fiber that I brought in case I had some crazy knitting nirvana and used it all. I did not use it all, but I knit some fingerless gloves and a hat to match with yarn from my stash. I also knit a scarf that a friend has been bugging me about and worked toward the completion of the silk shawl that I started last week. This was from a pattern that I bought at Stitches Midwest and am using silk Noro that I got and stashed. It was a natural silk tan, but I dyed it last year and wanted to see how it would turn out. So far, so good. Pictures are on their way.

No pictures this time, since I have the unbearable job of editing and re-saving all of my hundreds of thousands of photos onto my new external drive. I am in a sorting and cleaning mode and elimination of excess is my therapy. Don't ask.

Never-the-less, pictures are coming, more work is being done, I bought my first Christmas present, yes Christmas and it is not even October. The fall bug has bit. Maybe it will send me in the direction of the wall of fiber that has now become the hall of fiber, floor of fiber, counters of fiber and closets of fiber. This will take a while.

Blues subsiding, bring me COLOR!

After hiking up hundreds of marble steps, the reward is the beautiful,
peaceful and enormous sculpture of Buddha.

It has been a week since the sad news about Grandpa. He would want me to get my pace back, so I am working on gaining energy!

Cleaning at his house has inspired some nest neatening around here, so I got some clear lidded containers from Costco and am diving in. One of the benefits of arranging fiber stash is that it is like shopping for it all over again :-)! Each new pile or bag presents a surprise or inspiration from a book or magazine. Happy Birthday to me! even though that special day was in June, I have opened more warm and fuzzy gifts to myself than I am comfortable talking about in any detail.

To add to my collection and cleaning frenzy, I attended the first Black Sheep Knitting Guild meeting for the year, brought a raffle prize and, can you believe, WON ONE! I love new projects and seeing all of my friends. Even though I was whipped from the day and a bit down, it was a good environment. Along with my new Panda Cotton Dotty Circus yarn were the bamboo needles to knit some socks and the More Sensational Socks book that I happen not to have owned! (This is a miracle, I buy every new book that I can justify using in some way shape or form).

I have been working on the Jane wrap around sweater, but followed the first set of instructions prior to their being rewritten, and am at a crossroads. It is about 2/3 done and waiting for the finish....only my directions only gave 2 sizes and the new ones give 3, I fall right in the middle if I don't want it to be TOO sexy! This is one of those times that I give myself permission to move on to a new project just because I am in need of new beginnings. The Jane will work its way into my subconscious and hopefully be done in the next month or so. It is a great color and was a swap with another Black Sheep that I am really wanting to wear.

This cotton was dyed using clay up in the mountains of South Korea.

Pictures of trips and such are forthcoming, I just got an external drive to house the thousands of pictures that I have been taking, 8000 of which were just in the past couple of months. So much to see so little time to organize. Keep an eye out!

Sad September

I haven't posted pictures and I haven't revealed any of my new projects or wild ideas to occupy my time. On our way home from re-decking our cottage over Labor Day weekend, I received a call that my grandfather had fallen and was in the hospital. Over the course of a week of visits and helping him sip drips of water from a spoon, his condition worsened and this past Friday morning, he passed away. He was a creative man who had written a couple of articles for photographic magazines, raised orchids and various other plants in his greenhouse and laughed about my knitting as an old lady activity. Despite my efforts to convince him of the "hipness" of fibers, he still thought that I was prematurely aging.

Bennie, (or Grandpa Pinky as I named him as a child for the puppy that he had), lived to a good age, almost 94 years old. I was his first grandchild, and took his passage a bit hard. As the week moves on and I get around to sorting through the enormous mess in my house from a summer of neglect, I will hopefully get around to posting some pictures and pick up the needles that have been calling my name.