Ok… I didn’t exactly lie when I said I haven’t done much knitting, I just forgot
about a pretty big project I did last Fall. The daughter of long time friends that we were stationed with in Germany got married on New Year’s Eve. She asked if I would make a wrap or shawl. Many pictures and Facebook messages back and forth later, we decided on the Love in a Mist Shawl. I knit it with Kidsilk Haze in Cream and crystal beads with silver linings. I also paired up a snowflake broach with it because the Bride wanted a very Wintery theme. You can find all the info on my Ravelry project page.
Funnily enough, her little sister starred here on the blog many, many moons ago back in 2004 when she modeled my Chick Knits Bucket Felted Bucket Hat. Both girls are lovely young ladies now. That’s the great thing about being Military. You stay close to those that have become your family.
Not in that it’s been a week since I last posted. It’s been that kind of week… My father-in-law died suddenly of a heart attack a year ago. You might remember my husband’s family is filled with Texas A&M Aggies. If you haven’t gone to that school or love someone who did, you won’t get it. It’s an Aggie thing. It is a deep love for their Alma Mater. One of their many traditions is Aggie Muster where they honor all the Ags that passed away during the previous year. My father-in-law was one of the honorees at College Station this year. With the ceremony looming, today is his birthday and the anniversary of his death is on Tuesday…. well… it’s been a week.
He was an amazing man. The line at his wake went outside and around the building where people stood for hours in the Laredo heat to wish us all their condolences and share their stories of him with us. For four hours we stood and shook hands, hugged, cried and laughed as we listened to story after story about how he touched someone’s life. He was stubborn… oh was he stubborn… lol, but he’d do anything for anyone and he was well known to be fair and honest. He was always watching out for those less fortunate than himself and he was a big believer in second chances. I put together his display for Aggie Muster, so it was a big trip down memory lane. Pretty therapeutic actually. I was able to watch the live stream of the ceremony and it was beautiful. I’m sure my father-in-law was smiling down at his beloved family and Texas A&M. It was a good thing, I think, for my family to share their love of my father-in-law with people that visited the reflections display. My favorite picture of the day was one my husband took of three Cadets looking at the display. I couldn’t help but think how much my father-in-law would have loved to have met them and they would have gotten such a kick out of talking to him about his old Corps days.
In the fiber front I’ve been spinning. A lot. Like almost every day. I’ve been playing around with different fiber preps. My new favorite is taking perfectly good combed top and making it into fauxlags (not really rolags because they aren’t carded). I just pull off a piece of the top, put it on to one of the hand cards as if I was going to card it, but I take two dowels, one on top, one underneath and roll it off. I have to tell you, it’s a DREAM to spin. It is so fun and gratifying to pull that fauxlag out of it’s tube form into a roving. It’s like watching a cheese pull on lasagna. Besides using perfectly good top, this method is great for top that you’ve dyed and, ehem, got a little webby…. 😉 for these I did card a little, so I guess technically they are real rolags, not fauxlags. You don’t even need to use a handcard to do this. You could just spread the fiber out and roll it between the two dowels, but I think the handcard makes it easier to get it into a tight little roll. After I roll it off the hand card, I squeeze my fingers around the fiber around the dowels and twist in the direction it was rolled. It tightens everything up nicely.
I plan on weaving today. Hoping my back will cooperate and I can enjoy getting several towels done on the Dorothy’s Dozen warp that I shared the other day.
It’s been ages… six years! …. so long that I don’t even know where to begin… I wonder if anyone even has my blog on their feeds anymore… I guess we’ll see.
My boys are grown now. The baby is about to graduate High School next month. That doesn’t even seem possible. He’s now the tallest in the house. My oldest is getting married next month and is under contract for a house in the Denver area. Daniel had one year left of college where he’s studying Software Engineering. We’re enjoying life since Dan retired from the Army four years ago. He works from home now to make up for all those years he was gone. This was us after Easter Vigil Mass on Sunday. We’ve changed a lot, no?
I’ve been weaving, spinning and dyeing far more than knitting these days. Not a lot of use for wool sweaters here in Central Texas. I have knit several cowls and pairs of socks though. Love the That Nice Stitch Cowl and the Auto Pilot Cowl for mindless knitting. I go to a knitting group sometimes about an hour North of us at Homestead Heritage near Waco. It’s a great group and most of us weave or spin as well as knit, so there’s always lots of inspiration and people that get my love of fiber. Always a good thing.
Like I said, though, mostly I’ve been weaving, spinning and dyeing. This is my latest weaving project: Dorothy’s Dozen Dishtowels
It’s a fun one with lots of color and treadling possibilities.
I put a 14 yard warp on the loom. I should get around 13-14 towels out of it.
I’m still very into gardening and nature. I’ll start sharing what we’ve done with our yard since moving in shortly before I stopped blogging. I think you’ll be amazed at the transformation.
Just a little post to see if anyone is still out there…. say hello if you are!
