I can’t believe that two weeks from now we’ll be in Texas looking at houses. I’m starting to panic. There’s so many choices and it’s so hard to decide what to give up and what we must have. Part of the problem is that we could be in this house for a very long time if things go as planned, but we could also be moving in four years if they don’t. We haven’t owned a home since before we went to Gemany the first time and I’m so excited and so scared all at once. The real estate market in Texas hasn’t hurt like the rest of the country because houses there are already so reasonable, but taxes are very high. Something will turn up and I know that when we walk into the perfect one we’ll just know it… I hope.
When I’m not on the internet shopping for a house, I’ve been playing with the new spindle I bought at SPA.
I started a simple Old Shale scarf and am knitting the plied yarn right off the spindle as I go. I’m anxious to compare the beginning of the scarf to the end to see how much I improve. I have to say, I saw huge improvement after the very first spindle full. I was putting way too much twist in both the singles and the plied yarn at first.
Dan and watched a documentary called “Dear Zachary” last night that left us in disbelief. It’s easily the best documentary I’ve ever seen. The story is so sad but it’s a wonderful tribute to a man that was much loved by his friends and family. Truly unbelievable how crazy some people in this world are. We’ve seen a lot of crazy with Dan’s career being what it is, but this is unbelievable because of the court system in Newfoundland protecting a murderer and letting her back out on the streets *and* allowing her to have custody of her baby.
I’m a little late on the report. It’s been a crazy week with the snow storm and all. SPA was greater than I ever imagined. I think women owe it to themselves to get away once in a while. Even though I had a screaming sinus headache the first couple of days I had SUCH a good time. I didn’t realize how much I needed the break until I could take a nap and sleep in til 10:30, do what *I* wanted to do when I wanted to do it and the very best part, being able to share the love of wool with so many other women. I had a great time hanging out with Kim, Kathy, Carole, Terry, Laurie, Martha, Lucia, Manise (who I finally got to meet!), Sharon, Di (and her GORGEOUS wheel) and I got to meet Dave from Merlin Tree who so kindly tried to help me with a wheel I wanted to sell. Like so many others, I had my camera the whole weekend. I have no idea why I didn’t take one picture. I guess I was just having too much fun.
Here’s my loot:
A Forrester spindle. She spins like a dream. I picked this one to remind me of New England when we move to Texas. The roving is Kim’s (Woolen Rabbit) BFL in “Blues”.
Ann Hanson’s Butternut Scarf pattern and Kim’s Alpaca in Chocolate Chambord. YUM!
And evidently I like Kim’s Chocolate Chambord because I bought it in sock yarn the day before. And I had to get something for Dan so I bought Burgandy Bean to make him some socks. I know. Thoughtful huh? The colors are much darker than the photo shows. It’s much more Aggie Maroon than it looks.
I just signed up for a Spinning/Dyeing class with Barbara Parry of Foxfire at Webs. I had no idea Webs was less than three hours from me. I’m really looking forward to the class. I bought a drumcarder almost three years ago (I can’t believe it’s been that long). And I think it’s been almost three years since it’s been out of the box. I actually met Otto Strauch at Rhinebeck. I was a little embarrassed to tell him I hadn’t used it in years and thought maybe it’s time to pull it back out of the box. I’m hoping this class will get me motivated to use it.
Now I’ll fill you in on all the changes that are about to take place for us. We’re moving back to Texas in June . Thank God in Heaven, we are moving. West Point is a beautiful place, I love being near my family in New Hampshire, the schools are awesome and my neighbors are great. But I really… no… really, REALLY… hate the house we’re in. They are demolishing these houses starting next year. They really are that bad.
I think it has a lot to do with my creativity and organization being snuffed out over the last year. I fully believe that if you love where you live you are a much happier person. I’m definitely not happy here. I can’t get organized and that drives me nuts. I get overwhelmed and completely shut down.
I’ll miss Fall and I’ll miss being so close to New Hampshire but that’s what they make airplanes for.
We’ll be four hours from most of Dan’s side of the family in Laredo and four hours from his sister in Kingwood. Texas A&M is the halfway point between us and his sister. Dan’s family has a suite at Kyle Field so we’ll be there for a lot of games. Dan flew down for the Army/Aggie game last month but before that we haven’t been to a game since Daniel was a baby. The boys can’t wait. Especially Joe, who started playing football for the Army Junior Black Knights this year. When I was pregnant with him and we found out he was a boy Dan used to tell people that it was one more chance that he’d be called “Dad” by a Dallas Cowboys Quarterback. Dan finally got his football player. Funny that it’s the smallest of our boys that decided they wanted to play football. He may be little, but he’s got heart for the game. Here he is putting the stop on Mini Sink Valley (it was pouring that day):
So that’s the scoop of what’s been going on around here.
Wendy (Catknits) asked about yarn purchases in Shetland. I know I was just talking about how I had way too much stash but I went to Shetland and you know what that means, right? No one would really expect me to go to *Shetland* and not buy wool or yarn, right? Seriously. That would just be cruel. Forget that I still have loads of yarn left from our first trip there in ’97.
At the shop in the Jamieson’s Mill, I couldn’t resist this tam. I’ll never wear it (I look like a dork in hats – especially tams) but I loved the colors and just couldn’t leave it. It’s machine knit but it was less than $20. Here are shots of the front, back and up close and personal:
We went to the Isleburgh Community Center where they have an exhibit each Summer. It’s so much fun to watch the ladies knit. You have never seen fingers fly so fast. Intricate lace or fair isle patterns…. their fingers are a blur.
I bought these handknit fingerless gloves for a mere $9.
I bought a kit for the Firs and Flakes Shawl and a kit for Dan, the Noss Jumper in blues. We saw a sample knit up and it’s gorgeous. Back at the B&B the next day I got to talking about knitting with another woman staying there. She informed me that I could buy a fleece at J&S also!! Back we went the next day. I picked out a gorgeous gray one. When she totaled it up at four pounds (about $8) you know what happened next. Even Dan said, “Go get another one!” Told you. He’s a good man. Here’s the gray one washed:
And the white one unwashed:
It’s in the washer right now, soaking. I had to skirt this one a bit more. Pretty gross on the back end. I had thought that I would process these completely by hand, but they’re pretty full of dirt and grass. I think I’ll just wait until we get to NY and take them to get processed. I have two others that I had no business buying this past spring that are still in the boxes they came in. How long can I leave them like that? Can it wait until next summer when we get back to the States? I should just bite the bullet and scour them. They’re both covered fleeces so it wouldn’t take much to clean them. But I digress….
Then at Jamieson’s shop on Commercial street I bought some beautiful denim colored yarn for another shawl. It’s bluer than in the photo. What’s with blues and purples anyway? They never come out in pictures quite right. Anyway, it’s way thicker than what I needed (insert hand backwards on forhead and martyr voice)…but I’ll make it work. I thought the yarn in the kit for the shawl was thicker and it was back at the B&B but who cares, right? It’s wool so it’s all good.
I’m so behind that I missed my own blogabirthday. I can’t believe it’s been a year on October 1st. Yikes.
I’ve definitely gone downhill in the last couple of months and seriously thought about shutting down Scottish Lamb but I think I’ll wait to see what happens over the next couple of months. It’d be kind of silly to stop now when I’ll be knitting more with the arrival of Autumn.
I’ve been working on Daniel’s Harry Potter scarf for Halloween a little. It’s just about finished. I’ll post a picture with him modeling it. I haven’t touched the Hopeful. All I have left is the second sleeve.
We’re taking the boys to Legoland tomorrow but other than that I’ll have lots of downtime this four-day weekend, so I’m sure I’ll finish it up. I want to start on the Birch with my pal, Jessica (Show Me Your Knits), but I’m also itching to cast on some Fair Isle. Of course, there’s also puppy knitting to be done for Aggie. We went to see her on Sunday. A little over four more weeks and we can bring her home. Here she is at 19 days old, face all wet from nursing:
I want to knit her a little felted cuddle bed for her crate and a little sweater. Those 2am potty breaks are going to be cold in November. It’s funny because I was making fun of my friend (yes, Michelle, you) about how she treats her 8-month old pug like a child. Ya. Guess who’s not laughing any more. 🙂
The fleeces I sent in to Blackberry Ridge last month arrived the other day. In a word… GORGEOUS stuff. I’ll have plenty of wool to keep me spinning over the winter. Over nine pounds of processed roving. The darker grey on the left is Molly from Skylines Farm and the lighter grey on the right is a pound of mohair blended with Odessa from Whitefish Bay Farms:
France: The only disappointment of the whole trip is that I didn’t get to see Mont St. Michel. Well, okay… I got to see the the silhouette of it from the auto route for about 30 seconds. I yelled, “Look boys! There it is!” By the time they looked it was gone behind the bushes and we didn’t get another glimpse. It would have cost us about another hour and a half to go see it and it was already about 6pm. We still had another couple of hours until we got to Nilda’s (Waltzing Natilda) in Brittany.
We had an interesting arrival. I’d been trying to call Nilda for about an hour or so before we arrived. Yea. Helps if you write the number down correctly. Funny what trouble being off just one little number can cause. Luckily, I knew what the place looked like where we were staying. The town takes about five min. to walk from one end to the other. Needless to say we saw our “hotel” (really, two rooms in a cottage) within a minute of our arrival in town. We were starving. Where do we choose to eat? At the Armenian drug guy’s pizza place that Nilda has talked about on her blog! lol. It was two boys and the Pizza sign that made us do it. That and it was right next to our room and had a table for us. We didn’t realize it was because no one else in town would eat there. No wonder the guy was so damn happy to see us. I have mentioned that my husband is a federal law enforcement agent, haven’t I? You’d think he’d have a nose for that stuff. Thanks, Dan. We could have been killed in the crossfire. 😉 Nilda and I had a great guffaw over it the next day.
So we knew Nilda had a dinner to attend that night. The owner of the room we were staying in gave me the correct phone number. We left a message with the babysitter that we had arrived and were in our room. After a while the long day had caught up with us so we went to bed. I’m just about off in dreamland and I think I hear, “Jean! Jean!” I open my eyes and Daniel’s face is about two inches from mine, “Mom, I think someone is calling you outside”. lol. I look out the big window and down into the road and I see a flashlight. “Nilda?” Yep. Nilda. All dolled up for her dinner engagement. She looks up and loudly whispers, “I have a key and a walkie-talkie for you!” lol. I go let her in. She comes up and meets Dan while I throw some jeans on. Daniel and I go with her up through the gate to the Chateau grounds. We get to meet her girls and make arrangements to turn the walkie talkies on at 9am to get the party started.
This is our cottage where we stayed on the top floor:
That’s Daniel looking down from one of the ramparts. Ours was the one with the green shutters. The window in the roof right above them is the one Nilda was calling through. That road used to be the moat for the Chateau. Wild, huh?
Right on the other side of the street from our door is the gate Nilda gave us the key to.
We arrived Saturday night and Sunday just happened to be the day the town had their procession of a statue of Mary. We processed through the town to a chapel at the beginning of a small wood. The one thing that never ceases to amaze me is that no matter where you go on this planet, Catholic Mass is always the same. Except for understanding the homily, you can follow right along. The setting was absolutely beautiful.
The town square. Beautiful, right? Right out of Beauty and the Beast.
And finally a little fiber-related news. Remember I told you about my little treasure? Nilda took me to one of the local Antique dealers. What did I buy?
Obviously, this tin isn’t antique but it’s pretty dang cute, ain’t it? It also makes a great container for my little treasure. Okay… okay… here it is:
Isn’t it beautiful?! The dealer says it’s about 100 years old and from that area of Brittany. I swear I did a little happy dance when he brought it out to us. Nilda had seen him at the reception after the church procession and let him know we’d be coming by. He had a beautiful old wheel also. If I could have figured out how it worked, I probably would have bought it too. Of course, it would have had to ride on top of our Jeep all the way back to Germany.
I’m perfectly content with my little spindle. She’s a tiny little thing. Only about 8 1/2″ from tip to tip. Good thing Nilda was there or I wouldn’t have been able to figure out how to anchor a leader onto it. You make a half-hitch on the bottom and then on the top and spin away.
I love holding it in my hand and thinking of the women that must have used it in all the years since it was lovingly hand carved. Thank you, Nilda. I would never have gotten it without you.
And so, our journey was a quick one but we had SO much fun. I totally plan on returning next year. Hopefully Dan will be home on his R&R from Afghanistan by then so he can join us. The boys loved it there. They got along great with Nilda’s girls. We knew they would. The girls are an absolute delight and Nilda, I was only half kidding about the pre-arranged marriage idea. Think of how well dressed our grandchildren would be!! 😉 We left a couple of days early because we felt totally guilty with them trying to pack up to leave for the States. We said our farewells and headed back to Germany where we spent a couple of nights with old friends to break up the trip.
Thank you, Nilda and family (even the girls for the readings and dancing!). We had a FABulous time. Note the sweater Nilda is wearing… she designed it. Trust me. It’s stunning in person.
It’s not that I have a shortage of spindles. I actually have a nice little collection. The thing is, I’m bored out of my gourd waiting for the Must Have pattern to arrive. I’m being very stubborn good about not starting a new project so that I am free to be totally committed to the Must Have.
So what does one do with itchy fingers and some free time…. play with FIMO of course. That there is a spindle that I made with some granite colored clay. I do have New Hampshire roots… GO PATRIOTS!!! Don’t tell Dan… he’s still crying because the Patriots met the Cowboys Superbowl record. HA!
I’m happy to report that it spins pretty well. This is something I’m definitely going to be playing around with more in the future. Already have more clay on the way. Yippee!! Another hobby!
It never ceases to amaze me how much joy I can get out of a little fleece, a drop spindle and a pair of knitting needles. Fellow Army wife and knitting blogger, Erica, could be in the hospital as I type having her baby boy. Happy Labor Day, Erica! Hopefully her hubster made it back from Iraq in time for the blessed event. I met her a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to make something special for her (it’s always nice knitting for another knitter). I had some scrumpdilicous Shetland fleece in my stash from Judy Colvin’s ranchin Montana. I spun it up and knit a little pair of oh-so-soft booties. Not a moment too soon because the wind is howling outside right now. They’ll go in the mail today.
My sock-knitting friend, Lynn, made a pair of these with her handspun when I was pregnant for Joseph six years ago. They were a gorgeous shade of hand-dyed deep maroon with jewel-tone fair isle knit into the leg. I remember how touched I was that she did that for me. I’ve been making them ever since. I must have left them in storage in the States because I searched and can’t find them. Lynn is known to many as “The Sock Lady”. You can check out some of her beautiful work here. I won’t forget you, Lynn, when I get to the Opal Factory!
Those booties and a baby quilt and sweater (also in storage) knit by my friend, Jessica (I met Jessica on the knitlist about seven or eight years ago), are my most prized items of Joe’s baby gifts. I thought of how kind Lynn was every time I put those booties on him when he was a baby and I think of Jessica every night when I tuck Joe in with his quilt that he still drags around as his comfort when he’s sick or wants to snuggle. One day his children will be kept warm with them all and that just give me the warm fuzzies.
You’ll find many renditions of this pattern as it’s been out there for eons. With Lynn’s permission, here is my version of her version of the bootie pattern (when you knit something this many times, the pattern is bound to change here and there). As EZ would say, these are “pithy” directions. If you are a beginner knitter or something doesn’t make sense, just holler:
You can use any yarn from fingering to worsted. Worsted makes a pretty big bootie. The handspun I used for Erica’s is about fingering weight and they should fit the baby till he’s about four months (I hope). I usually use DK weight.
Cast on ten sts. Garter for 18 ridges. Knit up 18 sts down next side, 10 across cast-on edge, 18 up other side. Knit in the round now. **Four rounds purl, four rounds knit (x2) and then knit four more rounds. Now you’re ready to do the top of the foot. In the booties Lynn did for Joe she did a 4×4 garter sts up the foot. I like that better, but I forgot about it and just did st st on these. You can do about anything you want to here. A small lace pattern would be cute. You’ll be knitting back and forth across the ten end sts. As you come to the last st of each row, knit it tog with one st from the 18 st side until you have 10 sts on each needle. Knitting in the round again, knit 3-5 rounds and then do an eyelet round for the ties (k2, yo, k2tog). Now you are at the leg and can do whatever you want. Add some lace or fair isle here. I just did a plain 2×2 ribbing. Garter st would be cute here too. For the ties you can do I-cord (I tried but it was too big for these booties), twisted cord (which is what I used for these) or crochet a chain. Have fun. They make great gifts.
