Bobbin Lace Making

I'm learning to make Bobbin Lace. There is finally a club here in Huntsville that welcomes beginners (I'm proud to consider myself an advanced beginner). The existing club does not allow new lace makers - I expect their fate to be similar to the Shakers, eventually they will all die.

So far I've done several bookmarks, some yardage and a sampler. For Christmas I'm hoping to get a subscription to a bobbin of the month club. Every month I'd get a new bobbin. It would be like having Christmas all year.

It will be a light Christmas. I'm making most of the gifts I'm giving.

It's hard to get excited about the holidays. My sister has ovarian cancer and is not doing very well. It's just hard to know what to do.

Thumbless

After knitting sweaters for my daughters and stepdaughter I noticed that my thumbs were hurting a lot. Of course, then I launched the two mystery shawls, two pairs of gloves, one pair of socks, and a pair of fancy wrist warmers. Then my thumbs REALLY hurt. Sometimes they would wake me up they hurt so much.

I finally went to the hand doctor and got to pay him to tell me what I already knew. I have arthrosis in my thumbs. So I'm in thumb braces which make it impossible to knit and difficult to use the computer.

Did you know there is a difference between arthritis (inflammation of joint) and arthosis (cartilage has worn away)?

Now I've bought a rigid heddle loom and I'm trying to suck up quantities of stash wool by weaving scarves (you don't need thumbs for that).

I've also gotten more involved in Bobbin lace (tho it does hurt sometimes to pick up the bobbins). I've joined a Bobbin Lace club that meets once a month. I've already learned a lot from a couple of the members. But I HAVE to knit. So I only do a little bit each day. When it starts to hurt, I put the braces back on.

I don't think my sister is doing very well. She's been fighting Uterine Cancer and now she's having lots of fluid build up in her lungs and abdomen. She's had so much bad luck, it's time for her to have something good happen.

Mystery Shawls

I finished BOTH mystery shawls. The yarn for the green one ran out with about 6 inches of edging still to go. But I dyed more yarn; which naturally came out too dark. So I ended up re-dyeing the entire shawl. As it turns out, I like the new color better.



The second shawl was make with recycled silk/angora/nylon yarn. I will NEVER use recycled yarn again, it was whimpy and tired. But I finished it anyway.

The death of a dog.

Wrangell was a sweet, long haired (but purebread) Siberian Husky. He was about 13 years old and selectively deaf. He couldn't hear me calling him, but he could hear dishes being put into the dishwasher. His decline was so subtle that we didn't really notice it until one day he could no longer get up if he fell, couldn't climb steps, and didn't care about treats.

My husband took him to be put down on the day after my birthday. What made it harder was that he was actually excited about going for a ride in the car. My husband still can't talk about it. It really hit him hard (Wrangell was born on his daughter's bed). Me too, but not as bad.

I spent the next three days scrubbing floors. I guess that was a way to cope. Those big, old dirty dog feet had brought in a lot of dirt. Now my floors are very clean. Now I know how unimportant clean floors are.

He was so sweet.

Knitting Goddess Mystery Shawl

Well, I got the first clue for the mystery shawl. My first problem is that I'm not sure which yarn to use. I have a very pretty deep blue cashmere/silk blend that is soft and pretty and a purple/green/cobalt tensel that is also beautiful. I've knit the beginnings of the shawl in each but still can't decide. The tensel is a lot easier to work with than I expected. I have a week to live with both of them before the second clue comes in. Maybe one of them will tell me what to do before them.

Tomorrow I'm having my parents over for a cookout (but eat in) for Father's Day. Dad is 92, can't see much, can't hear much, can't taste much and can't get around too well. But I've made his favorite food. Potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans and Mike will grill steaks. My sister will bring a cake. We'll have a good time; they'll stay about 45 minutes. They are so uncomfortable being away from home.

Monday is my anniversary - 3 years. Tuesday is my sister's birthday. Wednesday is my parents' anniversary - 72 years.

Hope the yarn speaks up loud enough for me to hear it over all the bustling around.

Another Mama

I've got a lactating raccoon that's been visiting my birdfeeders every night. She looked pretty thin and ragged, so I've been putting out cans of cat food for her. Yeah, I know, I'm just asking for trouble. But she looked like she needed help.

I've finished my daughter's sweater and started one for my stepdaughter. I should be able to finish it before the Mystery Shall Knit Along starts on June 14.

Today I tried dying yarn again. This time I used a wool yarn that I had spun myself. At first I tried laying it on plastic wrap and putting the dye on it, but the results were very splotchy. So I over dyed the yarn. It took forever for the pot to come to a boil, but the resulting yarn is beautiful EXCEPT for one place on one of the skeins where I had a piece of string tied too tightly around the skein. It didn't take the dye there - so it has white spots. Damn. I'll have to figure out how to fix that.

The Spy I Knew

For some reason, I was curious this AM about a woman I once knew. She was an attorney at the Pentagon. We worked together implementing legislation to reform the Government procurement process. I particularly remember one Saturday when she met me at my office to work on the project and she brought her daughter. She sat on the floor to work - I admired her ability to do that since she had an artificial leg. She was very smart.

Some time later, she was arrested and convicted of spying for East Germany and trying to spy for South Africa. Turns out she was not as smart as I thought.

I wasn't able to find out if she is still in prison. I wonder what ever became of her daughter.

I'm Dying Today

I've just spent 2 days Oooing and Ahhhing over the beautiful hand dyed lace yarns that could be used for my mystery shawl. But I've promised myself I wouldn't buy new yarn until my current stash was reduced to something less embarrassing. So today I'm making my first attempt at dying yarn.

I have a LARGE cone of wool lace weight yarn. So I wound some off and gave it a try. Right now it's steaming. Once it's steamed for 30 minutes, and cooled I can rinse it and see what I've done. My colors are probably not the best - deep turquoise, dark forest green, pine green and plum. The pine green seems a bit dull, but we'll see. I probably should have stuck with just 3 colors.

Today is Mother's Day. I got cards from 2 of my stepchildren and from the dog and cat. My own children haven't come thru yet, but it's still early. I had expected to be sad today, because I'm estranged from my older daughter, but I did get a very nice message from her on Friday - so I'm feeling pretty good after all.

I've had to hunt down yet another skein of the purple yarn to finish the shawl from Hell. I still have about 22 rows to go - and if I can do 2 rows a day I'm doing well. It just has to be finished before the mystery shawl KAL (knit-a-long) begins.

Oh, the baby wrens in the garage have hatched. I've heard them, but not seen them yet. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there.

Mystery Shawl

I'm so excited (but I don't get out much). I've joined a group to knit a Mystery Shawl. I've never done this before and don't know what to expect, but it is something different and I think it will be fun. I've chosen a yarn from my stash, a beautiful dark peacock cashmere/silk blend and have knitted my swatch to make sure it's what I want (and to check the gauge). It starts on June 14. Every week we will get more clues about what to knit.

That gives me until June 14 to finish the Herbert Niebling shawl I'm working on and (hopefully) to finish Rachel's sweater (tho she won't need it until winter).

Meanwhile, I have continued cleaning closets. I actually tacked the one in the front bedroom and have it to the point where you can actually walk into it and find something! The back bedroom closet is done, but there is stuff left over (broken dolls) that I need to figger out what to do with. I'll try to find them homes.

Food Poisoning

Well, THAT was interesting.

I've never had food poisoning before - at least not that I know of. It started last Thursday. Here it is Tuesday and I'm just starting to eat again. Today is the first time I've seen the outdoors in five days. It was so awful, I wouldn't even wish it on an enemy. Well, maybe it would be good for a suicide bomber. They'd never be able to blow anyone up because they couldn't travel that far from a toilet.

The missing Burda magazine

Knitting my Niebling Lotus Flower shawl got me thinking about a Burda magazine I bought a couple of years ago. I got it from a woman in Germany and paid about $40 for it. I went looking for it. First I went thru the stacks of magazines I have stored by the back stairs. As long as I was going thru them, I decided to get rid of a lot of them (after ripping out the patterns I wanted to keep). The Burda wasn't there. So I went thru the bookcases in the livingroom. Not there. So I moved on to the bookcase in the back hall and the assorted books and magazines in the front bedroom. Not there either. While I was searching, I cleaned out the hall closet and started cleaning out the closet in the back bedroom. No Burda, but lots of trash and stuff to donate. It's been going like this for a week. Walking around the house, rechecking places I've already checked. Even the cat was getting a bit nervous.

Today I found it. It was on the coffee table in front of the sofa. If that weren't so funny, it'd be embarrassing.

The good news is that my hall vacuum cleaner closet has been totally cleaned out, the misc. junk closet across from it has been cleaned out and it's been turned into a linen closet (can you believe this house didn't have a linen closet??) and it's not clear what needs to be done in the back bedroom.

Accidental progress.

Niebling's Lotus Blossom

I'm still working on a shawl that is actually a pattern for the Lotus Blossom table cover designed by Herbert Niebling. Unfortunately, I chose to knit it in purple lace weight wool. I don't even LIKE purple. I can't imagine why I decided to launch such a long term project in a wool that I don't particularly care for. But then, my color choices tend to be bad. The pattern has an inner circle made up of flowers and leaves and an outer circle of even more flowers and leaves. Last night I finally finished the inner circle.

In the meantime, I'm destashing. I going thru my yarn/fiber closet and pulling out an embarrassing amount of yarn and spinning fiber that I want to dispose of. I'm too cheap to throw it out - and, anyway, at some point I thought I loved it - so I'm going to find some way to donate it. A local yarn shop is planning a destashing sale in June, where you rent a table to sell your stuff - with table rentals going to charity. I think it could be done much better, but may give that a try. I still have a large plastic bin of sock yarn to go through. My goal is to complete destashing my yarn by the end of this week, then start of my fiber.

I'm also destashing magazines. Going thru them and pulling the patterns I want to keep and recycling (or donating) the rest.

All this has reminded me of the TWO large bins of quilting fabric stored in the back bedroom. No, I don't quilt anymore.

I'm seriously ill.

Seriously Bored

I had great plans for this summer. My husband was going to retire in late spring/early summer and we were going to go to the gym together and start on the todo list and just generally hang out. He's now decided to wait until Dec 5. It does mean more money. But I don't think he understands how lonely I am all day. The cat pays a lot of attention to me (she loves to show me her butt), but the dog has gotten old and a bit sickly. He wants to be left alone to sleep all day. I haven't even seen the wren today (the titmouse did not wake up).

So I can knit. Or spin. Or watch daytime TV.

I went out to buy large envelopes today and considered shopping for something totally frivolous. But I couldn't think of a thing that interested me.

It is a beautiful day. Mid 70's with a light breeze. The trees all have their pretty, new leaves on them. Every so often the wind chime plays a little tune. But here I sit.

Guess I'll go do the laundry.

The Titmouse on the Deck

Oh. I heard the "thump". A little titmouse has run into a window and died on the deck. He was such a sweet little thing. Just a touch of blush on his chest and the very tips of his tail feathers were dipped in orange. It's possible that he has just knocked himself out, but I don't think so.

Titmouses fly very fast. I know this because I've had several find their way into my screened porch. Trying to heard them toward an open door is almost impossible. I don't think they are very bright. On the other hand, Goldfinches can be caught in your hand and taken out and released. Not sure what that says about Goldfinches.

The Wren in the garage

Several mornings last week, I found a wren in my garage trying to figure out how to get out. I saw where a nest had been started, so I heartlessly knocked it down and closed the garage door. Still, the wren was there the next morning. I searched for a new nest, but didn't find one. Two more mornings of distressed wren (did you know that a distressed wren makes a noise like a cricket?) and I found the nest. The one I destroyed was a decoy. The real nest is in my Christmas tree holder on top of a stacked cabinet. One of the plastic ones with a nice deep bowl - just perfect for a little nest.

There's nothing I can do now. There are little wren eggs in the nest. I'll just have to leave the garage door open during the day and hope the little thing doesn't sleepfly. I'll put out seed and water on days I have to go out.

I wouldn't do this for just any bird. But I love wrens.

I've discovered Ravelry

Ok, so I'm probably the last fiber person on the planet to find out about Ravelry, but I'm finally IN. Already I've gotten warm fuzzy feelings from it. My shawl from hell (a Niebling pattern that I've been working on for over a year) was obviously going to take more yarn than I had. Of course, the color I was using was discontinued. So I posed an ISO on Ravelry, and within 10 minutes was contacted by a wonderful woman in NJ who is sending me what I need. I sent her a skein of yarn she wants in return. NEAT!

Now I'm busy getting rid of old magazines. I'm incapable of throwing away knitting magazines, but the pile is getting entirely too deep. So I've started with my Anna Burda's. I've already sold 17 of them!

While I'm at it, I'm gathering sacks of yarn that I know I won't use. I'm trying to find a good way to donate it. Still working on that. I can now get into the yarn closet. I have a long way to go.