lifelong knitter

Music linkage!

Click on the links provided by the sweet young woman
who dedicated a song to the Boybird
at the Fair....
be sure to click on the mp3 link and
have a listen!
THis one is MY favorite!

Friday Fiber, Finished Object(s)!

The socks are finished...
Socratrees!

basic toe up socks with short row heel
from the Sensational Socks volume 1 book.
I really enjoyed knitting with the austermann step yarn.
These are VERY large socks and I had quite a bit left over.

I'm still on track with the November sweater,
but last night was the maiden voyage of the ROSE,
and I am totally smitten.
She's quiet and smooth and easy to travel with...
elegant and sociable,
and I actually got into the groove
and made...
string.
Still too much twist, but consistent thin-ness
and hardly any breakage or lumps.
An EXCELLENT start.
The company was the best part though.
What a FABULOUS group of women.
wow.

Hope your weekend is wonderful!

P.S. I heard back from the lovely young woman from the State Fair,
I'll share linkage with y'all tomorrow.

All packed and ready to go...

Here's what the back of the FIT
looks like this afternoon:





Isn't she beautiful?

Spinning to the next level...

I have been working up to this for a long time.
More than ten years ago I learned to spin
at a local farm as part of an occupational therapy project
for the Boybird....who LOVED it and could make yarn
right away. Mostly he was just so happy to make something go around
and around and around and around....
I got a used child's wheel, and several spindles.
I spun off and on, mostly off.
Most recently I adopted a used BABE wheel
and got fairly consistent results with a worsted
approximation of yarn.
My trip to SAFF,
and the acquistion of some prize winning roving
intensified my research and quest for a way to
increase my technical skill
to be able to spin sock yarn.
Through a series of serendipitious meetings,
I have an invite to a spinning group at a FARM
tomorrow night.
NOW, thanks to the wonderful folks
at Three Water Farm,
I have the wheel of my dreams to take
with me on this next
Big Adventure in Fiberland.
Her name is ROSE....
sigh.
Too dark to take pictures tonight...
google majacraft rose spinning wheel
for an idea.
So.Excited.

The rest of the story....

Turns out that BOYBIRD has great taste in music
(if I do say so, myself)
and women.
His case manager *L* took him to the fair this year,
and after the apple cider booth,
the bird began to chant BANJO,BAN-JO!
and took off running for the Bluegrass stage.
According to *L*, up on the stage, warming up,
were some of the most beautiful women he had ever seen,
with some gorgeous instruments (*L* is a nearly famous musician
in his own right, so this story was extra special close to HIS heart,
dontcha know...)
Again, according to *L* they were beautifull in that Southern, sorority girl,
Indigo girl Dixie Chick kinda way....and HE was totally intimidated.
The BOYBIRD just jumped right up on the stage and went right up to the
prettiest girl in the group and said *Play that BANJO!*
(turns out she plays dobro, too....my kinda girl!)
Anyway, *L* rushes in, red faced and stumbling around shyly, explains
the *proper* way to ask girls to play and everybody laughs.
They say the set starts in five minutes and the Boybird can sit in the front row.
They then indeed dedicated the first song to him by name,
which he KNOWS (casuse he's a child of MINE) and loves!
*L* is once again amazed at the irony of the whole situation.
He was reminded to tell me the story when he saw the Boybird at a picnic and
was amazed to see him chowing down on BarBQue,
Southern style.

So....last night I trolled the web and found pictures (and MP3 files, OH!) of the lovely girl and her band
and emailed her. Just as SOON as I have their permission
(and hopefully an autographed CD and poster for the Boybird,)
linkage to their music will be right cheer.

To make it even MORE amazing...I was telling the story to my knitting class
this morning at the LYS and a lovely young woman with an adorable child
in handknits in a stroller stood by and listened and finally came over
and said she had been the facilitator for the birds social group,
many years ago...remembered their names and all about them,
wanted to know how they were doing....LOVED he story...
and she's learning to KNIT, now.

Ah, the Power of Knitting,
and music!

Just a tease....

THIS appeared in my email inbox today:

BTW, I saw (BOYBIRD) this weekend at the picnic. Apparently he ate barbeque. What a southern man he is becoming. Did I ever tell you the banjo story from the fair and how the band dedicated "Foggy-Bottom Breakdown" to him?

I can't wait to hear THOSE stories...
and relate them to y'all.

Still managing the ten rows a day on the November sweater,
and nearly finished with the gift socks

I'm past the heel on the second sock, about 3/4
of the way up the ribbing.

ONWARD.

An extra hour?

I say, spend it knitting

I'm up to row 31...yay!
What you can't see?
I finally learned to do a Russian join,
thanks to THIS most excellent tutorial!

PeeWee says

I'll NAP while she KNITS!

win/win.

Friday Fiber, geeky girl edition

So...I read the *rules* for the Knitting of a Sweater in November....
and I deduced that for MY project, I need to knit 10 rows a day to complete 50,000 stitches
by the end of the month.
This is Day Two, and I am nearly at 20 rows:

17, to be exact.

I've learned a couple of things already.
I am NOT a fast knitter, and that is FINE with me.
I enjoy the process of knitting.
It helps me process my thoughts more coherently.
(okay, is that three things, or two? sigh.)

I am also taken with a sudden desire to redo
The Artist's Way.
Ah, the Morning pages, the Artist's Date.....
yes indeedy, it must be AUTUMN.

This time though, I am doing it with a circle of friends
from knitting group AND with the additional support of the
Audible.com audiobook,
read by the author.

Which means of course, that I can KNIT
while listening, and while in the circle.
All the better to process you with, my fears.

If you will excuse me,
I am off to find some delicious lined paper,
college ruled.
ONWARD.

November begins with a rule...

I woke up this morning and thought *Ah, November,
I can either write a novel or knit a sweater!*
I tried the novel last year, but my eyes just couldn't take it.
Since my eyes are considerably worse THIS year,
a sweater it is!
I cast on 177 stitches on size 6US needles tonight
with Rowan tweed dk.
That's all I'm saying, so as not to jinx myself.

The Boybird and I had a marvellous trip to his Mall
today. It is still unseasonably warm around here,
so he was in shorts and a tee shirt....looking into snowy
winter themed windows.
weird.
He picked out his Christmas calendars
(they often sell out and he HATES that ;)
had fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and
a chicken sandwich and fries.
On the way home in the Mommymobile he started
grinning and then giggling.
*what is so funny?*
I asked him...
*NO CHRISTMAS MUSIC until AFTER
THANKSGIVING!*
he shouted,
and then burst into laughter
until tears ran down his cheeks.
oh-kay.
It is the RULE,
but I have no idea what he found
so
incredibly funny.
What I love about him, though?
He has a really happy life.
A couple of calendars and a RULE,
and he's HAPPY.
Something to be learned from him,
as ALWAYS.
Hope your November is off to a happy start
as well!