Silver Goddess Wanna Be

There comes a time in a woman's life when she has to admit she isn't young (by society's standards anyway) anymore. This past September I turned 50. I also went through some pretty traumatic life changing events. As I struggle to reinvent and relearn myself, I am thinking of making some serious changes.

I have been struggling to cover gray hair now for close to 25 years. I had my first silver strands in high school. It was kind of cool back then. Just one or two glittery strands amid the dark brown. By the time I was 21, I had two silver streaks, one at each temple. Still not too bad. But by my mid to late 20's, the gray hairs were starting to get a little out of control. Time to take action!

At first I used the color that washed out after several shampoos. That worked for a while, but eventually the gruesome grays got too plentiful for even that. I started down the slippery slope of permanent box dye. That lasted until this past summer when I decided enough was enough, I would get my hair professionally colored and highlighted. I now sport a pretty brown color with caramel streaks.

I have been toying with the idea of letting my hair go its natural color now for a while. I have talked about it with my hairstylist, Dottie, many times. But I always chicken out. To be honest, I have been saying for years that I will stop coloring my hair when I turn 35. Then when I turned 35, I put it off to 40. Then 45. Then 50. When I turned 50 last September, I told Dottie I wasn't ready and it would be 55 or 60, or whenever my face became too old looking to dye my hair any longer. We've all seen those ladies that have the dyed black hair and older faces. It makes them look even older. I don't ever want to do that.

But I don't want to look old, either. Then I discovered Pinterest! I happened across some pictures of women who decided to embrace their gray hair and while looking at the before and after pictures, I discovered that each and every one of those ladies looked better with the natural gray than the dyed hair! Wait, what? Yes, it is true! And the abundance of gorgeous, young looking women with a crown of glorious silver hair has made me rethink my own decision about continuing to have my hair colored. Plus,I really like long hair, and one of the reasons I have not been able to have long hair was that the hair dye eventually dries it out and it has too much damage and has to be cut. If I don't dye my hair, I won't have that problem. Long gray hair?? Doesn't that drag your face down and make you look older? Well, I thought so, too, until I started doing some browsing on Pinterest!

Why now? Well, several reasons. First, it is a time of change in my life. Something I actually find rather freeing. What could be more freeing than releasing yourself from the trap of having to dye your hair? Besides, I figure if I do it now, when my face still retains some of its youthful look, it will not make me look as old as if I wait until I am in my 60's when my face will carry 10 more years on its surface. And my grey is that gorgeous bright silver color! I can see it very well in the "roots" of my current haircolor.

Monday, December 16, 2013 was the last day I had my hair colored and highlighted. I made the final decision to go Silverlicious almost 1 month later, on Jan. 18, 2014. This is what I looked like on that day.

You would have to blow up the picture to see the faint trace of gray roots sprouting in this picture. Now, with tomorrow being my 2 month anniversary since the last time I had my hair dyed, I look like this:  

I am actually pretty excited about this transition. It is really interesting to see my "real" haircolor appear as my hair grows. The front is going to be mostly silver, while the back is going to be very dark pepper with some silver salt. Pretty wild!

So what does all this have to do with knitting?? Well, never a fan of a skunk stripe, I am researching knitted and crocheted headbands! Even Silver Goddess need a little fibrous adornment once in a while! :-)

Time Flies

We have all heard that saying. We have all used it. But going through the remnants of someone else's life puts it in an all new perspective and forces us to confront the reality of it.

My mother in law passed away on December 24th. What a difference a month makes. Thanksgiving dinner was a "regular" holiday with a big family dinner and laughter and hugs and the excitement and joy of the holiday season that was just beginning. A little over a week later, my mother in law fell and had a heart attack. Or had a heart attack and fell, they were never sure which came first. It was painfully obvious at that point to everyone, even her, that she could no longer safely live alone. A week after her heart attack and fall, she was moved out of the hospital and into a rehabilitation center to start working on getting her strength back. Rich and I found a place that we thought would be great for her once she was ready. A retirement home that specialized in Alzheimer's patients, a disease that she had been struggling with for a the last couple of years. Then came the flu and pneumonia. She began deteriorating at a rapid rate. The Call came early Christmas Eve morning from the nurse practitioner. Time for the family to gather at her side.

My husband is an only child and my mother in law's siblings do not live very close by. There were only 4 of us there, Rich and I, one of her sisters and a dear family friend. We did not sit there for long. She passed away at 2:40 in the afternoon. Watching someone take their last breath is a very heart wrenching thing. Death does not come easily and neatly like it does in the movies. It approaches slowly and stealthily and relentlessly. And the human body which is designed to survive does not go without a fight. Even a weakened body like my mother in law's still clings to life for all it is worth. A tug of war between Life and Death with the human body as the battlefield. No, not easy at all. We held her hands and talked to her and tried to comfort her and each other as we watched the battle drag on. When it was over, we called the nurse in. After confirming that she had indeed passed, the nurse reached over and slid the window open just a bit. That seemed like a fairly odd thing to do considering it was a very cold and windy day outside. As the blast of cold air blew the curtain back and made us all shiver, we looked at each other in puzzlement then back at the nurse. She smiled and looked a little embarrassed. "It's something I learned in nursing school. When someone passes away, you open the window so that their spirit can fly away." I didn't know they taught that in nursing school. But I found that thought beautiful.

Christmas Day and even New Year's were lost in the ensuing mind numbing blur of endless funeral details and preparations. Then we were faced with an even more formidable task. Her house. Her things. Her memories. Her beloved possessions. Her clothes. Her everything. It is sad and extremely difficult to be left to dispose of the things that someone else dearly cherished. How would I feel about someone coming into my home and disposing of the things that I cherish the most? Taking my beloved books and yarn off to charity or worse, the trash dump. All of my memories just junk to someone else. It tore at my heart.

No matter how hard it was for me, it was absolutely NOTHING next to the torment Rich must have been feeling. At first he could not even spend more than a few minutes in her house before he had to leave. We started clearing out the "easy" stuff first. The clothes. Those we figured we could donate to Goodwill and someone would be able to use them. Somebody could use them! That was it! Inadvertently, we had hit upon the idea that saved us from the worst of the grief as we went through her things. Instead of just blindly disposing of everything, first try to find someone who needs it! We gave her dishes and silverware to a coworker that had lost everything in a fire. Her pool table to friends with sons who would play with it and enjoy it as Rich had when he was a boy. We began gathering up the items that she loved the most, her angel collection, her puzzles that she so lovingly spent hours putting together and taking apart over and over again, her collection of holiday decorations, etc. We began matching up people who shared her love for these particular items, people we knew would feel the same joy from these things and cherish them as much as she did. I can't help but feel as if she approves. It really helped us to think of it that way. It helps us still, as we are still a ways from being finished.

As we were sorting through the items in her house, I was surprised at how many things we found that she had been saving for "later." Items saved for "good," or for "someday." How sad. She had obviously bought and collected these items because she liked them, and in the end she never got to use them because that "Someday" had never come. It had lost the race to Death. We have begun the process of bringing some of her furnishings and items to assimilate into our own home, and as we do, we are now faced with the prospect of weeding through our own things to make room. Forced to face the march of time in our own lives. As I have been doing this, it has come as a terrible shock to me to find those things in my own life that I had been tucking away for "Someday."

Time seems to creep by, but that is an illusion. In reality it is flying. This point was cruelly driven home by yet another life altering event that occurred during December. My oldest nephew had been diagnosed this past spring with diabetes which he was unaware he had until an infection developed in his foot that led to the eventual amputation of his right big toe. He had healed and gone back to work and conquered his diabetes with diet and exercise and weight loss. All of his "numbers" were back in the normal zone. He was feeling good and getting back to his normal life with his wife and young daughter. Until December. Until he discovered another "spot" on the bottom of his right foot. After many agonizing weeks of tests and waiting for results and more tests followed by more waiting, the diagnosis was in. He would have to have his right leg amputated just below the knee. Surgery was scheduled for mid January. He found this out on the Thursday before Christmas. How could this be? He had done everything right! He had followed doctors orders and diets exactly, lost over 50 pounds, brought his numbers back to normal! Yes, the doctors agreed. But the damage had already been done. It had been done in the years before he even knew he had diabetes. Like time, it had been marching steadily on as he lived his life unaware of its advancing.

He called me after he left the doctor's office that day. Bill has always been more like a little brother to me. Only 10 years of age separates us. My mom babysat him the whole time he was little and we were always playing together. I took him everywhere I went. We were inseparable. After we hung up, I cried like a baby. The sudden reality of all those years gone by hit me. We were no longer kids laughing and playing and having the time of our lives with not a care in the world. We were in our 30's and 40's and both being forced to face some hard realities in both of our lives. One again I was forced to ask myself where had all those years gone?

December came and went last year as it does every year. But this time the elderly white haired man that came to visit our family was not the jolly old Santa Claus, but the somber and wizened elder Father Time. In his sack he did not carry toys and Christmas cheer and joy, but hard life lessons.  I have tried to pay attention to those lessons, as difficult as they have been. So I have dug through my yarn stash for that expensive, heavenly merino yarn, those silk and sequins yarns and all of those other gorgeous yarns that I had been "saving" for "someday." And I have started to knit them.
Don't put off joy for tomorrow when you use it today. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not promised and today is all we've got. Because "Someday" is an illusion. It doesn't really exist.

Hokie Bird Wings Shawl Takes Flight

I finished the Hokie Bird Wings Shawl yesterday! Finally. It took a lot longer than I had originally expected. I had a lot of "assistance" whenever I started working on it. Remember Bella the kitten? When I took her back to the veterinarian for her kitten shots, Dr. Dixon managed to talk me into taking one of her sister kittens, too. So, now I have Bella and Stella the Knittin' Kittens! (shown here with Megan, my niece the shawl was knitted for).

They are two very sweet kitties that love yarn! I had to do most of my knitting either as passenger in the car on day trips or when the kittens were asleep. For kittens, they sleep amazing little! Bundles of total energy. I wish I had some of that energy! I could have knit 50 shawls!

I thoroughly enjoyed knitting this shawl. The pattern is Wingspan, and I used Green Dragon Sock Yarn in the colorway Squires. It had 490 yards in one skein. One was not enough. I was running low when I got to the 8th and final "wing" but luckily I had another skein that I had bought to make matching fingerless mitts. I estimate that it took about 600 yards altogether. I used a US 4 knitting needle. I have seen really cute shawl pins in both orange and maroon in various shapes at Backstitches, one of our LYS. I am going to take the shawl by there and get one to match later this week.

 Now that Hokie Bird Wings is complete, I will go back to finishing Flamingo Wings Shawl. It is my other Wingspan I had already been working on but stopped to do Megan's shawl. I wanted her to have it to take back to Tech in mid August. I can't believe that the summer is flying by so fast. Flamingo Wings is not far from being finished itself. I am on wing #6 of 8.

I finally decided I couldn't stand it anymore and purchased the first 3 Swing Knitting workshops from Ravelry. I am totally fascinated by Swing Knitting! I need to find some plain sock yarn to work with to do that. All of my stash sock yarn is variegated. I have really been inspired by some of the beautiful versions of Wingspan!

Addiction

My name is Lisa and I am addicted to the Wingspan pattern! There. I've said it. It's out. I love that pattern! I currently have 2 wingspans in various stages of completed "wings." The original is Flamingo Wings. I am on wing 6 out of the 8 "wings" of this shawl.

I was on a real roll with this shawl until I was hit by The Lightning Bolt of Inspiration. I had some Green Dragon Sock Yarn in Squires colorway (aka Va Tech) that I was planning to use to make something for my niece Megan. ZAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!! Wouldn't that yarn make a great Wingspan shawl???? Thus, Hokie Wings shawl idea was born! I am currently in the middle of wing 4 of that one.

Harley approves. 

Normally I hardly ever knit the same thing more than once. Exceptions have been a Farmer's Market Bag pattern that I knit 3 of. One for my Mom, and one each for my 2 sisters ( and I have the yarn for one for myself). The other pattern has been the No Hair Day Hairy Chemo Cap. But Wingspan is such a fun pattern! The possibilities for this shawl are endless and exciting. If you don't believe me, check out the board on Pinterest named "Wingspan - examples and adaptations by dihenydd." But I warn you, it can lead to addiction! I will not list the yarns and ideas I now have swirling through my head thanks to this board lest you realize the depths of my addiction! Let's just say I have been Bewitched. :)

My progress on these shawls has been slower than normal due to one main reason.

Her name is Bella, and this little kitten apparently shares my fascination with knitting and all things yarny. Currently the only "safe" place to knit free of Miss Bella's "assistance" is in the kitchen standing up at the bar. If I don't take frequent breaks from this position, my back begins to protest, and it is quite loud.

Bella came to us after the loss of our 15 year old cat Zuni to cancer. I won't go into details here mainly because it is much too painful, but it is safe to say that I was devastated. More painful still was watching our other cat Harley suffer from depression after the loss of his friend. Animals grieve, too. Thanks to our veterinarian, who is an absolutely wonderful woman, Bella has come to live with us. How it happened is a study in "meant to be." She captured our hearts immediately and Harley is once again animated and playful.

Even Louis the Pug loves her!

I call this picture "The Three Stooges" and I think it says it all!

On a totally different side note, I found a new knitting shop on a trip to Roanoke last week! My friend had told me there was a new one, but she didn't know exactly where it was. I found Wyrd Sisters Yarn (thank you, Google Navigation!) and popped in for a quick peek. Regretably, I didn't have much time to browse since I was in a bit of a time crunch, but I saw enough to know I will go back again on my next trek to Roanoke! I saw lots of yarny goodies and was absolutely captivated by a felted witches hat. I have to go back and get the details about that hat!

And another new shop opened in Bedford this past weekend, Whistlestop Wool and Fiber. I haven't made it to that one yet. It is gratifying to me to see these new yarn stores opening up. It means I am not alone in my fiber addiction and that my options for finding new and exciting ways to knit Wingspan are expanding even further. The possibilites truly are endless!





You Ain't Got A Thing If You Ain't Got That Swing.......

I have become obsessed! I have started a new project, Flamingo Wings, using a pattern I found on Ravelry called Wingspan. On Pinterest there are examples posted of all the different Wingspans created by different people. They are breathtaking! One of my favorites uses a technique that I have never heard of before called Swing Knitting. I can't seem to find any info on it except for a workshop book to purchase on Ravelry. I am going to ask our master knitter at Motif if she knows how to do it. Hopefully she can teach a class if she does.

My obsession is two-fold. I am obsessed about finding out how to do Swing knitting, and I am obsessed with this pattern, Wingspan! It is fun! Here is my version:

I am using Pagewood Farms Verano yarn. This picture was taken yesterday morning when I had just started the second triangle. I started the third one this morning. I am already planning future wingspans using novelty yarns and sock yarns and contrasting yarns, etc. This is a very addictive pattern!

This past week I finished my Voodoo Magic Shawl, so named for the gorgeous yarn I used to knit it, Voodoo by Creatively Dyed Yarn. It was also a fun knit. I actually started it last fall, but put it aside for a while and recently picked it back up and finished it in about a week.

This picture doesn't really do the beautiful colors of this shawl justice. I have asked my cousin Graham if he can give me some pointers on how to take better pics of my finished projects. He is a very serious amateur photographer.

I usually post pics of my finished knitting projects on facebook. I have been asked many times if I sell my knitted items. People just don't understand when they ask you to knit them something and you say "no." They always say, "Well, I'll pay you!" How do you explain to them that they couldn't possibly afford it! My knitting time is absolutely priceless to me. I don't knit to sell, I knit to destress and relax and unwind. The more stressed I am, the more I knit. (It is much cheaper than a therapist!) How do you put a price on that???

Tempus Fugit

Occasionally in life there are moments that make you stop and realize just how fast time really does fly by. They stop you in your tracks and almost take your breath away with shock as you wonder where have all those years gone???  One of those moments happened recently to me.

My Mom called me in tears one evening last December to tell me that an old high school friend of mine had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. What????? How could this be??? Candy is only a month older than me, she is still young, healthy and active. There must be some mistake! I clung to this hope of a mistake for a while, but that came crashing down when an exploratory surgery in late
December confirmed the doctors' diagnosis. I was devastated.

We moved from New Jersey to Virginia in the second half of my freshman year of high school. There is nothing worse for a teenager than to be uprooted at that age from their friends and all they have ever known growing up and transported to a totally different high school, much less state. I hated it. It was like moving to a foreign country.  I had a very hard time adjusting. I was different. I was called "Yankee" (I wasn't aware the Civil War was still going on! I had learned from history class that it had ended long ago.) I was teased for my accent and I felt like I didn't belong, the ultimate disaster for a teenager. That summer I retreated into my room and immersed myself in books. Luckily for me in that same summer, a thin, long blond haired girl from up the street named Candy took the initiative to extend the hand of friendship to The New Girl. We became fast friends and for a while were inseparable. Eventually our studies took us in different directions and different classes. We eventually grew apart and lost touch after high school. Throughout the years, I heard about her from Mom who is still friends with Candy's Mom, Judy. I knew that she had moved to Japan for a while and that she had come back to the US a few years ago and was now living in Va. Beach. It didn't really seem like that long ago to me that we were in high school. Until that phone call. As I stood there in shock the realization of just how many years had gone by hit me full force. Where had all those years gone??????  Shock. Confusion. Anger. Disbelief. Horror. Fear. Sadness. I felt them all. I also felt helpless. There was nothing I could do! Or was there? Much as I wanted to reach out and cure her, to wipe the terror from her life, I could not. But I could let her know how much I cared. As I had during just about every turmoil in my life, I turned to knitting. I picked a beautiful shade of yarn of the softest yarn I could find and I started knitting her a prayer shawl. I also asked Mom to find out if she would like me to make her a rosary in her birthstone colors of peridot. She did. So I made her one of those, too.

Mom told me that Judy had brought Candy home here to Lynchburg from Va. Beach for Christmas. She was due to start chemo treatments in January. I bought a "thinking of you" card and mailed it to Candy and gave her my phone number and told her to call me if she needed anything or if she just wanted to talk. She responded the day she got the card. In mid January, Mom and I went to go see her. I took her the rosary. She read the Praying the Rosary instructions that went with it and smiled and said, "There is a lot here that this old Protestant girl can understand! It's not that different after all. I don't believe that there are separate entrances in heaven for the different religions." Neither do I.

Candy's Rosary

During that visit, it was just as if those years had never flown by. Just for a brief moment in time, we were once again those carefree teenagers with our whole lives in front of us and not a care in the world. She certainly looked much the same as I remembered. She still had those beautiful long, blond natural curls I had always envied. My hair is very dark and very straight. And she still had that naturally slender, athletic build. For me, weight has always been a struggle. So I had always envied her that, too. During that visit, I could almost convince myself that nothing was wrong. She was fine. Almost.

Candy and Judy returned to Va. Beach the next week to begin chemo. I continued my knitting on the shawl that was 2/3 of the way finished. As I knitted it, I thought of those two teenage girls and cried. I poured all the love, hope, prayer, good feelings and intentions and all the positivity I could into those stitches. In each and every stitch was a memory, a prayer, a hope, a dream. Now, I have this odd habit. Whenever I knit something that takes me a while, I become attached to it and I name it. The shawl started out as the Prayer Shawl, but as I knitted it, I realized that the beautiful blending colors reminded me of a kind of old fashioned candy that we used to have when we were growing up - ribbon candy. Thus the shawl's name became Ribbon Candy Shawl. Especially appropriate for someone named Candy, after all!

Ribbon Candy Shawl

Judy and Candy returned to Lynchburg the following week and Mom and I went once again to visit and take her the Ribbon Candy Shawl. She loved it and she really loved the name. She and Judy now also call it by its given name. Before they returned from Va. Beach, Judy had told Mom on the phone that Candy was losing her hair due to the chemo. I make chemo caps for the cancer patients using one of my all time favorite chemo cap patterns, the "No Hair Day Hairy Chemo Cap." As the fun fur fad has faded over the last few years, I had taken advantage of all the balls of it that I could find in the dollar stores and I have amassed a rather large stash of it for these really cute chemo caps. I took all of the colors I had with me to show Candy so she could pick out one. She chose a variegated purple color. Appropriate since purple is the color for pancreatic cancer. Candy still did not look that much different. Her long hair had been cut into a short chin length bob that was really cute on her with her curly hair. It didn't look thinner. But then she showed us how fast it was falling out. "Watch my parlor trick," she said as she ran her hands through her hair. She held her hands out and between the fingers was a great deal of hair. She was due to go back to Va. Beach the next week for more chemo. Judy said they would return to Lynchburg in 2 weeks. I told her I would have her "No Hair Day Hairy Chemo Cap" ready.

Candy's No Hair Day Hairy Chemo Cap

http://www.headhuggers.org/patterns/kpatt10.htm

Two weeks ago when I saw Candy, I could detect the toll that the chemo was taking. She was now painfully thin and fragile looking, and her hair was noticeably thinner. She went back the following week for the last of the chemo treatments and she is due this week to have CT scans and other tests to find out the status of the cancer. From there, they will decide on the course of further treatments. Next on the list is radiation treatments.  When those are finished, Judy plans to bring Candy home to Lynchburg to stay.  When that happens, I plan on spending some more time with Candy. Mom and Dad and I plan to take her and Judy to the beautiful Awareness Garden dedicated to cancer patients and their families and anyone touched by cancer. http://www.awarenessgarden.org/awg/.  There are lots of places I want to take Candy to see when she is feeling up to it. She has been away from Lynchburg for a long time, and much has changed. But the friendship we shared as teenagers did not change. It did not fade away and die. I realize now that we are, and always have been friends. I have a feeling I will be spending a considerable amount of time with Candy for another reason.  She told me when I took her the chemo cap that she wants to learn to knit so that she has something to do while she recovers. She said that she really wants to learn to knit chemo caps for others patients going through the same thing she is going through. It is a request I am more than happy to grant. After all, what are friends for? And I have plenty of fun fur to share! I hope knitting brings Candy as much comfort and joy as it has me throughout the years. It seems fitting to me that knitting has created a bridge for us to cross the very fabric of time itself to reach those teenage girls we thought we had lost so long ago, only to discover they have been in our hearts all along. 

"FO's" and A Gathering of Knit Wits

First, the FOs:

The Magical Mobius

The Aloha Virginia Tech Scarf

I am still working on the I cord necklace.  I wanted to make an I cord long enough to loop around twice, but alas, it doesn't look like there will be enough yarn for that, so I will have to settle for one loop.  I hope to finish knitting the cord today and then dig through my beading supplies for the perfect clasp to finish the necklace off. And I think I have the perfect glass pendant to use.  I would like to have it finished in time for The Gathering of the Knit Wits that will take place after work tomorrow.  Last Friday, Robin, Ronni and I had such a good time at Motif that we decided to meet this Thurs. after work (the one day that Motif is open past 4 pm).  Ronni is taking the Magical Mobius class and Robin and I are bringing our knitting along to cheer her on.  Bonnie and Ronda are also planning to come along.  I am going to bake a pan of chocolate chunk brownies for the occasion.  Last week when we were in Motif, another customer brought in some homemade zucchini bread which Karen shared with all of us there.  She joked that bringing in food was one of the new "rules" for sitting and knitting.  I thought it sounded like a pretty good rule, so I decided it would be "my turn" this week.  Maybe we can start a Thurs afternoon tradition this way.  Sounds like a fabulous way to unwind after work to me! 

Now, what shall I knit at The Gathering?  The choices are:

1. to start the Katia Triana lace scarf,

2. to continue working on my Ella Mae lace merino socks that I started when my cousin Cynthia was visiting

last month  

or

3. give up trying to resist the Siren Call of the Magical Mobius and start another one in a lovely sparkly yarn

The Sparkly Magical Mobius choice is currently in the lead!

The "Smallest" Skein of Yarn

I finished binding off the Magical Mobius last night.  I love it!  It turned out long enough to wrap twice around my neck.  I was playing with wearing it different ways and I think the way I like the best is with the twist in the middle of the upper loop.  I might have had enough yarn to go around once more, but I decided to play it safe and stop where I was.  With the leftover yarn I think I will make some I cord bracelets.  There are 2 fiber types left, one is sparkly and the other is soft microfiber so they will make pretty bracelets.  Or maybe I will make a long I cord and use it as a necklace, long enough to wrap twice around the neck, and hang one of those glass pendants on the shorter loop.  Hmmmmmmmmm..........  Possibilities! 

So, what to knit next?  Why, this of course:

It is a ball of Katia Aloha in Virginia Tech's orange and maroon colors (color 302).  I thought that it might make a cute little scarf (or boa) for my niece Megan to wear to football games.  She is leaving for her freshman year at Virginia Tech in about 10 days.  This is without a doubt the "smallest" skein of yarn I have ever bought - a mere 7 yards!  The boa is knit on size 50 knitting needles. With only 7 yards to work with, this should be a really quick knit - if I can get the hang of knitting with those clumsy telephone poles!

And after that?

I am going to try this yarn for the first time.  It is a test knit for possible Christmas presents.  I like playing with the fun and unusual yarns.  This should be another quick knit. 

Beyond that..............  Wait a minute.  Did you hear that?  I think I hear the Siren Call of the Magical Mobius calling my name!   It is saying, "Liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisa.............how about another Magical Mobius......... a shorter one..........only one loop.......... all one color this time..............made out of a yarn with a little metallic sparkle............."

WARNING! Knitting a Magical Mobius is Addictive

The Magical Mobius in Progress

This is the result (so far) of the Magical Mobius class.  They warned me at Motif that knitting these can be addictive, and they were right!  I am already planning my next couple of Mobii (Mobiuses?).  Also at Motif was this intriguing yarn:

Looks like a great Christmas present project!  (or 2 or 3!)

It amazes me how fast 2 hours can go when you are having a great time.  The class flew by and I enjoyed it and meeting new people and knitting with a group.  Knitters are the nicest people!

Magical Mobius Knitting Class

I will be headed out in the 99 degree heat in just a little while to go to a knitting class at Motif, the Magical Mobius class.  The lady that owns Motif took a class from the one and only Cat Bordhi to learn how to knit the Magical Mobius, and just started teaching this class this summer.  I have been trying to take one of Karen's classes (especially the entrelac class) for a year now and this is the first one that I have been able to work it out so that I could go.  I got Tanya to work for me today.  I am hoping that Robin manages to come, but that is iffy since her son is mowing grass for relatives in Salem this morning, and they have to come all the way back. Ronda is supposed to come - Bonnie is coming in to work early for her today so, but she will just be coming in squeaking under the wire before the class starts at 2pm.  It goes from 2 to 4.  Yesterday after work I went by there and chose my yarn and paid for my class and of course, had to use my sock coupon!  For socks I bought these:

love the little bit of glitter in this one!

love Noro anything!

and for my yarn choice for my Magical Mobius class, there is this:

glitter and fluff and ribbons and fabulous!

I am really excited about the class!  I hope Robin and Ronda can make it OK.  I enjoyed sitting in the shop after work yesterday.  It is such a nice and quiet and relaxing environment, so much different than the one I had been in all day long.  I wouldn't mind making a habit of stopping there and knitting something after work on Thursdays for a while.  Unfortunately, Thursday is the only day that she is open past 4pm.  I have been trying to convince some people at work that we should go somewhere like B&N or Givens Books or somewhere with a nice quiet coffee shop and sit and knit one day after work, but everyone is so busy.  Maybe when the weather cools off and vacations are over and the kids go back to school.  I think I'm going to head over there a bit early.  Gonna soak up some more of that relaxing atmosphere!

What's the purpose of that?

Good question.  One that has been bothering me for a few weeks now.  It all started with Oprah.  Or, rather the end of Oprah.  During the big week (at least) long Bruhaha surrounding The Last Oprah Show, I happened to see Dr. Phil one night on World News at 6:30.  He was discussing how he was going to make it his life's work to be sure that everyone found that one thing in life that they really get excited about, their "Life's Purpose." The "One Thing" that makes them excited to get up in the morning and is "The Spark" that makes life exciting.  Dr. Phil's advice was to find that one thing that you really want to do, and start taking steps to make it a reality. I paused during my dinner preparations to ponder this for a minute and was hit with the sudden realization that I do not have this "One Thing."  Oh sure, I have lots of hobbies I enjoy, lots of things I like to do, but that "One Thing" that makes me get up in the morning excited about life?  What IS that?  I don't know.  And worse than that, now I realize that I don't know!  Ok, so now I am aware of a previously unknown "void" in my life, how do I go about finding "That Which Will Fill The Void?"  Thanks a lot Dr. Phil!  I didn't even realize I was "incomplete" until you told me I was!

Time's A Wastin'!

It is a beautiful morning full of promise and at least a little bit of sunshine!  I am only on day 3 of a 8 day vacation, but am up early due to 1. hungry cats that don't know the meaning of vacation is to sleep past 0530 and 2. a very painful sore throat.  The cats part is easy to take care of, the sore throat, not so much.  Hopefully it is just allergies again and not something worse.  Rich is working today and tomorrow, and then we hope to go to either Richmond or Greensboro later in the week.  Hopefully we will head somewhere else for at least one other day trip.

I am determined not to waste this vacation.  By waste, I mean not get anything done.  But what to do first?  There isn't a lot to do outside since I haven't bought flowers yet.  If I see what I want today I might get some. But allergies have made me shy away from the outside.  Also cramping my style so to speak are the pains in my hands (and feet and other joints, but the hands are the ones that stop me cold).  This makes gardening and knitting a little on the painful side.  I am going to pick up some of those heat wraps for hands while in Walmart later this morning.  All this damp weather is to blame for that problem.  I have to do something as I have 3 more rosaries to make.  One for Pam's husband Mike, one for Brandy G, and one for Mom.  I am still waiting for the beads for Mom's.  I splurged for hers and ordered beautiful rose pink Swarovski crystals.  They should be here later this week.  I have the supplies for Mike's and Brandy's and want to get them done by the time I go back to work next week.

I would like to take at least some of the time off this week to start some sort of wellness program.  I read that book yesterday and I am going to start working some of the ideas from that into my days.  I would also like to get back into a regular yoga and exercise routine.  I know I felt much better in the past when I was exercising and doing yoga regularly.  I have "The Woman's Book of Yoga & Health" by Patricia Walden I am currently reading.  Hopefully that will inspire me.

I am getting that "restless" feeling again!  Yes, every time I am on vacation (even though we never go away for vacation anymore with MIL obligations and animals that need tending) I always get that "I NEED To Start A New Knitting Project! feeling.  It isn't enough just to start one I already have the yarn and supplies for.  We usually take at least one day trip during vacations, and I love to pick up some knitting project that will always remind me of where we went and where I got it, and the day trip in general.  It is sort of a souvenir of vacation.  It is a ritual, and I enjoy it.  So, what to get and where?  There are knitting stores in both Greensboro and Richmond, so where will not be a problem, but what usually is.  I rarely have something specific in mind, and I just end up with more yarn to make a shawl or scarf or something.  That is mostly because I like to buy novelty yarn - something splashy and flashy or mohairy and something I can't find just anywhere.  Last trip to Richmond in December, I bought 2 different yarns - a red one with sequins and a gray mohair one with silver metallic - to make infinity scarves.  Last October in Greensboro I bought the yarn to make Dad's scarf and hat for Christmas.  So what to get this trip?  I have been scouring Ravelry for ideas.

So back to the wasting of time.  In the book "Take Your Time," the author (then a busy professor) describes his own struggle in his early 40's with wanting something more in his life and wanting to add time for meditation. He did what he calls the red line exercise where he lists all his activities, prioritized them, and then red lined those that he could do without or no longer were in his favorites list.  He described the exercise as being both painful and liberating.  What are my biggest time wasters?  The computer probably ranks up near the top of the list.  Like anything else, if I don't have a "to do" list and/or schedule in mind when I sit down to the computer I find myself just surfing aimlessly.  There is so much to find/read etc. on here that it can suck you in and swallow up a great deal of time before you are even aware that it has happened.  Also a time waster for me is "aimless puttering" or "flapping" as Rich calls it.  When I bounce from one project around the house to the next without any real objective to get one thing done.  I end up using up a bunch of time and not much to show for it.  I have discovered that I do better with some sort of "plan" for the day, even a day off.  How's that for crazy - take vacation from the rat race and structured scheduled days, and I need to schedule "vacation" days!  Oh well, I am a Virgo after all!

Time to make that schedule and head to Walmart before too much more of the morning slip past me!  Time's a wastin'!

Squish, squish, squish.........

That is the sound you make as you walk across the swamp.... er, I mean yard.  We have had many days of heavy rain, storms, fog and gloom.  Delightful weather for mosquitoes and frogs, but since I am neither one of those, I am far from delighted.  Today started out promising with blue skies and just a slight amount of ground fog, but then up came black skies and a sudden downpour.  Blue skies and sunshine returned, but the air is heavy with humidity and the promise of more thunderboomers.  Or gullywashers as an old friend of mine used to call them.  Between the high humidity and the bane of my existence, pollen, it is quite unpleasant to be outside.  You would think that all of the rain would have knocked down the pollen levels, but that is not so.  I had grand ideas about transplanting a few of the tropical plants, but the rather difficult to breathe atmosphere quickly squashed that idea.  I had to kick the rest of the tropicals outside today since the old plant light in the basement finally kicked the bucket.  Hopefully it will not venture too far below 50 degrees outside any more nights or I will be dragging some plants indoors.  I am trying not to complain too much about the rain since in a few short months, I will be begging for it.  Too bad we can't stretch it out over the whole summer instead of having a year's worth of it in one month.  I am a little grumpy about it too, since I am on vacation this week.  I usually take a week off in May.  The forecast is for more of the same for about 2/3 of the time I am off.  So, being done outside for now, I am determined to save the rest of the day and go get some chores done than take an early shower, fix an early dinner, and spend the evening relaxing and knitting.  I did read a very interesting and enlightening book this morning.  The book is "Take Your Time: How to find Patience, Peace and Meaning" by Eknath Easwaran.  I read about this author while browsing one of my knitting books, "Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines" and I looked him up on Amazon.com. I read "Take Your Time" cover to cover this morning.  It seemed to speak to me directly, and it gave me lots to think about.  I am going to try to incorporate some of his principles for living in my own life. How appropriate that I discovered this book while reading about the activity that brings to me the most peace and yet at times requires a great deal of patience..........knitting!

Ring Around the Rosaries

Yesterday I finished two of the remaining 4 rosaries I have to make. Hopefully I will finish one more this afternoon. I worked on my yarn necklace last night. I am using Art Yarns Beaded Pearl & Sequins yarn in color 193S that I bought at J.J.'s Knitting Knook in Stuart's Draft (just outside of Waynesboro, VA) last fall. I made a friend of mine a necklace and bracelet set out of this yarn, but hers was made out of crochet chains. Mine is an I-cord. I plan on hanging one of those lampworked glass focal drops on it. I have already made a bracelet from this yarn, but think a group of 2 or 3 different width "bangles" might look better. Time permitting, today I would like to cast on for that baby sweater. I am using a yarn that came in one of those Annie's Attic Knitting Club kits that was originally for a baby sack. It is a very pretty soft mint color. The sweater pattern I chose is a baby kimono from the Lion Brand Yarn free patterns website. I have already done my test swatch, and as usual have had to go down one needle size. I knit very loosely. I was told this is because I knit Continental style instead of American style. Or maybe it is just because I find knitting to be very relaxing? LOL

So many possibilities, so little time!

Story of my life, so it seems! I have so many hobbies that I love to work on that when I finally do get time to work on something, it takes me so long to decide what to do that I sometimes just get frustrated and end up doing very little of anything. Besides knitting, I love to crochet, bead, needlepoint and read, and I have ongoing projects in each of those categories. Not to mention life is getting a little more stressful, and time is getting a lot tighter lately. Lots going on right now, and most of it is not great. But life goes in cycles, and this too shall pass. It occurs to me that this is exactly the time that I most need to rely on my hobbies to get me through. I can't even count how many times in the past that my hobbies, knitting especially, got me through some really bad times -- times that I'm not sure I would have made it through without the calming powers of knitting. My latest finished product this week is not a knitted one, but rather a beaded one. It is a rosary I made for a friend of mine at work, or rather for her daughter who is about to go through Confirmation. It is made out of moonstone beads. The picture really doesn't do the beads justice. They are so pretty - they appear to be glowing when they are in strong natural light. I have 4 more rosaries to make, 3 of which are over halfway completed. The rosary pictured is the fourth one I have made. The first was for my niece Megan's Confirmation a year ago, that one was made with rose quartz beads. The second one was made of hematite beads for Megan's boyfriend Jordan and the third was for my sister and made out of garnet colored Czech fire polished glass "Preciosa" beads. Those were Christmas presents. I haven't abandoned knitting! My current project is a knitted I-cord necklace made from silk yarn with sequins and beads. About to be cast on the needles is a baby sweater for a friend at work. Her little girl is due in July. I also can't wait to cast on for some Go Knit bracelet kits I bought right before Christmas, one in the Flamingo colorway and the other in Carribbean.

I'm trying to finish up some of the numerous knitting projects that I have lying around here. I ran into a problem with the first one I picked up last night -- it is a Noro Kureyon in color #74 and one strand of Trendsetters Me tal color #55 held together. Well, I didn't have as much of the Metal as I thought, so I ran out. Oh well, that is a pretty good reason to hit the yarn stores again!

So I dug through the embarassingly large pile of undone projects and came up with a shrug made out of Caron Simply Soft Shadows. It is the perfect weather to work on this - cold, dreary and rainy. Oh well, I guess I should be glad it is not ice. I still need to finish my sister Paulette's Farmer's Market Tote made out of Knit Picks' yarn Wood of the Andes. It is a little over half finished at this point.

What's in the rest of the pile? Yikes! It's a very long list..............

Long time, no see!

 

It has been a while since I have posted.  Life has gone on as usual, sometimes difficult, sometimes great.  This past weekend Rich and I took another trip to Rockbridge with my Mom and Dad.  Here is a pic of one of my favorite places -- the Orchardside Yarn Shop where I bought some lovely yarn to make another felted bag, and Mom bought some really dreamy yarn to make a scarf. 

Lightning Bugs in November?

Louis the Pug has his first handknit sweater!  It is a little bit too large for him at the moment, but I wanted a sweater that would fit him when he finished growing.  He looks a little like a Lightning bug or a wooly glow worm, but he is adorable in it. 

I have added a couple of pictures of finished projects I have done over the last couple of months.  There are more finished items to post, but I have to take "after" pictures of them.  One of the most exciting things I have knit lately has been the Starlight Shawl.  The knitting part is finished, all it needs is its fringe added. 

Time is flying by super fast.  I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just a little over 2 weeks away.  I have decided that I am NOT going to do a lot of Christmas knitting this year.  It always seems to turn a hobby that I absolutely love and turn to for stress relief into a source of stress and aggravation.  That is not to say that I won't do any Christmas knitting, I will just pick and choose a few handknit gifts to do instead of trying to make so many.  My knitting time is precious and what little of it there is is carved out of an already hectic schedule, so I don't really want to turn it into an exercise in frustration instead of an exercise in relaxation.  So who will I knit for and what will I knit?  Good question.  So many things I want to knit, so little time!

Found a New Yarn Shop!

The weather yesterday was beautiful!  After a long spell of temperatures in the upper 90's, we finally got a break.  The temps were in the mid 80's and the humidity had dropped to a much more tolerable level.  Rich and I were both off this weekend, so we decided to head up to one of the wineries that we had been wanting to visit, Rockbridge Winery.  We checked their website before we left and noticed a little link on the sidebar "what to do and where to stay."  Clicking on this link revealed a wonderful sight - a yarn shop not 4 miles from the winery!  We also saw a couple of other places of interest nearby we thought we might check out while we were in the area.  Little did we know that we were in for a glorious treat!  http://www.rockbridgevineyard.com/

Rockbridge Vineyards is located in Raphine, VA, not far from Lexington.  What a beautiful area!  We had a great time there sampling their delicious wines and relaxing in the porch swing in the picnic area.  After the winery, we headed down Raphine Rd. and continued on to what was without a doubt the most gorgeous garden we have ever seen at the Buffalo Springs Herb Farm.  We thought this little herb shop would be a quick 30 minute stop at most, but we were in for a big surprise!  Besides the little shop filled with wonderful things for gardeners, this place had a huge garden area filled with meandering pathways that take you through several different styles of gardens including the Mediterranean Garden, the Medieval Garden, the Celestial Garden, the Healing Garden, Paradise Garden and many others.  Besides these gardens, Buffalo Springs Herb Farm also offered a two mile long nature trail that took us by a lovely waterfall, and a peaceful labyrinth for quiet walking meditation.  What a relaxing and refreshing place!  I can't wait to go back!  http://www.buffaloherbs.com/

Continuing down Raphine Rd. we came to the place I was the most excited to see -- the Orchardside Yarn Shop.  This wonderful little yarn shop is located on a working orchard where blackberries are now in season.  There is a little babbling brook right in front of the shop and a family of geese was parading by.  One thing I noticed right away as we crossed the little bridge to the yarn shop was that the license plates from many of the cars were from out of state.  Once inside the yarn shop, I figured out why.  This amazing little yarn shop was filled with a fabulous selection of the most gorgeous yarns -- Fiesta, Debbie Bliss, Brown Sheep, Crystal Palace, Berroco, Noro, and many, many others.  Patterns and needles and knitting magazines abounded, and gorgeous knitted models adorned the shop.  There was a very welcoming area where some of the nicest people were happily knitting away and chatting.  Everyone there was super friendly and I thought I had died and gone to Yarn Shop Heaven!  I ended up buying some yarn that has been on my Yarn Wish List for a very long time -- I bought 2 hanks of Starburst La Boheme from Fiesta yarns in colorway Sapphire.  I also bought the shawl pattern to go with it.  I had seen this a long time ago in a magazine, and I had never forgotten it.  I had filed it away in my "Someday" Wish List.  Well, yesterday was that "Someday!"  There was a gorgeous shop model of this shawl elegantly draped over a rack, and I just could resist!  Now I must finish that Vibe Tote ASAP so that I can put those needles to use on that fabulous shawl!  http://www.oysyarnshop.com/  http://www.fiestayarns.com/html/4/index.shtml  (click on the La Boheme swatch -- top row, 4th from left and look for the Famous Shawl)  http://www.fiestayarns.com/html/2/index.shtml  (Starburst La Boheme is the 6th yarn swatch from the left on the top row)

Another stop we made was to Wades Mill which has been featured in the magazine Paula's Home Cooking.  It is another amazing little place filled with cool little hard to find kitchen gadgets.  Time was running short on us, so we had to cut the visit to the Mill a bit too short.  :(  But we plan to go back to Raphine for sure very soon!  A stop in Lexington on the way home to eat at The Palms Restuarant topped off our wonderful, relaxing day in the beautiful Virginia countryside.  http://www.wadesmill.com/   http://www.thepalmslexington.com/index.htm

Louis the Pug

Here are a couple of pictures of Louis taken right after we got him.  He is bigger now, but not by much.  He is a little sweetie, as you can see!  He already has begging and pitiful looks down to an art form.  He snores when he sleeps and snorts when he plays and he is without a doubt one of the most entertaining pets I have ever seen.  He is a real character!  I think that such a character deserves to dress like one, so I have been searching around looking for the perfect doggie sweater pattern, and I came across this free one from the Lion Brand Yarn website:

http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/kff-dogSweater.html

So I guess there is yet another addition to my "Waiting In The Wings" knitting list!  And of course, another trip to buy the yarn to knit it!  Of course, there is no real rush to start this one with the temps hovering at 100 degrees yet again and no relief in sight according to the latest weather report. 

I am off today, and I plan to do some knitting on a project I started during vacation.  We took a couple of day trips during our vacation, and I managed to increase my already "Outta Control Yarn Stash."  Two of those projects that I bought the yarn for, I have actually started working on.  One is the Vibe tote I mentioned in the last entry, and the other is a pair of Geisha socks. 

http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/vibe_tote/vibe_tote.html

http://www.spunmag.com/article/050605socks

I came across the pattern for these socks a couple of months ago, and I had to knit them.  What a great idea -- socks you can wear with flip flops!  As soon as I saw them, I thought "I gotta have them!"

Speaking of "gotta have," I got an email from Patternworks which featured new items.  Among those new items were these:

http://www.patternworks.com/PWShopping/partsview.asp?action=lookup&partno=256&subject=U301&catpos=1

Wow!  Gotta have em!