Auld Lang Syne . . .

First, a recap of the past year:

Spinning:

My goal was to spin 5 miles, and I'm at 4.33; the group is getting together for New Year's Eve, so if I take my wheel, I might just make my goal. I wanted to expand my fiber repertoire, which I did: I tried silk, mohair locks, yak, camel, and alpaca. And I learned to do core-spun, Navajo ply, and tentatively ventured into faux Kid Silk Haze (otherwise known as "crack"), and beaded yarn. I also learned to spin from batts for woolen-type yarns, and broke the 18 WPI barrier for true lace-weight finished yarn (I got 21 WPI!). I learned to control color changes to make self-striping yarns. And I tried plying with embroidery and quilting threads to make specialty yarns.

Knitted FOs:

1. Turquoise scarf from hand spun (me)
2. Bamboo triangle scarf (me)
3. Felted bag(me)
4. Cotton Shrug (Charity auction)
5. Assorted washcloths, soap bags (Charity auction)
6. Pink Shawl (Charity auction)
7. Multi-color scarf from hand spun (Mom)
8. House socks from hand spun (ToolMan)
9. Cotton mobius (to be frogged)
10. Assorted ball band washcloths (me)
11. Multi-directional scarf (me)
12. Blue self-striping socks (me)
13. Blue comfort shawl (me)
14. Asherton Scarf (Mom)
15. Blue stranded tam (Mom)
16. White cowl (Mom)
17. Pink scarf/shawl from hand spun (Mom)
18. Black and white hat (Dad)
19. Graphic Designer scarf (Dad)
20. The Blob (Faye)
21. @#$%& Golf Club Covers (Jim)
22. Navy heather hand spun cowl (Janie)
23. Gray hand spun hat (neighbor Kevin for shoveling the driveway)
24. Brown hand spun cowl (Barbara at work)
25. Hot pink fuzzy scarf (Barbara’s daughter)
26. Sheepy scarf (me)
27. Blue hat and scarf (ToolMan)
28. Quick mittens (ToolMan)
29. Yellow baby blanket (Baby Love)
30. Assorted premie hats (Aunties in Stitches)
31. Triangle shawl from hand spun dyed by StitchJones (me)
32. Several scarves (for DIL Ronda)

Projects still in progress are the driving cap for ToolMan and the Pi shawl in Queen Anne’s Lace pattern for me.

Next, my plans for the coming year:

Spinning:

I want to perfect the techniques I’ve already learned. I want to learn to make boucle yarn and try novelty yarns. I want to spin more! And knit more from my handspun. I want to try more luxury and exotic fibers like cashmere and quiviut. I want to learn to spin cotton. I want to learn to make cobweb weight yarn. And I want spend more time sharing what I’ve learned.

Knitting:

First, I want to finish and block the Pi shawl and the driving cap, including lining. I want to knit at least one sweater for myself, maybe two. Several pairs of my socks bit the dust this year, so I need to replenish my sock drawer. Both ToolMan and I need gloves or mittens for next year. I want to get all my gift knitting done earlier this year. Last, but not least, I want to knit more for charity.

And last, but certainly not least, my New Year's Wishes for you:

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your gastro-enterologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your plumber, and the I.R.S.

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs, and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count, and your mortgage interest not rise.

May New Year's Eve find you seated around the table, together with your beloved family, and cherished friends. May you find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure much more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, may the commercials on TV not be louder than the program you have been watching, and may your check book and your budget balance - and include generous amounts for charity.

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parent, your siblings; but not to your secretary, your boss, your masseuse, your hairdresser, your golf pro, or your tennis instructor.

And may you live in a world at peace and with the wisdom to cherish every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile, every lover's kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of your heart.

"Twas the day after Christmas . . .

When we finally got out of the house!

Actually, it was Saturday, and we went to visit ToolMan's sister in Vancouver. To be honest, I think the whole family was WAY past the novelty of a white Christmas; we're all ready for the snow to be gone and get back to a normal routine.

We had all decided not to exchange gifts this year; we all have way to much stuff; but I did have some knitted things that had been languishing until I could hand them out. Sorry for the bad pictures, I forgot to change the settings on the camera.

Here's niece Jane, with a lace cowl in navy heather hand spun.

And brother-in-law Jim laughing over his #@!*% Golf Club Covers.

And sister-in-law Faye wearing "The Blob", which is actually an adult-sized version Elizabeth Zimmerman's Baby Surprise Jacket.

That's 4 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun in the Prairie colorway, knitted on size 15 circulars; use the same stitch count as EZ'a original pattern, just ignore gauge. I did a single crochet edge on the cuffs, up the fronts and around the neck, just for a little stability. I also added wooden toggles on the front that will just slip between the stitches. This came out so well, I may make one for myself.

Happy Holidays to All!

Turn the sound up and enjoy!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

We're still pretty much immobile here in the Pacific Northwest as the temperature remained below freezing, but the good news is that we didn't add to the accumulation today! The forecast for tomorrow however, says that we'll reach a high of about 32 and we'll get snow, rain, and snow. In that order. There is no doubt that we'll definitely have a white Christmas.

Dave said he liked the pictures of the evergreens, so here's another one. The area where we live, Orenco, back in the 1800's was a "company town" for The Oregon Nursery Company. The company eventually went bankrupt, and the company owned homes sold to workers. Many of the evergreen trees, including some Giant Sequioas, remain where they were planted a hundred years ago. The village, never incorporated, retained it's shortened name for the company and became know as "Home of the Big Trees." Lest you doubt it, that townhome peaking through the trees is 3 stories high. And those aren't the Sequoias; they're just plain ol' Western Red Cedars.



Unfortunately, none of those big trees were in the area where our neighborhood was built, but we do have lots of big trees surrounding us.



We've been trapped in the house since last Saturday, because the snow/ice was so deep we couldn't get out of our driveway. ToolMan tried valiantly to get out of yesterday, to no avail. Our next door neighbor, Kevin, must have seen him because later, we looked out to see this:



Notice that Kevin's driveway, just to the left of ours, has not been shoveled. I decided that young man needed a special thank you, so I pulled out this from my stash and whipped up a top-down ribbed hat for him. When I took it next door, I had to leave it with his wife, Michelle. Kevin was in his 4-wheel drive on his way to Newburg (about 20 miles!) to his brother and family, who couldn't get out to do grocery shopping. I think he's trying to make sure he's on Santa's "Good List"!

The Weather Outside Is Frightful . . .

The snow yesterday, as my dad would say, was a$$ deep to a giraffe.



As I said before we have ice on the bottom, about 6 inches of fluffy snow, another 1/2 inch layer of ice, then another 3 or 4 inches of snow, and another 1/2 layer of ice, and it snowed again today. It's like a holiday "torte" of snow and ice.

Even though we've been housebound for several days, and it's looking like we won't be getting out tomorrow, either, because the high for today was twenty-freaking-four, it's really hard to not like the view from my living room.



It's like having a giant Christmas card out every window.




And every tree, bush, and shrub has been decorated with frozen berries and icicles.





But, seriously, enough is enough.

Walking In Winter Wonderland

If you live somewhere other than the Portland Metro area, you not have heard, but we have snow. Lots of snow. This is a very un-Portland like event. We get lots of precipitation in the winter, but it's usually in liquid form, not stuff that has to be swept, shoveled, graveled, and otherwise dealt with.

Last night it was coming down in big fluffy flakes. Again. I looked outside about 8:00 and the neighborhood was looking very festive, indeed.

Our neighbors to the left,

across the street,

and to the right

had lights outside. There was no traffic so it was very quiet and peaceful. The snow we have is very light and fluffy. You can't really tell in the pictures, but it's about 8 inches deep. I walked out into the street in my fleece pajamas wearing sock and Birkenstocks to take pictures and my socks were dry as soon as I got back to the front porch to stomp off the flakes.

This morning when we got up, we had gotten some frozen rain overnight so the snow had a crust on top. Yesterday, I used an old broom to sweep off the stairs to the backyard for Andy Rooney and he enjoyed romping in the fluffy snow. Today, I had to use the broom handle to break the crust on the stairs all the way down, then stomp down enough area in the backyard for his morning "constitutional." His eyesight is bad because of the diabetes so he gets very disoriented with all the white snow. In the house he depends on his hearing to locate us by our voices, but in the snow he seems unable to do that; I had to be right in front of him so he could follow my voice back to the stairs.

The forecast had been for more frozen rain this afternoon, but thankfully we only got it for a few minutes before it turned back into the big, fluffy flakes again.

There was very little traffic this morning, but with the additional layer of snow, more people were moving around this afternoon with very few problems, as long as they were slow and steady.

We got just enough frozen rain to make the trees and shrubs look like they've been encased in a layer of glass.

The snow is pretty, but was also a perfect excuse to stay inside in my fleece jammies and wool socks all day. I did some spinning of samples of alpaca roving, and experimented with spinning with some silk hankies and kid mohair locks. ToolMan's been asking for a knitted driving cap so I surfed Ravelry for a pattern, and wound a skein of hand spun wool from the stash to start it, then discovered both my size 6 circulars already have projects on them. So, I'm cranking out the last few rows of a cowl for myself to free up a set.

And I did several loads of laundry in the new washer and dryer. Have I mentioned how much I love these? We got some good rebates and energy credits for buying these. It is amazing what a great job they do and how little water they use. And talk about smart appliances: You just tell them what you put in and they determine the temperature, spin speed, amount of detergent, etc. You don't even have to set a load size or water level choice on the washer; it weighs the clothes to determine how much water to use! And no setting a time on the dryer; it senses the humidity so it knows when to cool off and when to shut off! And no more annoying buzzer when they're done; they each play their own cute little chime. You may have to turn the sound up to hear it.

Isn't that cute? It's like they're singing!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

ToolMan and I were up several times during the night because Andy Rooney wasn't doing well. His blood sugar must have been high again, because he was panting, drinking lots of water, and barfing all night long. We gave him an insulin shot about 1:00 a.m. and it helped somewhat. Finally, at about 5:30 a.m., we gave him his regular insulin injection and a few strips of chicken jerky and he settled down, either because his blood sugar was down to normal or because of sheer exhaustion. When the three of us finally drug ourselves out of bed at 10:00, we woke up to a winter wonderland!



The two little hedgies that live on the balcony, along with everything else, got completely covered in snow. In fact, it continued to come down for pretty much the rest of the day.

Almost as soon as the ground was covered with snow, the little ones in our neighborhood were bundled up to go play in it. We sat at the dining room table, sipping our hot coffee and teach, watching the young families take their toddlers out for their first romp in the snow.

It was play time for two-year olds and beagle pups; we have several of each in the neighborhood. How excited they all were with the snow! I went upstairs to get better pictures of the snow, but Andy Rooney, being neither a two-year old nor a beagle, decided that retreat was the better part of valor, and went back to the nice, warm bed.



The trees behind our house look so pretty in the snow, especially the blue spruce next to the fence.

While I was in the guest room, I remembered that I hadn't posted a picture of the hedgie that Tami gave me a couple of weeks ago.

Isn't he adorable? His face, tummy, and paws are made of burlap, but his prickles are made of some kind of dried pod or leaves. He looks very at home in the guest room with the rest of the hedgies!

Eventually, Andy Rooney had to brave the weather and go for his morning constitutional. ToolMan wore the hat and scarf I made for him a couple of weeks ago, but we couldn't find a single pair of gloves for him in the house. So, after a dive into the stash, pull out Ann Budd's book, and a few hours of Santa Clause 3 and Sixty Minutes, and VIOLA:

Mittens to keep ToolMan's mitts warm and dry.

Tying up loose ends

Well, at least some of the ones from last week. Here's the finished yarn I was spinning from Knitted Wit.

This was a dream to spin; it easily drafted into very fine singles, the colors are soft, and there was absolutely no bleeding dye when it was set set. I got 506 yards of 21 WPI out of 4 ounces; a light laceweight. I'm thinking it will make a lovely light shawl for spring.

"I'll sit here with your yarn, Mom. Every yarn picture is better with a dog in it."

I finally made it to Westside Wednesday this week, after missing two weeks in a row. Kathleen and I got to finally compare our shawls. Back in September at OFFF, we purchased 8 ounces of Bearfoot Blend in plain vhite and then gave it to StitchJones for a custom dye job. She gave us a colorway called "Blackberry Sage" with a deep purple, her fantastic cobalt blue, and a light sage green. When Sharon said it always amazed her how different spinners made different yarns from her roving, the lightbulb came on for us; we decided to spin and knit triangle shawls without talking about how we were spinning or what pattern we used. Here are the results:

While we both stripped the combed top lengthwise, how we spun was completely different: Kathleen made a woolen spun single, light and lofty and then navajo plied to keep the colors intact; while I made a worsted spun single, thin and tight, then reversed one single to get tweed colors all the way through. The result is that in Kathleen's shawl, she still has all three colors, while in mine, I have almost none of the original colors but have a whole new set of colors related to the original colorway. Surprisingly, we both chose the same pattern, the Simple But Effective Shawl by CosmicPluto Knits; but while Kathleen faithfull followed the pattern of stockinette and garterstitch, I chose to do it all in stockinette.

And lest you think that Westside Wednesday is limited to knitters and spinners, just look at what showed up this week!

This picture is really terrible; it doesn't show how lovely this quilt really is. I didn't get all the details, but I think it's destined to be under somebody's Christmas tree in a few weeks.

And this afternoon was the second meeting of Portland Spinnerati.

We had some familiar faces and some new ones this week. And we managed to get a little more organized, planning for some lessons next month and trying a new meeting place for February. Best of all, we had a few "muggles" drop in and ask questions about spinning!