A View from Sierra County

007 January

January has been all across the board, from holiday feasting at the beginning to getting the flu at the end, from icicles to sunny days.  I can see a clear theme in what I have been knitting:  I finished ten small items over the month, six of which go on the head for warmth!

This photo is the one I selected as most representative of January; it is an aged manzanita bush, out of leaf, that I captured on a hike early in the month.

Thanks, everyone, for all the kind words of encouragement about my illness.  It took until noon to come to life today, and I am still coughing a lot so I plan to spend almost the entire week off work... unfortunately, people can still access me by email, so that a few tasks have come up at the same time that I am reading your encouraging messages.  I will probably have to try to drag myself in for awhile on Friday, but am following Sara's good advice to take this seriously, and lay low. 

I did manage to finish my Malagaiter, and immediately wear it around the house Monday evening, while I had the chills.  I also managed to make some progress on the Delicato mitts, to go with the Ebay Civil War ball gown outfit I won.  My dream life has been far more active and interesting; last night I dreamed that I was knitting on my Bohus Green Apple sweater, but I have vowed to finish a few items before starting it, including the mitts and the teddy bear WIP.  Hidcote will have to wait until my head is clearer.... a peaceful greeting to all of you as the season shifts from Samhain to Imbolc overnight... spring is closer than we think.  Let me know what the groundhog in your neighborhood sees...

Not Up To It

I could have posted a Saturday Sky photo, but we were working hard outside all day Saturday, clearing and burning, and though I took lots of photos, they didn't get on the computer yet... I got too cold, then I got the flu, or maybe its a really bad head cold, or maybe both.  My stomach started to get better right away, so maybe its a head cold and bad meal out Saturday night... sheesh, none of the choices are pretty.  Sorry I made you read that.

I laid around all day yesterday.  You'd think I would have some knitting to brag about... imagine being too sick to even pick up the easy project... I dreamed though.  I have patterns selected for the next four pair of socks, and even downloaded a few of them.  At the rate I knit socks, that takes me into 2008 (here's hoping I will pick up speed over the course of this year).

It took all the effort I could muster to notify the various people I work for and with on Mondays that I wouldn't be there, and I still got a call with questions from one job, and an "are you ok? you're never late" call from the other, because the message didn't get passed along... no use in planning to rest.

DH is feeling pretty bad about it, since he was the first one sick in the family.  It was warm and sunny midday, so he wanted to take me out for an airing; I reluctantly lounged in the car while he went to one of our local small mills to check on the lumber order for the porch (you might remember the french door installation from a few weeks back).  The sun felt good.  I went through lots of tissues.  I tried to knit on my Malagaiter (I'm doing the pennant pleated, circular version and have just one more repeat)... it made me tired.  I think I need more rest.

I'll be back soon.

Black Is Black

I have been doing a lot of knitting with black yarn, and though the yarn is luscious (it is Knitpicks Gloss, a merino and silk blend), I have learned that black yarn, especially in fingering weight, can be very trying in low light conditions.  I have also learned that if you have TWO black projects going at once, it is wise to have another, in a different color, just to cover your bases.

I spent six hours in the car Tuesday, driving to and from a work training in Redding that was only four hours long, and I was looking forward to having some knitting time...

The instructor had other ideas.  She wanted to use Power Point, and turn off the lights.  Didn't she realize this was going to cramp my knitting style?!  Luckily, like any really dedicated knitter, I had more than one project with me.  Hah!

This lovely reddish yarn is Rowan Classic Cashsoft 4 ply, one of my favorite yarns to feel passing through my fingers.  It is the blending of fibers that makes it so soft... extra fine merino combined with cashmere and microfiber.  Awhile back, I featured a Product Review of the Aran weight (another black project, but black works better in larger sizes - are my eyes getting old?). 

I am making my version of the Malagaiter featured in last month's MagKnits.  Being the outdoor person that I am, I have eyed the fleece version sold in catalogs such as REI or Sahalie and thought what a practical item of clothing to take camping or snowboarding; the top is gathered in with an elastic cord and spring toggle, allowing it to be either a hat or a neck gaiter.  My version, using the pennant pleating pattern and such lovely yarn, will be so much nicer!  Not that I got a lot of it done yesterday; my class was a hands-on workshop on teaching math concepts to adults, and we spent time making bar graphs and pie charts and doing other manipulative activities.  I did appreciate that knitting is responsible for the largest amount of practical math magic in my daily life.

The black Gloss is helping me to make both a pair of Delicato mitts, and to finish my Anna socks.  Saturday was spent re-working the original kneesock concept into a much more practical ankle sock (cute for spring with skirts and girly shoes):

I have also learned that black lace objects are harder to photograph, or at least to capture the details.  I decided to slip a sheet of white paper inside to highlight the lovely eyelet pattern on these socks... and that really IS a heel over there to the left, even though it looks like something bunched and lumpy.  I might not post many photos of this pair of socks until finished and given a real photo shoot... the results won't be that exciting.

The Delicato mitts have only a cuff so far... not worthy of the difficulty involved in photographing black, but it is this same lovely Gloss yarn, so they will be smashing.  I hope to win a Civil War (or Gold Rush) era outfit on Ebay this week to wear to a dance in a month, with the mitts for added sparkle...now, to get busy and finish them in time!  They are tops on the list for the weekend.

Instead of the mitts, I am throwing in this random photograph:

Yes, this is really a legit photo of pansies in a windowbox at the campus where my night class is located... planted after the temps warmed back up.  It is a bit unseasonable around here, jumping from the coldest of temperatures and deep freeze of the citrus crop to springlike temps, with no rain and snow in between... here's hoping that February brings back the winter storms we need for this Mediterrainean climate to work next summer.

Whoo Hooo! We Have A Winner!

Those of you who joined us for the Hidcote Garden Shawl KAL already know that Lauren was the first person to finish her shawl, AND then dye it a fabulous shade of pink... in record time, in my opinion, but then what do I know?  I am still on chart three out of ten.  Melanie was a close second... and her's is a beautiful shade, close to aubergine.

Many participants are saying that Hidcote Garden is Miriam Felton's best design to date.  She is featuring an entertaining series on her trip back to The National Needle Arts associations' annual conference... go read up! Mim is starting to get the recognition she deserves for her designing talents!

While I am moving slowly through my own shawl, and not sure when I will be done, I can say that I admire everyones' lace efforts and really look forward to wearing this shawl.  For now, the fun part of having a winner is that I get to pick out some of the prizes...  I will be sending Lauren a prize and so will Mim.

There is still over a month to join us, and there will be three prize drawings between now and March 1st.  Plus, you will end up with the most beautiful wardrobe addition imaginable to greet spring.

I will be gone to a training tomorrow, which has the up side of a block of knitting/listening time, and the downside of more driving to and from Redding than time spent at the training.  Also, blogging will suffer.  I have managed to re-work my Anna socks and get them back on track, as well as start my first Delicato mitt.  I hope to find a scenic spot to take in-progress photos of both along the way.  It's a good thing that the Anna sock and I are back in love, as my attempt to start a pair of worsted weight boot socks was thwarted by the fact that the only yarn I had enough of, was so scratchy that I ripped it out after the first few rows... there's always more yarn to buy, but I have decided to concentrate on the process of knitting up some of the wonderful sock yarns I have in my stash!

Skies of Winter

This photo of the Sierra Buttes,taken yesterday, is a classic example of how the light in winter differs so much from that in summer.  Unfortunately, those clouds don't portend any storms, none are in sight, and this seems to be shaping into one of those occassional low-moisture winters.  There is really little snow in the mountains right now.

Keep On KIPing

Knitting in Public is something I actually do a lot of, since my jobs and volunteer commitments usually have included attending meetings at least once a week.  This year, I also end up spending some time in cafes and coffee shops, in between assignments, and wanting to knit also means I will actually sit down and eat instead of grabbing something on the run.  I know, I know, I'm still multi-tasking instead of concentrating on my food!

At least one of my two days a week in Grass Valley, one or the other of the adult children that live downtown can meet up with me; often both Nikki and Cody have joined me for a quick lunch and catch-up.  They are used to me knitting, but not to me asking that someone get a photo of me knitting. 

That's just not me, but I did it so that I can enter Lucia's contest.  This time, I asked Nikki to capture the moment on dig.  Here I am, working on my Anna sock, which will be re-born by next week (it hit me like a brick falling from the cafe ceiling that I hadn't actually worn knee socks since my cross country skiing days something like 25 years ago, and just cuz they looked sexy on the model doesn't mean they wouldn't suit me better as anklets to wear this spring). 

The photo is dark, and the yarn I am using is Knitpicks Shimmer in black, so it isn't the best entry in terms of phtography, but I am sitting at the street-side window of The Beat, one of my favorite downtown coffee shops between the neighboring towns of Grass Valley and Nevada City, on Wednesday.  It is right in the heart of downtown, with the old main highway running by on the other side of the glass. 

The sun was pouring in, and we were soaking it up, as the cold snap ended with a heavy dose of wind, and the temps were a phemonal 40 at this point.  Nikki works across the street from this cafe on Saturdays, at The Jewel In the Crown, a really cute toy store, and one of my two LYS, Fibers is up around the corner.  Hey, people, this IS public where I live!

How Many UFOs Will She Own Up To?

Last week, I had a bit of extra time to do some blog catching-up, and found Kat's UFO Resurrection Challenge.  Now, something just resonated with me here... could it be that I have a problem?

Kat's Rules aren't difficult:

From Kat With A K’s blog: The Rules
1. Each month in 2007, find a UFO (unfinished object). This makes a total of twelve for the year. You do not need to have a list of all twelve at the beginning of the year - you can go month by month if you’d like.

2. You have two options for that UFO:

a. Work on it. You don’t have to finish it that month, if it’s something big, but it must be added into your rotation of “active” projects. A token row or two does not count.
b. Frog it. If you don’t want to work on it anymore, rip it out and move on.

3. Post on your blog each month (or comment if you don’t have a blog) about the project you’re resurrecting.

4. Everyone who finishes will be entered into a prize drawing. And even if you don’t win anything, you’ll have twelve fewer languishing projects making you feel guilty!

I dreamt Friday night about the felted carpet bag that never got finished, and ways I could turn it into the overnight DH would like to buy me, since he doesn't really appreciate checking into swanky any hotel (or, worse, visiting the relatives) with me carrying the plastique cheetah print overnight tote I got at a close-out price at Ross a few years back ("did ya ever think there might be a reason nobody else bought that tacky thing?!").

That led me, upon awakening Saturday morning and avoiding climbing out of bed to 20 degree temps outside as long as I possibly could, to ponder the small, cabled purse, unfinished except for a few minor details.  That would be an easy one to add to the list of twelve, and now I only had ten more to come up with.  Well, there's DH's vest to finish, my Rowan Calmer to recycle into a project to replace last year's CeCe failure, so now I have four months' worth...

There are certainly a dozen different ways I could approach this KAL, and on Sunday I tackled January's project, with partial success.  Two years ago, I decided to make the Red Isis stole from The Knitting Goddess.  I had bought this book when it was published in 2002, and loved the mythology stories, the connection to knitters through the ages, and the illustrations.  I had enjoyed (and still wear a lot each winter), making the simple striped sweater, my first experience using Noro yarns.  I had even purchased the yarn for the shrug pattern and was almost done with it; shrugs were all the rage in the stores right about then.  I also had a wonderful time picking out the yarns for the stole:

However, when I was finished, the stole was too big, the yarns too loopy (it was also in the midst of the "bulky yarn, big needles" craze; I really should have known better), and even when I made some adjustments to turn the stole into a ruana with a reinforced crocheted edge on one side, I didn't like how hard it was to wear and manuever through daily life situations.... it was languishing in one of the baskets where I store soft clothing such as my shawls.

I had thought of deconstructing it before, as there are seven ounces of beautiful, hand-dyed Mountain Colors Alpaca Blend, in the Rosehips colorway, that I certainly could put to use for something I would be proud to acknowledge I had knitted.  In the end, it was the motivation of using the eyelash yarn for a fun fur beanie that made me pick this as my January UFO resurrection.

Deconstructing took ALL day.  The stole was constructed with lengthwise rows, each with two to three different yarns stranded together.                            

I would unravel a few rows, then stop and separate the strands carefully and wind up each ball, before continuing.  I stopped in between bouts of unraveling to do the laundry, make and eat two meals, take a walk in the afternoon with DH, but didn't completely finish til it was past my bedtime.  No wonder I had been putting this off.

Now, I have eyelash to add to a beanie, and GGH Relax (which has been discontinued), a worsted weight wool/alpaca/nylon/acrylic boucle blend that will become a Malagaiter (and a chance to play with brioche stitch).  I also have 440 yards of the Alpaca Blend, which is classified as worsted, but works up more like a DK; I am open to ideas for using this, and as it was the yarn that caught my eye in the first place, I would like to make something I will love and use a lot.  That leaves two other yarns, a bright and shiny red ribbon (I can't read the label in my photo, and have lost it along the way), and one (or two) balls of Trendsetter Charming, a carryalong with lots of metallic and cute, little bobbles.  As all of these yarns are reds, the Charming will probably end up put together with another red and made into a scarf to put in the co-op shop.  Waste not, want not!

This first UFO Resurrection was almost as good as yarn shopping, without the bill.  I will be back for more.

I'm Gittin' Fit!

Did you notice that total over the sidebar?  I am making sure to get my exercise in and work off all that holiday chocolate (who am I kidding?  Chocolate is one of my major food groups!)

I mostly walk, all year round, but in the darkest days of winter tend to lapse a bit.  I also do yoga for about 20 minutes several mornings a week.  But, as most of you already know, more motivation usually produces better results, so I decided to play along with my fellow knitters and aim high.  I am riding the exercycle and walking, and aiming for 200 miles by April 1st, since the bike is kinda-like cheating in the miles department.

The exciting news is that I managed to locate a newer exercycle through our local Freecycle!  I picked it up on the way home from work last Wednesday night... it is only fifteen years old, while the one I have been using is alesser quality, and at least 30 years old.  The old one was so rickety and noisy that DYS carted it out to the garage one summer a few years back, while I wasn't using it (since walking and hiking are so easy to get to in summer).  You see, it was in the room next to his bedroom, and I would wake him up with the racket as it banged along the floor.  I dragged it back out after Christmas, but the new one is much more stable, heavier and quieter.

Looks sleek, doesn't it - kinda like a Ferrari!  Behind that is a rowing machine that DH uses; I might get around to trying it, but paddling reminds me of kayaking, which reminds me of summer, which would just make me wistful about the cold and dark and how long it will be until I can get out on a warm, sunny lake in a kayak.  Better to stay on the bike, rocking out to Dire Straits or the alt playlist DH has put together.

I haven't been one to try and knit during my lunch break for many, many years, mainly because in the past ten years of my worklife, that period was spent commuting between job sites.  Before that, I had a job for eight years where I would walk with my co-worker at least three out of five of our lunch hours, for the first half and then eat for the second.  We stayed pretty fit! 

I now have three days a week where I could knit or walk, but have been taking a shorter lunch break in order to get done earlier.  In order to reach my fitness goals, I will be walking for a half hour at noon, once again.  Besides, it's the only time I get to see the sun this season of the year.

There's no stopping me now!

Lots of Little Things

Thanks, everyone, for all of the encouragement about our house project, and especially for the kind thoughts yesterday, as I lived through a little bit more of the grief of carrying on without my mama.  It is so great to have friends who send good wishes and help us along.

The hall got closed up, cleaned up, and almost back to normal.  A porch will appear over the course of winter/spring, as weather permits.  Speaking of weather, it has been "but cold" as we say around here, but improving slightly.  A good time to work my way through lots of indoor projects!

I have been destashing in other areas of my life this month, but not so much with yarn.  In fact, I am having trouble resisting your destash offers.  This appeared in my mailbox at the end of last week:

It is some lovely Austermann Acapella that Lynette was destashing, such a beautiful shade of sage green and with a sheen that attracted me when I opened the box and made me want to take it up right away and use it.  It is a mohair/acrylic blend that is no longer available, and I had fully intended to make a healing shawl, and not for me.  We'll see...

It was such a thoughtful gift, and she even sent along chocolate, so I decided to use some Berroco Chinchilla I had gotten as a Christmas present and make a little teddy bear to send to her adorable baby as a thank you (reasoning that it won't add to her clutter, but to Karalyn's instead, and babies must have toys).  I finished up stuffing the bear last night and will send it on its way today.  Go take a look at the photos of this cutie pie!

Here, the two parts before sewing.  I was working on this bear while DH gave a talk to one of the California 4WD Association Winter Fest tours, which had arranged to stop at the Forest City Dance Hall for lunch Saturday, and a guest of my neighbor's asked if I would make one for his month-old son, so Bear #2 is on the needles.

My knitting in public elicited a comment from my neighbor, that while he and the rest of the guys visiting after the tour had continued on were killing time drinking a few beers, I was getting something accomplished.  Which is why we should all knit socks in public, as Margene advocated yesterday, and enter Lucia's contest.

It has been cold enough lately that my woolies are getting a lot of use.  I finished Calorimetry in time to wear all day Saturday (most of which was spent outdoors; it had been 10 degrees in the morning but warmed up to a balmy, if breezy, 30).

This photo is more blue than my lovely purple heather yarn, but you get the idea!  It is done in Berroco Ultra Alpaca, left over from my ruana awhile back, and though more like a headscarf than a headband, it sure kept my ears toasty-warm.  Wool socks didn't hurt any either.

A little keyhole scarf, whipped up one evening last week in more Chinchilla (aubergine, of course) did the trick Monday afternoon, while the sun was out and the temps might have gotten up into the 40s (positively tropical!):

The cute Steiff stuffed donkey looks warm and cozy, but I can't say the same for my four.  Their water, kept running to prevent freezing, created an ice-slope... now covered with ashes to help melt faster.  They are hungrier, needing more hay, and staying in their shelters for longer periods.  We will all be happy for a return to normal temps and are very saddened by the news of the devastation to the California citrus crop.

Last week also saw the completion of one fun fur beanie for Boston Hospital, and the start of another.  These little projects have been filling the times when I can't work on Hidcote, either because I am away from home, or too tired for chart-knitting.  Next on my list is to start a Project Linus blankie, as our first crafts group meeting is Wednesday, and to get some socks that I am interested in making onto the needles... I worked a bit on Anna yesterday, but realized that I have grown disenchanted and need to figure out why and what I will do about that.  In the meantime, there's a whole chest of yarn to choose from, and heavy boot socks sure would be nice this month.

Happy Knitting!

Saga of A Piano

My mother was born in 1923, at a time when entertainment was still home-based and people-generated.  No TV, a bit of radio, and longer time to travel between places....and she had musical talent.  She began playing the piano as a small child, sang in choir and choruses through her school years and even acted in local plays.  By age seventeen, she was playing jazz piano with fellow musicians, and jazz was still all the rage.

It was no surprise, then, to those that knew her that one of her first "credit" purchases as a newly-divorced young working woman (she married her high school sweetheart at the start of WWII, but the marriage only lasted a few years, partly because of the emotional pressures on him as a war pilot) was her very own, upright piano.  She bought it from Brueners, a local furniture store, on the installment plan, while working as a secretary for former California governer Edmund Brown (Jerry's father).  It was her pride and joy in her tiny apartment, and she made sure it was carefully moved when she married my dad in 1953, and they bought a newly constructed home in which to raise a family.

She didn't play all that much when we were children; I don't think my dad had the same sense of musical appreciation.  But, there were times, often in the late afternoon when children are tired and cranky and waiting for the transitions that come with dusk and mealtime, when she would sit down and regale us with our own private caberet show.  I didn't know it at the time, but she was really a fantastic jazz pianist, having had classical training but also learning to play by chord, and able to accompany people familiar with their instruments but unable to read music. 

These sessions were like magic to us, or maybe more like ice cream.  Special treats, in that they were infrequent, and lively.  We would dance around, but still the music would have the desired effect of "soothing the savage soul" of four young children.

Mom thought that learning music was essential, especially for girls.  Therefore, her dutiful eldest daughter was started on piano lessons at age five, the same time I learned to knit.  I plodded along, out of a desire to please probably more than anything else, but it served me well in learning math all through school (email me if you want to discuss the connection between music and math learning; its too complex to go into with this post), and I have never forgotten how to read music.  Actually, music became my first second language, and probably I absorbed it better than the Spanish I studied several years later.

My brother who was 17 months younger also took piano lessons for awhile; I always thought that it was a sexual bias on my parents' part to let him off the hook while I kept on taking music lessons all through elementary... In reality, my mother was hoping I would inherit some of her talents and go farther with them than life had allowed her to, but instead it was that brother who eventually became a drummer, played in a multitude of rock bands and even toured regularly through his twenties... none of them got famous, though I do recall that on one tour they fronted for Tesla.

Mom was very excited when DD Nikki exhibited an interest in music.  Nikki had a Casio keyboard as a child and took piano lessons from a dear, old friend in Downieville when she was in early elementary.  This indication of musical interesnt was enough to convince Mom to give her piano to Nikki when she was about eight, essentially passing it along to me as she was getting too infirm to take care of it.  Nikki is now 23, and that piano has lived with me through two moves since, and resides in our parlor.  However, Nikki did NOT develop into a musician, professional or otherwise, and the piano has been collecting dust for many years.  A few times I tried to offer it to other families with budding musicians, to no avail.  I couldn't quite bring myself to list it on Freecycle.  However, my latest attempt has been to see if my charter school is interested in another piano.  After all, Waldorf-based education focuses on the arts and will continue to provide a solid home for this beautiful musical instrument.

Today is the 12th anniversary of my mother's death, at age 71.  I have finally come to terms with the fact that having the memory of my mother playing that piano for us is far more important than keeping the object itself.  Sometimes, grief takes a long time.