A View from Sierra County

In Honor of Samhain: Contest Deadline Extended

Happy Halloween... and Samhain.  I had wanted to be posting reminders so that I would get lots of entries in the birthday contest, but life has been swinging back and forth from the very high to the very low in the past few weeks, and I just didn't get here.

This was a disappointment to me, because I believe that we all carry powerful stories along with us and that stories shared are one of our strongest connections with each other.  They uplift us, keep us from making someone elses' mistake, bring out the compassion inside us, and make us laugh.  They are part of what makes us unique as humans, and many of your stories have helped me this week. 

You see, while I have been experiencing the euphoria of having a sweet and wonderful baby granddaughter, I have also been feeling the pain of loss at the same time, as two friends lose their battles with cancer.  One passed away earlier this week and the other moved into the hospice in my small town up on a ridge about five miles north of me.  I spent three afternoons with her and her hubby, sitting and being a companion.  I will be knitting and sitting, talking and being present as life changes over the next several weeks, and then also going to see my baby grrl and becoming part of her world... the new and the old, the seasons turning... the mystery of Samhain made manifest in my daily life.  Your stories all help me to see what is unfolding as part of the constantly turning wheel of change in our lives, and help all of us remember to value each precious moment.

In the spirit of this contest about life-changing events, I decided to reach out to some of my fellow bloggers and ask for promotional help yesterday... more entries came in but I also decided to extend the deadline by an additional week, to Friday, November 6 at midnight PST.  If you haven't entered, check out the rules here.  If you also feel like giving a shout out, feel free to link to this post or the earlier one.

An update on prizes:

There will be two winning entries: one randomly drawn from all the wonderful stories submitted and one that touched me the most (purely subjective).  The two prizes are a $25 gift certificate to my favorite bookstore - which can be spent online or at their brick and mortar location, where you would be able to say hello to my lovely SIL Linda, and a prize basket of goodies from Fibers, the LYS where I work!

I will announce the winners on November 9th, and share some of the stories I have received... and thanks to all of you for sharing.

Pumpkin Love

One of my favorite parts of the fall season is seeing the beautiful decorations that have taken their inspiration from fall's harvest.  I was especially excited to get to accompany DD and her family to Bishops Pumpkin Farm to gather up some fall decor on Sunday; this marks their third year making the trek, but I had always been working at the LYS in past years and missed out.  DH took the day off to join us, and we all had a great time.

Bishops plants over 50 acres of pumpkins each year, and has also worked hard to build a family-friendly theme park with lots of fun activities to enjoy every fall... there was a corn maze, a tree house, pig races taking place, plenty of choices of food and drink (inlcuding walnut pie, a variation of pecan pie that has me itching to develop a 'healthier' recipe of my own).

We took a hay ride out to the further pumpkin patches in search of our perfect pumpkins to bring home.

The weather was cool but pleasant, and searching was a fun activity.... 

but then, so was pumpkin rolling... practiced here by Mason and Isaiah.

Our group chose several pumpkins, going to three different households, and also enjoyed all the other activities for several hours.

In this last photo, DD Nikki and her stepson Mason enjoy a happy moment, while guarding their chosen pumpkins together.

Yarn on the Go

I promised some pictures of our yarn shop moving to its new location, but I was so tired after a second day of lifting, loading and unloading that it took until Sunday night to get to a post... I went to the pumpkin patch yesterday with family and friends and will share some photos from that adventure later in the week.

On Saturday, our group of yarnistas and volunteers was able to get almost all of the glass cases moved out of the old shop and into the new one... a great feat considering that yarnista Gail, her DH Dan, shop owner Allison and lil' ol' me did most of that moving, using two small trucks... these cases look terrific and show the yarn off well, but they are difficult and downright scary to move around!

Here's a photo of the old store, almost completely emptied out... except for glass cases.  We were able to only partially disassemble them, and using brain and brawn (and a great moving dollie), get two-wide and five and six high glass towers loaded on their sides into little trucks, then very gently drive them across town....

As you can see, the old shop was really something of a long, dark hallway... with a wider, brighter room in the back.  We were located right in the heart of 'old town' Grass Valley, and the store had been a hardware store, now divided into two shops.  There was a lot of tourist traffic, but many of those shoppers were people who would peer in and then wonder what to do with themselves in a yarn store and quickly move on.

Our new location is light and airy, located in a neighborhood less than a mile away, on a tree-lined street with a mix of homes and businesses... it is also pedestrian-friendly, and our shop has at least five times more light inside (that's the increased window space alone).

In this photo, Gail, Dan and Allison have a glass case loaded into Dan's truck, and are pondering

how best to arrange more in one small truckbed.

We ended up laying all of the cases on their sides, padding them with bags of the last bits of yarn needing to be transferred to the new location, and then securing the cases with rope, moving blankets, bungees, etc.

Getting them set in place was a more trying process, as they had to be put into certain places in order to reconnect properly!

However, by the end of Saturday, these cases were moved and the larger wooden ones that had been moved on Friday were already filled with yarn, needles, books, etc.  It looks pretty certain that the shop will re-open at the new location, 465 S. Auburn Street in Grass Valley, on Tuesday as planned... however Sunday's crew was going to be in charge of more shelving and getting computers, register, etc... all up and running.

My next workday will be on Saturday (Gail and I switched days this week) and I promise to take lots of photos of our new look... I got so busy yesterday that I never got photos of the new shop in progress....Looking forward to seeing you there!

Moving Day

I am so tired and yet sooo happy!  Thanks to several of our most wonderful customers, we got most of the contents of the store moved today, and many of the cases in place and starting to fill back up with yarn!  It was far more than any of us expected would be done at this point, and we still have a crew coming to help tomorrow!

When I arrived at 10 AM, Monica was already hard at work (on her day off!), with Beth and Mardi helping to pack up yarn.... she headed to the new store for the morning while I held down the fort at the old one.  Gina arrived around noon with her low boy trailer (which she drives like a pro!), and a crew loaded up the biggest display cases making two trips to get them into the new shop... by that point in the early afternoon, I was scrambling and scrounging for boxes and bags to put yarn in, but by mid-afternoon all yarns were packed and cases emptied and much of the fixtures and yarns moved... tomorrow, our glass cases all get moved (they had to be emptied and their stands moved today before we could tackle the cases).  I am going to risk leaving someone out, because I want to thank those whose names I got written down... besides those mentioned above, I also worked with Carol, Lisa, David, Tony, Michael, Jean, Ingrid, Netta, and Sonja... and I sure do love you all!  

Our new location is absolutely beautiful... light-filled, spacious (the old one's more like a long, darkish wide hallway), and has large, old trees!  We already discussed creating a small patio in the parking space that is really only 2/3rds of a space, with potted plants by next spring!  Then, there's the little coffee bar nook, where you will be able to bring in your mug and keep it hanging up next to our hot pot... and the front windows with the beginnings of a lovely sit-n-knit area... I promise to remember to take pictures tomorrow!  I spent only the last hour of my day at the new shop, and was too tired to remember by that time!

Yes, I Still Knit!

I know it has been a long time since I posted about anything but my Fiesta Friendship shawl (link to last time I posted a photo).. in fact there has been very sparse knitting content, period!  It has been a consuming project, and now that I am about 3/4ths of the way through, there's not a lot to show that doesn't look suspiciously similar to the last time I posted about this project.  Hard on the motivation to share with you.  However, since today is WIP Wednesday, I am going to let you in on a little secret.  I have been making something else...

Now, I still am working, a handful of diamonds a week, to get that really big shawl completed.  I even sorted out the gift yarns from many of you, as well as the fingering weights that I had in my stash, and have two smallish bags ready to pass along to someone else who wants to make either a diamond shawl or a full-on modular, patchwork blankie.  All you have to do is let me know.  Oh, and enter my birthday contest.  A smallish collection is going off to Cynthia, a loyal Fibers customer, but that will still leave lots of yarns that I have used a few times in the shawl already, and need to pass along to the next intrepid knitter.  I have a particular pink for the last of the large diamonds (coming in the next several days), then need to fill in on either side with more small diamonds, and finish off with a row of triangles at the top.  Rowen contributed some yarns a week ago that should help me make it through to the end, with a bit more variety.  I will see the end... sometime before winter ends!

However, in the past month, it has been All Odessa, All The Time (and can you blame me!).  Odessa got undershirts.  Odessa got a baby hat to go home in.  And now that the weather has turned blustery and cold... Odessa is getting her first grammie sweater (ravelry link).

This is a really terrible photo as far as definition goes.. you can't actually tell that the back and the two fronts are done and pinned together.  One sleeve was finished this afternoon, while it poured down rain and the house was being hit with high winds... sleeve #2 will be finished tonight.  Check out the link above, which shows the sweater off better, and the cute little hat that mama Dawn has requested as well.  I hope that baby Odessa likes it as much as we big people do.

The yarn I am using is Plymouth's Sara Superwash in a stunning raspberry tweed, which is a very nice yarn, but not exactly the same gauge as the one called for.  We are not worrying about such complicated matters here at Slate Range Camp, though, since babies grow so quickly that anything you make them will fit at one point or another!  And, as you can tell from this photo of DD Nikki holding Odessa at my birthday party... this is a grrl who needs a sweater and soon!

Nikki hosted a wonderful birthday barbeque at her house for me on Sunday, and luckily just ahead of the big storm.  All of my growed-up kids were there, but DH was away, on yet another fire.  The storm put an end to it and he arrived home late today, bringing me a great Pendleton blanket as a gift.  Our family group helped me enjoy the day even without him, and he was delighted that we could send him a phone-photo so that he could feel like he was part of the party... the wonders of technology!

Jesse and Dawn got me a lovely Catherine Popesco locket (which resisted photographing this afternoon, in the dull storm light) so that I can put a picture of my baby grrl in it, and Nikki got me one of my favorite plants, a miniature rose.  Come to think of it, all of my potted roses came by way of Nikki - what a sweet daughter!

The real gift, of course, is having such a wonderful family to spend time with, and so many great friends near and far to send me greetings! Life is truly good.

One of those friends, Carrie, together with the sudden change in the weather, has really stoked up my knitting mojo, by showing me these.... when I went off to Knitty to peruse the pattern and contemplate making myself a pair, I was also inspired by this and then this!   All of this inspiration led to my being even more inspired while waiting in line at the local JC Penney sale on Sunday... I spotted the perfect larger knitting bag, for only $4.99 (marked down from $55 and returned by someone who didn't like it when she realized that the flowers were actually peace signs, LOL... just waiting for me, I guess!).  Plus, it's water-repellent whereas my favorite basket only goes out on dry days:)

Unfortunately, my personal, real-time queue here at the old Camp is pretty darn backed up! I have promised DH that he will get to wear his felted vest (Ravelry) this cold season, and dragged it downstairs to do the finish work that will allow me to throw it in the washer and felt it. 

While cleaning out my studio, I did decide to unload some stash that will never turn into FOs in my hands, and to also take stock of what I have and what it can become in the relatively near future. I do not have yarn for Girl Friday, but I work in a yarn store, and suspect I can have the yarn by the time I have cleared the decks to make it... it is definitely top of my list for 'next sweater'.  

In the meantime, I plan to finish my Mendocino vest (Ravelry) this fall, and to start on my Bohus sweater (Ravelry- though I will do a cardi version) later this winter, as well as come up with uses for two really nice yarns marinating upstairs in the studio.  

I also have plans for three small handspun projects... one is a pair of thrummed mitts, another a little stuffed rabbit from some lovely handspun angora from Amy, and the third is a fair-isle inspired beret using my white Rambouillet paired with some lovely rose shades of roving (yet to be spun) that I got from my fellow guild spinner, hand-dyer and shepherdess, Sue Flynn while at the Celtic Festival last weekend.  Those small projects might take until winter is over, but will also give me something to enter in next year's county fair display, a long-range concern of being a good and upstanding fiber guild member.  Then, there's holiday knitting to be considered.... hmm, maybe I should start shopping for those gifts.  

What about you, where do you stand on holiday knitting this season?

Birthday Contest

Yesterday, I turned 55...and had one of the best birthdays! Odessa's arrival almost four weeks ago, along with arriving at this milestone age, has had me thinking over things in life.

I feel very blest to have lived to the point where I can witness my youngest son, my own 'baby', be such a great papa, coaching his partner through a long labor, caring for his baby girl and soothing her when fussy, providing his family a home. That has been truly the best birthday gift a person like me could wish for! 

Along with that, DD hosted a family bbq for me yesterday and made the pretty cake featured above. 

In the weeks leading up to this special day, I decided that I would host a Birthday Contest on the blog, but then got a cold last week that laid me up for a few days, so finally got a chance to post the details: 

As I have watched my baby granddaughter from a few hours old to the present, I was reminded that giving birth to my first child was the most life-changing experience I have had.   I never was able to look at life with quite the same reckless attitude that I had before, as I had a child (and then two more) that was dependent upon me.   Although a loving person, I never had felt as if my heart would burst with the love awakened in seeing that baby.   I lived with a stronger purpose and a more open heart from that moment onward, and raising those children into the wonderful, crazy adults who are amongst my bestest buddies in the world, became one of my primary missions in life.

So... where's she going with this?   Well, to enter this particular birthday contest, you will need to describe a life-changing experience to me... you can write me a private email at: burrobird AT gmail DOT com.  You can simply post a comment.  If you are one of my Facebook friends, you can write me a note over there!  Since deciding what life-changing experience you would pick might require a bit more pondering than simply telling me your favorite color, or current favorite song, you have until Friday, October 30th, at Midnight PDT, and I will announce the winner on Halloween.  I would like to feature some of your stories on the blog when I announce the winner, so please let me know if you will agree to publishing... and spread the word!  One of my favorite parts of blogging is the human connection with people near and far, and I look forward to what I will learn from your stories.

What's in it for you?  I will be arranging with my SIL Linda to get a gift certificate to the online portion of her bookstore, so that even non-knitters have incentive to participate, and will also be putting together a nice little fibery prize package... details to follow!

Saturday Sky

It has been a while since I posted a sky photo for everyone... this was taken last week by DH, while working on a fire in the Umpqua Forest in central Oregon.  I would tell you the name of the mountain, but I don't have him around to ask; he's off on another fire assignment on the Hoopa reservation in the far north of California.

Spinning At The Celtic Festival

Last weekend, for the third year in a row, I donned Renaissance peasant garb and headed out to join my buddies from the Foothill Fibers Guild at KVMR's Celtic Festival, where we demonstrated wooly crafts.

This first booth shows our set-up, early on Sunday morning, with no spinners yet hard at work.  I spent both Saturday and Sunday spinning happily, gabbing with friends, browsing fair wares and eating fair food, while listening to some awesome music.

Sunday was much colder, as a cold front was moving in late Saturday afternoon, and barefoot spinning had to come to an end.  I arrived Sunday much more warmly dressed, and of course most of us at the booth have a large stash of wooly wearables at home, so we probably looked both more authentic and warmer.

Each morning, the fair opens to the sound of bagpipes, with a pipe band leading the grand parade into the grounds... 

Of course, there are guilds representing several eras and demonstrating a wee bit of what life might have been like 500 years ago in the Celtic lands... queens, fairies and even trees are represented.

A lively group spinning at midday on Saturday....

Jocelyn, bundled up in her cloak on Sunday.  

Luci, our wonderful spinner and hairbraider... was responsible for several elaborate and beautiful styles featured on our heads by the end of the weekend, though I think Barbara Sue's (below) was the best.  Her wooly shawl's pretty nice too!

After I had filled two bobbins with the lovely Ramboulliet fleece that I split with Sharon two years ago, and was sitting down to ply, the tension band on my wheel snapped about mid-afternoon (it is a thin piece of fishline, for those who aren't wheel-savvy), and I took that as a sign to visit with friends, drink Irish coffee in an attempt to warm my fingers, and listen to the wonderful music of Dougie MacLean, both at his afternoon workshop and during his headlining act Sunday night.

I had such a grand time, but the chill took its toll... I spent the next few days still bundled trying to get warm and was happy to see the temperatures rise back up in our area... however, I still ended up a bit sickly, under the weather today with a sore throat.

DH and I did squeeze in a visit to baby Odessa and her parents on Monday afternoon (luckily, before I starting feeling ill).  I will leave you with a photo of her, trying to answer her papa back!