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.

Contest!

It's not my contest that I don't want you to miss, but rather JessaLu's, celebrating that her magical box-bags are going to Sock Summit.... wanted to let you know to run over to her blog and say that Birdsong sent you, and do it before Thursday at midnight, so that you are entered to win... if she gets over 100 comments, she will give away a second prize.. improving the odds!

I haven't had a chance to take any WIP Wednesday photos yet, and have to race off to town to get a haircut and a pedicure (I know, 'have to' really doesn't quite match those tasks, but it seems critical to me right now... shoes are getting a little tight with the longer, chipped nails, and hair is feeling hot and unruly with temps predicted to hit 100 today).

I also want to fill everyone in on the LYS progress for our booth at Sock Summit, including more photos... looks like I have fillings for a couple of upcoming blog posts!

Heads Up on Jessa Lu's Contest

I have no new pictures ready of my crafting endeavors, but will make it up to you by helping you have a chance to win either sock yarn or roving from Jessa Lu in her post-tax season contest... you have til midnight Thursday to get over there and enter... and be sure to let her know in the comments that I sent you - I get an extra ticket into the drawing!

I have been knitting a baby blanket for the upcoming grandbaby in white, pink and blue variegated Lion Jiffy... I promise a photo will be taken tomorrow, as I have more knitting time at a meeting.  You all may be shocked to hear I am using fiber with the "A" word in it but really, there's nothing more practical for harried parents of newborns than being able to throw something into the washer and drier and get to use it again soon... believe me, I gave birth three times and even though it was eons ago, I still remember the fatigue and the never-ending laundry.  Plus, the yarn was free - how could I resist in times such as these?  The color choice is appropriate too, as we won't know the baby's sex until the end of this month, but I want blankie-knitting to be finished before hot weather arrives.  Also, I just learned of a family in need of little girl items because all along they had been told that baby was a boy; well technology is WRONG sometimes, as proven by that pretty little girl's birth.

I have also been at the hooks, making a shell shawl from The Happy Hooker... not enough done to show you yet.  This yarn will be another surprise to some... TLC Cotton Plus, which is a cotton/acrylic blend.  However, this item is a summer shawl, to be worn next to mostly bare skin, and I have always been a bit sensitive to many of the woolies.  And I live in California, where summer swelters, at least in the daytime, even in the higher altitudes.  Cozy wool shawls are winter-only items here. 

As most loyal readers know, I am a lace lover.  So, why would I crochet a shawl instead of knit one?  I wanted to share my observations on the process from both sides, one hook or two needles.  When knitting lace, I have been able to work my way down to very fine threads over the years.  The first shawl I made, long gone now, was from a dark brown worsted, with an embossed leaf pattern, and was a really heavy item when done.  I then crocheted a worsted weight one for a friend who had found the pattern in a magazine.  The crocheted one, using the same weight, was airer and more wrappable... something I had just learned by the experience.  I did a few crocheted stoles using net stitching and realized I could get some pretty big holes but still have a fabric that was stable, didn't stretch out of shape or snag.

Then, I decided to make myself an Elizabeth Zimmermann Pi Shawl, round and able to fold in half... it was a great knitting experience, but this shawl, which I still have, is hard to keep on my shoulders.... it always wants to come unfolded and slide off.  I also have a vintage feather and fan stole, from about 1930, that I wear periodically, and it is a cozy delight, knitted in fingering or sport weight.  However, it too wants to fall off, probably because it doesn't cling to itself.

Some demented whim led me to make a red stole from a pattern in Knitting Goddess several years back.. this shawl was knitted on oversize needles, with many of the red yarns held double, and the fabric was alwasy catching on things that I passed, such as doorknobs... not at all practical, and I finally frogged it a couple of years ago and repurposed the yarns into several more wearable items.

These experiences led me to trying some of the pretty fingering weight shoulder shawl patterns that have been popular of late.  They cling to the shoulders, don't involve lots of extra yardage to tangle myself in, and can be pinned in place with a decorative shawl pin.  I also made a lily of the valley shawl out of a delightful cotton/rayon yarn, and it is probably one of my favorites.  I have made several lightweight mohair-type shawls as gifts over the years, and they are very wearable.  Some of you will remember the sagas of my making Seraphim and Spring Things... my two all-time favorites.  I am also in the process of making my very first laceweight stole, Queen Sivia, so why do I need to make another anyway?  Well, if you are asking that question, then you probably aren't a shawl maker... I feel as if I could always make another shawl!  This time, I am taking advantage of the properties of crochet to make a very light and airy design using a worsted weight cotton and large hook.  It is a fun and interesting process, though much harder on my hands than knitting or typing (its those double treble stitches on the shells, sigh).  I will keep you posted!

The Joy of Being A Winner

I have noticed a few fellow bloggers celebrating Blogiversaries... congrats to all of us for sticking with this wacky social experiment.  I am delighted to be in my fifth year of blogging, and it was especially fun to be the winner in Ruinwin's recent Blogiversary giveaway.  I haven't won anything recently and had forgotten the thrill of opening an unexpected parcel to find fiber and other goodies.

In the fiber department, there was over 600 yards of ella rae Palermo, an unspun worsted that I hadn't seen before.  This yarn may just be the vest yarn I have been wanting to knit up... my swatching earlier in February for a vest didn't work out quite right but I still have many wintery days when a knitted vest a la L.L. Bean is just what I am craving for extra warmth.

Then there was a book on growing basil (did y'all know that pesto is one of my very favorite most foods? well... after chocolate, that is), goddess cards, a set of bath goodies, including a great body brush, potpourri, hemp lip balm, shea butter in a little jar to carry around in my knitting bag (shea butter is the most nourishing thing a knitter can rub into her hands!), and a darling card that you can see in the top left corner... "You can ignore 80% of what your inner sheep says.  Most of it's b-a-a-a-a-d advice."  Gotta love it!  Ruinwin, you are such a generous and inspiring blogger and thank you so much!!

As for my own knitting, I am still working on finishing up February Lady (it's close, really, but I just haven't had much knitting time the past several days), have started a pair of mitts (Ravelry link) for myself from a Ravelry pattern based on the Chevron Scarf in Last Minute Knitted Gifts out of a skein of Twisted Sisters yarn I found last week at Article Pract in Oakland, have set Queen Sivia aside (she is destined to take a long and loving amount of time, so not to worry) to work on items for my teaching schedule at the LYS, and just did the write-up for two more classes that I will instruct in March. 

One will be Chevron Trim Top (Ravelry link), a Knit One Crochet Too pattern that I am using to help advanced beginner to intermediate knitters move into their first garment-knitting experience (this seems to be a stage in knitting approached by many with trepidation, if not downright fear), and the other class will offer simple lace-knit shaping, using Sivia Harding's Victorian Shoulderette pattern.  If you haven't visited our shop's website, I invite you to do so as we have just gotten up the neatest feature... all of the Manos del Uruguay variegated wool swatches in color and linked to their coordinated solids.  Allison wanted to offer this to help our blanket class students plan their projects, but it is such a fun color study that it is valuable just for the fun of seeing how colors work together.

The interesting thing I am finding about teaching is that I am passionately drawn to it, even though it takes away from my personal knitting time.  For example, I found that I would need to rip and re-do my Triinu scarf, not just because I was having difficulty with the seven-stitch nupps not losing a loop here and there, but also because I realized if I was having trouble, having made a lily of the valley shawl, worked with laceweight, used to using tiny needles, etc., etc., then what would my students be facing?  How could I break the skill sets down for them into manageable pieces? 

I decided that shaping lace and teaching a smaller piece would be a reasonable step, as well as offering a basic lacemaking class later this spring that covers how to work your way down in yarn and needle sizes for those who haven't made it that far yet.  Support is everything for some students, and it helped one of my students immensely yesterday when I discovered a serious mistake that led to her needing to rip out half of her project, that I could describe what I was going through working up my Triinu sample and determining to rip and re-do.  Yes, my co-workers at the LYS can brag that I have close to 50 years of knitting experience, but yes, I can also tell them horror stories from as recently as last week about errors and ripping out, or choosing the wrong item in the first place and determining to abandon it rather than pursue unhappiness in knitting!

Unhappiness and whether I am on the right path has been a looming theme this month, as many more people in my life continue to be touched by the deepening recession.   California finally passed last year's budget adjustments to compensate for huge revenue losses as a result of the crash in housing, an important step for many of us here who weren't looking forward to getting IOUs instead of tax refunds, however at the loss of many services most of us have come to consider a part of normal, daily life.  My child care program is running out of funding and I am having trouble finding more.  On top of all that, a friend passed on suddenly and unexpectedly, and yesterday was spent at her wake.  Life feels especially fragile and precious, so this morning we took donuts to DD's house to share with her, her BF and his four-year-old son, and I spent the morning building with giant Legos and playing Sorry.  I am grateful to have so much and need to remind myself often during these grim times....  I leave you with a photo of DH and I, taken last weekend by my SIL while we were tasting sake

We toured the Takara Sake museum and tasting room, where we learned a tremendous amount about this unique fermented beverage, and came home with a few kinds to share on cold, winter nights.  I promise to share photos from our Bay Area adventures next time.

Snow Day!

I always love the first snow of winter, especially when we have had such a long, dry fall. Still, I didn't expect it to snow quite so low or quite so much! Dustings of snow fell overnight both Saturday and Sunday mornings, but then the real thing started about 10:30 AM yesterday and hasn't stopped yet.... so far, I am estimating 7-8 inches. The school bus contractor for the elementary school across the road from me decided to cancel school last night, and since our early childhood program is on their campus and follows their schedule, it is a day off for me, too. Not that I think it is safe or necessary for anyone to be out on the roads myself... when low elevation snows hit our region, most people aren't prepared and there are far more accidents.

Snow had been shedding off the roof with loud thuds off and on all night...

The garden has been transformed from its lush, green summer self to one of white....

and the fish pond is unrecognizable, except for that large patch of greenery, nurtured by the immersion heater that is keeping the fish comfy.

Not to fear, though....

burros are snug in their little barn,

with plenty of hay to eat.  Though Assteroid isn't too happy that his is just outside the door, thanks to pushy Abraham, who has turned sideways so that he can claim more space and (he thinks) more hay to eat.

And we are fine and cozy too... we have an abundance of buttercup winter squash and potatoes that we grew and stored, and we live in a house filled with wool!

Now, for a few small announcements to catch up on things.... first of all, the winner of my Blogiversary contest is JessaLu!  I will be shipping off her prize this week... which makes me think that having a Blogiversary in December really is kinda nice after all, because I can play Santa!  Thanks to everyone who entered (even those of you who were late:)  The lovely comments and encouragement will keep me going for another year.

Second, I wanted to share with all of you sky lovers a great website I found while looking up the definition of gloaming the other day.... Scotland in The Gloaming.  You will be thrilled and amazed by the images.

Still Time To Win Prize Package

Now, if there was ever a title that sounded like spam, it would be this one, but I realized during the week that I had never posted a photo of WHAT I am giving away as my Blogiversary Contest prize!  I seem to have the most time to myself early in the week each week, and then can't carve out any time for posting as my task list piles up.  I finished my online class, a big, big chunk of my consulting project and even some gift knitting this week, but never got this picture up... a special gift package that includes a Lantern Moon Ladybug measuring tape, Black Sheep coffee, and Austermann Step sock yarn, containing aloe vera and jojoba to pamper your hands while you knit up a pair of socks or a lace scarf.  Everything will be wrapped in this Anything Tote made by my neighbor Chelsi (or 'grocery purse' as I heard one preschooler call it).  You have until midnight to enter.... have a great weekend dear friends.  So many of you left encouraging comments about why you enjoy my blog, that made the past four years seem richer to me than ever, and motivated me to keep it up!  Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

Gift Books for Knitters

This year will be a fairly quiet one on the gifting front, though a few small knitted gifts have snuck their way into the queue.  Just a few... just for a couple of close relatives .... only small items... I am sure you have heard (or thought) it all before.  I am planning to avoid holiday madness, but also helping others through the LYS to participate a bit in it, and will be teaching mitts, hats and a few other small giftie ideas on Saturday afternoon, if you care to drop by. 

That takes care of helping out the knitters wanting to gift others on their list, but what about those knitters themselves?  Well, being a good yarn shop employee, I usually ask what kind of knitting their gift recipient likes to do best; they sometimes can help me and we can arrive upon a lovely gift solution, but usually a gift certificate is the safest (and maybe most fun for said knitter) option.  That solution does not make very good blog fodder, though, so I decided to offer you some book reviews that you can forward along as broad hints to those shopping for you.  I have Amazon to thank for the links, though I would prefer you try to help out your local economy this year, either your own LYS or independent bookseller, or through the Fibers website.

Knitted Lace of Estonia: Techniques, Patterns and Traditions, Nancy Bush

This book is my top pick of the season... but then of course I love to knit lace.  Sorry (my) kids, I already got a copy... you will have to read further or come up with another gift idea for me. 

A few weeks ago, I was on the phone chatting with Margene (just like in the old days, before blogging, imagine that!) and she was getting ready to attend a talk by Nancy Bush, so I begged her to get me an autographed copy, and I think my knitting course is pretty well set for the coming year.  I have enough stash to make at least three of the patterns I fell in love with, and by the time I manage to complete those, will be ready to tackle designing a stole myself, with the excellent resources in this masterpiece.  Yes, I am glowing about this book.

Intertwined: The Art of Handspun Yarn, Modern Patterns and Creative Spinning, Lexi Boeger

Your giftee does not have to be a spinner to easily become enamoured of this book.  This is the yarn coffeetable book we have all been looking for... Lexi elevates yarn to an artform, showing how to make a yarn that reflects creative impulses you see in the world around you.  If your knitter doesn't spin yet, this book may talk her right into it, or simply encourage her to look for a wider array of yarns to make one of the many patterns in the knitting section.  Besides being beautifully, lushly photographed, this book has got to be the best value on the market right now... each of the sections, simply spinning, patterns, and yarn gallery contain as much or more information as many of the complete books offered in the fiber arts field this year.  Lexi will be speaking to my fiber guild later this year, so let me know if you want to be reminded... you can come as my guest and join a very talented guild.

Ethnic Knitting: Discovery: The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and the Andes, Donna Druchunas

Donna Druchunas became a favorite author when she issued Artic Lace (another good gift pick), but this book is every bit as good, and perhaps far more useful for the average knitter.  Donna has taken classic knitted garments from several parts of the world with strong knitting traditions and distilled them down into garments anyone can make to fit themselves exactly right... in fact, the book is also a great introductory course into knitting-to-fit, the main reason why many knitters are afraid of the thought of making sweaters.  She has another volume in the series, covering the traditions of Lithuania, Iceland and Ireland, set to come out on December 25th, if your giftee already has this one.

The River Cottage Cookbook, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

What, you say, a cookbook?!  Get over the outrage... you all know that I am ALL about local foods!  Hugh is apparently as big in Britain as Rachael Ray is here in the US.... own TV show, filmed at his cottage farm in the sticks, etc.  I picked this up while waiting in the checkout line at my local library, and was more than impressed.  Hugh is a chef that espouses the tenets of both the Slow Food movement, and also is enough of a do-it-yourselfer to have tried his hand at raising chickens, raising and slaughtering/butchering a pig, and growing many types of foods and herbs in his home garden.  He also loves the chance to get out and fish and hunt and forage in the hedgerows (we don't have those here, but I manage a fair bit of foraging anyway), and also lives close enough to the coast to know of what he writes in the section on ocean fishing.  A truly inspiring read, and helpful text to get your giftee more food self-sufficient.  I don't believe in total food self-sufficiency, and neither does he, but we agree that the closer you can get to the source of your diet, the healthier and tastier the foods will be... and every knitter needs ongoing sustenance.

There's my list... now tell me what is on yours, so that I can be a better helper to those coming in to buy a knitter a present this holiday season... and don't forget to enter my Blogiversary giveaway this week.

Heads Up! Blogiversary Around Next Bend

It kinda snuck up on me, but as you will see from the counter in my sidebar, my fourth Blogiversary is just hours away!  The past year has been a harder one to stick with blogging than the first three, and yet I still am so grateful for the friends I have made through mine and their blogs, and for the creative outlet it provides me, that I fully intend to keep it up for another year.  I decided to give you a quick tour of what I consider some of the high points of visiting my blog ....

there's the fantastic Sierra Nevada scenery,

the magical burros,

my quirky sense of humor....

and of course the knitting content, sometimes much better and more interesting than at other times!

And, at anniversary time, there are contests.... so, please leave me a comment any time in the next week, until Friday December 12th at midnight my time, telling me what is your favorite reason for keeping me on your list of regular reads and I will enter you into my Blogiversary Giveaway Drawing... prize photos coming in the next post.

Chemo Cap Knitalong

It's only a few weeks until the start of October, which is also Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so time to recruit some of you to join in our venture at Fibers, the LYS where I work and teach.  I will be offering a basic hat class on Saturday, October 4th from 2-4 PM, to launch a month-long Chemo Cap Knitalong, and want to encourage my Blogland friends to join in the effort.  While you are welcome to come to Grass Valley one of the Saturday afternoons in October, and sit around and knit a hat with us, you can also just stay right where you are and make one, or three, or five.... then, look around in your local community and decide where to donate it.

I would like to ask all of you to spread the word, design a button, let me know your results, etc., and will be putting together a blog-style contest (and accepting donations for said contest), with each hat you make equaling a ticket into the drawing to be held at the end of October... all you have to do is send me a message, or link to a photo on your blog or Ravelry site, etc. as you finish each hat!

So, dig through your stash this weekend, visit the Berroco website for a few nice Chinchilla patterns, and comment to let me konw you're in!

Have a great weekend.

Blogoversary Giveaway

I am excited and amazed to be greeting you on the third anniversary of the vague start to my blogging adventure.  If you go back and look at my early entries on my Blogger site, you will see that I really didn't know what I was doing when I started, or where I was going with this thing called blogging.  Who knew I would keep at this?  Or that I would end up focusing on my knitting and fibery pursuits, become a much more devoted (and better) photographer, and even meet several of my readers in real life, having the time of my life with them?!  Blogging has turned out to be a grand exercise in handing my life over to the present, an act of buddhist practice in living in the now and accepting what comes along.

I hadn't yet thought about how I would celebrate this milestone when I signed on to Pay It Forward the day after Thanksgiving.  Bev was one of the three people who responded in time to make it on my list... and she explained to me how she had decided to give to others on her birthday in October, following hobbit tradition.  I thought it would be fun to celebrate my Blogoversary by doing the same!  Bev actually took the time to make and send gifts to family and friends for her birthday, but I decided I would take more of a virtual giveaway, posting photos and letting my dear readers choose for themselves if they wanted some of the pieces of myself that I think should leave Slate Range Camp and head out to other homes.  Each item goes forth with my love and thanks for the great joy fiber arts have brought to my life over the past several decades, and in respect for the wealth and abundance that has allowed me to have such an excess of fibery goodness in my life that I am able to share.

I have many things to give away to my fiber-hearted readers, including fiber itself and there will also be a raffle described at the very end of this post.   I am giving away three different fibery items, three different handknits, and raffling off a special lace item.  Please comment below by midnight PST on December 16th to be entered in the raffle.  If you are interested in being the recipient of any of the fibers or handknits, please email me at burrobird AT gmail DOT com and tell me what and why and I will mail the item to you.

First, let's start with the fibers....

Fiber #1 is two one-ounce bumps of merino from The Dizzy Ewe - rose quartz and pink.  I got these at  Dixon's Lambtown.

Fiber # 2 is about a one ounce bump of 'red hat' merino handpainted by my friend and neighbor, Stephanie, the Wooly Daisy.  She often has rovings and handspun yarns available on her Etsy store, if you want more!

Fiber # 3 is somewhere around 3 ounces of a different red-purple blend, and I am uncertain where I got it, but pretty certain it is merino (Steph, if this is one you did, I apologise for my terrible memory).  Since I came to terms with purple not being a good match with my skin tone and dark green eyes, I have been spinning up other colors and probably won't get to this  anytime soon, so I want someone else to enjoy it!

Now, the knits.... I have three special handknit items that I will give (only one per person) to the first takers... one, the vest, was made by moi from a pattern in Vogue Knitting about a decade ago when I was about 25 pounds heavier.  It is in good condition, made from a collection of wools, is a size large and I can't wear it any longer, but hope that someone else will want it... email me if you do!

This photo isn't the greatest (hey, it's DARK around here in winter!), but the vest is in shades of oatmeal, browns, greens and golds and zips up the front.

These next two sweaters are vintage finds that I bought just because of the awesome knitting (I do that, do you?)

This grey wool cardi has a nice, classic fit and is a size medium.  The cable and bobble panels are impressive, and the seed stitch gives it such great texture.  I just can't wear grey.....

This cream wool cardi is probably a size small... at least the armholes make it a bit too tight for my usually medium-sized frame.  It is an even more detailed design, with fully-fashioned finishing details, such as the very nice collar. the edgings, the grosgain ribbon behind the buttons and buttonholes, and the elegant smaller cables outlining the large ones down the front, echoed by the cables along the raglan sleeves... I aspire to do such a fine job on a sweater someday!

Both of these sweaters feature such fine work that I can't just throw them into the bags going to local thrift stores... they could end up washed and shrunken, felted messes, rather than the treasures of fine handwork and exhaustive hours of knitting that they truly are, so I am hoping someone out there will want to wear them and let them out in public once again, after spending several years packed away in my cedar chest.

I also have the following magazines I would send you, if you want them:
Interweave Knits, Summer 2007 (somehow, I ended up with 2)
Interweave Knits, Winter 2005
Vogue Knitting Knit.1, Spring 2007
Knitting, July 2006 (from Great Britian)
Kntters, Spring 2002

Now, for the raffle item:

First off, no I did not make this pretty lace scarf just for my Blogoversary giveaway.

I actually made this several years ago, using a pattern from one of Barbara Walker's treasuries, back in the day before online shopping.  If you think it is difficult to be sure what color you are getting when you order yarn online, let me tell you it was even harder when shopping by mail.  I knew when this beautiful merino fingering weight arrived that it was NOT the lovely and flattering shade of garnet that has always gotten me tons of compliments.  In fact, it is really rather more purple or reddish plum or some other color that is out of my range.  Why, you ask, did I knit it up?  Out of blind hope?  Really, it was probably mostly from the pleasure of working with a fine yarn in a beautiful color, when such yarns were almost impossible for me to come by, except through the mail.  I went ahead and spent many winter evenings making the scarf, and even wore it a bit, but mostly it didn't match anything in my wardrobe (except black, which I no longer wear either) and has languished wishing to be loved.  I washed and blocked it yesterday morning before heading off to work at the yarn shop and admired how unusual the pattern was, and felt happy to be able to send a piece of myself out into the great big world.  As I said above, you have until December 16th to enter the raffle to win this lace scarf.