I feel the need to organize myself.

I need that organization in my house and in my mind. I worked on the house part this weekend since I didn’t need to zip up to NY to be with Mom. She felt like she needed more rest than she would get if I was there, so I stayed home. I really wanted to see her (when I last left NY she was still in the hospital) but I had to respect her wish for rest and quiet and I also appreciated the weekend at home.

Regarding my fiber pursuits, here’s a list of what’s going on:

Knitting – projects on the needles. (There may be more, but this is what I can remember):

Vampire Boyfriend socks (one almost complete)

Rob’s afghan (5/8 complete)

Slinky Ribs top (One sleeve and neck edging to go)

Grey striped vest (2/3 complete, I think. It's been a while. blush)

Cotton/rayon shawl (a little bit of stockinette and the edging to go)

Purple shawl (from Victorian Lace today) (no idea, but a lot to go)

Laminaria shawl (frogging before re-knitting to go)

Cardi Cozy from the Mason Dixon book (lots to go)

Blue cotton cardigan (only an edging, I think)

Things I want to knit but that are not on the needles

Wrap/lap blanket with my handspun

Hat and scarf with handspun (blues)

Hat for DH with handspun in black, red and tan

Sweater/coat with Cascade Pastazza also form the 2^nd Mason Dixon book

More linen face cloths for Mom

Market bag

Spinning on the wheel/spindle

Need to spin more black wool to ply with the 2 remaining bobbins from the Tour de Fleece so that will be finished.

Wensleydale on spindle. I changed my mind and plan to un-ply what I’ve plied. I will ply colorway with colorway and then semi solid with semi solid.

Silk on spindle – have to decide whether to ply it or use as a single for knitting

Blue merino/silk blend on a spindle – it’s been there for years. Shame on me.

Silk hankies that I am not enjoying spinning but hate to waste, so they might get done.

What I want to spin

Blended fiber from the recent spinning retreat

Icelandic fiber on a spindle (6 oz. all together)

Get back into the Knitters Book of Wool (Rav. Group) fiber sampling. They are doing Dorset this month. I've never spun Dorset.

Get back into the spinners study group to learn more about other fibers.

Sweater’s worth of yarn (if it’s not enough, then at least a vest worth. LOL)

Do you think that if it is in print in public (on my blog), it will happen? The chances are improved, I think. If I just write a list on paper, I’ll probably loose it. : ( On the blog, it’s there and I’d have to take positive action to remove it.

Fall and spring – I get the nesting/cleaning/de-cluttering bug. It has hit me hard right now and that’s not a bad thing. When I clean things out, lots of useful stuff goes to the Goodwill store or some other charity place, and maybe someone will get use from it. I go through all of the clothes bins, put away summer stuff and take out the cold weather stuff. That’s when I make decisions about what stays and what goes. Some of it is just worn out and goes into the trash or rag bin.

The gardens need to be cleaned out, too. The vegetable garden was mostly cleaned out (by DH) and I think I want to put straw over it all for the winter to cut down on weeds. That can then be tilled into the soil in the spring.

I wrote most of this post earlier in the weekend, and now I can update some things. I pulled out the Slinky Ribs top, knitted on a sleeve for a while and tried it on. DH offered his opinion when asked, and I will knit long sleeves. I worked on one sleeve during the Raven’s game yesterday (it was a close game but they lost in OT) and knitted it to just above wrist length. I left it on a holder and have picked up the other sleeve knitting, which was still above the elbow. I plan to knit on that sleeve as much as possible this week. I am apparently in finishing mode and want to get this top wearable.

The Vampire Boyfriend sock (1^st one) is at the toe decreases!

The Perfect Storm Wensleydale looks much better plied on itself, though I am now wishing that I had thought to chain ply it. Hmmm… We’ll see how the un-plying of the first skein goes before I decide anything else. Meanwhile, I spun a little more of it yesterday.

That’s it – I think I am all caught up. I really hope that I can follow through on spinning 20 minutes each day. I also want to get the sweater and the Vampire boyfriend socks complete in the next month.

Mom feels tired but good today. That's a good thing.

Finished socks and Mom's BD gift

Signs of Fall - Montauk Daisies blooming in our back yard.

I finished knitting Mom's BD present before her birthday, but it wasn't blocked and I couldn't spend the time or energy doing that so she didn't get it. Not that she had any energy - mental or physical - for worrying about a birthday present .... I finally got around to blocking yesterday.
It is the Falling Leaves pattern from Lavish Lace by Carol Rasmussen Noble and Cheryl Potter. The yarn is something I picked up at MD Sheep and Wool. I can't wear the orange myself but Mom can, and with the little bit of sparkle in it (not sure if you can see it in these photos, but it's there) , I thought it would be a warm, comfy but jazzed up neck warmer for her.

It is 51 inches across the long edge and 21 inches from the point up to the top edge. She'll have several different options for wearing it. I hope she likes it as much as I do. (BTW, that leave posed itself there. I just couldn't resist capturing it)

Another FO is my Mata Hari socks made with Tofutsies yarn in teal. I finished the knitting two days ago and wove in the ends (then proceeded to wear them) yesterday. It's hard to see but I made a picot edge on the top. Maybe once they are washed that will be more visible.

I've had a change of plans regarding my Wensleydale fiber that I've been spindle spinning. I plied the semi solid (special order from Spunky Eclectic) that I had spun to date last weekend with the main colorway. I am less than pleased. It looks too barber pole-ish.













I sampled plying the colorway with itself last night and like it much better. I am going to try to un-ply last weekends efforts and ply same with same. I might even be able to use the semi solid as an edging for a pattern made with the colorway. I have 8 oz of the main colorway and 4 oz of the semi solid dark color. We'll see how the un-plying goes. I will have to enlist help for sure.

Mom is doing better, BTW. Her appointment with the neurosurgeon was Friday and he says that the head CT scan shows the fluid collection in her head getting smaller. She goes back in two weeks for another. She can now gently wash her hair (since the staples have been removed) and she's allowed to climb stairs. No driving, though. Yippee! Progress at last in a truly important and actually life altering area.

Other signs of fall:

I wasn’t sure if I would make it ….

ETA photos on Sunday and a couple of random comments.

This past weekend was the annual spinning retreat for a local spinning group. I can’t make it to most of their gatherings, but for most of the last 4 or 5 years I have made it to the annual retreat. I missed last year and feared that I would miss this one, too, what with Mom’s problems. I made it, though, and had a wonderful time.

There is no planned program. There is a theme, though, and fiber is provided. You are welcome to spin the fiber relating to the theme but not required. This year’s theme was color blending. We were provided with white BFL, black BFL/Shetland cross and alpaca in 3 colors as a base. This is alpaca plus cranberry locks.
We were also provided with BFL and mohair locks, each dyed in 6 or 7 different colors. It was easy to see how differently the BFL and mohair took up the colors side by side.

There were combs and carders and people willing to show the inexperienced (like me) how to use them, and lots of time to play. I am sorry that I didn’t think to take out my camera and document some of the efforts. Maybe I can remember to do that with mine once I am ready to spin them.

I made use of the combs and carders since I have not access to that type of equipment at home.

I did not spin any of the fiber I prepared there. My bobbins were full from my spinning efforts during the Tour de Fleece. I had completed the spinning but not they plying. I spent most of Friday night and Sat. morning spinning up the black singles I needed to complete my planned 3 ply. I then spent hours and hours and hours ….. plying my yarn. I hate to ply.

I am pleased with the end result. I haven't yet figured out the yardage. It's a lot less than I thought I would have after spinning 12 oz. of fiber, but it is 3 ply and feels good. ; ) It's a little over plied I think but will do just fine.

I will probably cave into temptation and spin some of what I brought home from the retreat (see above new and fluffy toys) , then go back and spin more black singles because I need that to ply the other singles that I spun up – more in the earth tones area. I have no specific plans for the yarn yet, but suspect that they will end up as hats/mittens, cold winter wear. I might actually make a pair of slippers for eldest son if he promises to wear them inside only. ; ) I hope to get some photos during the day over the weekend.

I went for a walk – the grounds of Wilson College are very pretty – and ate a lot. We have a snack table and it was groaning with the goodies brought to share. There were some healthy things, too, like veggie platters, apples and oranges. I ate salads at every meal, hoping to counteract some of the snack foods. LOL.

We spun and blended and knitted and were inspired by each other’s projects. I think we all learned something and all in a friendly, informal setting, no pressure on anyone. I might want to get a loom. It was a great weekend. I left a bit early so I could get home to watch most of the Raven’s game. They won! Go Ravens!!!!!

Mom seems to be doing OK – I spoke with her each day I was away. Let’s hope that this is the last surgery and that she heals well and completely this time.

I need a vacation

F***ing Fall. There is a disturbing trend in my family for bad things to happen in the fall. We made another emergency trip to NY on Friday, 10/1. Mom had re-accumulated fluid/blood in her brain and it needed to be removed. She went to the ER expecting to be evaluated and then sit there for several hours waiting for her surgeon to have time to take her to the OR (he was already scheduled for several other cases). Instead, as soon as she got there they repeated her head CT scan and rushed her to the OR. She had fresh blood in her head, not just the older accumulation that was seen on Wednesdays CT scan. Whew! That was a close call.

We have spent a lot of time with Mom since then and came home on Tuesday, 10/5, which is also eldest son's birthday. I returned to work on Wednesday. It’s more stressful than I would have imagined, being here working, trying to support Mom and my brother (who lives with her), worrying about here and trying to stay on top of things and also trying to get back into my own life – house, husband, family.

I had hopes of rejuvenating this past weekend, and I did. I attended a spinning retreat at Wilson College in PA. Friday afternoon through Sunday morning, devoted to spinning and other fibery activities. I'll post about that tomorrow.

Knitting has not been progressing much. I just didn’t have time to knit while in NY – there was too much going on and at the end of long days I was too tired to knit much. I did get in some spindle spinning one night (at about 3 AM). Silk is soothing. ; )

Rob’s afghan is a little bit bigger. 5 stripes of 8 are complete and the 6^th has been cast on. The Eliina shawl is still in the stockinette section but only needs one more repeat before the lace begins. I think (I haven’t looked in the bag in a while) that the Slinky Ribs sweater needs a neck edging and a bit more sleeve. I wore the V neck cardigan several times while in NY. There’s so much I want to knit …..

There’s so much fiber I want to spin and ply …..

All I want for Christmas is lots of fiber time. ; ))

Where's the Ark?

It's raining and it's never going to stop. I am convinced. We went to the marina today near high tide to check on the boat.


See that sign that says slip holder parking? That's supposed to be a parking area, not part of the Chesapeake Bay. (Our boat is the 3rd one in, with the blue cover.)
Between those poles (pilings) there should be a dock. It's there somewhere because we saw people walking on it.

That guy in the red jacket is my DH walking on our dock, coming back from checking the lines of our boat. He's wearing hip boots. When I went out there to help him, I got wet to my mid thighs. I had no boots because we didn't plan on me getting out of the vehicle.

Many roads were closed due to flooding and the water was over the top of the creeks and rivers in the area, flooding the area around them.

We've had about 5 inches of rain so far and they expect us to get another 2-4 inches over night. Maybe we should sleep on the boat!

I worked from home today and I'm glad that I escaped the commute home. I do have to go in tomorrow, though, at least for a while. : ((

Knit nite at the LYS was cancelled tonight so I think I'll go spin for a while. My Mata Hari sock is growing in length, the Vampire Boyfriend sock is off to Molly for a test fit and the sweater
has a neck opening and the bind off for the sleeves is beginning. It looks like I'll have enough yarn this time .....

Progress on the fiber front

I have been spinning and knitting every day. I am very happy about that – I missed spinning. I have been doing spindle spinning because my back has been giving me problems since we hit a big wave while on vacation, and sitting at the wheel for any periods of time is not good. I’ve been working on the Wendsleydale and the silk, both fine singles but very different from each other, and enjoying them both. I can’t wait to start plying the Wensleydale plain with the Perfect Storm singles. I am anxious to see if my vision looks as good in real life as it does in my head. The silk is gorgeous and I have no idea what I will knit with it yet. I am enjoying the process of spinning it and that is enough for now.

The sweater that I ripped and had to re-knit is at the arms again. I was right – it was better to rip and re-knit. Since I am knitting both left and right sections at once, when I bind off at the top edge, I’ll have half the sweater completed. ; )) It makes great football watching knitting, BTW.

The trade socks – boyfriend vampire socks from Knitty.com – are going on their way today to Molly for a fitting session. The designer warns that the stitch pattern is not very stretchy and I want to be sure that they will fit over Molly’s heel before I complete the pair. I finished the heel turn and gusset last night and if they fit now, I should be good to go. If not, it’s not so much progress that I will hate myself for having to rip.

As a result of those being out of the knitting line up, I should be able to finish the Mata Hari socks soon. That sock is in the process of having the heel flap knitted, so there’s not much more than leg to go. This is the second sock, so I’ll have a pair done. I have one or tow (or possibly more) single socks in the bin that need completion, so I’ll do that next, I think.

I hope to get back to lace knitting soon. Before vacation and Mom’s surgery I had picked up a lace shawl to knit on for the first time in a few months. I’d like to get back to that soon, assuming that things go well with Mom. She is due to have another CT scan of her head this week and then gets a progress report later this week from the neurosurgeon.

I will be going away for 2 days in October for a spinning retreat. I think I will really enjoy the time away from everyone, though I will be in touch via cell phone. It’s a beautiful campus and an entire weekend dedicated to spinning sounds great. Of course, I can knit instead if I want, and I may need to do that part of the time since I am not in good conditioning for 2 solid days of spinning. I’ll bring my camera and spend some time wandering campus and taking pictures in addition to the fiber activities. Getting up and moving around helps to digest all of those goodies that we bring to munch on. It takes more vigorous activity to work off the calories, though.

I hope to get some pictures of my WIPs this weekend, and to post more of my photos from vacation (not that I took all that many this year, but it's my favorite place and I like to share).

Try not to get too wet if you live on the East coast - it's gonna be a heck of a rainstorm.

I need a drink ….

I am just back from vacation. In some ways I feel like it was a month long, and in others I feel like I need a vacation. Soon.

On July 4^th, my mother had a loss of consciousness and fell. She hit her head hard, was in the hospital for a few days and seemed to be getting better, but never did well. Then she started to have more problems with balance and memory. Long discussions with her about needing to see the doctor were unsuccessful, and after all, she is an adult. I couldn’t make her go. Suddenly she fell 3 times in one week and couldn’t finish a sentence without loosing her words.

A visit to the local ER (after much pleading with Mom on the phone about the need to be seen) lead to a transfer to another hospital, one that had a neurosurgeon available. On the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, Mom had surgery to remove the blood in her skull and relieve the pressure on her brain that would have killed her in a matter of a couple of weeks. She was trying hard to stay “OK” until after we all had our vacations. We (her 4 children) were all supposed to be out in Montauk at approximately the same time, and she didn’t want to ruin our fun. Typical of Mom but very frustrating.

She had a lot of pressure in her skull that was putting a lot of pressure on the brain and pushing it into places that it didn’t belong, causing it to not work well. : (( A couple of holes in the skull later and some meds to decrease swelling fixed most of the critical problems. A week later she was out of the hospital and at home, though with supervision. Her balance was tenuous and her judgment lacked …. Something. She’s tired of being sick and tired of being limited but still needs to follow some restrictions for about another month or so. My brother (who lives with her) has stepped up to the plate and is taking care of her, but hasn’t worked out a way to get her to agree to things without making her feel bad. I’d bring her down here to stay with us for a couple of weeks but I know that she wants to be in her house, with her things. I just don’t know what to do.

Vacation itself (staying in the hotel on the water in Montauk) was good. The weather was reasonably good (a day or two were too windy for boating) and we caught fish, ate well, did our best to relax. My brother drove Mom out there one day (it’s about a 2 hour drive for them) and Bob and I spent the afternoon with Mom while he had a break. We were both disappointed to not catch a striped bass, but did bring home fish for future eating. (I love to eat bluefish, though many don’t care for it). I love spending time at the lighthouse.

Some days were dark and stormy off and on, but most of the time the sun was shining.

We stopped at Mom’s on the way home and spent another 2 days with her. Now we are home, I am back at work and wanting to be in NY with my mother. I wish I could telecommute.

ETA It's been a week now and things are better. MOm is till doing some things I wish she wouldn't do (against doctor's orders) but with only 2 weeks to go on the limitations, I am hoping she can stick with the program.

Knitting happened despite everything else. I have completed 3 pattern repeats on the Vampire Boyfriend socks that will be a trade for the DPNs. I am enjoying the pattern immensely. My sweater is almost halfway there. I have right and left fronts almost complete. The bad news is that I will have to try to get another skein of wool. I should have had a little extra and don’t know if I just knitted it a little longer than called for in each section or what, but I will be a bit short unless I can get more yarn. Hopefully Jimmy Beans will come through for me. I like the look of the sweater. It will be that cross between my beloved sweatshirts and dressing up a little nicer. I knitted a square on the afghan for eldest son but mostly knitted on the socks, the sweater and did lots of fishing and steering of the boat. We hung out near the lighthouse a few times, and I was able to get in some knitting at the end of the day, but it was chilly and I was tired, so I didn’t accomplish as much as I had hoped. Plus there was just a touch of distractedness due to stress …..

ETA I ripped the front pieces of the sweater and am re-knitting. I decided that was less stress than cutting and piecing things together and using another yarn for the bottom edge. I am at the arms already.

The other good things is that I am back to spinning. I wasn't feeling much like spinning when I got home, but we went boating yesterday and i grabbed my drop spindle. I really enjoyed spinning up more of the silk fiber and today did some spindle spinning of the black Wensleydale to be plied with the Perfect storm color way.

It’s fall for sure. I have pulled all of the annuals from the railing boxes and hanging baskets. They are finished for the season, and this is early for that. I am still picking a few tomatoes, but the rest of the garden is also done for the year. I hope next year’s garden is better. It was dark when I drove into work this morning at 6 AM and it will be dark again at 7 PM. Bummer. I am not quite ready for the nights to be so long already.

I hope to blog more regularly again now that summer has ended and things are(I hope) calming down n the family front. I will be posting more photos of Montauk and some photos of my WIPs to share.