Newest Pattern

Ok.....so I've finally finished the wrap pattern I've been working on.  Hope everyone enjoys it.  Let me know.  I knit my version with gorgeous Icelandic wool from Blackberry Farm (no longer here) that I picked up from last year's Middle Tennessee Fibre Festival.  It's 27" wide x 80" long and perfect for the cool nights coming.  Love it!!!

The West Side

 Ok...so in Michigan if you tell someone you're going to the lake, they look at you a little crooked because.....yes....there are just too many lakes to guess about the destination.  So most people say , "I'm going to _______ (insert lake name, but never say the word lake.  It's assumed.) for the _____ (insert length of stay)."

For me this sounded something like, "I'm going to the west side to Michigan for the day."  A glorious day on the beach with....my Chicago Linda.....what a great treat.  This is one of the things I love about Michigan....the lakes everywhere.  How nice would it be if Tennessee had a great lake?  So of course camera was in had and full of sand.  What a wonderful day!

 

 

Station Break

Ok....taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming for a special announcement....

Hey everyone! Come to Murfreesboro for the wonderful Fiber in the Boro festival on Oct. 19 and 20, 2012. Check out the www.fiberintheboro.com website-- the class list is up, registration is open, and the festival is a little over a month away! Hope to see you there.

Yipppppeeeeee!!!!!!

My Little Man 3.5

Ok......once again I had the opportunity and absolute joy to visit/play with/be entertained by and answer questions for my little man.  We giggled and adventured, we snuggled and ran, we knitted and then we napped.  Perfect!!!!

I always enjoy my visits to Canada.  Of course the family part is the best, but I love being in Ontario....feels like home.....my people.  I often feel like I fit many places I visit, but Canada and Michigan, they're the old, worn, comfortable leather gloves I always feel have been broken in just right.

I'm working on some great mountain colors socks (ultimate travel project) and finishing up the Icelandic wrap I've been knitting and re-knitted for a month.  It may just make it.  I've also begun spinning a beautiful (aren't they all) llama roving partially natural brown and partially dyed.  I'm very excited with the resulting yarn.

One of the things that has changed for me in spinning is the planning.  When I first started spinning, everyone asked me what I was going to do with the yarn....I had no answers.  I was spinning just to spin...just for the learning.....just for the joy and the zen.  Now I spin for the learning, the joy, the zen and.....the project.  When I look at roving, I see the project I want to make.  I buy the roving to actually see something come of it.  And, I envision the wpi, the gauge, the pattern, the width, the length.....I see it evolve in my head as I spin.  I love this new addition to my process.  Where zen meets art....that's where I live.

Back to the Wheel

Ok.....so I hadn't spun in a long time, but since I had picked up some fibre at the festival and had a spinning class, I was anxious to get back to the wheel...so to speak.  

This is one of the lovely fibres I picked up...a black merino roving loaded with colored specks of silk noil.  I bought 12 ounces thinking I would spin it fingering weight for a wide scarf or wrap.  Well, I got sick of spinning it.  That has never happened to me before.  

I have spun very large quantities before, but for some reason, this time....I'd had enough.  It is beautiful and soft..and over 900 yards and I'm sure it will be gorgeous, but.......thank goodness the spinning is done.

Of the Lake

Ok....so Jan and I were able to get a day on beach and into Grand Haven, MI after all of our festivaling....  We had a gorgeous day for our little adventure. 

We walked the beach in the quiet morning.  Lunch at the Theatre Bar was yummy and outdoors, our stroll through C2C gallery was lovely as the owner/artist Cyndi Casemier.  Great story, stock broker who decided to go into ceramics and opened the shop to support Michigan artists and have a studio for her work.  Groovy place. 

 

We also ventured into several shops and finally Blueberry Haven.....yum.....  We picked up a few interesting treats loaded with blueberry flavor for our return home. 

 Side note:  we had so many experiences with our mapping devices....the ipad, the iphone and Bertie (my garmon gps)....we always found what we needed one way or another, but it was always an adventure following the bouncing blue dot. 

 

PS....we love the Starbucks app!!!!