EKF Summer of Socks: 1st Up - Socktopus

The Summer of Socks SAL/KAL/CAL (spin/knit/crochet-along) in the Enchanted Knoll Farm Ravelry group has begun! It lasts from June 1 to September 1. I love spinning EKF fiber, and socks are what I'm most successful at knitting (and actually finishing) so this is right up my alley. Either handspun or commercial yarns are fine, and Josette is featuring sock yarns in her Etsy shop all this month, with free shipping.

I cast on my first pair this morning. I've discovered sportweight socks - they knit up quick, on large needles, and give me a satisfying finished pair in a short period of time. This pair is for Jessica - she appreciates my handspun handknit socks, so she's worthy. :) It's from my handspun, an EKF batt in the "Blue Ring Octopus" colorway, 300 yds of 2-ply sportweight. Size 6 needles, 40 stitches, magic loop, David's Toe-Up Sock Cookbook. We'll call it "Socktopus":


My goal is 3 pair - one per month. I have spinning and weaving to do this summer, so I don't want to be overly ambitious.

Also, today is my dear nephew Michael's birthday. He's 19 - how fast time flies!

Zinnias Boucle Yarn

I've always been a smooth-yarns girl. I like a nice round 3-ply, or a tightly-plied 2-ply, consistent and even and smooth. But lately I've been branching out into boucle-style yarns - a thick/thin plied with a fine thread, causing bumps and slubs and squooshy texture. Texture is good! Knitters love to make textured yarns into hats and scarves, and weavers love 'em too.

I spun a few last month, and this week I spun another, with even more texture. It's a strand of fine handspun silk in reds & amber, paired with a thick/thin slubby strand I spun from a blended batt with BFL wool, silk, and sari silk infusion, in pinks & oranges & golds. Both fibers came from Enchanted Knoll on Etsy, one of my favorite indie dyers. I really like the way this one turned out. 145 yards, 2-ply thick/thin boucle - I have two equal skeins. SO SOFT.

Both are available in the shop.

I'm dressing the big Macomber loom for a set of placemats in blues and greens. This is for an exchange with the Jane Stafford Textiles group on Ravelry - the same talented people I swapped dishtowels with in February. Looking forward to seeing what they create using the same color family. I'll have pictures of the placemat warp tomorrow - I hope!

Garden, now with Bee!

Leigh came looking for zucchini flowers and I hadn't posted a picture, so this is for you, Leigh:

And look, a Bee! There were several of these guys flying around, welcome pollinators. How exciting!!

My eggplant is flowering, too - I hope the Bees make their way over there as well.

Garden, Week 1 - and some Handspun

It's been 1 week (and a day, don't judge me) since I took pictures of the Garden. Everything is growing well - and so far, we've been faithful to water every day. Hmmm... there might be a correlation between the two. :)

 Cucumbers:

Eggplant:

Onions:

Peppers:

Tomatoes:

Zucchini babies!

 And corn babies!

I'm sure we'll make lots of mistakes with our first vegetable garden, but they will be learning opportunities for next time.

I've finished some handspun in this past week, too - one of my rainbow commission skeins is done, and I've spun two skeins of falkland wool, one in lovely blue/green/purple singles and one in 2-ply apricot/peach tones.

The first skein of Black Magic Woman fingering weight yarn sold already in the shop, so I'm starting another one. I'll be spinning up numerous skeins of BMW - Susan Pandorf used it for one of her Lord Of The Rings: Two Towers patterns (Eleventy Seven - a lace scarf in black metallic handspun), and in cooperation with Josette at Enchanted Knoll Farm, I'm making as many skeins available as I can. (If you're interested in a skein, let me know, and I'll spin it especially for you.)

We had a lovely family gathering on Easter Sunday. My brother is getting married May 28th, and he asked me to sing in the wedding. I'm so pleased! I'm happy about the marriage, and so glad to be a part of the ceremony. A little nervous, too - I used to sing solos in church, but haven't sung in a public setting in 7-8 years. Time to start rehearsing in the shower! :)

Can't CONTAIN my Excitement!

Yesterday my husband brought home plants and seeds and started our container veggie garden. I am so happy!

Vegetable gardening is one of the many things in my life that falls victim to my tendency toward perfectionism - "if I can't do it perfectly, it's not worth doing at all." Which of course is self-defeating, but governs many of my actions nonetheless.

DH finally took the bull by the horns and just DID it. And because I wasn't the initiator, I can enjoy it without being critical of myself. Of course, we're first-timers and will make lots of mistakes, but if we get a few veggies out of the venture, and learn a few things, it will all be worth it. I ordered a compost bin this morning, and I've started saving veggie peels, eggshells, and coffee grounds.

Here are some pictures of my babies -

Cucumbers:

Eggplant (note the invader ALREADY munching on the plant's center - he's dead now):

 Onions:

Peppers:

Tomatoes:

Zucchini (seeds):

The containers lining the edges of the patio, in full sun:

And for color, on the front patio, Petunias:

In fiber news, I've spun 3.59 miles of yarn this year. (I added a widget in my sidebar keeping track.)  I'm aiming for 15 miles by Dec. 31st - just a fun goal I've set for myself. Now that I'm RETIRED, I have so much more time to spin and weave, and it's such a joy to have the time to dig into my fiber bins and choose bags of lovely soft color to spin.

I just finished this one, 700 yds of fingering weight 2-ply, from Enchanted Knoll Farm's "Black Magic Woman" batts. I love spinning this sparkly, silky stuff.

On the wheel right now, some lovely rainbow fiber for a customer. Bright color for spring!

Since I Promised...

I went for my morning walk today. Wow, it doesn't take much time to go back to square one, does it? But then, square one is a good place to start again.

I saw more signs of spring in the park - some of our swans have cygnets, and the mother hens are bustling around with their chicks, teaching them to scratch for bugs. I took pictures with my cellphone, but Blogger wants to rotate them sideways, and I don't want you to get a crick in your neck, as my grandmere would say, looking at them like that. Anyone know how to make Blogger keep a picture's orientation intact?

I finished some handwoven scarves last week. Want to see?

I wove them all on my Schacht Flip rigid heddle loom. The first 3 are variations on some lovely handpainted yarns from Enchanted Knoll Farm. I'm particularly pleased with the last one, in Mediterranean colors - I handspun the warp yarn on a spindle.

I've spun quite a few skeins of yarn lately - I'll show you those later.

Random Wednesday

Totally stolen from Carole. She won't mind, because she'll be glad to have been the catalyst to get me blogging again.

• Yes, I know it's been more than 2 months, and I had every intention of posting several times a week. 
• I have no idea where the time has gone.
• I may be enjoying retirement a wee bit much.
• Since Jan. 18th, when last I posted (ouch) I've spun quite a few skeins of yarn.
• I've also woven some scarves and dishtowels.
• I do have pictures of all of them.
• I'm pretty sure you don't want to sit and wait while all those pictures load in this one post.
• I'll post some over the next few days.
• I pulled out the table loom that I bought 2 years ago and haven't used since. Bad me. It's a great little loom (15" LeClerc Voyageur) and deserves to be in service. Remedied - I've got a lovely color gamp on it now. I'll show you that one today.
• I'm also knitting a pair of socks with worsted weight handspun on size 6 needles. Good grief, they knit up quickly! I see more of these in my future.
• We went to Disneyworld for my 50th birthday in February. What better time to visit the happiest place on earth and act childlike! :-)
• I walked my feet off in Disneyworld.
• I haven't done any walking since then.
• I think I'm illustrating just how easy it is to lose a good habit.
• I'd go right now and get started back walking in the park, but it's raining.
• That sounds like a poor excuse, but there IS thunder and lightning, so I'll call it prudence.
• I promise I'll go tomorrow.
• I'll blog it, too - perhaps that will keep me honest.
• There, that wasn't so hard - hope you didn't mind the random too much.

 

Ten OnTuesday

10 Favourite Games from Your Childhood

1. Jacks. Oh, my goodness - we girls played jacks every chance we got. We always had pockets full of jacks and rubber balls.  As a result, everyone had "jacks bruises" on the bottoms of their barefeet from walking on the strays that got away.

2. Tether Ball. There were 2 tether ball setups on our playground - they were always occupied and had a line of kids waiting to use them.

3. Red Rover. So much fun to try to break people's arms as you burst through the line. Well, not REALLY break their arms.

4. Parcheesi. This was my favourite board game - my cousin and I wore out several sets.

5. Rummy 500. Card game variant on Gin, this one was a favourite of kids and adults in our family.

6. Dominoes. My dad was the dominoes champion in our neighborhood. We liked playing too, but more often than not we were using his domino sets to build elaborate knock-em-down trails all over the house. Heh.

7. Yahtzee. We spent hours and hours playing this game - I've played it as an adult and didn't enjoy it at all. I guess you had to be there.

8. Scrabble. I was never defeated. Being a huge reader, my vocabulary was always the most expansive of all, including the adults in my circle. Eventually no one would play with me. Oh, the angst - and the gloating.

9. Checkers. While I lacked the strategy gene that would have allowed me to think ahead in chess, I could manage ok in Checkers. It was my brother's favourite game, so we played it a lot. I didn't enjoy it as much as he did, but I did like making him happy.

10. Chinese Checkers. SO MUCH FUN to 'accidentally' upset the board when someone else was winning. Ooops.

Thanks for the trip down Memory Lane, Carole! I wonder if I have a set of jacks in my junk drawer...

Sanctuary

Sorry about the radio silence. I went on a lovely retreat with fiber friends for most of last week, and I've been waiting for a good time to take some rooster pictures for you. I headed out late this morning with camera in hand, and though it was a gloomy, overcast day, I think you can get a good look at my local park.

This is one of my favorite places on earth. Lafreniere Park, a half-mile from my front door by foot. It has small lakes, lots of trees, a 2-mile walking/running trail, a waterfowl sanctuary, and plenty of wildlife to fill it. Any given day you can see cranes, seagulls, geese, ducks, swans, chickens, songbirds, squirrels, nutria, rabbits, turtles, cats, and dogs.

As soon as I entered the park, I saw this little family. Mama was teaching the little ones to scratch for bugs, but also to take advantage of the occasional treat thrown by a passerby. In this case, someone had just thrown goldfish crackers on the walk.

The boys were showing off their colors - very handsome.

The seagulls (and various ducks and geese) congregate when they see people with bags of bread - they know they'll get treats. 

 The wildfowl are safe here - it's "posted" so there's no misunderstanding.

 Here's the BIG hill - it's the high point of the park. Remember, it's flatland swamp around here, so we're amazed by any elevation at all. (Having hiked in my beloved Rockies, I am no longer impressed.) You'll note green grass - this is mid-winter in New Orleans. My Canadian friends will recognize some of their geese, wintering here.

I love this place. I used to run 3 miles every morning before work, watching the sunrise on my way back home. That was before Katrina devastated the area (and the park, which was used for a dumping ground for all the refuse cleaned up out of the surrounded neighborhoods, and wasn't restored to its former use for a year). Vagrants moved in and made pre-dawn runs unsafe. Since I had to be at work shortly after dawn, my morning jaunts ended. I lost my focus, my fitness, and my sanctuary.

But now... I've got the time. I'm takin' the park back. I'm looking forward to spending an hour every morning in this place of peace and healing. Walking now, but soon I'll run freely again.

Earlier, though. Too many people at 10:00am.

Walkin' on Sunshine

Still walking - on the treadmill yesterday, because it rained buckets all morning. The Beatburn app for my phone gives me a good treadmill workout, though it has me change speeds and incline levels like a madwoman, every minute or so. I can tell I'm getting a good workout, because all the appropriate muscles are sore this morning.

No roosters in my bedroom where the treadmill lives, so no rooster pictures yet.

I participated in a fun contest on Hilary's Crazy As A Loom blog to name her Solmate Sock Rugs, and she chose my "Walking On Sunshine" name - my prize was one of her fantastic rugs! It arrived yesterday and I am thrilled. Just the thing to brighten a dreary winter - and it tickles me to have a textile from someone I admire so much. (She sells these rugs on her website - don't you want one???) One of my weaving dreams is to have a rug loom in production at all times. I'd love to hang out in her studio in the Adirondacks and watch her weave her many different rugs. She offers 'weaving weekends' and one day I just might go. Thank you so much, Hilary!!! I promised you a picture of me dancing to that song on your rug - you'll have to settle for this, as it's nigh near impossible to take a photo of yourself dancing.

"I'm walkin' on sunshine - oh, and don't it feel GOOD!"

In other sunshine happy news, my dear friend Sherie from Amarillo is on her way here RIGHT NOW. She's flying in for a fiber friends retreat at my weaving mentor Cheryl's studio - we're having a 4-day slumber party. We'll visit, spin, weave, laugh, and go to our Gulf Coast Roc Day celebration on Saturday in Lafayette. I haven't seen Sherie in a year (though we chat daily) and I can't wait to pick her up at the airport this morning. Good times!