I love words. I love knowing what they mean, how and where they originated, the images they conjure and most of all that we have so many words to describe how we experience our world.
I am in the process of knitting a sweet little sweater for myself called the Quintessential Cardigan. The word "quintessence" is one of my top 20 favorite words! The first entry in Webster's Dictionary defines quintessence as: "the fifth and highest element in ancient and medieval philosophy that permeates all nature and is the substance composing the celestial bodies." WOW!
The yarn I've chosen for the first incarnation of this sweater is an amazing Scarlet. My blocked swatch is everything I hoped it would be - soft next to my skin, amazing hand and perfect drape. It is lightweight but will be cozy and warm. Plus, the color lifts my spirit just looking at it, which helps stave of the I'm-ready-for-winter-to-be-over doldrums. Knitting with it will be an absolute joy.
So while I'm knitting this darling sweater I will imbue every single stitch with this meaning and when it's complete it will envelop me in celestial wonderment. What more could a woman ask for from a sweater?
Follow this link if you want to get your own Quintessential Cardigan pattern from Churchmouse Yarns and Teas!
My one and only son is engaged to be married. He lives in London, England (and has done so since 2006) with my one and only grandson! His future mother-in-law and I have become great friends. We share a love of needlecraft and textile arts of all sorts!
Cath and I get along like the proverbial house-afire. We have visited each other's homes and taken one another on "Yarn Crawls." She took me through old textile mills, to sheep farms and yarn shops during a 3 day road tour of "The Real England" which included a stop a Beatrix Potter's estate in the Lake District and the Castlerigg stone circle in Keswick!
One year we attended The Knitting and Stitching show in Harrogate together. I've taken her through several yarn shops in Chicago as well as all of my favorites in S. E. Wisconsin. I knitted a shoulder cozy for my future Daughter-in-Law to keep her warm as she went through chemo treatment. Cath knitted hats for my son. We've even knitted "alike" shawls that we bought the yarn for when we were together.
Now, we have embarked on a project together to create two sets of heirloom-worthy embroidered felt ornaments. The Twelve Days of Christmas song inspired Larissa Holland to create patterns for a series of ornaments that represent each of the gifts from the well-known carol. We are each making a full set, evens and odds are divided up so that two families get 1/2 of their series from each of us. Cath's son and daughter-in-law are a darling couple with a daughter and 2 sons that I've come to know and love. My son brings a son and his fiancé brings a daughter to their charming blended family. And so, I consider it an honor and a privilege to create and share these beautiful ornaments between these two young families. I pray that Cath and I are remembered for many years as Christmases Yet to Come are celebrated. God bless us, every one! D.D.
From Left to Right: Partridge, French Hen, and Pear
From Left to Right: Turtledove and Calling Bird (aka Colly Bird)
It has been nearly 10 years since I posted anything to this blog! Now mind you, it's not for lack of desire to share my creative endeavors but rather a journey that culminated today with me gaining back control of my blog!!!!
Someone hacked my blog and was able to change the email address so I couldn't log in to post! Initially, I made several half hearted attempts to recover the blog over the past 9 years but the hoops I had to jump through and the hurdles I had to clear were numerous and time consuming, alongside the fact that I had to wade through pages of "how-to-recover" posts in the blogger forum! It just seemed like too much so I let it go. Until today. Today something just reared up inside of me and I determined that I would get my blog back no matter how long it took. This was just one more thing that had been taken from me over time and I just wasn't going to stand for it anymore!
My sense of personal safety and well-being has been under assault since the campaign and election of the 45th president of the United States. My peace of mind was also, (unlike the false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen) in fact, stolen. My health has been put in jeopardy by selfish, stupid, inconsiderate individuals that refuse to wear masks or get vaccinated. My son and his fiancé had to postpone their wedding - twice - due to COVID-19 restricting travel to and from the USA to the UK! The list goes on and on. And while my it is my intention to make this blog about my fiber pursuits, not to grind any political axes or complain about the things I cannot change, I just had to get all of this off my chest!
I've been to the depths Sheol and I have re-emerged stronger, wiser, and most of all healthier mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. So 3 hours and many support emails later I have my blog back. I feel like I've recovered a piece of myself self that I didn't even realize was missing.
I will probably have to live another 100 years in order to use up all of the materials that I have already purchased for all of the projects that I have determined I want to do. That probably isn't going to happen. (If it did, I would be one of the oldest humans living since Old Testament times!)
So, here's the problem. I can't seem to break away from browsing and surfing the net. If I spent just one hour a day on the Internet, I could get so much more actual creative work done; but here's what happens. I start looking for a resource, or I answer an email, or .... next thing you know I'm on YouTube watching how to make another exciting, new thing. Then I've joined a group or forum that is dedicated to the making of the new thing. Then instead of doing the new thing myself, I'm trying to figure out which is the best of the ideas from the new thing group/forum members. Then I have to find what materials/resources they've been using and then I have to search some more to see if there is a DIY version so I can make the supplies with materials that I already have so DH won't be upset about me spending even more money on a new, new thing when I haven't finished the last several new things I started. So there I am perfectly content to have all of this information, but no new thing in hand!
I am a PROCESS PERSON married to a PROJECT PERSON. Most of the time I am perfectly happy in my quest for new things. But today, I'm feeling like I want to have more completed projects in my life.
So I've gotten this off my chest. Still haven't added to my list of completed projects. But I've got lot's of ideas and supplies. Oh and a host of new friends in the forums and groups that I am a part of. I guess there are worse ways to spend my time!
If you don't know, you should know about Ravelry. Google it or go to ravelry.com to find out more! I received 3 skeins of yarn, l-o-n-g discontinued that I needed to complete a sweater that I'm knitting for my grandsons birthday. First of all, I thank God for having found the one remaining tattered ball band with all of the identifying info on it. (It was wadded up in the bottom of a plastic bag filled with trash in my creative area waiting to be thrown away, God only knows why I was compelled to go through the trash, I had given up on finding this ball band!)
I then went online and googled the yarn, nothing. Ebay - nothing. I searched Ravelry for yarns listed in members' stash and there it was. I then located the 3 skeins of the yarn in the right color, owned by someone that was willing to sell or trade it. I messaged her, she responded and today, my DH brought it in and presented it to me.
It couldn't have come at a better time. I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, and was wishing I could move to Australia, where it is summer now. I was hating the DMV in California, I was having a having-to-deal-with-my-ex-husband-so-I-can-see-my-grandson-that-I-haven't-seen-in-two-years-crisis, I have a case of the I'm-tired-of-the-snow-and-cold-cabin-fever-recovering-from-knee-replacement-surgery-blues, and....enough already!
The yarn worked!
D.D.
Hell hath no fury like a tactile deprived woman revitalized! (Thanks to William Congreve, not Shakespeare, for the original sentiment.) I have been knitting like mad. If I hadn't slipped and fallen on the ice outside of the building where I participate in physical therapy on Monday, I would also be spinning like crazy and weaving with abandon (it's hard to navigate the stairs to the basement where the fiber stash and loom are housed) as well.
I've been knitting in the car, while DH drives, I knit during the 10 minutes that my knee is being iced at physical therapy, while I'm flexing my knee in the continuous passive motion machine, while watching dvd's, and I dream of knitting in my sleep! It's like being re-united with a long lost love.
I'd forgotten the delightful sensation of cashmere, silk, or merino yarn gliding through my fingers, drinking in the various hues, tints, and shades - some bright and thrilling, others subdued and soothing, the excitement of planning a project, stroking and caressing the yarn in my stash, fantasizing about the drape, fit, and silhouette of the finished garment, delighting as the heft and weight of the piece grows, nestled in my lap.
I pray I never have to be robbed of the joy I gain from my fiber pursuits again. But just in case I'm knitting every available moment today.
The sum of days since I last posted has taken me by surprise! The best laid plans of women, especially ones who knit, oft go askew (to paraphrase Robert Burns)! 2009 was to be a year of much knitting, spinning, weaving, creating. I gathered yarns, patterns, ideas, tuned up the Gilmore loom, inventoried fiber and warp threads, made sure the Lendrum was in good order. I planned, plotted and dreamed of beautiful handmade gifts and treasures sure to delight the maker (me) and the lucky recipients (too numerous to list).
My trip to Sacramento in February of '09 wherein I began the Great Adult Surprise Jacket Adventure, ended with me having my first ever case of sciatica (childbirth labor is less painful), followed closely by bursitis of the hip, which then segueway-ed into a low back episode that required spinal injections, and finally a total knee replacement surgery in September plus a bonus - the manipulation of said knee in November that was more painful than the surgery.
Now, I consider myself to be a healthy person. I can count the number of times (pre-sciatica) that I had taken so much as an aspirin since August 19, 1984 (my sobriety date). I was determined to get through the post surgery and rehabilitation process without narcotic pain relievers. HA!!!! Total knee replacement surgery is no walk in the park (pun intended)! So oxycodone and oxyconton saw me through the first 3 weeks, (there was to be no knitting or anything else that required focus or attention). Then there was Tylenol 3 for a couple of months, still not much in the way of focus, as a matter of fact I began to worry about my lack of ability to concentrate. I think I understand how people with ADD/ADHD might feel.
I also went off of the bioidentical hormone replacement therapy protocol I had been on for several years, so I was thrown into instant menopause; the brain-to-mush and emotional yo-yoing that lack of estrogen on the neuroreceptors causes had Jekyll/Hyde propensities that were terrifying to my DH and me! No one died!!!
Can anyone say imbecile?
Enough whining.
I'm back to knitting with a vengeance. I've completed the cashmere sweater from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Cherished Babies, as well as the cashmere booties and a hat adapted from the Ann Norling Kid's Fruit Caps pattern for my new great nephew, Owen. I'm knitting the Cider House Rules vest from Interweave Knits Fall 2000 for my DH, and I'm making my grandson Malakai a sweater for his birthday in April. I've been needing an earflap cap to weather the weather (well below freezing), so I'm designing one to knit it out of alpaca that's been stashed.
Time and my fingers are finally flying together again. Thank God!
