cold & clear today, emphasis on the cold.

We have had quite a few cold mornings lately and with the thermometer reading 39F at almost 10AM, I think that we might be In For It, this winter. Needless to say, before writing more than a couple of words, I found that I needed to go back to the house, fire up the little red Bodhum tea kettle and get some of Harney's Cinnamon spice tea into a mug, to both warm my hands and my other senses. Delicious.

Rod just moved something over from the main garage to a perch in here. I am happy to see this happening because it appears that he is finally inspired enough to begin work in earnest on transforming that three car garage over there into a real train layout. I think that the sudden death of our friend Russ Simpson (model builder for Hollywood as well as the model railroad business) has hammered home the reality that if you wait for the perfect time, it will never come. Witness my mother's huge fabric collection, saved for when she retired from teaching music, only to lose her eyesight. Now I am making a wish that he finds some buddies to come help him with the project, just as he did for our dear friend Bill.

So, the addition of Lorrie to my workshop has been quite a wonderful thing, allowing me the ability to push out product when I need to and then to have some quiet time to do my homework and get creative again. There is something to be said for success of colors and yarns, by the way that I dye them over and over and over again for so many wonderful people but then again, I was reminded that I have needed some creative bursts. So be it.

With the weather being so CRISP, after photographing the swatch and ball of the newest yarn, I just shoved that swatch against my face and wanted to leave it there until Spring. Seriously. This yarn is just SO up my own knitting alley that I may have a hard time sharing, when the box shows up. It is an eight ply, bouncy and ridiculously soft. I made a swatch with two sized needles and think that I actually like the part that was knitted on the size 9 US/5.25mm. It comes in at 4.2 stitches per inch, which is a good Aran weight, in my estimation. Ahhhhh, I just had to put it up to my face again...I am better now. :o)

Here is the glam shot of the yarn that I am calling Lush. The put-up is 2 ounces/100 yards for $29. I will send up a flare when I have it and can begin the alchemy.

So I mentioned some private dye days. I was staring at my new favorite mug and had this interpretation in something that I call Salt Marsh. I LOVE this colorway, big time.

So thennnnnnnn, I got hungry. Being a native Californian, I have eaten a lot of avocado's in my years on the planet and when put a photo came in front of my face, I went off on a tangent. This series should be called Everything But the Pit.

Sock Merino in Fresh Avocado.

Sock in Guacamole.

Sock in Fuerte.

I also added some really beautiful and deep colors in Violet and a blue/violet that I call Regal Blue.

There are some new handspun yarns up on the site. This one is THE most dreamy stuff. It is an uber soft Baby Alpaca from a saddle that I washed and then plopped into a BIG pot, adding the fixings for Plumdinger. I spun this yarn up when I was sitting in the sun up in Canby Oregon, this past September for OFFF. I finally figure out how to photograph it in the truest light. It was just refusing to show itself in the manner befitting such a yummy bit of yarn. Did I say that it is soft? Spun from the locks for a textured look.

I know that I have been quiet about mom for quite some time. It is because there is absolutely nothing to report, other than she is living and is being so very well taken care of by April and the other angels at Placerville Pines. Every time that I go to see her, she is asleep. They tell me that she is taken out to the day room for meals, a couple of times a day, which is encouraging, meaning that she gets to have some kind of stimulation.

I finally unpacked a box the other day, one that she had packed by herself, when we were getting things ready for her move. At the bottom, under all of the old Christmas wrap and other odds and ends was her jewelry box. I found it kind of touching. After Lauren and the Schnickle moved out, I did not do much in that room that had been the bedroom for mom and then the little guy. The box was just In The Closet. These were all of the things that I used to look at, when I was a little girl...the pins and coins and precious things from my grandmother's era. Here they all were, not lost, after all. I looked at each piece, turning them in my fingers and remembered who my mother used to be and how she had lovingly kept these in her bureau nestled in cotton. Here they were again. Things but things with a connection, to her and my grandmother. Now I am the grandmother and the Keeper of The Things. Bittersweet but the circle of life and times.

Now I must take my cold fingers and immerse them into some warm water, getting back to Work. Carry on!

P. S. Marsh Green

Comments

[minnie]

love the colors, but the jewellry box spoke to me the most. i got a lot of my grandmother's stuff when she passed away, and while, yes, it is just stuff, it also instigates good memories. the little table that won't hold much beyond a telephone. the pyrex dish that STILL has a piece of masking tape with her name on it (she's been gone for 8 1/2 years, and probably didn't use it much as she was 96).

however, the #1 thing she gave me? the reason why i'm here at your website. a love of yarn, and fiber, and the artof creation. i think she would have LOVED knitting with my handspun, and all the crazy nutty things i come up with. why wait, indeed.

[Shea Webb]

Do you have any patterns for crocheters. I love your yarns.