smatterings

blowin' in

Anne sent me this "little something" of a pattern she knit from Ball and Skein's Arequipa yarn in Atlantic.  She named it Gust.  You can see it finished on her site.  (Go ahead, doesn't Anne have the most impossibly beautiful, long, slender neck?)  What a sweet pleasure this is to knit.  I'd love to say that I memorized the pattern in the first repeat or so, but no... not me.  If it weren't for all the Netflix that C had playing and the subtitles on LOST,  memorizing  would have been easy.  Finally, it was.  This is one of those patterns that as you knit you picture knitting again and again, each time in a different color.  A perfect little something.

Tomorrow, I'll post this as a kit, Anne's pattern and the Arequipa yarn.  It will be offered in four colorways, Atlantic, Storm, The Blues, and Gourd. 

     

a note:  Thank you to those who have left your quiet, kind comments and emails.   I don't know some of you beyond my computer screen, but your thoughts sailed through and were deeply appreciated.   

That brings me to another thank you, this time to Pat, Cindy, Carrie, and Lynne.  You also make my day.  I find myself delighted and even after all these years, amazed that other people take the time to read my thoughts.  YOU, all of you, make my day.  I couldn't possibly choose 10 people.  Each day is different.  A blog that makes me smile one day, can inspire the next.  It is a rich world that we have made in this digital realm.  I'm happy to be here.

walk with me wednesday.. ahead and behind

The past few weeks have been hard.  Gut wrenching, yet full of love.  I am so very grateful to have friends that are open and sharing.  To have friends that are family.  To have friends that kept me close in their most private moments.    I woke this morning thinking about this photograph.  I took it last month.  Ahead and behind.  Life and memories. 

and on the knitting front...
I am busy.  Yep, I have been knitting and dyeing and keeping my head on straight with the help of some of my favorite things... color and texture.  There are new colors going up in the Tashi and the Arequipa yarn pages at Ball and Skein.  Anne, of Knitspot (all I needed was "Anne", right? ) has been busy with a new "little nothing" she calls "Gust".  I've been busy with colorways.   Here's a teaser. 

 

 

   

..more about that in the next couple days.

Ice Queen

This little knit is one of my all time favorite projects.  The hundred or more little beads could have something to do with it.  Maybe it's that Ice Queen is a nearly weightless, slightly frilly (with that lovely scalloped bottom edge) little something that feels absolutely wonderful around my neck and makes me feel just a little bit special.  Love it.  I might even need another one. 

Ice Queen
pattern by Rosemary Hill
yarn: Ball and Skein Arequipa in "The Blues"
needles: Knitpicks harmony #7
#6 glass beads, clear lined with mixed blues

Notes:  I knit this according to the pattern.  It is wonderful as a neck warmer, I don't want to take it off.  Even with my rather small head size, this is too short to cover the back of my neck when worn pulled up.  If I were to make it again, I would increase the length several inches.   

It was snowing when these pictures were taken.  Did you notice all the little white specks that are snow flakes (balls)?  Anyone know the name of that kind of snow?

01.26.08

a blink
and a lifetime

good bye my friend.. fly high

the crochet chain cast on

Rarely have I had to use the crochet chain provisional cast on.  Now, it is one of my new "best friends".  The Ice Queen pattern requires the knitter to go back and pick up the originally cast on live stitches to do the ENDLESS.BEADED.PICOT.BIND OFF.  No kidding, I counted 65 beaded little  bumps and I'm still going.  Very pretty, very, very shiny.  Perfect magpie entertainment.  Pictures of that will come another day.  This post is about the cast on, or rather the release of the live stitches from the cast on.  SO SLICK!

 

See the little blue stitches in the center of the green chain?  They are just sitting there waiting to be released.

 

and finally....

I don't know why I have tried to avoid this method.  There were times when my stitches didn't release well and I had to cut the chain away. It soured me. This time I used a bigger yarn for the chain.  Slick.  I can see using it for times when I don't want to commit to say a hem vs a ribbed bottom, or top of a sock or....

walk with me wednesday

Have you ever thought about a name, a song, a color, then begin to see or hear it everywhere you turn?  It happens to me with patterns, not written instructions, but shapes that stand out and say "look over here, see me.. I'm one of them", as I walk on by.  So it has been with the patterning of the side panels of Oh! Canada.  The repetitive beating of wings, in places where I'd never thought to look.

About the otters... some of you have asked if the otters returned this year.  Yes, and no.  After surveying the perimeter of the pond last summer, I felt sure that the otters had eaten themselves out of house and home.  The pond would need time to restock.  This theory was further strengthened by the shorter visits of the Blue Herons.  I have seen an otter this winter.  He/ she ran along the snow covered bank of the pond until he reached the open water at the spillway.  I watched as he dove in, came up with a fish and then ran on to more open water at the overflow.  There, he dove and surfaced to eat several more fish before scampering over the dam and down the backside to the stream.  Most likely a single otter passing through.  I haven't found any otter slides or caves or any other evidence of residents.  Porcupines.... well, that is a different story.

snowy days

There was a pink card in with the mail yesterday.  A package, too big for my mailbox, was waiting at the post office.  That meant a trip into town.  My yarn order had arrived.

Winter has settled into the hills and we've begun to settle into winter.  It's hard on the cats.  My little old Princess, Miss Abu, had enough sharing the house with the boys and by mid morning was itching to go outside. 

There is a hole, an entrance to a snow cave, the space that is under the deck, where the cats can stand on frozen, uncovered ground, and apparently, even a spot where they can roll in the dirt.  She tried, as we do everyday, to take a small walk to the barn and back.  Too much loose snow, she raced me back to the house and stood waiting by the door. 

By late in the day, we too needed a break.  I ordered pizza and we set out for good local draft beer and some company. 

need I say more?

winter lace

Snow, freeze, melt, freeze, snow..  After another week of above freezing daytime temperatures, the snow pack was once again down to barely a foot.  The same old story  for this winter.  All of the woods flug, if it were water it would be flotsam, had worked its way down through the layers to settle on top of the snow.  The woods looked dirty, interesting, but no longer the pristine of a snowy winter.  Then came more snow.  Beautiful sparkling clean fluffy white snow.  Nothing dresses up the woodlands better.  Lace for the landscape.

What could be better inspiration for an Ice Queen?

and lace for me!

Saturday sky

The cats sense a difference in the air.  At seven they press themselves against the glass door and cry to go outdoors.  It has been warm and wet, a mix of rain, sleet and wet snow for days.  This morning is dry.  Change perhaps?

walk with me wednesday.. reflection

After four days of temps in the mid forties, the more than four feet of snow pack has melted to just a foot in most places, open and muddy ground where the sun and the rain have worked hardest.  It is mud season in January.  Not a bad time for a walk. 

It feels like ages.  All the rushing around, the tension, the hectic past couple months, fade..step by step.  I start to see again.  This is the way it should be, the way of my intent.

This morning, as I sipped my coffee and waited for the sun to rise, I read this passage.

One can not see their reflection in running water.  It is only in still water that we can see.

By the look of the sky, a change is coming.  Here's hoping winter won't take too long to return.