Happy New Year 2015

As the new year rolls around we tend to take stock.  What was wonderful...other things...well, less so.  I find that I miss the blog.  Not the self promotion, that gets tired.  I've never been one for a parade of finished objects.  I can hardly remember to take pictures for my Ravelry page.

But I think that what I miss is the writing.  Writing a few times a week give me a time for introspection...thoughtfulness...as I try to put thoughts and feelings into words. I have used this blog as a diary of sorts, mostly writing about fiber (obviously), gardening, travel and the public parts of my life.  There's only a little about work, except as it gives me a few interesting travel opportunities a year.  My private life is only interesting to me - no drama to make salacious reading.

So in 2015, I'm going to revive the blog.  Other resolutions...

• Finish the purple sweater (about 80% done).
• Rework red sweater.  So far I have pulled out the sleeves and washed the yarn.
• Knit at least 6 pair of socks (2 already on needles)
• Work out more - Notice that I did NOT quantify that. but I've either walked or done yoga nearly every day since the Christmas break began.
• Pay attention the Etsy shop.  I started by putting my patterns up.
• A little promotion wouldn't hurt (Facebook; Phat fiber)
• Add patterns to Ravelry.
• Keep my office cleaner.  It's currently quite tidy. Can I spend 5 minutes at the end of every day tidying up? 

So we shall see if I can keep this going.  Stay tuned...

Still Knitting...

Yikes!  It's been since September?  Seems impossible that the whole fall season - ok, semester - has gone by without a post.  So, here's some of what happened...in no particular order...

SAFF - A wonderful weekend of fibery goodness.  I was holding down the action in the workshop building, so I didn't get around as much as I liked, but it sure was fun. Smoky Mountain Fibers sponsored the contemporary sheep to shawl demo, dyeing the yarn and roving in my Saturn colorway. 

Sock class - I taught a couple of people to make socks.  I knit my little fingers to the bone to keep my samples up to speed with my students & ended up with a pair of cozy purple socks.


Designing woman - Since my collaboration with Friends and Fiberworks, a yarn shop in Asheville NC, I am knitting lots of  small projects to show off the yarn.  Sometimes we knit up samples in the yarn companies' patterns but whenever possible we make up a simple pattern to give away with yarn purchases.  None of these are fabulous creations, but they are all just unique enough to declare an original.  And it really helps the yarn find its way to a new home. 

Knitting along - In addition to teaching classes, I'm also hosting knit-a-longs at the shop.  This evening it will be 'Fast, Fun Fingerless Mitts', or as I call them Fast & Furious Fingerless Mitts.

Just plain knitting - Both for myself and the various shops who carry my hats and scarves.  Now, can we get some cold weather, please? 

Dyeing - Both for my Etsy shop and the local trade.  I am currently spinning some delightful Blue Faced Leicester roving that I dyed in shades of orangey red.  And it's actually for ME! I have a vest in mind...

Other than these few little dibs and dabs, working most Saturdays at the yarn shop, the day job has been keeping me busy as well as my usual activities - yoga, gardening, dancing, goofing off with friends & family.  You know, life! 

Birthday Greetings...

...to the best truck ever.  This week my stalwart companion of 16 years turned 240,000 miles.  Yes, my 1996 Toyota Tacoma reached quite a milestone.  Truckie came into my life when she was a mere pup - just 7600 miles.  Her first owner turned her in to get something with a lower payment, the salesman said. So on Memorial Day weekend  '96 she came home.

I'd never owned a truck before, but ever since Datsun and Toyota started selling small pickups in the early 70's, I loved them.  Truckie is a red queen cab, 5-speed, 2 wheel drive model with sport wheels and a camper top.  I've driven her across town and across the country. I have a youth bed mattress that fits perfectly in the bed and I've slept in her in Chapel Hill, NC, in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia, in Big Bend National Park, Texas and plenty more places.

A few years ago she started showing her age, so I adopted her cousin - a red (of course) '09 Toyota Matrix, who coincidentally turned a mere 50K the same week.  Truckie is no longer my daily commuter, but she still holds a special place in my heart.  She is happy to be a loaner to my friends, but I don't take her on the road to gigs.  I drive her about once a week, mostly to keep the battery charged and to justify owning a second vehicle.

Seems kind of funny to write a love note to an aging pick up truck, but this may be the best vehicle I'll ever own.  Long live Truckie!

Cousins Count

This busy summer continues to roll along.  Between my professional work, my creative work and a bit of down time, it is hard to believe that August is here already.  There has been a good bit of travel (NC, VA, OH) with more to come (DC & Chicago).  The picture here is the view from a lovely hike in the New River Gorge (WV).

Last weekend I made a little trip to northeast Ohio to visit family.  When I was growing up, there were at least 2 family reunions each summer - often 3.  But we are all grown and spread out now, so it's hard to get together.  I was one of the cousins who moved away early.  I have not lived in the town where I grew up  since I was 18, and I really lost track of most of my cousins.  Since Facebook has made it easier to keep track of each other, we have reconnected.  So about a year ago my sister Ronnie & cousin Tony decided that we should have a reunion.  Last weekend the Quinn Cousins came together.

My mother was one of 8 siblings in an Irish Catholic family and they were nothing if not prolific.  I grew up with 38 first cousins, plus a couple of long-term foster children who I never knew weren't real cousins.  Now there are only a few of my mother's siblings and in-laws still alive, so it's up to our generation to keep this slightly crazy and very fun family from becoming lost to one another.  I think I chatted with a few cousins for the first time.  When you are a child, a few years difference is huge. Now, not so much.  So it was lovely to gather in the parish hall and visit.  We shared a meal, talked, laughed and caught up with one another.  Three of my sisters and their husbands were there and we had fun catching up and shared a few important conversations.

I admit that I did not go to all the events -  I missed dinner on Friday night, touring the town were we grew up, the poker games and Sunday picnic.  I wish I could have stayed through Sunday, but a deadline required that I head on down the road.  I am so glad that I went.  My fiber-geek reputation is not unnoticed.  I brought home a bag of alpaca fiber!

I'm also glad that I stopped for a hike half way there.  Rather like family, you have to see the big and glorious picture (like the photo above), but remember to pay attention to the small, but remarkable details.  I looked down to see a couple stands of Indian Pipes.  A walk in the woods is a great way to break up a long drive.

Official Fiber Content:  I started a 2nd Equinox Raglan - this time in Noro Silk Garden.  I like the cotton/linen one so well (I'm wearing it now), that I know that I'll want to keep wearing it when it gets chilly.  I have a vest class on the schedule at Friends and Fiberworks, but I'm not sure it will make.  I'll make my own even if no one else joins me!
  

Getting Close

1. Almost to the end of 50 Hats in 50 Days.  Last evening I completed hat #44, an olive green Windy City.
2. It's Friday afternoon and the weekend dyeing will be the many shades we call green:  bright, pale, grassy, mossy, turquoise, loden, chartreuse, and a few multi-tonals.
3. The semester is coming to an end.  Though there are still some finals to give and grade and a few portfolios to review and a student video to tinker with and grant work to complete, I am putting this one to bed.
4. It's nearly Christmas and that means I'll travel to Portland, OR to see my sister and her family whom I totally love.  I don't see them often enough so we hardly stop talking except to eat!  The kids will be bigger and the voices deeper.  Scary!
5. I changed my Facebook page from 'In a relationship' to 'Single,' but then hid it. 

Distracted

Seems I can hardly get started on things these days.  I'd have a hard time finishing if I had anything to finish.

About 2 weeks ago, I frogged the Mossy Cardi & immediately cast on for a new cardigan.  And cast on I did - to knit up a sweater that would have been nearly 50 inches around.  That's 78 cm - making it seem even bigger!  Even on my fattest days, I don't think I am that big.  Because I did not measure until I had knit about 4 inches, I happily frogged that sweater and cast on again.  I have now knit about 1 1/2 rows.

About a week or so my niece gave birth to a baby boy.  I cast on for a tiny sweater.  Now in good faith, I will say that she did not tell anyone the gender ahead of time and I'm not a mint green kind of person, nor is my niece.  So a tiny pale blue sweater is now about  two thirds along.  Here is what it looks like today.  The nicest thing about baby things is they knit up quickly.  I'm knitting this pattern [rav link], but I'm already making mods as it is written with gobs of sewing up later.  I kitchenered the shoulder seams.  Now I am knitting the sleeves from the top down.  notice the stitches on holders rather than cast off.  I think it will be quite cute and very tiny!

After a few sessions of leading the fiber unit in Art Education, I've almost completed my fingerless mitts, just a bit of sewing up to do.  It would take about 10 minutes.  I'm meeting tonight with a yarn shop owner to discuss my making a couple of patterns for her store.  Note that I am adding to my list with actually finishing anything.

I'm on several deadlines at the day job, but they seem more doable.  I make a list, break things down into smaller tasks as need be.  Later I cross them off as I finish them.  I have crossed off lots of things today. Somehow my at-home lists are a bit less pressing that my weekday lists. I think I know why - it has something to do with my distractability.  There are just so many interesting things to do!