Where to start?  The knit-in in the FROG a couple of weeks ago was a great success – good food, good friends and lots of sharing – ideas, yarn, stories.  I sold one of my spinning wheels to a friend, although since then she tells me she is pretty frustrated, I’m not sure how long she will consider me a friend!  Unfortunately we don’t live close enough for me to spend time with her, however I think she has found classes and a teacher – be patient Nancy, you will suddenly “get it” and all will be well!  I was also able to get rid of some stash that fell into the category of “what was I thinking when I bought that” which gave me a little more space for new stuff, which I also acquired.  I tell you, it’s an addiction.  And I looked out of the window this morning and it was snowing – that means winter and even more knitting time.

Anyway, people managed to find us up dirt roads in the mud and puddles, nobody got stuck, nobody got lost and nobody demanded a car wash.  And the FROG was warm and cozy, with lots of good light and nobody went away hungry or thirsty or bored.  Next time, however it will be in warm weather, when we can sit outside on the porch and watch the birds and enjoy sunshine and breeze instead of wind and rain – can’t have it all.

The last weekend I had a really great treat.  Even further into the Northwoods.  I had an invite from a friend involved in the Country Spinners and Bridge Shuttlers Guild up in Sault Ste Marie to go for the weekend to a couple of presentations by Amy Tyler on spinning and knitting.  The spinning day was called Diversity of Wool, all about the different breeds of sheep and how the wool varied – we got to check it out, and spin different samples and learn about all the different qualities of different breeds – I’ve been spinning for several years now, but what a lot to learn.  The knitting presentation was fascinating – even though I’ve been knitting for about 60 years, there’s always something to learn, and I learned a whole lot about texture and color that day.  Amy is a fascinating lady with a very diverse background in fine arts and academia, and she is now a full-time fiber artist - spins beautiful yarn, designs great creations and has a lot to offer as a teacher, her web site is worth checking out.  www.stonesockfibers.com  

So, knit on friends, or spin, and for those who don’t knit or spin, keep doing whatever keeps you sane and happy as we head to a Michigan winter.  My grand-daughter is due next month [it better be a grand-daughter, or there will be a lot of blue dye floating around], and the holidays are around the corner – let’s not panic, let’s just enjoy them and life as much as the red-bellied woodpecker on the feeder outside my window, and remember, life is good.  Pippa

OK, this is for you Ian – you’ve guilted me into it!  And what else is there when the rain is coming down, all the leaves have been blown off the trees and even though it’s still October, this is certainly a November day.  An English November day at that.  The sound of rain on a metal roof is soothing when it’s a much-needed summer shower, but when this is the umpteenth day in a row, and I’ve got all sorts of folks [hopefully] coming for a knit-in tomorrow afternoon, I’ve had enough.  I live on a dirt road, hope people don’t think I’m going to offer car-washing services.

But enough, the soup is on, Peter has offered to make chile, the FROG is organized, beds are made up for those who want to stay over, and it should be a great afternoon/evening.  Now all I have to do is clean the house and sort out my stash – a never-ending job – and all will be ready.  And I would far rather blog than clean, hence I am at the compter.

The last few weeks have been busy, not just knitting and the odd knitting class, but work has been busy and a little confusing – I’m used to staying with the same patients for quite a while, but lately patients have been changing – folks going into hospital then into nursing homes, or moving out of the area, and I’ve been getting new patients.  This old brain doesn’t do change as well as I used to.  So things I used to do easily, take a little longer.  And it’s the time of year when we have to do all  sort of annual up-date learning, so that adds time too.  However it is all falling into place now, and things are settling into their normal dull roar.  Thank goodness I don’t have to work full-time.

Christmas knitting is coming along, although not in leaps and bounds – I’ve got two sons [both tall men, which means more stitches/rows], a daughter-in-law, a future daughter-in-law, a 12-year-old grandson, a grand-daughter due mid-December and of course my better half, and I can’t do anything in secret for him.  So I keep going – shawls, vests, a sweater or so, socks, the odd stuffed toy. 

To really put a spanner in the works, I have to have surgery on my shoulder next month – hopefully nothing too serious, no rotator cuff or anything like that.  However – if I can’t knit there will be a couple of major problems.  First of all I will need a prescription for Valium – knitting is my tranquilizer, and secondly, how will I ever get everything done?  On the other hand, I will be off work for a couple of weeks [best case scenario], and if I can knit, this will give me time to really catch up.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  Enough for now – as always, despite all my bitching, life is good.  Pippa

A short post,  just to prove I can post more than once a month.  I’m sitting at the computer, looking out at a wonderful sunny fall day, with my back to the dining room table which is littered with unfinished work/work – just small stuff, but my mind is still sort of on vacation.  Max has been in the river – when he’s dry the remaining skunk smell is just about bearable, but when he gets wet, it’s a whole new chapter.

I’ve almost finished another baby surprise – my neighbor Terri is about to become a grandma again – for her it’s the first boy, so I didn’t get to do frills, just a nice I-cord edging, and I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and sew buttons on this one.  Ties are so much easier!  After that I’m going to make a pair of pants to match the poncho I made for Carwen, and then a bunting – found one with legs, that works much better with a car seat.  Then it’s on to Christmas presents – can’t describe those – the girls have been known to check out the blog.

Meanwhile Saturday is Jennifer’s baby shower, so I have to fix some food for that, and then Sunday is the West Branch fiber festival, which is always a fun, friendly festival – almost like a bamboo rod gathering!

Enough for now – Peter went blackberry picking, and the house is full of the smell of slowly simmering blackberries – as I teach at ImagiKnit tomorrow, Friday’s going to be pretty busy!  Yes, life is good, particularly now the stress is down after my vacation – should have done it months ago.

Knitting on the Road

Once again this road has been paved with many good intentions, and once again I haven’t blogged for a month or more, but here I am, only this time this has been started in the Catskills instead of northern Michigan and I’ve been knitting all the way.  With a little bit of drop spindle thrown in for good measure.  Peter and I left the start of Labor Day weekend and headed down to Ohio on the first leg of our trip – stayed overnight with Shirley and Dennis – he is a rod-maker friend of Peter’s and Shirley is a knitting friend of mine with an enviable stash.  A pleasant evening, knitting, talking and the next morning more of the same for Shirley and I while Peter and Dennis played with bamboo rods and stuff in Dennis’s workshop.  I’m so thankful for his passions, it let me be free to indulge in mine.

Then to Indianapolis, to spend the rest of the weekend with my son and his wife and watch Jennifer’s wonderful “bump” which will become my first granddaughter Carwen [a Welsh name meaning blessed love].  Jennifer is due mid December, so I’m busy knitting girls stuff – I had boys only, and my first grandchild was also a boy – no frills there.  So far there are a couple of baby surprise jackets, a frilly bonnet, bootees, a Christening blanket and a baby poncho – photos when I figure out the camera stuff.  This trip has certainly given me some quality knitting time, thanks to a patient husband who knows I would rather knit than drive, and lets me most of the time.  Didn’t do any yarn shopping in Indi – Jen’s LYS was closed and the one I like to go to – Stitches and Scones [ www.stitchesandscones.com ] well worth a visit if you’re in the area, was very out of the way as we left, so I didn’t get to visit there either.

We took the dog with us on this trip – Max, the one I often refer to as my third child, is a good traveller, hasn’t done quite this much car time, but was well behaved, didn’t even get into my yarn.  So the next leg of the trip took us from Indianapolis to the Catskills – a little town called Roscoe, another Trout-Town.    But let me back up – I’m at the Catskill Rod Gathering, which is a Bamboo Rod Makers gathering.  Bamboo rod makers are somewhat like fiber junkies – only they don’t meet as often, so there is a lot of male bonding, hand-shakes. back slapping and hugs, great to see you’s, and we wives are also glad to meet again.  It’s been a year for many of us and these are good people.  We have wives that knit.

So for Peter it was a time of enjoying the company of old friends, meeting new friends, learning and sharing – just like a fiber festival or a knitting retreat in many ways.  For me it was the same sort of thing.  I took my spinning wheel last year, but this time the truck was very full, so I took my favourite drop spindle instead and, of course, some merino/bamboo fiber to spin.  I’ve been fighting the art of drop-spindling for a long time, somehow just couldn’t get it right until a couple of months ago when I bought that spindle, but I didn’t realize quite how comfortable I was with it until I found myself walking from one area of the gathering to another, spinning as I went – finally it’s working for me.  The rod-makers were fascinated by it too – none of them were able to guess what I was spinning and they were all amazed that it was bamboo – my pet comment was “my bamboo is prettier than your bamboo”.

Max’s highlight of the trip, and perhaps our lowlight, was his curiosity around a skunk – no, he didn’t get fully skunked, but he was pretty foul – a shampoo with 3% peroxide, baking soda and dishwashing liquid left him a little blonder and better smelling, but still every so often I will get a whiff, and it’s not all that pleasant.  But at least it didn’t get into my yarn.

While there someone mentioned a yarn store in the next town [Livingston Manor, aptly enough on Pearl St].  So obviously I had to go.  It’s brand new and the owner, Van Morrow, is just getting started, but should you  be in the area, please give him a visit – www.mountainbearcrafts.com – it’s tough to get a store off the ground, especially in a small town and in a tough economy, yet the area needs it unless they want to drive miles to the big box stores.

So we left the Catskills on Monday and headed for Toronto to see my sister-in-law Mandy with somewhat bated breath as we had Max with us, and not only are she and her daughter Jill not dog people, they also have a new cat.  We had hoped to bring Mandy back to Michigan with us, but she wasn’t feeling up to the trip, so we stayed a couple of nights and then headed home.  No, the dog andcat didn’t kill each other, although my bet was on the cat – never heard one growl before, and this cat has a very impressive tail and gave clear signals that she would like to have a go at Max, at least the first evening, but by the second day, they agreed to keep their distance.

So now I’m home, enough washing that I ran out of clothes-pins, and all is well with my world.  I did need the break though, I was beginning to feel like one of my dementia patients, but now I know it was mainly stress!  Now life is really good again.

Now I’m really behind – I keep promising myself I’ll blog regularly, but unfortunately regularly regularly is getting to be once a month, which is no fun either for me, or for those few folks who are patient enough to keep looking.  We’re still waiting for Summer up here in the north – a few sunny days, perhaps a couple of muggy nights, but no really hot, humid, “can’t even knit” nights [unless you've got air conditioning].

Knitting, however, is getting a higher priority – although I’m still suffering from “starteritis” – you know, you buy the yarn, can’t wait to see what it’s going to look like, then you see something else on sale, just got to have it, wonder what it looks like knit up, and so it goes.  And then I went to a fiber festival, and we all know what that brings.  After all you can’t expect me to go somewhere surrounded by color and texture and wool and roving and all sorts of new toys and “stuff” and walk away.  So I bought some beautiful roving – bamboo and merino that has an incredible sheen, a new drop spindle, some yarn for baby stuff for the new grandbaby – a girl!!!  So much for my promise to myself that I wouldn’t  buy any more fiber until I’d at least finished a couple of projects.  I also bought my usual lavender treat from  the Lavender Fleece – I always buy a couple of small bags, and hang one of them in front of the fan in my bedroom, and one under my pillow and some of Laurie’s wonderful soap – www.lavenderfleece.com

Then last week Peter and I took a day to just be together, driving around, generally heading in the direction of the Upper Peninsular to a great little book store that friends had told us about.  We don’t spend much time in the car together and that is a really good time for us - he drives, I knit and we talk, or sometimes just sit quietly together.  Anyway, I fell off the wagon again – we found a wonderful little store called The Fower Lady’s Farm & Woolery   www.sheeplady.com [actually Peter found it, I knew he was a keeper] and I bought 12 oz of silk and merino roving in wonderful shades of green.  So once again, my stash has grown, just as my patient load has grown, which means I have less time to knit!  Oh well, that’s life, and it’s still good.

So right now I have  a couple of pairs of socks to finish, a shawl to put the edging on, a scarf out of some wonderful yarn Peter gave me for Christmas, baby stuff of course, a fairisle sweater for Peter [got the yarn on sale, but haven't found the right pattern yet], a couple of vests to finish – does that give you an idea of how much there is.  There is some quality knitting time coming up though – in the next couple of months or so Peter and I will be going down to Indiana to see Bryn, Jennifer and Carwen [not yet born], and from there we will be heading out towards Roscoe, New York for a Bamboo Rod Gathering, then back to Michigan via Toronto.  What that means is lots of car time for knitting, lots of “visiting” time for knitting and in general time for the two of us to be together.  So hopefully my WIP list will get shorter and I’ll actually get stuff finished.

Meanwhile today has been overcast and rainy – the sort of day I wish we had a fireplace, but everything outside is wonderfully green, the birds are loving the full bird feeders and it’s too wet to weed the garden, so I get to stay inside and knit and blog – yes, life is good.

Boy things can surely get away from me.  We’re already into July – actually well into July, and I’m still waiting for summer.  Of course up here we are never completely free of the risk of frost, so the fact that I still have two tomato plants still to actually plant isn’t really that much of a surprise, and it’s supposed to go down to 45 tonight.  What happened to those hot muggy days of July? 

Long day today, no knitting time, which is really a bummer – started at 8:30 with meetings, then driving, then two l-o-n-g visits, then a long drive home, supper and more paperwork.  So now it’s after 11pm and I’m just sitting here blathering.  A frustrating day, but if I get it all over and done with in one day, then I have more me time, which translates to more knitting time in the rest of the week. 

My youngest son, Bryn and his wife Jennifer were in Saginaw for the weekend, so we drove down to see them, and I got to shop with Jennifer for maternity clothes – and see the reality of her gentle bulge – now I’ve got to really start baby knitting – can’t say what here – she might read it and I don’t want to spoil the surprise!  But it was great to get all the planets lined up and have both boys, David and Bryn and both Jennifers all in the same place as Peter and I.  Doesn’t happen often.

Now it’s Thursday, my favorite day of the week – quiet morning with Peter, then off to Imaginknit for a day of knitting, teaching, and just hanging out with some of my favorite people [you know who you are] who hang out in the Ya Ya room.  It’s a chance to learn from fellow knitters and share ideas, hints tips, ways of doing things in a simpler way.  During the day it’s teaching, then from 6 to 8 it’s just a social evening – it’s a feel-good place, no whining allowed, and enthusiastic support for others is the house rule.  How can you not love a place like that.

The view from my picture window is green, sunny and the day promises to be warm, my hanging plants are in full bloom, and there are two pairs of Yellow Bellied Sap Suckers [woodpeckers, but what a wonderful name] vying for territory in the trees between me and the river.  Yes, life is wonderful.

It’s been a while – one of those things that happen when life gets hectic.  How did I ever have time to work full time?  Thing are crazy right now – Peter is getting ready for Grayrock, which is the annual Bamboo Rod Builders gathering in Grayling, and we’re going to have all sorts of people coming and going, and some of them staying.  That means that dreaded task – house cleaning.  I’d much rather be knitting!

Of course I did get to sort out my stash, and all my WIP’s and all my needles and gadgets - the one “housekeeping” job I actually enjoy.  However all that did was increase my urge to knit and give me more ideas and plans for future projects.  My head is so full of projects and plans what I need is someone to finish things once I get them started – how lazy canyou get?  But somehow I need to carve out some extra knitting time.

Maybe this evening after the men have gone fishing.  I’ve been knit-starved all day.  It’s been a lovely day, blue sky with white fluffy clouds and washing hanging in the breeze.  Everything is incredibly green, and the little bits of garden I have carved out of the wilderness are starting to bloom [I know it's towards the end of June, but this is Northern Michigan after all].  I planted a wild-flower plot about three years ago, it’s pretty small, but right now is full of Sweet Williams, and a pretty blue flower that blooms in the morning and then disappears by the afternoon, other stuff coming up.  I’ve a simple system – if I like it I leave it, if I don’t like it I pull it out.

So tonight – maybe finish some very bright socks, or a baby bootie I’m doing for a store sample – then I just have to type up the pattern.  That and a good movie – sounds like some nice quiet knitting time if Max doesn’t demand too much snuggling   - remember life is always good – pippa

Well I finally put a photo at the top that fts me better- yes, that really is my clothesline, and those really were socks that were in the laundry that day.  What can I say, I’ve got a sock habit.  It’s a family failing — the dog, Max, loves to carry socks around, only he has finally learned that my hand-knits are a no no, and he has to stick with my husband Peter’s sports socks!

After a week or more of cloudy, rainy weather, it’s finally started to clear and we might even get some summer after all.  I can’t wait to get my spinning wheel out on the porch and spin outside where the wind will just whisk away all that fluff and fuzz I manage to create – the birds love it for their nests, and it’s fun to see just who’s been stealing it, along with the scraps of yarn I thow out. 

But today I first have to catch up on paperwork [I'm a visiting psychiatric nurse, and even with the modern age of computers, there's still stuff to be caught up on when I get home], and laundry to be done and hung out – hanging out I enjoy, but the rest I’m not so fond of, etc., etc.  But Peter is teaching a fly-fishing class most of the weekend, so my time is sort of my own. 

ImagiKnit in Gaylord is as ever my hideaway – spent most of Thursday there, taught one class and spent the rest of the time knitting and making plans for all the stuff I want to knit – I have so many ideas in my head I need a personal knitter!  I’m supposed to be on a yarn diet, but somehow I keep falling off the waggon – what a group of enablers I hang out with.  So I just end up with more stuff on my needles and my WIP [WorksIn Progress] list just gets longer.  Evenutally I run out of needles, then I have to finish stuff off!  But of course, Saturday morning is a “sit and knit”, so I’ll go back like a happy lamb to the slaughter.  Just the proverbial fiber junkie.

At least no major fiber festivals for me until Castle Farms at the end of July – time to save up!  Just remember – life is good.  Pippa

More from the North Woods

A wonderful weekend in the UP and the Spring Fiber Fling – but it’s always over too soon. Five like-minded souls in a rustic cabin with little heat but wonderful conversation into the night and early in the morning before going to breakfast with everybody else, and to classes. And classes in anything you can think of to do with fiber. I did a three hour course on the Care and Feeding of a Spinning Wheel – much needed, as my wheels have been suffering from neglect lately. Of course I took the one with me that was behaving, not the one I was having trouble with – next time!!! But just to sit with an expert and listen to words of wisdom and ideas coming from everyone is wonderful. Other classes on miniature knotted rugs – tiny works of art, spinnning with a supported spindle, and with a drop spindle, weaving rag rugs, preparing flax and spinning it. Just a great way to try something new and learn, even if you just learn it’s not for you.

I taught a class on finishing garments – you’ve got all those pieces of a sweater, beautifully knit, now to turn them into a great sweater. It’s so rewarding to see the light come on when someone learns a new technique. And the camaraderie and sharing – I could go on for ever.

Of course Sunday afternoon came, and back to the real world, and my part time job, and my patients and all that stuff – but next year will come quickly, and meanwhile I still get to teach at my LYS every Thursday and all that other good stuff. It’s great being semi-retired, and my river is always waiting for me just outside the front door, and it’s warm enough to knit and spin outside – life is good – Pippa

More from Northern Michigan

Though I don’t live in the UP, I will be there this weekend at the Spring Fiber Fling – a yearly meeting of the minds [and fingers] of fiber junkies put on by the Country Spinners and Bridge Shuttlers Weaving Guild who have as their main rule – You will be enthusiastically supportive of others. My sort of people. And a really “out of touch” weekend – no computers, no cell phone service, total relaxation. Envy me folks!

To the Elizabeth Zimmerman comment – one of my big regrets is that I never met her. I feel we would have had a lot in common – her maiden name is so wonderfully Welsh – as is my husband, and we both remember a world war, although hers was WWI & mine was WWII. We both went to bording school in England, and her experience sounds rather like mine – not the happiest years of my life. We both have a love for the wind woods, although I suspect my woods are less wild than Elizabeth’s were. But there is enough to feel I should have met her. If one can have a mentor who doesn’t even you know exist, then she is mine.

So OMN – frantic last-minute samples for my class in finishing techniques this weekend – I have a degree in procrastinating – the ever-present socks and a vest I had hoped to finish, but that’s not going to happen this weekend.

Enough ramblings – pippa