Tis the Season

A lot of people get a little overwhelmed at this time of year. There seems to be a lot of pressure to make December 25 the perfectly decorated perfect day for perfect families. So many people around me are making themselves crazy trying to decorate, bake, craft, gather and shop that it is beginning to get scary.

I actually love the Christmas season. I have more or less drawn a line and refuse to cross it. I set a budget for gifts and stick to it (which is more than I can say for the spousal unit!). I do the baking for my household as well as my parents and my father-in-law, but I love baking. It relaxes me. I decorate the house, but we have reached that point where we have so many decorations and so little space that it takes about a day to get everything but the tree in place. And our tree is not exactly a designer masterpiece--the kids decorate it with cherished ornaments that have accumulated over the past 25 Christmases--and that's the way we like it here. And, best of all, I have an excuse to knit.

I know a lot of knitters find Christmas knitting stressful (deadlines are a bitch) or under-appreciated by the giftees after all that work, but I am lucky enough to have a family who actually enjoy warm fuzzies. My mother, hubby, and kids are all big fans of handknits. My father-in-law recently proudly told me that he still wears the toque I knit him a couple of years ago--it's warmer and more durable than any store-bought hat he's ever had. I've learned over the years that mittens and hats are always appreciated, and that you can give the same person handknit socks three years in a row without them finding it dull.

This year, I find myself with a lot of odd balls left over after all the little projects ( why is it that almost every pattern takes 1 and 1/4 balls of yarn?), so I have decided that my project over the actual week of Christmas will be to turn these 3/4 balls into hats for the homeless. Relatively mindless knitting, "free" materials, and giving back to the community. What could be more Christmassy than that?

I hope your Christmas knitting is bringing you joy. Fleece on Earth, good wool to all!

Yay! Pictures!

I've sorta been putting off blogging lately because our camera has been missing. It's not that I don't have anything interesting to say, but pictures are sooo much more fun. Well, the camera showed up yesterday...in a truly bizarre spot, too. So without further ado--pictures.

Orlando sez: No knitting for you!



What the picture doesn't show is that he actually has his paws wound into the skeins and his nose burrowed in. Orlando loooooves wool and is always looking for a woolly nest to snooze in. He is also fond of chewing on handknit wool socks and mittens, which is not nearly so cute and charming. The yarn is the angora/merino blend that I spun up over the weekend for a hat and gloves for my daughter, then dyed yesterday. I was going for "coral", but I think I got "melon", but it meets with approval, so it's all good.

Since I was already making a mess, I decided to handpaint the yarn that I bought for my sister's Christmas gift.

The bottom yarn is from Silver Valley Fibres and is a beaded lopi. The top skein is a handspun looped boucle that I made a few weeks ago, and will serve as a contrast collar band. I love the colors (the picture doesn't do them justice!) and I may have to find another gift for my sister if it knits up as nicely as I think it will!

Global Warming My Asterisk!

It's cold.

Well, duh! I live in a northern community. It's November. You do the math.

Still, it's pretty tough to get up in the morning and get going when it is -35C outside and we have had a couple of feet of snowfall over the past week and a half. The roads are icy and there are a lot of newcomers to town who have never had to contend with these conditions. It's scary out there.

On the other hand, I spent the weekend blending and spinning a lovely angora and merino blend yarn for a Christmas gift, knitting on a woolly vest and a pair of mittens. The cold gives me an excuse to stay home and play with fibre, and who am I to complain about that? And my family is benefitting from my productivity. Everybody is warm in toques and mittens and scarves that I have spun/knit/woven, and if that doesn't warm the heart of a spinner, what will?

Catching Up

Where did October go?

Treasure Island wrapped up two weeks ago with a weekend of sold-out performances. We had waaaay too much fun...

I got to have awesome pirate teeth for my set changing costume, but they were eventually given to another actor, who couldn't speak in them. I think they suited me much better!

Director extrordinaire, Vern Theissen; Stage Management Goddess, Lauren Thomas; and Designer Genius Marissa Kochanski.

Long John Silver (Ross Jacobs) suffered a bit of a wardrobe malfunction on closing night. It was even scarier in person.

There are actual production pics available, but I have been too busy to run out and buy the disk. I suspect this will be as good as it gets for the old blog. It was great to work with such a young cast, but I really felt my age by the end of the run!

I rested and knitted for a day, then the Halloween preparations began. Halloween is a big deal around the old homestead, with two parties and a home haunt (pics to come when I find the camera!) We are finally more or less recovered from that mayhem and enjoying the breather before the madness of the holiday season begins.

On the spinning front: I churned out 500 yards of 2-ply painted silk for a boucle this week--the mohair singles is on the wheel as I type this. We've had our first big dump of snow overnight, so I have no excuse to do anything but spin. Yay!

I Love October

I love October. I think it is my favorite time of the year, and this October is the best one yet, thanks to our friend El Nino. I have a picture of the begonias blooming in my garden on October 3 that I wanted to share, but the camera cable seems to be mafunctioning and I can't upload it. Suffice it to say, begonias in October are pretty rare here in the Canadian sub-arctic, but the weather has been so nice that most of my flowers are still blooming!

There are other reasons I love October:

• The colors!! The leaves on the poplar, maple and aspen trees around here are spectacular this time of year. (More pics trapped in the camera!)
• Cool nights, warm days. The sun always peeks out, even on the rainiest days, and warms things up. And no snow yet (touch wood!)
• Thanksgiving. Big turkey feast, the family all together---mmmm.
• Sweater weather. Or shawl weather. Or wrist-warmer weather. Or any other excuse to haul out the handknits.
• Maple machiattos are back at Starbucks!!
• And last but not least-HALLOWEEN!!!! The planning has begun, skulls and cobwebs are beginning to appear around the house. Costumes are being planned and sewn. Skeletons are being dragged out of closets. Hee, hee, heee!

Now to get my camera fixed--or replaced!

Avast Ye Swabs!

Today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day! Break out the grog!

In observation of this auspicious occasion, I have decided to cast on the Pirate Queen's Booty Bag from talklikeapirate.com. This bag will come in handy to haul my knitting around while I am in Keyano Theatre's production of Treasure Island. I play Jim Hawkins' mother, so I appear in the first 20 minutes of the play, then sit backstage knitting until the last 5 minutes. The director may use me for set changes and so forth in between, but nothing so far. The cast is mostly 16-20 years old, with the exception of two other actors, including poster-boy Norm above, and our director is the amazing Vern Thiessen from Edmonton. Great energy, lots of fun, and nowhere near the number of lines I had to learn for Southern Belle. Yarrrr!

Meanwhile, I am still chugging away at my Highland Triangle shawl. I've had a couple of delightful frogging days, but seem to have things back under control. I also have a "mindless" shawl project on the go--mostly stockinette with an occasional lace row for interest. That one is also getting perilously close to being finished, so I am on the hunt for new inspiration. Christmas knitting, perhaps...

I am also very happy to be back working on my in-depth study. I am working on samples, and now that everyone is back to school I have the time to really focus. I am up to 6 out of 16 samples completed, but I am beginning to suspect that I made more work for myself than I needed to. I am spinning 100g of each type of yarn because I am not only making the samples for my book, but a sock from each yarn. The socks will then be worn for a week by testers and rated for comfort, warmth and durability. Sixteen socks, all handspun, the blending and preparation, the notes, the testing...what was I thinking?!? Always the overachiever.

Shiver me timbers and hoist the Jolly Roger! I'm off to knit!

Serendipity

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I love it when the universe conspires to give you what you need, even when you don't know what that is...

Life has been even more hectic around here than usual, with Steve changing jobs, kids going back to school, me gearing up to go back to work at the art gallery (under less than ideal conditions), HWSDA board commitments, my father's illness, an incomplete in-depth study and Treasure Island rehearsals. Then last week, I got hit with a kidney stone. Ouch.

I spent the better part of the weekend drugged and snoozing, but when I was awake, I pondered the pace of my life. I had hoped to have a quiet fall, travelling down to Edmonton to spend some time with my parents, sewing elaborate Halloween costumes, playing theatre Diva, and getting my in-depth finished. Instead, I had set up an insane schedule of work, volunteering and paperwork for other people. No wonder my kidney got cranky.

Then, in an hour yesterday, it all let go. The president of the HWSDA board called to express her concern over my prolonged silence. It's not that I have been avoiding my duties, just that I have had little to no time to communicate with the other board members. She graciously offered my the opportunity to step down, and I took it. One extra pressure removed. Then, not even twenty minutes later, I was informed that the art gallery job was suspended until after the political issues that were going to create such stress for me were resolved. Reprieve. So the frantic month that I was dreading has suddenly slowed down to an almost manageable pace again. All I had to do was answer my phone.

Thank you universe. Now I"d better get to work on that in-depth!