The crickets are getting loud out here

Just a brief update to prove that I am not dead or disappeared (although I am stuck under a load of unpacking/SAHM-ing/generally trying to pull my self together-ing). There has been some knitting (SYB, TdF socks), more spinning (I've finished plying all the Yarn School Corriedale and hope to wash it tonight) (and I've started on Devil's merino, which she has requested be made into a blanket), and some LYS stalking (I've discovered this one around the corner from the girls' new school, but I have not yet made it in to check it out).

Our sea freight is scheduled for delivery on Wednesday, which makes it just about 4 weeks from packing up to arrival. I'm just glad it all made it hear without falling off the side of the ship! We do now have a landline, so broadband should be just around the corner, along with expanded posting soon. Thanks for all your patience, and stay tuned!

FO: Chickadee Cowl

This past Sunday, I picked up my handspun Briar Rose BFL, and wound it up to cast on for the March/April project, the Chickadee Cowl.

Approximately 30 hours later, I was done. Wow. Fabulous, instant gratification, assisted by the fun of knitting with handspun, and a totally addictive combination of pattern stitch and color progression.

Pattern: Chickadee Cowl by Kirsten Kapur
Yarn: BFL handspun singles, dyed by Chris at Briar Rose Fibers for the Ply By Night SAL/KAL group on Ravelry.
Needles: 16 inch US size 10.5/6.5 mm circulars.
Gauge: totally off from the pattern, which called for 13 stitches/4 inches. Mine was about 20 stitches/4 inches. Thankfully, it stretches enough to fit over my big head, so anyone who might get it as a present should be ok.

The yarn is lovely and soft, and has a phenomenal sheen. I will definitely be getting more fiber from Chris in the future, since it was so fun to spin and knits up so beautifully.

Economic stimulating

The advent of my new bicycle a few weeks ago necessitated the selling of my old bike. After advertising on the local Tri club website and craigslist (and weeding through the "I want to buy this immediately please take it off of craigslist and I will send you a cashier's check and my mover will pick it up" scams) (Seriously. Who buys a bike without seeing it and trying it out?), I managed to exchange it for some amount of cash which will do me absolutely no good in the UK. Being the wrong currency and all. So I decided to contribute it back in to the local economy.

And what was local to me at that moment was the Green Mountain Spinnery. They were preparing to head out to MD Sheep and Wool fest the next day, but right by the door were several baskets full of mill ends.

I came away with 6 oz of cotton comfort, a 80%/20% wool/organic cotton mix, in a beautiful dark grey blue (appropriately named "Storm")

and almost a pound of their wool/tencel sock yarn base ready for dyeing.

This will either become custom colorways for socks or Tempest (although not a striped version). Stay tuned.

Hey there stranger!

It's been a while, no? We have made it out of Houston (just ahead of a Flood of Biblical Proportions) and are comfortably ensconced in Vermont at the moment. I've taken advantage of the Grandmothers to get some knitting done. But in order to have at least a few posts over the next few days, I will not talk about all of it here.

First up: ta da! The first of the TdF socks is done in it's first incarnation (the cuff is going to be adjusted when I get to London and the rest of my yarn for this project).

Pattern: my own, to be available in late June.
Yarn: Cascade Fixation (98% cotton/2% elastic), 100 yds/50 gr. For a women's size 10 I used about a ball and a half.
Needles: US 1/2.25 mm
Gauge: 7.5 stitches/12 rows per inch.

These anklets are knit from the toe up, with an easy lace pattern reminiscent of the switchbacks on Alpe d'Huez, one of the most famous and storied climbs in the Tour de France. Easy, peasy and quite comfy for the hot days of summer, whether or not you're riding your bike!

Oddy

Last month, my grandmother, Oddy, passed away after a short illness. She was 95 years old. When I was 5 or 6, she taught me how to knit. I can remember perfectly the yarn I learned with - it must have been Red Heart (or some similar 80s option) in what I thought was a perfectly lovely red, white and blue ombre. I don't remember the actually learning of the stitches, but I can see perfectly in my head the hideously uneven, messy scarf-like thing I made with it, all garter stitch, with tons of dropped stitches and yarnovers and such. It was horrific. But it was also the first step down a road that has lead, 30 years later, to my current pursuits at spinning and designing, and knitting socks for my husband, and sweaters for my daughters. She gave me the ability to keep my loved ones warm with the work of my hands. And given that I come from a long line of intellectual-type folks, being able to make something, to create, is a phenomenal gift. We leave today to go up to Maine for her memorial service, so it seems fitting to write a bit about her here.

When I was pregnant with Devil, I got a blanket in the mail from Oddy. Although she'd been living in a nursing home for quite a while and was clearly fading, she'd started a baby blanket for her first great-grandchild. I believe my aunt finished it, but it's always been a gift from my grandmother, and both of the girls have slept with it.

Baby Devil

Last Christmas, we were home in New England, and she got to meet the girls, Boo for the first time. Devil was a little concerned about being in a place that looked and felt to her like a really, really big doctor's office, but Oddy gave her a present and they bonded. On our way out, she walked down the hallway next to Oddy's wheelchair, holding her hand.

My grandmother had a phenomenal memory (she was the defacto family historian because she remembered everything), she could out-etiquette Ms. Manners herself, and she was a terrible cook. She once asked me if I wanted to "come out", which meant something entirely different in 1988 then it means now. And she taught me to knit. Thank you Oddy. You are very much missed.