Remember how Friend L had challenged me to a knitting duel? She totally caved. She groveled and bowed to my awesomeness, and withdrew her challenge.
No, what actually happened was that she looked at her personal WIP, crafting, and life and made decisions. She decided that, while playing with me is fun, and the project and experience would be fun, the product wouldn’t be something she needed/wanted. This isn’t to say that we won’t do something else in the future. But this wasn’t the time nor project.
All I can say is “Thank the Baby Jesus”. Past Me is a mouthy thing that doesn’t tend to back down (yes, yes, Present Me is like this, and Future Me will likely be the same). We were in a class, I was high on excitement, my friend came up with a terribly hilarious idea (or I did…did I mention I wasn’t thinking straight?). We played a short round of chicken, and then agreed to make a traveling cap neither one of us was likely to ever wear.
The silence on the subject afterwards was welcome to me. I took it to mean that it was forgotten like any drunken bet should be. The fact that it was fiber, not alcohol that fed our drunkenness didn’t matter. And then she just had to throw down the gauntlet. I could say I didn’t want to embarrass her in front of the internet, but we’d all know I’d be lying. A: I have embarrassed many people on the internet (usually myself, but I’m people!!) and B: I’m not that nice.
I picked up the gauntlet. I didn’t have drunkenness to blame for still thinking it was a hilariously awful idea. As I have gotten older, I have found that an idiotic teenager still lives inside of me. And sometimes, I hope she never dies. But seriously, what was I going to do with a traveling cap??? *And* I couldn’t find a selection of colors I could knit into an ombre effect, so I was going to have dye the colors myself. I mean, if I’m going to do something idiotic, I might as well do it right…right?
Did I act all mature and tell my friend that while the idea is great, this execution may not be the best one? Do you know me at all??? Of course I did no such thing. I just kept playing chicken. Now, in my defense, there are a lot of positives that still would have come out of that experiment. For one, I’ve never tried dying an ombre, so that would be interesting. I still haven’t done a Franklin Habit pattern, and I’m dying to try one. His is not my usual style, so it would take something this ridiculous to try one out. And if the downside is a traveling hat I won’t use, well, I could sell it, or give it away, or…worst case, unravel it, and do something else with it. So, it wasn’t *hugely* idiotic. I’m telling you, as I teen, I was pretty boring.
What really happened is this: My friend felt terrible about having to back out of something we had agreed to. I did not, however, feel terrible. Again, I was super grateful. July, in our household, is the month of Never Ending Things To Do. They are (mostly) enjoyable, but they are legion. Since we have numerous birthdays, we also have out of state, and out of country visitors. We need to be available whenever possible for hijinx. What that means, though, is that now that July is over, I have to wade through the half assery that Past Me left. As stressful as all that is, I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy this project at all. I still wouldn’t have backed down. I’d have stressed and fretted trying to figure timing out with this and mundane things like laundry.
I am so proud of my friend for honestly looking at things and making tough choices about what to cut out. I need to be better about that myself.
So, I did have *some* heat. However, one of the things I love about my house is that when we had four human sized people in the house before Things 1 and 2 moved out, the acoustics were such that it didn’t really *feel* like we were all on top of each other. Funny thing about air, whether it’s transporting heat, or transporting sound, it reacts pretty much the same. So, my house was mostly an icebox.
Today is Wednesday. Which means Works in Progress. I have been working on three, count them, three memory quilts for forever. I finally got them done, and the recipients have them in their hot little hands.
I learned a whole lot about quilting doing these, so expect to see pictures in the future as I need to demonstrate future thoughts. The loved one who passed was clearly an Oregon Ducks fan, so I chose the colors accordingly. The backs are yummy minky in colors which align with the recipients. I am absolutely sure that when I was asked to do these quilts, the expectation was that I would have a simple blocked quilt with everything the same size.
Here we are in 85+ degree weather, and my brother caught something awful and has been making equally awful noises all vacation. I have caught something similar, which I’m unfairly blaming on him, and making similar, yet distinctly different sounds. Not only did we go from 45 ish degree weather to 85 ish degrees. We went to about 200 feet in elevation to about 3000 feet. To top all that off, it is *still* cane burning season where we are at, so ash is falling like rain. OK, the ash isn’t *that* bad, but it’s not that good, either. We also went to the coast, back to normal elevation, but still super hot. All this means is that our bodies are shocked, and feeling abused. I’m willing to take the trade off, though for the time and experience.
It does lose elasticity in this process; as well as stitch definition. But, because of this, we can have felt hats (think Stetsons). Once again, whether or not something is desirable depends on your purpose. I know I drive people crazy when they ask me what the “best” yarn is. I don’t know, what do you want to do with it? So, a blanket which has felted may be something awesome–if you lived in the Arctic. Or something awful, if you lived here, in El Grullo. That being said…the warmest blankets *EVER* come from here. Ask Things 1 and 2, if you don’t believe me.
This ash that is aggravating my sinuses is the same ash that clears the fields for more cane which sweetens the coffee I’m drinking right now. The elasticity of knitting gives way to the sturdiness of felting. Try not to be too afraid of a little hot water and agitation. While there’s security in knowing exactly what you’ve got, you may find there’s a different security in the hardiness of having made it through the hot water and agitation. Like so many things in life, it’s about finding the right balance for you. Maybe the balance is more felt, maybe it’s no felt, only you can decide. I can’t say what the “best” balance is for you. I don’t know…what do you want to do with it?
Then, I pull the lace out. I make sure to pull the yarn as far as it will go. I catch each of the points in the rod to make strong, consistent points for the finish.
You can’t see any of the definition that makes the piece beautiful. You may not even be able to see the full potential. It takes stretching the piece beyond what you think is possible to bring out its full glory, like the featured image. 
There is, however, always the possibility of going too far. But, I maintain it was going to break anyway, and it’s best to know now than when I’ve come to depend on it. Besides, if it’s never blocked, it never has a chance of being what it’s supposed to be.
I have no idea what I’m doing. That’s a bit of a stretch…I have SOME idea. I’ve taken a couple classes from the Master Gardeners. But, ideally, someone would come to my house. Blindfolded, of course…I don’t want anyone knowing where I live. They would tell me: cut here, because this. And: cut there, because that. It’s hard for me to do spring cutting. I feel bad about curbing growth. Logically, I know I’m directing growth, rather than curbing..but still. Last year, I didn’t trim back far enough based on conversations I’ve had with others who 
I came out early enough that the weeds aren’t too crazy. Plus, I got to see my volunteer kale. I do a pretty poor job of fall cleaning. I can tell you it’s because I am letting the nutrients go back into the soil. And that may be true, but I justify it by seeing my volunteers the next spring. If I had done a better job of clean up, the kale and the chard would be gone.
In the warmth, and the nutrient rich environment, some clippings get what appears to be a surge of growth, but nothing happens with them. Fast forward to the end of the season. I open up the bottom section to pull out the composted stuff, and out spills a bunch of potatoes. So…I go to the kitchen, get a bowl, and gather them up. I decide to try out a new potato recipe with those potatoes.
Last year, this whole area was blackberries. The poor lilac has been overrun. Even weeds express this dichotemy…Did you know that dandelion roots can make a dye for yarn? The leaves make a different color; and the flowers, still another. Poopie spent a lot of time pulling out scotch broom as a weed (it IS in invasive species). But a couple of years ago, I made him bring me home a bunch to dye yarn with. I gave that yarn to L. She’s on vacation, so I’m not going to make her send me a picture of it for you.
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it for the longest time. I only ask for a skein of yarn because I never know what I’m going to get, and I want it to be something of reasonable cost. 
My MIL asked for a rainbow runner for her table. Finally, I knew what to use the yarn for! I wove this runner. There wasn’t enough of the yarn for either a full warp, or to use as weft. Generally speaking, warp is the long strands of fiber, whereas weft is what goes back and forth side to side. The lovely thing about weaving is that you are not constrained to use the same yarn for the whole project. Which is why knitters/crocheters often expand out into weaving.
(I have SOOOO many stories of my honeymoon adventures, which I’m sure I’ll share), we went to Whitefish, MT. I stopped by a yarn store, and purchased a skein there, and then I made this lovely cowl.
It’s half yarn store, and half guitar store. In that store, they have locally dyed yarn. By the smell and the colors, I believe that they are Kool Aid dyed. I turned that yarn into this cute little wrist bag for projects. As a side note, they also sell yarn at the Ace Hardware in Lihue, but that’s just generic yarn.
Armed with this new knowledge, I went out (eventually) and bought myself a wheel. Or 2. Or 3. Then I sold #2. Then bought #4. And later, #5. Trust me, Poopie tells me about my wheel collection (which is only 4). I ask about his guitars, and he finds somewhere else to be, and his hearing has suddenly deteriorated. I would also like to point out his wall of lp’s behind spinning wheel #1.
Apparently, the same is true with music. It would be very helpful, however, if Poopie didn’t sound like a trombone when he talks about his music equipment. I’m not one of the Peanuts kids, I don’t understand “Wa waa wa waa wawa waa”. So, even had the reel to reel I bought him actually worked, it was a 2 track instead of a 4 track. Our local record store took back the defunct reel to reel. Two machines later, he now has the one he wanted. Also, please note the 2 guitars and mandolin, in addition to the guitars and basses in the music room.
But…I had some projects half started from Madrona. Plus another thing I just started (which is not the shawl I’m supposed to make for Sheri, because I suck). 
Plus spinning, plus…plus…plus… So, I just packed a little of everything. There’s the weaving on the knitting loom that hopes to become a hat someday. There’s the new hat. There’s the drop spindling.
The tables were lit with Beer signs. There was even a large biker dude, complete with motorcycle patches on his leather jacket. Also, he had an itty bitty dog with its own leather vest. Apparently, it was a support dog? The dichotomy was startling to say the least.
La Tejedora Crafts 