She's gotta have it

Perhaps a more apt title would be "Mama got a brand new toy". Sometimes you just have to celebrate your birthday early. My very lovely Jack, knowing what a technophobe I am, made me start the research on a new camera and then came in and helped me understand the terms. He still maintains that the old camera took lovely pictures; it was me that hadn't bothered to learn to use the camera. That may be somewhat true, but I can assure you that my old camera could not do this:

Do you see that bee on the Echinacea? I've been trying to take pictures of bugs for years; who knew it wasn't possible with the tools I had available? Nice color inspiration, too. Hopefully I'll be back in my "dye studio" (or "kitchen" as the rest of the family prefers to call it) by mid-July.

Then after we agreed on the camera - I needed an SLR to take pictures of soccer, and swinmming, and diving, you know, important stuff like that. And let's not forget, very small energetic creatures at play:

Here be the boy child and his favorite playmate, Christy the Jack Russell puppy. Adorable creatures, Jack puppies. Don't worry, I'm not that crazy. She lives a few houses down and both of my children spend inordinate amounts of time on her front yard paying with her and talking to John, her adult.

The other requirement was that the new camera take beautiful pictures of yarn.

My Jaywalker in my handspun merino-tencel.

My Dragonfly DK in the Dragonfly colorway and kettle-dyed in Woodviolet. For that stranded project I mentioned. It's lovely knitting yarn, too. So soft, a nice structure too it. It should be able to handle cables and embossed patterns well.

A lace knitted tank of my own design in Reynolds Saucy. If it works, I'll let you know.

The camera seems to work pretty well with roving too. Soon I'll take pictures of these rovings and put them on Etsy.

Did I mention the camera takes lovely shots of the kids?

Checking in from Vacationland

I'm back from last week's blog holiday with plenty to share, but no pictures. My camera is still dead and I know it's my duty as a knitblogger to have pictures to share my foolishness in fiber. Unfortunately, time and money are getting in between my performing my duty as a fully functioning knitblogger. Apologies.



We had a bang up time in Wrightsville Beach with our very good friend Maggie and many other old and new friends. Maggie owns a tenth of the house - not a time share, she assures me, and one would have to be more legally astute than I to understand the difference and has access to it 5 weeks in a year. It was an honor and a pleasure to be invited to share her summer week with her. I've actually been going with her since before I met my husband, maybe for 16 years.



You shall have to use your imagination here to picture Maggie, and Cindy and Ellen, best friends since their Vassar days, now in the early 60's and going around together and giggling as if they're still kids. And Betsy, Maggie's best pal from the free and easy post-college days up to now. Actually, Ellen is Betsy's older sister. And Katherine and Richard, Betsy's beautiful teenagers and their pals Michelle and Ryan. After my two got over their fear of "the teenagers", they became permanently attached. Of course, the sparklers, and water ballooon fights, and smores may have helped. Katherine, the ring leader in these activities, will make a wonderful teacher.



There were two houses, by the way, right next door to each other, and it's a good thing, too, because a third sister Barbara drove down from Vermont with her lovely husband Ron and they brought two friends who stayed for a day. And finally, Kenny, Betsy's brother in law, flew down from Brooklyn. Kenny, never married, had some difficulty with my reference to how well my loveley husband has been trained:) Sometimes, you just have to be there:)



Of course, my two kids had a fabulous time; in fact, the mermaid ventured out beyond the breakers for the first time and really enjoyed the waves. The merman spent much of his time in the breakers, when he wasn't doing karate moves with the shovel or catching small fish with his bare hands (we eventually got him a net). The highlight of their trip, however, seems to have been the fishing they did with their dad. And, no, I don't think it unreasonable for a dad to get up before 6 am on Father's Day, fix his own coffee and take his two kids down to the fishing pier for several hours, and spend his morning baiting hooks, untangling lines, and taking fish off the hooks and throwing them back because they're all too small too eat. Especially when he gets to spend the next two days on his own little mini golf vacation, including a night alone in a hotel room, when he's not travelling for business.



My vacation highlight was the water. Gorgeous, clear, blue green water the perfect temperature. And getting to sit on the beach knitting for hours. I worked on five different knitting projects, and made quite a bit of beaded jewelry with my kids. Use your imagination again here: started (twice) the merino-tencel handspun Jaywalker, added several inches to Icarus, added a row and worked on the color chart for the kettle-dyed cardigan, and worked a swatch in Silky Wool for my Advanced SnB pattern. And, tada!, if that is not enough, I started a new sleeveless shell for me in Reynold's saucy in Black. A lacy little number.



Remember my son's tooth?

He finally lost it after taunting everyone all vacatioon long. In fact, there was even a pool to guess when it would come out. Everyone lost. You shall have to use your imagination to picture his mind-numbingly adorable two front teeth-less grin. And don't forget that endearing lisp that one is forced to use with out those two front teeth.

Well, we're off again next week for a few days in New Orleans with my family. Here's wishing to see things a bit more post-Katrina.

Death of a Camera

It has been a week of electronic malfunction. Last Friday, during a wicked thunderstorm, our computer crashed. If it weren't for Superjack, I don't know what we would have done.As it was, he saved the day, got the computer running again, and saved most of our files. Unfortunately we lost our emails. Speaking of which, if we correspond by email, i no longer have your address. Can you please send me an email at katechiocchio@verizon.net so I can get you back into my address book? Thanks!

Our camera, which has been eating up batteries at the rate of 4 every two weeks, has finally proved me right and died. I have my fingers crossed for a new camera for my birthday in July - honey, are you reading this?:) Meanwhile, we are going to the beach tomorrow - yay! - with no camera ;( Oh well, at least the world is safe from pictures of me in a bathing suit. We'll be in beautiful Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina with our very good friend Maggie, and a bunch of friends. Wish me warm enough water in the Ocean! We'll be bringing fishing gear, for both ocean and bay side, bikes, beach chair for me, and, of course, my wheel. Can't leave home without it.

Knitting projects will include my Icarus shawl, worked in pistachio Kidsilk and not touched since last August, a make-up-my-own stranded cardigan in my kettle- and hand-dyed yarn (hopfully for a Knitty submission), and Jaywalker socks, yet to be started, in the merino tencel yarn I showed you last post. Another view:

Now, I must share with you last week's fiber adventure. And a true adventure it was, complete with a bit of "horse trading" at the end. The very lovely Jim and Mary Ann Wandell, who Gryphon, Sarah, and I met at the Snow Hill Fiber Fest, are getting out of the fiber business. sad for the rest ogf the world, but, it turns out, very good for me and me fiber compatriots. Mary Ann must stop spinning as she has a shoulder injury (it's a dangerous world here in Fiber Land) and needs to clean out her Fiber workshop. Jim, who is a woodworker, makes the most beautiful and spinny drop spindles. He is no longer making them, but he has already made two for me and has just taken an order for a third. He is proud to have converted me into a "bottom-whorl girl". The two of them invited us down to raid their fiber stash. Everything must go! Rock Bottom prices!

Not having a good sense of my way around the Easter Shore, I arranged to pick Sarah up at my in-laws' apartment in Annapolis at 9 am and then to scoop up Gryphon and Lia at 10. we were supposed to be at the Wandell's in Crisfield at 11, but showed up closer to noon. After bringing out box after box and bags galore of the lovliest fibers you can imagine, Jim made us panini for lunch. We had a beautiful afternoon, talking fiber, spying, and all manner of fascinating subjects with two smart people who've been everywhere. We also raided their spindle stash and spent hours spindling and talking and touring their treasures.

The best treasure of all was the view first-hand of a beautiful marriage of many years. Probably the best expression of this inspiting partnership was the their two workshops. Both built with great care and planning by Jim. The structures were side by side, but separate, each oriented for the bast possible natural light, and created lovingly out of neat materials to fit their purpose perfectly. Between them was a sitting area with a screen for bugs, and behind them was a perfect little garden. You may know, I'm nuts for a perfect little garden. Raised beds filled with veggies and annuals, neatly maintained. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of Jim and Mary Ann and their fabulous workshops. You'll just have to use your imagination:)

We left Crisfield at 4, the time bith Sarah and I thought we'd be home and split up the treasure at Gryphon's. These pictures were taken by Gryphon. Here is the haul:

and with Sarah and me. How could one not dive into such a gorgeous pile of decadence?

As you can see, even Burma the incredible felting dog can't resist. Why is she the incredible felting dog? All I will say is, let her lick your fiber at your own risk:)

We decided the amicable way we divied the booty was a pretty good sign for our very loose partnership, even down to doing "rock, paper, scissors" for this last bit of super-springy fiber that reminded me of Cormo. Mmmm Cormo... I might have been able to weigh fiber forever. Gryphon's husband Curt settled in to watch, commenting that it was such great theater that he wouldn't want to ruin it with Math. (Of course, we had no calculator) After more good conversation, Sarah and I loaded the car up for the trip home at 9 (fiber adventures seem to have their own place in the time-space continuum). After hitting beach traffic going home and watching Sarah narrowly miss having the Soprano's ending spoiled for her, I finally pulled up at home at midnight.

'Twas a long day and fiber and well worth the time. Luckily, the usually lovely man I married knew it was going to take more than a couple hours and wasn't even mad that I was gone so long (he would have been well within his rights had he chosen to be mad at me). I'm not sure I'll be able to get away with another excursion for a while, but I have plenty of Shetland, Alpaca, Merino, Silk, Jacob, and Churro to keep me occupied.

I'll see you when I return from vacation - with or without pictures. Cheers!

Astroturf

I mentioned I've been spinning. This is 520 yds of sockweight yarn, spun from a merino-tencel roving I purchased from Cloverhill Yarn Shop at MDSW. It was dyed by the famous Erin of Mama-E's C*EYE*BER Fiber Warehouse. Loveley stuff, very soft. A bit slippery, though. I found myself wondering what it would be like to spin in a bit damp. I'm planning to knit this yarn into my inaugural pair of socks. I must admit, I'm not a total sock virgin, but I have never completed an entire pair. And i feel that I should knit at least one pair before making socks for someone else. Namely my secret palooza

I'm thinking Jaywalkers from Grumperina. In fact, it would be good paractice, as that is what my secret pal is requesting.

***We interrupt this "regularly" sheduled programming to bring you this newsflash***
Further evidence of my complete lack of brain. As you may remember, last week I did some kettle dyeing for a project I hope to submit. At the last minute, I decided to dye some gray roving I had hanging around, inspired by some dye work Gryphon had done. being last minute, I didn't have enough dye left in the pot, so I put the roving in a bucket with water and left it outside. Now, a week later, I noticed it on the deck and decided it was high time I dealt with it.

I set the pot to boil and came upstairs to blog. Much, much later, i remembered it. The pot is happily boiling away, the roving sitting on the deck. I spring into action! Dream up a color (I part periwinkle, 1 1/2 parts acid green-love that acid green!) and throw it in the pot. remeber to go back and cover the jars. Run out and try to wring out the roving, which now has a faintly musty smell. throw it in the pot and with great gusto, stir it up with a wooden spoon. Ow! Oh, yeah.. Boiling water burns! And when it has dye in it, it goes all over you and your kitchen. I am know sporting my very first fiber injury - small burns under my eye and under my shirt. No worries, it's not too bad. But it does sting. I'll be right back! (I forgot to add the vinegar:).**

Last night, the usually lovely husband and I were discussing my day. "It must be nice to be you" is his comment after learning that I'd had a tennis work out, eaten an early lunch with friends, and then retired to my lair to blend fiber and watch the French Open. Apparently, we are not including the latter half of the day when my son, recovering from a long week of illness, went to his first Dive practice and, after looking forward to it forever, melted down on the board and refused to go off, citing "water in my eye" as his complaint. It was a bad mommy moment as I'd realized that we'd been late, he had low blood sugar as he'd not snacked as he usually does after school, and I'd forgotten our food in the car.

After sprinting to the car to save the day with a bit of turkey to get him going again, I realized I'd actually left the food at home! After accosting another mom in the parking lot and begging her to cover for me, I ran home to get the food. I was halfway there when I realized that I didn't just have my kids at the pool, but I had a few extras as well, all of whom would be ending practice while I was gallivanting around the neighborhood, trying to find dinner (and my head, apparently). The good news is that Jack had arrived at the pool while I was gone, the extra children hadn't noticed I was gone , and I beat Maripat, their mother, back to the pool. Luckily, she has a good sense of humor.

When I proudly showed Jack the fruit of my labors, he reponded that it looked like astroturf. He may be right.



Hopefully, it will look less astroturfy after it is spun.

And finally, I bring you pictures from the super luxury Girl Scout Campout. We held it this year in the "yard" of our troop leader, who'd moved out to howard County earlier this year in search of some land. Seven and a half acres of woods, in fact, Including a lovely firepit, hand built by Mr. Troop Leader. This turned out to be serendipitous when it rain ed the next morning. Twister anyone?

The smores and ghost stories rocked the house!

Color in the Garden

I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. I've started a half-time job as a psychiatric social worker at the hospital. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's a big jump from the 8-10 hours or so and it's very regular hours. I do a little better working when I feel like it, but then don't we all? I have a wonderful supervisor who considers me a peer and, even more importantly, who is flexible with me. I just have to get my shift covered if I'm not going to be there. It's a great job for me and I feel proud to contribute to the family's income when we need it. All that said, between that and the usual mom stuff (because I'm still needed to be a stay at home Mom, too), I've had some difficulty figuring out where the fiber business fits in.

So, in search of balance, I went back to the garden. I've noticed that many knitters are gardeners. Clearly, that passion for working with your hands transfers from knitting to gardening. In fact, for me, it started with gardening. See, I'd decided by my mid-twenties that my outlet for creative expression was my clinical work. Indeed, I often felt that same energy in the room with a client. I'd just relax (in my head, I'd go into the "horse stance") and find a creative way to help the person move, change, or make a better decision. I was good and it was fun! I often felt like I was channeling something else - just by remaining open.

Then as I headed into my thirties, I bought a house with the usually lovely husband and felt my self drawn to the dirt and those things that grow in it. I read everything i could get my hands on, in fact, the year I was married, I read gardening books to relax. I ordered plants from all over, grew them from seed and double dug garden beds all over my yard. Jack commented more than once that he'd like me to stop digging up his grass.

As I developed other passions, the garden receded. I continued to enjoy it, but tended it less carefully as the years have gone by. As the pressures of life threatened, I returned to the garden. And, it was still here! All the loving care and hard work of the past continues to yield beautiful flowers and foliage. I planted this Lady's Mantle more than ten years ago.

That elusive calm is beginning to show its face. I know there is no way I can do everything I want to do and not turn into butter like Sambo's tigers chasing one anothers' tails. I'm not sure how it will all shake out, but it will, somehow. I do know I haven't dyed in over three weeks - there's plenty in the shop, though. I have not knit any felted bags or hats for Tiara Day. And I've missed a few design submission deadlines.

I have been spinning and plying and thinking about color. Remember this spinning? Focus on the roving in my lap instead of my silly expression.



I am in love with it's Noro-esque long color repeats and heathery blending. Sarah was so right about Navajo plying it. Sorry the picture is fuzzy - my camera is an older digital and it's lack picture clarity and color "trueness" has been a bit of a blog barrier, too. I can't wait to spin the rest of the roving and make some fab stripey thing. Yum!


I did some kettle dying for a stranded sweater I'm designing. Of course, I had to throw in some Romney locks just because. You'll have to see the yarn another day, but trust me, it's lovely in a Manos sort of way (but in super soft plied merino yarn). This Montana is wonderful to knit, and because it's plied, it will hold up better than Malabrigio. Mmm, Malabrigio.


I have continued to think about blending Fairy Dust. There is more sari silk in this batt, and it's almost right. I'd like to try half and half. And the interesting thing is that despite the number of passes through the carder (three or four, i think), the fiber is not neppy and drafts to a thinner, softer, "silkier" yarn.

And to spin it with: a Jim Wandell hand-made spindle. We met him and his lovely wife, and super fiber maven Mary Ann at the Fiber Fest in Snow Hill. I fell madly in love with his stunning drop spindles - jut when i thought all hope was lost for me and hand spindling. I ordered one with no clear idea of what I was going to do with it and he sustom mde it for me. It is lovely and it spins forever, in a slow and steady kind of way. I had it at the pool last night when I took the mermaid for swim practice and just walked around spinning. Kids and adults alike were fascinated. I think I seriously disrupted practice. OK, I did drop it few times, and at one point, it nearly rolled into the pool. Luckily, I'm well-established as the crazy lady in my community:)

Isn't it stunning?