handstories

Blackberries & Sunlight

"Blackberry Moon" 

    "Purple Rain" was hummed quite a few times while making this one.  (Substituting the word "moon", of course.)  I haven't considered myself a purple person for a long while now, but I do love blackberry, to eat or eye.  More and more lavender tones have moseyed into recent stitching.  Much of the credit goes to the allure of Deb's and Tina's dyeing.  

    A recent car knitting moment, when I looked down and realized I was blackberry and plum from top to bottom.  Grandma Blanche loved purple.  Trimmed her trailer in it, chose a purple nightgown to be buried in, and then there's the lavender marble headstone at her grave...

    It was a beautiful sunny weekend.  Shiny things were pulled closer and closer to play with the light and catch their reflections.  I must have mesmerized myself, because I dozed off mid-stitch at one point. 

"Convergence of Home & Sky"

Full days

    "Ruby" for the gem-like feel to it.

    Someday I'm going to find the perfect clear pink glass bowl that lives in my imagination.  Some days it will be empty except for the rosy light glowing inside of it, other times rose petals might float in it, or a few special marbles will roll at the bottom, and once in a while it will be filled with sea water.  Someday.

    What happens when you have five minutes in the bathroom and a pair of scissors...

    It went much better than the last time.  K didn't have to repair any oddly cut angles, and I can roll over in my sleep without getting tangled again.

    Autumn is going full blast this week- wind, rain and dark dark mornings.  I love it, except for the fact that my studio room is cold.  It has the best light, and the worst temperatures- an added on room that holds summer's heat and winter's chills. 

    I've been wrapping myself up in this length of knitting.  A few of you might remember it... Knitted eight to ten years ago from some of my first handspun, over six feet long, and called "Breathing" because of this moment.

    (I do own a shawl pin thingy, but have no idea where it is.)

    And there's been more moon play.  The story changed over and over as I worked on it.  Actually, I guess that the cloth just grew somehow, because all of the stories are still here.  No name yet... still thinking on what words will hold all of the layers.

Moons & mountains

"Moon Story"

    It was K's birthday weekend.  We spent a day out in the world!  In Tacoma, first there was a visit to the Museum of Glass.  A few favorites...

    "Signs and Signifiers" by Sarah Gilbert.  "Signs and Signifiers is meant to reference a collection of family photos.  Each hand representing a different person, and a different record of lived experience- some young, some older.  Each hand has an image in the middle.  These images are all meant to be signs, signifiers, and tools used to find our way through life...."

    "Aurora Orange Basket Set with Night Black Lip Wrap" by Dale Chihuly

    Top of one of the "Crystal Towers" on the Chihuly Bridge of Glass.

    "Seafoam Pavilion" on the Chihuly Bridge of Glass

    We also went to a minor league game- Rainiers vs Bees.  I found some shade to knit in, but still managed to get sunburned.

    It was a good time on a beautiful day, including the drive home with views of Mt. Rainier and the moon...

    Very happy to have another year to celebrate with K.  I've probably told this story many times before...  It was just after his 17th birthday when I got to know him.  Visiting a church youth group with a friend, riding in a van.  I heard a couple of guys in the back talking about how one of them had just gone to his first movie for his birthday.  I wondered what kind of guy didn't go to movies?  It turned out that guy was K, and I ended up talking with him for a long time that evening.  I was dating someone else at the time, but wrote in my journal, "I'm never getting married, but if I do, it will be to someone like K."  So smart for sixteen, if I do say so!

 

Stitching in & on time

    Many thoughts, and admirations, for Liz while stitching script!

    Serious dents were made in the want-to-do list this week, including finishing a few gifts.  I'm particularly pleased with one of them, because it is done before her birthday, which rarely happens.  So rarely that I can't remember a time that I was on time.  My usual goal is to get it to her before she sends mine in March (she is always on time).  I suppose I shouldn't  be counting the chickens just yet, not before it's in her hands.

    Sleeping awfully, but there was a wonderful dream moment of seeing a favorite student in a musical, something like "Hamilton".  He was so happy in the dream. 

    I just adored him, and got him.  He was a beautiful boy who loved gardening and birthdates, and is on the autism spectrum.  "Hi, So-and-so, when is your birthday?" were the first words out of his mouth whenever he met someone.  He would still know when it was the next time he saw you, whether it was a day or a year later.   In the early years, I would often sit next to him during school sing alongs, because the large group could be overwhelming.  Sometimes he would put his hands over his ears to block out the loud songs and lean into me.  But he loved "Down By the Bay", requested it every week, and was so happy calling out rhymes for the verses.  Gosh, I loved that boy.

    I was thrilled to see him a few years ago, and even more so when he said that I could hug him (not a favorite thing of his).  He's working at a farm now, seemed happy, and was still beautiful.

    I am not a tidy maker.

    Sock knitting is so swell.  Surprisingly and unusually, I could only find one mistake in my execution of the pattern.  Maybe these are lucky socks?

a very nice road trip

    Yesterday began with a little tiny tree stitching.  Her name is "Aster", a wintery word that means star.

    After breakfast we started off for Oregon.  It was a cold, but mostly clear day.

    Bright sunshine made seeing stitches easier on this "Queen of the Night" purple yarn.

    A quick stop at Powell's is always swell.  They had very clear protocols and arrows to follow, and with only a few people in the store my fifteen minutes there felt very safe.   Only six of the rooms were open, but they were the right ones for me (children's, literature and new arrivals).

    Another stop just outside of our home town was at Bob's Red Mill for a 25 lb. bag (much cheaper this way) of the oats that I eat six days a week. (K makes bacon waffles on Saturdays, a tradition from his father.) 

    (A bit of hometown history... Bob's used to be in the town, but it rebuilt next door after an arson fire in 1988.   Dad and my brother were two of the fire fighters that tried to save the mill.  Everything was destroyed except the mill stones... "Almost indestructible to begin with, the stones were saved when hundreds of pounds of stored grain fell on them from the second floor during the fire and snuffed out the flames, keeping them from shattering in the heat, as well as preserving the gears that turned them.")

    At K's sister's, we were met with a cozy set-up on her front porch- comfortable chairs, blankets, heater, the tv trays from their childhood, etc. and plenty of social distancing.  It was fun to knit while covered with an afghan crocheted by their grandma.  (She was a wonderful strong woman.)

    K's sister loves to entertain and is an amazing cook.  We were happy to oblige!  Homemade pot pies with the best crust (made with the new to me ingredient of vodka).

    After three hours of good food and company, we said our goodbyes among the twinkle lights and candles, and drove the three hours back home to Seattle.  I suppose it might seem silly to spend more time driving than at the destination, but it was worth it.

making, etc.

    There's been making, and seeing this photo blown up, I guess there needs to be some trimming, too.

    And baking.

    Some knitting.

    K. has made two trips to the post office so far for Blue.  I pack the boxes, hiding gifts inside of other gifts to make it all fit into as little space as possible, so that the postage will hopefully not exceed the cost of the contents.

    I found this flannel in the stash, and have made a pillowcase for each of the boys.  Silly, but mamas can get away with that, right?  Actually, it might be scary to Blue.  His grandma gave him a sock monkey when he was a baby.  Just the sight of it would send him into sobs.  I wonder if he'll have flashbacks?

    Still need to make the Spritz cookies, but the tree is up much earlier than usual.  We scurried out to get one early because there's been a shortage here in Seattle for the last two years.  Is that true for anyone else?  It's almost decorated.  The coffee table is covered with unpacked ornaments.  Whenever Moon walks through the room, I call out for him to put another one on the tree.  Maybe it will be finished by Christmas?  

 

Dawdling

    Five years ago, I started knitting these hats and scarves to donate.  It was a way to use up some of my early yarn spinnings and hopefully do a little good in the world.  Well, I didn't get very far, and there was no good done until this week. 

    In an effort to clean up a little (and to avoid doing the things I should've been doing), I came across the bag buried in the corner that they've been living in.  I had got it into my head that ALL of the yarn needed to be knitted up before donating them.  Also, two different friends had made two different suggestions as to where to donate them, meaning I would have to choose between them, or knit more hats, so that there were enough for everybody... Meanwhile, the project went by the wayside, and nobody got wool things.

    But, they were found again, and K. knew of a woman who works at the YWCA, so they were promptly gathered and left on her doorstep.  Sometimes I make myself crazy with trying to do everything, often resulting in doing nothing.  It's good to know they'll finally be useful.  There's still plenty of yarn to knit up, and a new hat has been started.  I wonder how many years it will take to go anywhere?

    There is a growing to-do list.

    There is a lot of procrastinating.  Sometimes it takes the shape of trees.

    Sometimes everything seems doable. 

    Other days, like the one when I got out the sewing machine, are a battle.

    There are gifts to sew.  The first one went along ok.  I even managed to figure out a new fake-serger-ish stitch to use.  The second project, and third...not so good.  Things may have been thrown across the room.  The machine and I are both on a timeout right now.  It glares at me from across the room, I squint my eyes at it and scowl back.

    I keep rearranging the things on my table.  Trying to get a grip on the chaos.  Trying to keep things from toppling over.  Trying to carry on with my procrastinating...

    Moons and stars help.  Especially in Deb's beautiful sky cloth.

    I'm not sure if this is about floating or sinking?!

Little things

    I do love getting caught up in stitches.  This time it was in imagining Deb's dyeing taking on a life of its own.

    Days are tense with the unknown lately.  Weighing risks and responsibilities to each other with emotional needs.  And what is a need vs a want?

    A new pair of socks.  My eyes and mind get a rest in the evenings with knitting, also in the dentist's chair.  No one there even bats an eye anymore as I knit while they tend my teeth.  We all know that it gets me through.

    There was a walk with a friend yesterday.  The first in a long time because of  twanging my knee a few weeks ago.  Very glad to have it back in mostly working order. 

    She has studied and is passionate about horticulture, and shares a wealth of information- stopping to admire leaf shapes, color combinations and to share the Latin names and uniqueness of each plant, tree, flower.  I'm grateful for how she makes me slow down.  This is Viburnum trilobum, or Cranberrybush.

    The email with the concert link has gone out today.  Please let me know if you didn't get it, or if you were missed.

Vacation

    Mornings, days, even evenings have such a routine right now.  Rarely is any day different than the one before.  Wake up, shower, start oatmeal, closed eyes drawing, stir oatmeal, paint drawing, tea kettle whistle blows to be poured, stir oatmeal, finish painting, eat oatmeal, and then, aside from a lunch break, stitch for much of the day, an occasional chore, make dinner, etc... repeat.  They are fine days for the most part.

    Today, awake before dawn, the drawing came first, with eyes open.  After painting and oatmeal, I left the studio, announcing, "I'm taking the day off."

    Curling up with the cat in the front room, I watched TV, and knit on a plain sock for hours.

    After lunch, there was a little stitching in a book I made, on a page where I had wiped the extra paint off of the brush this morning. 

    It was a very nice day of playing, and playing hooky from myself.  Time to make dinner...

a yarn yarn

    "Knit on, with confidence & hope, through all crises."- Elizabeth Zimmerman (knitting hero).

    K. is working from home for weeks. Schools have closed for at least six weeks, so Moon is home, too, and so is the neighbor boy (Who now has LOTS of time to play his drum set.).  Museums and libraries are closed for a month.  Our singing group concert, Moon's thespian festival, K's and my getaway during Moon's festival...cancelled.

    I find myself wanting to eat potatoes and cinnamon rolls.

    The story of this yarn...

    A year and a half ago, sitting in the Providence, RI airport, waiting to fly home, there was a woman knitting.  "That is who I want to sit next to on the flight," I said to myself, "Instead of another elbowing, wide-spread-knees man." (The seat mate on the flight to RI.)

    When we boarded, there she was, in the seat next to mine!  She had just moved to Washington.  We realized that we also had the same connecting flight, and seats next to each other again (this time with an empty seat for our yarn bags between us).  She had a bag with "Prague" written on it.  I shared that Blue was going there on a college trip soon.  We knitted and chatted across the country.  

    Saying our "Nice to meet you's," I handed her my instagram link.  A few months later she reached out saying that she was the new owner of a yarn shop in Coupeville (on a nearby island).  I've been to Coupeville twice since (for Christine Mauersberger's workshops), and both times have stopped at her sweet shop for a souvenir skein.

    This one (Wonderfully Whidbey) is from last week's visit.  I'm calling this color "In Search of Blue Skies."  If you're ever in Coupeville, WA, please stop by Sea Bre's Yarn shop and say "Hi!" from her old seat mate.

    So, today I'm knitting on, with hope, if not confidence, that things will be ok.  Twinkle and I will learn to share our daytime space.  Although, she did have to yell at Moon to get out of her birdwatching chair this morning.