handstories

happy bird

     Oh, Drucilla!  (Who I met here in blogland just over a year ago, who has become one of the dears in my life.)  Aside from being a good friend, she is such a talented artisan and inspiration to me, and to many many others.  

    Drucilla has a new e-course on Craftsy teaching the art of spindling.  The relaxed confidence she shares in the course was just the thing I needed to move ahead with my spindles.  I have been messing around with them for a couple of years now, but was unsure of how to move ahead to a more "finished" yarn.    

    Look at that fat happy spindle, full of one of her birds nest batts in "robin".

          She shares how to create a lazy kate for plying using a shoe box, among many other tips.

    Chain plied ready to knit yarn, and a spindle (made by her husband and dipped into her indigo vat) ready to go again!

    I am so excited about the possibilities this has opened up for me.  

    If  you are having any inklings towards spindling, do go and check out                                            "Spindling-From Fluff to Stuff with Drucilla".

tdf two with dru

    The Tour de Fleece has begun again.  A time to spin your spinning wheels while others race along on their bicycles in France.  Not quite the same thing, but much more doable on my part, both because of the lack of time and money to travel to France, let alone the inability to bike for even one of the twenty-three days!

    Several years ago, I participated in a tri-atholon.  I had thought the bicycling portion would be the easiest, but tooling along on country roads does not prepare you for the twelve miles up, down, and up of crossing a freeway bridge and back, it felt endless.  At one point we were going down a slight hill and everyone around me cheered.  Gloom-and-doom me called out, "But we have to come back UP people!"

   Today I'm practicing my spindling.  The spindle and batt are from Dru's shop.  The spindle was hand-turned by her husband and dipped in her indigo vat.  A much more enjoyable way to spin away the day.

on my way back

  The bracelet has been back on, and without realizing it, on my way out each morning, I have been grabbing other things to stuff in my pocket.  Tokens of luck, strength, hope- a favorite fabric, a strip of indigo muslin, agates found on the island, an image of one of Jude's pieces, words from one of Drew's songs, yarn from Dru's wool, a scrap of a watercolor, threads from the daily squares, pieces of blue beach glass . . .

    In the midst of the tragedies in our city, there has also been much turmoil at our little school.  The children and classrooms have been wonderful, full of learning and care, but the politics surrounding us have been new and unimaginable.  Being lied to, warned, betrayed, and "handled" are not things we are accustomed to dealing with.  This is probably not the place to say any of this, but I have found myself not coming here because of it, because it has been all consuming.  

    Well, the school year ended yesterday.  I came home, paced the house for half an hour, then fell asleep for two hours.  The hardest sleep I've had in weeks.  There was one dream of not being able to see clearly, only to find that I had four sets of contacts on at once.  It has affected everything- sleeping, stitching, spinning, knitting, cleaning, my family (I came home from one meeting & shook 14 yr. old Blue by the shoulders, "You have to fight for what is right!  Don't stay silent!"  "Ok, Mom!")  

    It is time to step away.  I have emptied my pocket (remembering the Cracker Jack kid in those old commercials).  It's time to be with family, friends and fiber, to reconnect in places that are safe and inspiring- including many of your places.  It might take me a little while, but I'm on my way.

    And, once again, thank you to everyone who visited the last post, and all of your very kind words.  I am so grateful for this place to share and find support and encouragement.  On Thursday eve, our singing group was able to be a part of a benefit for the families of the victims.  There were hundreds of people, we sang two of Drew's songs, the bird flew again, and it was joyous.  Being able to do something positive in the middle of all of this, to be a part of a community, what a wonderous thing.  

nesting in the sea fever

    It is the last day of Spring Break.  I couldn't tell you what all we've done.  I had started the week with a list of possibilities, saying that at least one of them needed to happen.  None of them did.  So, I guess the "need" wasn't true.  

    "sea (fever) nest" was finished today, so something did happen.  

        Surounded inside and out by unknown lately, I find myself wanting and hoping, but also unable to decide or focus.  Mostly because of the unknown that I and others have no control over.   There was an hour long phone call today about it all, ending with, "I think we have done all that we can do."

    Yes.  It's good to get to that place.  So for now, I'll continue wanting, but mostly waiting.  And stitching, because that is something I can do.

    The dark brown yarn was spun by Drucilla and I spun the lighter one from one of her "birds nest batts".  I love the bits and pieces of fabric she put into it.

realizations . . .

1.  That if the weather is perfect (sunny, but still requiring long sleeves), and there is plenty of knitting and stitching to do, watching five hours of baseball games can be a really good thing.

2.  That some things never change.  When Moon was small, he loved nothing more than costumes- fire fighter, pirate, knight, and one of his favorites, the baker outfit, etc.  His life was a constant parade of characters.  I thought that he had outgrown that phase, but when asked why he liked being catcher?  "All the stuff you get to wear!"  That's him in his new costume above.

3.  That choosing and starting a pattern while feverish may not give you the results you were expecting.  For example, if you use much thinner yarn, and needles that are seven sizes smaller than the suggested size, you will get a scarf, not a shawl.  

    No worries, I'll just keep going, there are a lot of baseball games to go, and there is more sunshine today.

sea-nest

    The second day home with my germs.  Moon joined me today with some of his own.  It was actually a nice day, aside from the ailments.  

    "The Ancient Mayan Archeologists' Quest For the Flower of Power" play was finished for fourth grade.  (And, yes, it will have a new title.  And, yes, some of my stomach upset may be from reading about their sacrificial rituals).

    And it rained, making the couch and tea cozier.  Above is the beginning of "sea-nest", a shawl based loosely (I say loosely, because the fever didn't allow for careful reading of the pattern) on this pattern.  Using yarn spun from one of Drucilla's beautiful "bird nest batts".   If you look closely, you will see that there are birds nesting in the knitting already.

    Speaking of dear Drucilla, she very graciously invited me to send "core" for the upcoming show at her Hotel Hadley (my first time in a show!).  It flew across the country to her last week.  It is usually hanging above my desk, and it gives me such warmth to know it's keeping her company for a bit.  If this isn't all sweet enough, she took the most lovely photos and wrote such kind things over on her blog.  

    My dear dru, thank you.

a bit better

    Look at all of that clear space!  I'd almost forgotten that the table top was blue.  Yes, there's still all of those little bowls to go through and that stack of papers.  Maybe tomorrow.    

    Here's a mini tour of some of the treasures:  Starting on the left, just to the right of that jar full of left over bits for spinning- A Baba Yaga doll made by my long gone friend, a little doll by Cathy Cullis named "Story", feathers from dru, a postcard from Beverly Cleary and a Mr. Rogers card from my sister (when you open it you hear him singing).  Up above is jude's moon faced rabbit and Renee de Montaigne's encaustic painting of "Spring in Granada".

    An exchange with deanna, in which we wondered if her missing scissors went through her portal, reminded me of a story my Grandma Blanche told me.

    When she was first married, they lived in a cabin in the woods, with a wooden crate nailed to the wall for a shelf.  Things would disappear- a spoon, a knife, a tool, etc...  Where could they have gone in this tiny shack of a place?  One day, unable to stand the sight of the same four walls for another minute, she shouted to her husband, "I need a change!  Pull that crate off the wall and nail it to that one!"  And so he pried the crate off, surprising a rat.  A pack rat, that lived in a hole in the wall behind the crate, surrounded by all of its treasures- a spoon, a knife, a tool, etc...

 

cobweb and nest

    I couldn't wait any longer,  I spun the "nest" batt from Drucilla.  It's the spin in the middle.  Lovely, fun fibers-wool, llama, fabric and more, in beautiful blues and browns.  My spin is not quite as thin or consistent as the outer circle, her beautiful chocolate cobweb spin, that I also purchased from her shop, but I think they will be very happy knitted together. 

    Maybe I'll knit a nest?

new toy

 

     Drucilla also sent this along, a Bavarian supported spindle.  It's about fifteen inches long & 3/4 inches at the widest part.  I spent an evening with youtube videos, determined to figure it out.  There was that excitement of learning something new, and now there's the obsession of doing this new thing.  I love the flicking of the fingers that sends it twirling, like the spinning of a top.  Another fabulous feature is that you can do it anywhere- couch, chair, car (passenger seat, of course, or maybe long stop lights).  Thanks, Dru!

sweet-nest-ness

Don't you love it when things are better than you imagined?

This just came from Drucilla's shop, along with other treasures.  

I'm torn.  I want to get my hands in it and play by spinning all the bits of it up.

At the same time, it makes me smile to look at it, imagining the feathered friends who might live in it.