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Summer of knitting with beads!

This post is a test from my iPhone-if this works I will have no reason fio not posting more frequently!

For Quinn

It is almost over!!!

As the year winds down, we all get so tired of everybody else's kids and I am sure they are tired of us too, the feeling is mutual. So we send them all home to their parents who are looking forward to spending time with their kids. By the end of the summer, their parents are all tired of them and can't wait for school to start. And the feeling is mutual for the kids, so they send them all back to us.

This school year started off pretty rough for me, losing my mom in July. It never let up. A kid had a stroke at school. Another had a fatal heart attack at his group home about 2 hours after the close of the school day. That was first semester. I told my husband and son that there were only two other things that have yet to happen to me, and that after 35 years of this line of work, when they happen, it is a sure sign that I need to retire.

The first---having to take care of someone injured on campus by an act of violence, either a stabbing or a gunshot. About two weeks after I said this, it happened. Technically, the kid had just exited the school property when he was jumped, beat up, and stabbed. He was able to walk though and Security brought him to me to assess and refer. Next thing I knew my office was filled with police officers who were part of the Gang Squad. The kid was stabbed in the head which produces a lot of blood and he looked like a mess. It about 20 staples to close his wound. I count this as an act of violence on campus.

The second thing that will trigger my retirement--the only thing left now- is someone having a baby in my office. That is the final trigger. Hasn't happened yet, but you just never know.

In the meantime, I get to be around people like Zairah, who penned the note above. People like her keep me going. Thank you Zairah! I will miss you when you graduate next week, but it has been an honor having you in my office. Congratulations Class of 2011!

Knitting Retreat in Friday Harbor!

IMG_0979
Originally uploaded by knitterati

Those of you who know where I am know who this is----noted knitting designer, author and teacher demonstrates a new heel technique! Really!

I started Saturday in Seattle, took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. I visited this store--Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. It is the ONLY store you EVER need to visit--seriously, I have been in a lot of yarn stores and this one is the best, for selection, assistance, friendliness, everything! Churchmouse is awesome!


More later!

Cat's Gift Kitting Retreat

I am waiting at the Burbank airport for my flight. I leave at 2 for San Francisco, change planes then on to Seattle. I spend the night there, and Saturday it's over to Bainbridge Island to visit Churchmouse Yarns and Tea. Just possibly the best yarn shop in the world! That afternoon I crawl up the coast from Seattle, visiting Great Yarns in Everett and Wildfibers in Mt. Vernon. Sunday morning, it's the ferry from Anacortes over to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island for a week of gift knitting with Cat Bordhi. I know that I still haven't finished by cruise postings, but I will later. I will try to be diligent at blogging as it happens on this trip. The retreat is Monday through Friday. I return to Seattle Friday and flly back to Burbank Saturday. Come join me on this adventure!

Berlin

MMmmmmmmmmmmmm.............Berlin and Bratwurst. This was an extremely hot day. Over 100, no AC anywhere, it seemed. As you know from my earlier post, I defected from the group, going rogue in Berlin with my new iPhone to lead me around. It was great--I found Freitag then ate at this place that was definitely not a tourist spot. The best bratwurst and German potato salad you could ever hope for!



I forgot to put this in earlier. This photo shows the queue waiting to board in Copenhagen. The lady in the middle casting on is Chris Bylsma. She is an author, designer, and one of the teachers on the cruise. She was casting on a new design and counting. A lady walked up and told her that she could teach her a much easier and faster way to cast on. Chris kept counting and smiled. See the couple behind her, just off of her right shoulder? See how they are staring? This is kind of how everyone looked at us during the cruise. Even thought there were only about 25 of us, we became a noted group. People in the elevator would say "Oh-you are one of the knitters. Exactly what are you doing?" We noticed that some of the other cruisers (appx. 2, 480 to guesstimate) would follow us when we went ashore because they knew that this cruise was one gigantic Baltic yarn crawl.


This is the Freitag Messenger bag I bought for Carson, being modeled by the lovely Monkey and Cat. Freitag uses the tarps that European trucks use for the sides and tops of their trailers. They cut them up and make all kinds of cool recycled totes, bags, backpacks, you name it. The strap is made of old seat belts. The trim on the flap is from old inner tubes. Their products are indestructible, their customer service unbelievable. I order a backpack for him at Christmas. Ordered it online on a Wednesday night, received it on the following Tuesday. And it came from Zurich. That would be Zurich, SWITZERLAND. Via UPS. check them out at www.freitag.ch

These are the new Birkenstocks I bought for my mom. She never got to wear them, not in this life, but she has them on now, along with two pair of handknitted socks, one of them my hand-dyes. I miss her a lot, every day.



Coming up next: a day at sea, a class with Chrissie Day, and looking for inspiration in your knitting. You will see some photos like this :

















and some like this:
Stay tuned!

More from the Baltics.

I really must finish my trip for you!

I spent time tonight organizing my photos in folders so hopefully I can blog a little each day. My last post was from Copenhagen. We boarded and headed for Warnemunde(I think, or was it Rostock?) which is a port in Germany about and hour or so outside of Berlin. It was really hot this day and we were glad to have a bus take us in to Berlin rather than the train. I have been to Berlin a couple of times and done the touristy thing--Checkpoint Charlie, the Holocaust Museum (HIGHLY recommended), The Brandenberg Gates, the Bundestadt, etc. So this time, we had a date at a yarn shop and were met by Horst Schultz. After a bit of shopping (insert gratuitous yarn photo here)



After a bit, Herr Schultz took us on the train to his apartment, which is an awesome thing to do. Our tour may have been the last that he did this with. I took a 2 day class with him at Stitches West a few years back, so I politely detoured at one of the train changes. I was on a mission to find the Freitag store........................
(teaser photo goes here)



Coming up next--more of Berlin, the adventures of Monkey, Cat, and a Bratwurst on a hot summer day.....Tallin, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, yarn, food, knitting inspiration and new friends!

Copenhagen, Part 2

This is where Monkey met up with Cat, oddly enough in a pair of Camper shoes that I bought for Carson. They became fast friends in this world of yarn.

Monkey shows off enough Isager laceweight for two shawls. They will be a fun knit, especially if I can remember which yarn I picked out for which pattern.

They had some cools shawl pins here. Those that look like safety pins are made from horn, as well as one of the long ones. Not sure what the black is, it feels like horn. The one in the back reminds me of one of those little connecters that you use when you attach lures to your fishing pole. It caught me for sure, I brought it home with me.

Ahhhh, Copenhagen knitting swag. Here is the world of Summerfuglen, which I believe is Danish for butterfly. Don't exactly know what butterflies have to do with knitting, but it doesn't matter when yo step into this shop. A little bit of everthing and best of all, they ship to the States. So you have to get a box full to make it worthwhile, right? This is where we all gathered for the first time to meet each other. What a great place to come together. I visited it, bought yarn, ate lunch, went back and bought some more yarn since there was room in my box:) I know you understand.

These are Zauberball-the one on the left is Zauberball Crazy, it is a 2 ply. The left is regular single ply. If you haven't knitted with it yet, you have to try it. Makes awesome shawls with the long color repeats. Not a native yarn for Copenhagen,you can find it in the states, but you never find much of it because it flies off the shelves. You take it whenever and where ever you find it.

These next two photos are kits that I bought--both Scandinavian designers, the scarf/shawl is actually felted. The Hanne Falkenberg kit is a vest in denim colors, a wool-cotton blend. She is known for unusual construction and her garments have great drape and a nice hand.

Upcoming: Berlin, Tallin, Helsinki, St. Petersberg, Stockholm. Stay tuned!

Copenhagen, part 1

Copenhagen was beautiful! Clean, friendly, very nice. I would go there again in a heart beat. They all ride bikes there. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos, but they have very clever ways of building boxes onto the front (mostly) of their bikes to hold their children who are too young to ride. I saw one bike with a rather large box that had 4 little ones in it, ranging in age from about 1.5 to 5 years old. There were a few with the little trailers that hook onto the back of the bike, but most of them fashion these front box-type arrangements. I also learned that if you hear the tinkle of a bike bell, you had better stop because you are in the way of a biker and they are about to swerve around you. Better to stop because they have already seen you and are dodging around you. The foot traffic is heavy and so is the bike traffic. I found out too late that our hotel has bikes you can borrow from them--most places over there do.

Monkey met a friend to accompany him on his journey. Meet Cat. He looks remarkably like Tang, who is staying in LA with Carson while I am on my cruise.

One of the stores I have on my list for this trip was Camper shoes. With the help of the GPS on my iPhone, I was led right to it. I asked for their most comfortable shoes and these were the two that they recommended. They both have gel insoles. When I tried them on my feet said ahhhhhhhh..............so I bought both of them. And a pair for Carson that you will see in my next post.

Camper shoes are hard to find the USA. They only have stores in big cities--LA, Boston--I think the one in LA closed.

The yarn shop crawl across the Baltic starts with the next post. See you then!

Blogstipation

It has been a long time since I last blogged. The holidays are rapidly approaching, they will definitely suck this year, so I decided it was time to tell of my knitting cruise this past summer. Something that was positive, fun, and completely knitting infused that will take my mind off of why these holidays this year will be really hard for me. So keep watching, because Ringo the Party Monkey will take you to the Lands of the Baltic Sea. You will see yummy yarn, new friends, and lots of knitting. Ringo is holding the toe of my Rare Gem toe-up Monkey sock that was cast on when we pushed away from the gate at LAX on British Airways.Some of you voted for the pattern and the colorway. Keep watching! Copenhagen comes next!

(more obligatory Monkey photos to come too)

The Gifting of the Socks.

Ever since I picked out the clothes for my mom to wear, I wrestled with the idea about how I would deal with the remaining 19 pair of handknitted socks I had made for her. This idea popped into my head sometime during the night before her services. After the service, family and close friends would be gathering at Robbie and Blanca's house. What better time to gift them than this afternoon when everyone was gathered together in remembrance of my mom? I picked the socks up at my mom's house. In the living room at Robbie and Blanca's, I spread them out on the floor, sorted by method of construction. Top-down heel flap and traditional gussets, then toe-up Personal Footprints. I sorted each section according to fiber content---100% merino superwash, 75-25 blends, cotton-lycra blends. For those who know sock yarns, you can see lots of Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR, a couple of Regia, one Mini-Mochi, one Colinette Jitterbug, and some Opal. As I sorted them, I told the story of each sock. It was stroll through my life and my sock-knitting life starting in 2002.

In the journey that is life, my knitting marks where I was, what I was doing, and what I was thinking at that point. I remember I started with the self-striping yarn from Opal, I discovered it when I helped Carson move for his first semester at Brown. From Opal, I moved into Jitterbug and Brown Sheep hand dye, played around with Cascade Fixation, and fell totally under the spell of the Blue Moon. I was constantly in search of the perfect sock and my mom was a more than willing participant in my quest.

My mom loved these socks. She told me once, about 2 weeks before Christmas, that the only socks she could wear were the ones I knitted for her, all others hurt her feet. At that time, I had 2 pair finished, one about halfway done, and another pair that I had just cast on. I turned up the knitting to high speed and I think I gave her 3 pair with the 4th on the needles.

In the telling of the stories, more and more of the giftees became entranced with the socks and how they played into the life of my mom and I. Each one had its own history, when it was knitted, where the yarn came from, why some of them were worn more than others. What kinds of shoes she worn them with. What her likes and dislikes were as far as fit and color. She loved to wear denim, so many of them were blues. Differences in construction, heel flap and gussets as opposed to personal footprints. Monkeys, Jaywalkers, purl when you feel like it, hand dyed, self patterning, toe up, top down, Rare Gems, Socks That Rock, and on and on. My mom loved them and I could think of nothing better than for each of them to have a part of something she really loved. One of the asked if I was going to give them out, I told her no, I wanted them to each pick a pair- first come, first served. It was a shark-feeding frenzy that ensued! While listening to the story of the socks, unbeknown to me, they were all eyeing them and had located the ones they wanted. When given the go ahead they pounced on them and claimed a pair. I am sure my mom would approve. After a while, we gathered for a photo session. After everyone picked out their socks, I was asked several times "please tell me the story of my socks again, what is the name of my sock? what is the name of color of my sock? Where did my sock come from?" It was therapeutic and it turned a task that would truly paralyze me into a wonderful thing to share, The Gifting of the Socks.

Eulogy for my mom.

My mom was born in Roll on June 13, 1927, the same day as my dad, but 4 years later. She grew up in the Wellton-Mohawk Valley, attended grade school, and when it came time to go to high school, she attended Yuma High, as did all kids from this area. There were many shenanigans that happened during their school bus rides to Yuma High. Their parents had to get them to Wellton where the bus picked them up. One story involved their regular stop at the top of Telegraph Pass. The bus driver, called “Goofy” by the kids---they probably gave him good reason to be called Goofy-allowed them to get off of the bus. They all got off the bus and proceeded to climb up the mountain a bit. Understand, these were high school kids from the country, used to making their own fun, and not unlike high school kids of today, most of their waking hours were spent trying to figure out how to get out of school. When Goofy asked them to get back on the bus, they refused. He did what all of us in public education would like to do today, he left without them. When he got to Yuma High he reported to the Principal. The Principal checked the students, and they were all in class. Being resourceful country kids, they had hitched a ride and beat Goofy to school.

My mom and dad were married at his parent’s house in Roll on February 22, 1948. I asked her once if she remembered meeting my dad for the first time, I wanted to know what that love story looked like. She said she didn’t, she never met him, she always knew him. Their relationship spanned many more than 55 years they were married. As with many couples their age, they had one identity, BobNBerta.

They both worked in Yuma, he at Griffin Buick, she for Cecil Davis at the D & M Hair Salon in old downtown. The Endurance Flight was a big part of their early married life. She and Betty Jongeward never missed a refueling run, no matter what time of day or what obstacles came in their way, including at least one car accident. If you are familiar with the Endurance Flight you know that there are stories too numerous to tell here.

In 1954, my parents moved to Roll, to the house where she lived up until recently. This house was the site of many gatherings, planned and unplanned throughout the years. She created a place where all people felt welcome and congregated-our high school friends, ditchriders, neighbors, workers, truck drivers, you name it. There was always food, drink, and to use the colloquialism (you will have to fill in the blank here) , shootin’ the______ .

She took great pride in her flowers. If you have ever driven by her house, you have seen the bright red geraniums and double-ruffle petunias that she loved so much. She did the same in Show Low. When I would go up to spend time with her, we would have to make no fewer than 4 trips to the nursery to fill the Escalade with bedding plants.

When my dad became ill and it was clear that he was on the slippery slope of Alzheimer’s, she did all that was possible to keep him at home. He died there in that house on December 23, 2003. Afterwards, there was a pervasive loneliness in her that could never be filled.

Very recently, Robbie talked to her about meeting Father Bart, the new priest from St. Joseph’s in Wellton. Not about becoming Catholic, but just to get to know him. She agreed and wanted to meet him. Then she had to go to Tucson and stayed about a week for medical tests, and was transferred to Yuma Rehabilitation Hospital for therapy to increase her strength so that she could go home. The opportunity to meet Father Bart never happened.

What did happen was that my dear friend, Bertha, visited with her on Tuesday, bringing her some beef soup with rice for lunch. She had a good visit with her, my mom ate, and Bertha helped her back to her room. She helped her into bed and asked if it would be OK if she blessed her and said a prayer for her. She consented, and Bertha blessed and prayed for her. She told her that God was listening if she wanted to she could talk to him. She told her she would bring her a fruit slushy at dinnertime, and would to go 6PM mass and pray for her.

She had a call from her brother, Luther after this. They had a good visit.

Robbie arrived at 3:30. My mom was upset about not being able to be discharged home, but to a skilled nursing facility instead. He bore the brunt of her displeasure. We had a business meeting with our family lawyer Steve Shadle and Jody at 4, they left at 5, and then she wanted Robbie to go see the facility that I had picked out. We did, when we returned we stayed and talked to her for about an hour. Around 6:45 she told us that we should both go home, it was getting late, we needed to eat and get home. We both kissed her goodbye and left, saying we would see her tomorrow. An hour later, I got the call that she was non-responsive and was being transported to the ER.

From the day my dad passed, I believe that she died a little, just a little, every day. The phrases we use when something like this happens are inadequate in this case—when we say “she passed or she died”, that’s not really what happened here. I truly believe she had a great day, one of the better ones of recent time, she talked to the people she loved, Bertha brought her nourishment for her body and her soul, we had our business meeting, then she sent us home, and an hour later when my dad came to get her, she left with him. She is gone, she is with him once again, in a place where things are better. A place where there is no weakness of limbs, no transfusions are necessary, you don’t have to take medicine, nobody asks you if you are diabetic, no one wants to stick you for blood. A place where she can sit on the porch watching the hummingbirds swarm around the feeder while she works on her DeGrazia needlepoint, where the weather is great and she can tend to her geraniums and double ruffle petunias every day. Right now they are probably making plans to go to the Sunday brunch at the Hondah Casino. He will be found on the Triple Lucky 7 machine, she on the Wheel of Fortune. And she Would be Winning.

Mom, Mommy, Nana, I will love you forever and miss you always.

Some things are hard to do.

This is so different than when I lost my dad. My mom was alert, oriented, engaged. Robbie and I left and went home, actually, she told us we could go home-it was about 6:45. Within an hour I got the call that she had coded. Actually, Robbie and I talked about it. It is as if all her loose ends were tied up, she had a great day, she sent us home. It is not that she passed from an affliction, it is that she left in peace. As Father Bart said after listening to our story, maybe my dad came for her.

I picked these clothes out for my mom. The pink pants are what she called her comfy pants---they are pink velour, the kind you reach for when you have been out and on your feet all day, when you want to take off your shoes and relax. And a tshirt from Dillard's with the double trim around the neck. And her new Birkenstocks I bought in Berlin. Couldn't decide on the socks. Do you know she had a sock drawer with nothing but my handknits? 21 pair. 21. I had no idea I had knitted that many. She really liked them. I liked knitting them. The ones on the left--they are in Cascade Fixation. The ones on the right are STR ltwt, the colorway is one of my hand dyes from Sock Camp. They are Cat Bordhi's Personal Footprints, I call them the "Purl When you Feel Like It" design. I gave them to her for her birthday last June. The prayer shawl in the background I call her Grandma Auza shawl because I bought the yarn when I went to Grandma Auza's funeral in Flagstaff. I knitted it for her that same summer. It is a rectangle in a simple basketweave. It is the first shawl I made for her. I know she used it because it smells like Youth Dew. I left my Myrna Stahman shawl in Show Low that summer for her to use---she later told me "If you want to make me a shawl like that, it would be OK". It gives me comfort to know these things will be there with her. There is a big hole in my life now, but these knitted things contain little bits of my soul that will stay with her forever.

Baltic Knitting Cruise, Part 1

What better way to start blogging about my trip than with a gratuitous Monkey shot? Here he is on the plane, minutes after

take off. I cast on as soon as I was seated and here the toe is almost

complete. By the time I (we-the Monkey and I) made it to Copenhagen, I

was starting on the heel. It is the Monkey sock in an STR Rare Gem. More gratiutous Monkey shots later--

Ahh, Sommerfuglen in Copenhagen. It means butterfly in Danish. The

source of all things yummy in the yarn

world. This was our first official yarn shop on our yarn crawl through the Baltic Sea aboard the ms Eurodam. I am hooked on cruising. There were 25 knitters and 5

husbands. We had a trunk show here at Sommerfuglen with Helga Isager.

This shop had beautiful yarns. Very friendly people,

very helpful. Shipped our purchases home. That left more room in the suitcase. I bought a Hanne Falkenberg kit for a Duet vest, a Vivian Hoxbro felted scarf kit, enough Isager Wool1 for a couple of shawls, even though it is yarn we can get in the states, it is from Denmark. I also bought some Shuibui (not pictured) sock yarn.

It isn't stocked in any of my LYS's I frequent. I found some cool shawl pins, they are made out of horn, deer or reindeer, I don't know which.

And a Zauberball Crazy. Again, you can find this one in the states, but it is hard to find the Crazy.

Copenhagen is very clean, very modern, very charming. Lots of cobblestone. A friend for Monkey, his name is Cat. More later in future postings. I learned so much, made

new friends, and I am still processing it all. Watch this space for future posts!

Thank you!

The results are in! It looks like I will be knitting a Rare Gem Monkey(first place) and a Plankton Ooze Sunday Swing(runner up). Thanks for voting--Tomorrow I am winding and I will be ready to cast on. Photos every step of the way---I am excited about doing the Monkey because it has been a while since I did one. It will be a toe-up, no purl, Insouciant Monkey ala Cat Bordhi. Knitted on DPNs for the a basics Yarn Harlot Lever style. I can knit twice as long in one sitting when I do it Lever style.

Later---pics, I promise!

Please help me make a decision!

OK, so I am ready for my next project which will be a travel sock. I have actually been pretty disciplined lately with my knitting, which means I am not casting on with reckless abandon. It is hard- very very hard not to cast on 4 or 5 new things whenever the mood strikes me. I figured out that the upside of being disciplined is that you actually finish projects. Who knew? My dilemma at the moment is what sock to knit, and which pattern. Which is where you come in! Here are the color choices, all Blue Moon, natch, and the pattern possibilities are all on Knitty--click on the pattern name to go to the link. I chose these patterns because they are are mostly stockinette and I can do them Lever-style ala Yarn Harlot with DPNs (aka, back to basics) so they will go really fast. Not much brain power needed. The only thing needed is the decision about which pattern with which color. These colorways would all look good in any of the patterns. But I just can't decide. Sometimes the name of the pattern combined with the colorway name is interesting, like Scum Bubble Monkeys. Or Sunday Swing Pond Scum. Or Rare Gem-RPM. Or Plankton Ooze Monkey.

So help me, please, by voting. You will be seeing the winning combination in my next few posts. Vote frequently and vote often. I need to wind the yarn on Friday, so vote now! Have your children vote! Close your eyes and vote! For my new knitting friends I have yet to meet, please vote!
RPM
Monkey
Sunday Swing

And the color finalists are:

Pond Scum. I love me some Pond Scum.

Plankton Ooze.

Rare Gem.

Scum Bubbles. In real-life, Scum Bubbles is related to Pond Scum.

And yet another shawl from my needles.

I actually started this shawl way back in December. It is knitted out of Noro's Silk Garden Sock yarn. I had to tweak the picot edge a bit to get it the way I wanted. I really like the little nubs it has on the edge. Another possibility for my travels!





You can see the little corners where I threw in some increases for the shoulder to help it stay on. I think I will really like it, with those increases it helps it stay on and lay nicely across the shoulders.

Grawk called and said it wants to be a Multnomah Shawl.

Ahh yes, my lovely Grawk. I am more than happy to grant your wish. Grawk is one of the Raven Series from Tina at Blue Moon. It started its life out being Raspberry and Pond Scum. Then one day the darkness took over and it was overdyed with black. But the Pond Scum and the Raspberry still peek through, just enough to for you to recognize them.



Details on my Ravelry page where I am known as knitterati. Basically, this took about a skein and a half and I went WAY up in needle size. The pattern is written for a size 3 and I bumped it up to a 5, swatched by actually starting the shawl, then bumped up again to a size 7. Instant gratification and a fast knit!

Calling Miss Woodhouse.

How often does it happen that you are snooping around on Ravelry and you find a shawl with your name on it? I mean literally, the shawl's name is your last name? Well, it happened to me and here it is!





For details, see my Ravelry page. I love all things Blue Moon, and this is knitted in Seduction which is 50% merino ad 50% tencel. It has a luscious hand. More shawls to follow.......................