Birthday spinning

I told Hannah last night that today would be my birthday and she sang to me . . . "Happy Birthday to Mom! Happy Birthday to Mom!" This was about as cute and endearing as when she was craddling her foot in her car seat the other day singing, "Happy Birthday to foot!" Also, my lilies waited until today to bloom. Did they know? It has been a great birthday. My dad emailed me and said, I remember this day 28 years ago when you were a squalling, red-faced infant. . . and I had to tell him that it was actually 38 years ago. He was joking, of course. But still it was funny.

I've been spinning all weekend and this week trying to meet a deadline and also spin a balanced yarn. Yep, I must confess it is a challenge for me. But today I skeined it and I think it is actually balanced! Amazing. Friends at work put on a nice party for my birthday with killer brownies (a hint of cinnamon and extra dark chocolate) , ice cream, and a tub of home made coleslaw to die for. Kelly, Hannah and I went out to eat at our favorite Indian food restaurant and Hannah asked the family who owns the place to tell her their names--which was really great because they've told us before, but we didn't quite catch them or remember and we were too embarrassed to ask again. I wrote them down this time.

Frogging

Well, after a conversation with a friend at work, I began to doubt my sock. First she pointed out that my kitchener stitch was inside out.

And it was true.

I knew that, but I had been politely ignoring it.

But then she noted that the fabric of the sock was better suited to a sweater and a sock should be tighter so that you can't feel the stitches under your foot when you're wearing it.

That had been my secret complaint about the sock when I tried it on, but I had also been politely ignoring that problem as well.

Since most of the socks I've made in my life were nonfunctional (really), these are considerations that hadn't really occured to me before.

Most of the spinning and knitting I've done was done for expression and not functionality. In fact when I finished Sock for my fears, sock for my serenity, I realized that I could make a sweater.

So at any rate, frogging ocurred yesterday.


Today, reknitting begins.

Estes Park Wool Market and a 1/2 FO

I had a chance to go to a fiber festival as just a shopper instead of being a worker-bee in a booth since we didn't have a booth at Estes this year. Well, it didn't quite live up to my fantasy--but I still had fun. I went with Hannah and Kelly's mom and aunt--they are fiber folks, too, so we do a lot of fibery excursions together. It was a gorgeous drive up highway 93 to Boulder and then through Lyons and up into the mountains on 36. Everything is so green, green, green (for Colorado--let me qualify). We arrived around 10:30 am and the market was very busy--throngs of people. Hannah did a good job of being patient for the sheepies while we poked around booths and made some purchases. Here she is in front of the Yaks--she was fascinated by them. It was so sunny she couldn't open her eyes--but see the sweet smile! I've been going to this show nearly every year since I was a student at Colorado State University in the Fibers department (yep--that's 15 years). Of course, when I was a student I didn't have two cents to rub together--so it was an exercise in frustration. I remember visiting the Interweave Press booth before I was an employee and browsing through the books trying to decide which one to save my money for. Little did I know what fate had in store for me! And even though I've always had strong maternal longings, I didn't ever imagine what it would be like going to the festival with a 2-year-old. We were all exhausted before long--the crowds, the sun, the two-year-old who wanted to rattle the bars of each alpaca enclosure. Actually, I think in normal circumstances, I would have had a lot more stamina, but I'm on the healing end of a resistant bacterial infection (mastitis--yep, a swift kick in the boobie from a 2-year-old who is throwing a fit on her changing table and threatening to fall off can cause internal bleeding and lead to an infection even if you're no longer nursing--who knew!). 5 trips to the doctor, 1 extremely painful ultrasound, 3 antibiotics, and 6 weeks later, I'm finally getting better, but I'm really fatigued. So that's why my fantasy of being just a shopper and the reality of going to the market didn't quite match up. I did find some knitting needles that I needed and bought some Bonkers fiber. I toyed with the idea of getting a fleece, but decided I better work with the ones I have before I buy more.

I finished the sock! Yay. This is the 1/2 FO since I still need to make the second sock. It is a bit big. Also, I've misplaced my notes and will probably have to reverse engineer the second sock. I'll probably find the notes after I've finished the second sock and can then discover all the differences between the two socks. That is, if I ever get to making the second sock. I'm nearly done spinning the yarn for the second sock. I've been working on it in meetings.


Also, I've been working on a beading challenge issued at work by the Beading Daily editor, Michelle Mach. We were each given a little box full of the same beads and asked to make something with it. I'm making a beaded frame for this picture of my maternal grandparents. The deadline is June 29th and I could finish it real soon if I leave it like it is, or I could get a little out of control and cover every square inch with beads--which is what I'm inclined to do, but probably isn't doable.

Last night my dad brought spaghetti sauce and salad dressing for dinner and asked me to examine the label. It took me a while, but I finally saw that my mom's artwork was the feature art on the label! How exciting! Spinelli's is the neighborhood grocery and they are coming out with a line of natural products that will be at Whole Foods soon. The sauces and salad dressing are very yummy! And of course the artwork is beautiful--a watercolor painting my mom did of their store front in 1996.
Here are the bottles (already consummed) sitting on the potting table that Kelly made for me by recycling one of the old kitchen cabinets and putting a new top on it. I love it so much!

I have a lot of iris to plant! They were saved from the dump--a neighbor tore out their weed infested flower beds and replaced them with new landscaping and all these iris were headed to the trash. One of my neighbors let me know about it and then I got permission from the neighbors who were redoing their landscape to harvest the iris.
Now I just need to find time to plant them! (Here's a better view of my potting table--complete with carrot door pulls!)

Compost surprise!

I was wandering around my garden this morning as the sun was coming up admiring the little seedlings because that is my favorite thing about a garden--watching it grow and change. I noticed that the rose bush by the compost was blooming, so I went over to touch the petals and saw that my compost contained a surprise! I haven't turned it over in a while--though I've been adding yard clippings to it. An iris bulb was sprouting in the compost! It was the most gentle, delicate little iris leaves that I've seen, with roots clinging to a decaying leaf in the compost. What a will to live and grow.
What a perfect way to start the day. I transplanted it to my garden (still in my robe--my hair a rat's nest of tangles).

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Two years old already!
I can't believe it. It's gone by so quickly.
The first three weeks seemed like an eternity because you were in the hospital, but after that--it has whizzed by. What a lot of fun we're having. And I'm so glad that you haven't learned how to climb on top of the fridge.

I did a little documenting--one photo for each one-month birthday--I saw this on someone's blog and had to make a version for you. This blog also inspired me to make you some doll clothes--I got three diapers made and that was it. Obviously the naptime knitter's baby takes longer naps.









Year one--June 1, 2005-May 1, 2006

Year 2: June 1, 2006-May 1, 2007