Solstice
G'day all!
The longest day and shortest night for us. Normally this is the happiest time of year for me - I love the long days. This year...
Ah what an unsettled time it has been. I've been working hard on getting ready for last week's housewarming and then this week's last minute Christmas knitting. The bushfires have continued burning north and east of us - they are a long way away and if they burnt through all the houses they would need to to get to us, it would be a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina - and it has been smokey again. Drives me insane cos I can only walk (cycling will induce an asthma attack cos me and smoke are not good together), and cos too much forest is burning in one hit and destroying too much in the way of life, and let's face it, smoke is something that sets off a very deep response, an instinct of worry worry worry, gosh I would like to panic now...
(I dyed and overdyed this yarn for my middling niece. Yummy aran/worsted weight merino. Squidgy!)
I've done very little spinning recently, but I've knitted up three pairs of Fetchings so far, have another almost done, one half done and one a third done. Plus I have to get Nathan's sock finished for Christmas and at least one more pair of Fetchings for his mum (Fetchings are more forgiving of wrong sizing than a pair of socks, and that is what I had planned to knit her).
(Knitted in Zara - much softer than the aran/10 ply weight ones, for E in England)
I've been knitting up one of the bags from Cat Bordhi's Second Treasury of Magical Knitting. I'll let you see it when it is felted. Any guesses as to which one it is?
(Noro Fetching, maybe for me, maybe a Christmas present)
There were two of these Fetchings when I mailed them off yesterday. Hope there are still two now. In the photo there is only one. Pretty, eh?
(Yummy yarn dyed by me, grown by Andyle)
I *only* have this much of the yarn left (ie probably enough to knit a pair of knee socks on an "average" woman, not that I know any "average" women, and that is a compliment!). If you like it, I will sell it to you. $7.50 per 50g, about 95-100m per 50g. Top quality merino DK. Prettier than the photo looks - there's a bit of mauve in there and all. Yummy!
Hokely dokely, time to go for a stagger. It has been HOT here and smokey and yucky and I am over it. The weather bureau has said that there is likely to be RAIN tomorrow. Rain? What is that? Would it be the thing that lightly sprinkles from the sky and gets my car dirty? The car that in 10 days' time cannot be washed unless at a commercial car wash? The stuff that when it fell (a whole 2.5mm or 1/10th of an inch) got Nutmeg really upset cos there was this STUFF and it was WET and everything was WRONG!
anon!
The longest day and shortest night for us. Normally this is the happiest time of year for me - I love the long days. This year...
Ah what an unsettled time it has been. I've been working hard on getting ready for last week's housewarming and then this week's last minute Christmas knitting. The bushfires have continued burning north and east of us - they are a long way away and if they burnt through all the houses they would need to to get to us, it would be a disaster on the scale of Hurricane Katrina - and it has been smokey again. Drives me insane cos I can only walk (cycling will induce an asthma attack cos me and smoke are not good together), and cos too much forest is burning in one hit and destroying too much in the way of life, and let's face it, smoke is something that sets off a very deep response, an instinct of worry worry worry, gosh I would like to panic now...
(I dyed and overdyed this yarn for my middling niece. Yummy aran/worsted weight merino. Squidgy!)
I've done very little spinning recently, but I've knitted up three pairs of Fetchings so far, have another almost done, one half done and one a third done. Plus I have to get Nathan's sock finished for Christmas and at least one more pair of Fetchings for his mum (Fetchings are more forgiving of wrong sizing than a pair of socks, and that is what I had planned to knit her).
(Knitted in Zara - much softer than the aran/10 ply weight ones, for E in England)
I've been knitting up one of the bags from Cat Bordhi's Second Treasury of Magical Knitting. I'll let you see it when it is felted. Any guesses as to which one it is?
(Noro Fetching, maybe for me, maybe a Christmas present)
There were two of these Fetchings when I mailed them off yesterday. Hope there are still two now. In the photo there is only one. Pretty, eh?
(Yummy yarn dyed by me, grown by Andyle)
I *only* have this much of the yarn left (ie probably enough to knit a pair of knee socks on an "average" woman, not that I know any "average" women, and that is a compliment!). If you like it, I will sell it to you. $7.50 per 50g, about 95-100m per 50g. Top quality merino DK. Prettier than the photo looks - there's a bit of mauve in there and all. Yummy!
Hokely dokely, time to go for a stagger. It has been HOT here and smokey and yucky and I am over it. The weather bureau has said that there is likely to be RAIN tomorrow. Rain? What is that? Would it be the thing that lightly sprinkles from the sky and gets my car dirty? The car that in 10 days' time cannot be washed unless at a commercial car wash? The stuff that when it fell (a whole 2.5mm or 1/10th of an inch) got Nutmeg really upset cos there was this STUFF and it was WET and everything was WRONG!
anon!
Yikes! What's a normal amount/timing of rain there?? We're having an abnormally dry winter in Minnesota - possibly record breaking unless we get some serious snow.
ReplyDeleteYou've made/are making some lovely Fetchings!
hey Lynne - I posted pics today of a headscarf thingy from Knitty that I made from some of your lovely handspun you sent me. I'm making flowers with the rest of 1 of the skeins. Thanks again. xx
ReplyDeleteWow - it's winter solstice day already??!
ReplyDeleteYour Fetchings are lovely. I wondered about the picot edge curling over - any advice? I think I'll make the next pair with a straight edge.
I saw the weather map on SBS this morning ,the cloud band looks good ,I hope it does something!!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are a productive knitter!
Oh, those glorious blues!
ReplyDeleteIt's been an unsettled lead up to Christmas for me, too. Lots of highs and lows. And you're spot on with the instinctive response to the smoke. I've watched two major bushfires rage through the area I grew up in, so I get edgy even when I smell the smoke from my neighbour's open fire!
Hope your Christmas makes up for it in fun and yarny goodness!
I seriously hope you are making one of the bags with tentacles, which I have earmarked for a future project.
ReplyDeleteI love the look of the Fetchings but I wonder if I would ever wear them - maybe I will knit myself a pair anyway!
I too am sick of smoke - it makes my eyes hurt and my throat hurt and it makes me cough and it makes the dog very twitchy all the time, presumably atavistic wolf instincts. And I am sick of wondering when a fire is going to burn down my MILs house or my SILs house (both very real possibilities once or twice recently).
I hope you get soe real rain soon. I would love to send you guys all the rain we have been having here. Your Fetchings are lovely.
ReplyDeleteI really hope you get some rain soon. Sounds rotten for all concerned with the fires and smoke.
ReplyDeleteYour Fetchings are looking great. I might have to make some in Noro now!
I'll try sending you some rain. Maybe ask some of the native elders here to do some rain dances or something. I hope those fires are out soon.
ReplyDeleteYou are making some seriously pretty Fetchings and if I had more money right now, I would be all over that beautiful yarn.
Forgot to say Merry Christmas to both of you and the cats.
ReplyDeleteYay the rain!!!!
I still can't get my head around Christmas falling near the longest day of the year for you. I think of Christmas as lots of candles and white lights because it's dark so long here. I just heard on the radio that although the shortest day of the year is on the solstice, the earliest sunset is actually days earlier. So a week or two ago, the sun set at 4:13 p.m. here.
ReplyDeleteWhat's sunset for you these days?
(Oh, great Fetchings, of course.)