Fiber Arts Friday: Santaclava

My Brother is awesome.

He doesn't take himself too seriously... at least not too often, anyway.  ;-)

He had a serious handle-bar mustache at our sister's wedding a couple of years ago and Einstein Hair at Hubba's and my wedding many years before that.  So when I saw this post by the Student Knitter, I knew I had the perfect project for my bro.

The only thing was, I didn't quite see him as a Viking.

A Cowboy or a Ski-bum or a Skiing Cowboy, I could see, but not a Viking.  So I spent some time thinking about it, looking for cowboy hats and ski caps, finally looking through the finished projects for the Bearded Touque on Ravelry when one project really inspired me... I decided to make my own Bearded Santa Hat for my bro... aka The Santaclava.

This project is a combination of Santa's Ho-Ho-Hat and the Bearded Touque with a bit of improvisation in between.  The Bearded Touque pattern was confusing to me, so instead I made a sketch of my plan and just went for it.  Which means it has some issues.  In the end though, I think it turned out pretty well.

This was super fun to knit.  Mostly because I was giggling the whole time I was working on it.

Apparently the family liked it too...

Happy Fiber Arts Friday, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Ah-Ha Moments

A few ah-ha moments come to mind this year.  They're mostly small, little, ah-has that make day-to-day life a tad easier.  Ah-has such as: I can make car payments at a local, sister, credit union; I can bring knitting and spinning tools on board an aircraft; and Frontline does not require a prescription.  Sometimes though, an ah-ha can be quite profound.  The one I’ve been thinking about a lot recently is: Forgiveness does not need to include Trust and Friendship.

It really is a very simple idea, and one that many of you have probably already learned.  I suppose sometimes the simplest things have the largest effects.

We all have someone who has wronged us in some way.  Whether it's on purpose or not.  With or without cause, it happens to all of us.  When it does, it's up to us to decide where to go next.  Do we repair the friendship or let it go?  Do we stay angry forever or do we forgive?

Certainly it depends on the size of the wrong, hurt and anger involved, but if the goal is only to move past the anger and not to a point of friendship, then the idea of forgiveness is not so daunting.

This ah-ah is still quite new for me, so I have a lot of work to do in one particular situation.  I just wanted to say that it was quite a freeing moment to realize trust and friendship don't have to come along with forgiveness.

A Few Lessons I've Learned Recently

Our circuit breaker can only support three water de-icers.

Credit Card payments can only be made once every three days.

Rabbit actually does taste like chicken.

My iPhone can receive photo texts, but can not send them even though it acts like it can.

Baby hats should have ties because they don't stay on otherwise.

Fiber Arts Friday: Odds and Ends

I was travelling again this week, so there was no progress on my Plumber Sweater.  There was no progress on my Recycled Wool Nightcap.  Nor was there progress on spinning the remainder of my Cashmere/Tussah Silk roving.

I have been working on a Top Secret project for a sometimes reader of this blog, so I will not be posting about it here until the time is right. :-)

I have also been making plans for the lovely Suri and Yak/Merino yarns that Hubba brought from Japan.

Finally, I have been planning a second BFF Hat and shopping around for just the right roving.

I fear a bit of Fiber Arts ADD is in my future.  But it doesn't matter because it's Fiber Arts Friday and I bet there will be more great ideas to add to the list.

Out of Touch

When I'm not on the road, I feel a bit out of touch with my projects and client.

When I am on the road, I feel out of touch with home.

Don't get me wrong.  With email, instant messaging, tele- and web-conferencing, the Internet and cell phones.  I am able to keep in contact.  I can attend meetings, update projects and whisper good night to my Hubba regardless of where I am.  However, there is no real substitute for seeing people in person.

Which means, I always feel out of touch with something that's important to me all the time.

Fiber Arts Friday: Lovely Yarn from Japan

Hubba went to Japan last month for the 30th Oita International Wheelchair Marathon.

He had a good race and lots of rah-men and sushi.

I did not go, so he asked what he should bring home from Japan.  My answer was Yarn, of course. I told him that only natural fibers will do... wool, alpaca, cotton.... absolutley no acrylic, polyester or nylon shall be brought into this house.  To which he replied, "This is not my first yarn rodeo."

So since I've been on the road this week and haven't made much progress on any of my works, I thought I would share the lovely yarn Hubba brought back from Japan.

One of the race volunteers helped him find a yarn shop. Where he found, not just a couple skeins, but a huge sack of lovely yarn.  Which included...

Two skeins of an amazingly soft beige suri alpaca blend.

It is a very fine strand and blended with something, but I don't read Japanese, so I don't know what it is.  I suspect it's silk.

Our WonderWhyGal and other Suri breeders will appreciate this... When Hubba told the shop keeper that he needed "the best" yarn she had, she found this yarn and told him that "it is very special."

It is very special indeed.  Each one is only 25g, so I need to find something equally special to make with it.  I am thinking small, lacey and close to the skin...  and after reading this post from If the Knit Fits, I'm am feeling optomistic that I will be able to find something appropriate.

The other wonderfulness he brought home was 9 skeins of Yak/Merino... I'm in love with this yarn.  I love the natural colors, I love that they could go together or alone.

I also love that it's Yak!  I haven't worked with yak yet, but I have met some yaks.  I have some yak down in my stash waiting to be spun for the perfect project, and frankly, yak is just really fun to say.  :-)

As Hubba was making his selections, the race volunteer suggested that he should choose brighter colors, but he knows me well.  He knows that I love the natural, earthy colors best.  After all, it was one of the (many) reasons we decided to raise alpacas.

By the way, is it called a skein when it's wound like these?

I wish you all a very happy day.  Of course since it's Fiber Arts Friday, it is already. ;-)

I got a Haircut

Normally this is not noteworthy.  But it's been a long time.

I suppose that's a testament to the last person who cut my hair. It must have been one.good.haircut.  Which is surprising to me since I wasn't entirely thrilled with that experience or initial result.

It wasn't my intention to wait so long, but with travelling and such it just never got scheduled.

My ends were really dry and starting to split, which is unusual.  So I had to stop and figure it out.  Yes, I had to go back to my planner to see when my last haircut was.

It had been more than a year.  Honestly?  16 months.

It feels great to have freshly cut hair.  I love it.

Coincidence?

We've been trying to find some old friends for years.

You know how it goes.  They moved and changed jobs.  We moved and changed jobs.  Life goes on.  We lost touch.  In this case, my sister had a special friendship with their daughter and they became pen pals.

I asked my sister a few weeks ago if she had heard from the daughter.  But both had moved and lost touch also.

Then last week, my husband was visiting in our old town.

He ran into our old friend.  Yep.  Our friend was in town visiting as well.

Both were out for a run, on the same trail, at the same time, in a city that neither lived in anymore.

Coincidence?

Then today, my sister called.  She found a letter from the daughter "just sitting on a shelf."

The letter is 10 years old.

Isn't that strange?

We've been looking for them for years and now we've found them.... on all channels.

It makes me wonder.  Are those things/people/events always there and we just don't see them until everyone is ready? Or... does someone place them there when the time is right?

I guess that's why they call it serendipity.

I wonder if there's a way to make things like this happen.  Or do we just have to be patient while we grow more?

What do you think?

Blessings

I was feeling unsettled all weekend.

I was preparing to travel to Minnesota.  It was sort of strange after being home for a month.

The dog was unhappy.  He knows what the black bag means.

I had to be home for much of the month of November and I am very blessed to work for a company and client that allowed me to meet my personal requirements.  But, after a month of client meetings in my jammies and coffee breaks with the alpacas, I was preparing to travel again and feeling unsettled.

I enjoy being at home.  I enjoy being able to spend time with the alpacas, our dog and Hubba every day.

But this morning I was back in the groove.  I woke up early, went to the shuttle, breezed through security, a two-hour flight, picked-up the rental car and was off to the office.  Just like normal.

So I'm not sure why I was unsettled.

Trouble Coffee

My cousin is unconventional by nearly every measure.  But she is dedicated and believes in what she is doing.

She has studied coffee for years.  She has a passion for it.

The last time I saw her, she was on the verge of opening her coffee house, Trouble Coffee in San Francisco, California.

She put everything into it.  She was sleeping on a friend's floor and trying to get open before the rent was due.  Now a few years later, she's getting some very conventional support.

• New York Times
• San Francisco Weekly

The level of admiration I have for my cousin is very high.

If you ever find yourself in San Francisco and in need of caffeination, visit Trouble Coffee.  I suspect you'll be pleased.

Fiber Arts Friday: Plumber Sweater, part 5

As I mentioned last time, this was my first trip down the body-to-sleeve joining road.

I added life lines.  Carefully read and re-read the instructions.  Then joined the sleeves to the body of my Plumber Sweater...

...and it was no big deal.

I have now successfully created a few short rows too.  They were actually quite easy.  This video from Knitpicks was helpful in describing the wrap and pickup.

This sweater is officially the largest item I've ever knitted... I'm up to skein #8 of 12.

As of today, I have completed the first decrease, so I feel like I might actually finish this project one day.  I only have about 7 inches to go.  :-)

I am travelling over the next couple of weeks and the sweater is now too big to come along.  Which means the progress will slow down a lot, but I am very happy to be this far.

Happy Fiber Arts Friday and Happy December.  Please head over to Wisdom Begins in Wonder to see some great fiber arts.

One Small Change: Cleaning and Temperature

For November, I decided to try some home-made oven cleaner for my One Small Change.

I am embarrassed to say, I have not cleaned my oven yet.  I even made it more dirty while preparing our Thanksgiving dinner.  So the home made oven cleaner will stay on my plan for December.

For December though, I am pleased to say that I got a head start on our planed One Small Change... a lower thermostat than last winter.

Over the years we have learned that choosing a temperature and leaving it alone helps with the overall comfort of our home as well as reduces the energy used and therefore the cost of heating the house over winter.

We had settled on about 70 degrees F as the preferred temperature, but last year was our first winter in our new place and the energy bills were shocking.  There are several reasons:

• Most of the heat is baseboard (aka water heated by gas), however the basement and Man Room are heated electrically.  I don't know why, this is just how it is.
• It is colder in Colorado than New Mexico.
• Our house is somewhat drafty.
• Last year was a harsh winter.
• The temperature on the hot water heater was set to scalding.
• Our new place is much larger than our old place.

We realized half way thru the winter that the basement and man room were heated electrically and these were switched on.  We promptly ensured all were switched off, closed the doors to rooms we were not using and doubled checked the off-ness often.  This helped with the energy costs as winter turned into spring, but the shock of those first bills left quite an impression on me.

We turned the temperature down on the hot water heater to something less than scalding and I have the thermostats set between 60 and 65 degrees F.

I haven't been able to figure out what area one thermostat controls so that one has been left off.  I assume as as we get into the heart of winter, the area will reveal itself.

With these changes and the fact that this has been a more mild winter so far, our energy bill is about half of what it was for this time last year.

My intention is to leave the thermostats at 60-65 degrees the entire winter.  December and January will be the test... can I leave it there?

If you're interested in seeing what others are doing to improve their affect or would like to participate, please head over to the One Small Change Blog, new folks are always welcome.

Support

The more unconventional your ideas and decisions, the less people will support it.

Fiber Arts Friday: Plumber Sweater, part 4

When last we checked in on the Plumber Sweater, the second sleeve was in progress.

This time, both sleeves are complete and the same length.  Yay!

I am preparing to join them to the body of the sweater.

This is my first time down the sweater-to-sleeve joining road, and we know that sometimes I don't read instructions very well.  So, I plan to take my time and make sure I really understand what I'm supposed to do next.  Perhaps I should add life-lines now...

Also, I'm a little nervous because I saw that short rows are coming up and I haven't done those before either.  Yep, I will definitely go add those life-lines now.

It's a good thing that I have a football game coming up this afternoon.  I can usually make a lot of progress during a football game.  By the way, I hope CU does well against Nebraska.  It's been a tough year, so one can always hope. ;-)

If you're state-side, I hope your Thanksgiving weekend is wonderful.  If you're elsewhere, I hope your weekend is wonderful too.

Be sure to increase the probability of wonderfulness by heading over to Wisdom Begins in Wonder because it is Fiber Arts Friday.

Happy Thanksgiving

It is Thanksgiving here in the US.

Since Thanksgiving is about the bounty of the harvest, yummy food and spending time with the people we care about, it is my favorite time of the year.

This year, we are hosting Thanksgiving dinner.  It doesn't happen very often, so I'm excited for everyone to come over.

There will be plenty of snacking, cooking, feasting, socializing, playing games, knitting and crocheting, watching the Macy's parade, National Dog Show and the CU-Nebraska Football game and playing with alpacas and dogs, but mostly we'll be cuddling the new nephew who arrived last week.

Happy Thanksgiving.  May you enjoy the bounty of the season.

Responsible

For as long as I can remember, I have been called responsible.

I used to hate it every time report cards would come out... "she is very responsible."

It was on every report card.

Just once, I wanted a teacher to write that I was creative or intelligent or entertaining.

But no, I was always responsible.  Which to me, meant dependable, predictable and boring.

Maybe it had something to do with being the oldest child.

Maybe because I was (and still am) quite shy and uncomfortable in large groups so I didn't act out.

I'm sure I was a teacher's dream student.  I made good grades and didn't require much attention.  I was quiet and well behaved.  I'm sure they meant responsible to be a compliment, but I hated it.

Over the years I have come to terms with the label.

Being considered responsible is a good thing.

It is a part of who I am, but it is not all of who I am.

Fiber Arts Friday: Recycled Wool Project

Earlier this year, I embarked upon a Sweater Recycling Project.

I finished disassembling it months ago and ended up with a lot of short pieces of yarn.  I'm certain if I had taken more care in separating the panels of the sweater, I would have more longer pieces to work with.  But this was my first time, so live and learn.  Right?

The disassembling portion of this project took a lot longer than I expected, so I bagged up the yarn and put it in my stash until I felt ready to come back to it.

Finally in early October, I didn't have too many projects in work, so I decided it might be time to go back to my recycled wool project.

Initially, I was planning to make socks.  But since there are so many short pieces of yarn, I think I would have lots of knots in my socks.  Knotty socks would be uncomfortable and the wool is really too scratchy to have right next to the skin.  So instead, I have decided on this nightcap which I have wanted to make for a while.

Since the pattern has a lot of detail, I decided to knit it exactly as written.  I didn't want to take a chance of messing it up by making a different size.  However, since I do not own any US#0 needles, I knit a gauge swatch with US#2 needles.

Fortunately the gauge came out about right.

Initially I was challenged by the yarn over (YO). Making it is fine, but knitting the YO stitch on the next row was an issue.  I dropped several stitches.  Which means I started over a several times since I don't know how to make those corrections.

Finally, after a few tries and a few rows I got the hang of knitting the YOs and could read the stitches pretty well.

Anyway, I've been working on this nightcap when I want a break from the plumber sweater.  So there isn't much progress to show, but here you go...

Please be sure to head over to Wisdom Begins with Wonder because it's Fiber Arts Friday.

Fiber Arts Friday: Plumber Sweater, part 3

I'm actually making some visible progress on my Plumber Sweater, finally.  :-)

I finished the first sleeve last Sunday in between watching New York City Marathon, listening to football coverage and helping Hubba finish packing for his trip to Oita, Japan.

Some of our friends were competing in the wheelchair division of the NYC marathon.  So while we were thrilled to be able to get live race coverage on Universal Sports, there was very little wheelchair race coverage.  Which means we were invoking, Twitter, Facebook, UniversalSports.com and INGNYCMarathon.org to get live race updates... but that's a different post for a different day.

Back to the sleeve... it's actually about an inch longer than it should be.
 
Yes, reading instructions foils me again... I did an extra increase section.  But rather than tinking back 10 rows, I dropped the increases and tinked back a few stitches to finished the last row correctly.  I'm assuming that slightly longer sleeves won't be that big of a deal.  So, sleeve number 1 is now safely on stitch holders and waiting patiently with the body of the sweater.
 
I quickly wound another ball of yarn and cast on the second sleeve using my newly found, super-short-9-inch circular needles.

The whole time I was thinking, wouldn't it be great to show two finished sleeves today?

.... and, well..... it's really too much to expect from me for a few evenings of work.  So I have about 20% of the second sleeve to share.  :-)

Please share my joy, by sharing your fiber projects over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.  Then be sure to see what everyone else is sharing because it's Fiber Arts Friday.

Lucky 13

I got a reminder from Facebook that my wedding anniversary is coming up.

It made me laugh.

Certainly there are a lot of dates that I do not remember.  However, the anniversary of my marriage to my best friend is one that I do remember.

Books, Alpacas and Marathons

Hubba left for Japan this morning.

He is headed to Oita City for the Oita International Wheelchair Marathon.  It is the largest wheelchair-only marathon in the world.  This is his fourth time competing and the 30th anniversary of the race.

I have been to several races with Hubba and the Oita event is by far the most organized.  There are a huge number of volunteers that help to make the entire trip a wonderful experience.

The importance the Japanese culture places on being a good host comes through...

because of that, we feel it is important to show our gratitude.

We continually say thank you, try to experience the city as much as possible, tell them how much we love being there, and we bring a few gifts that are a small part of who we are or where we are from.

Since this is Hubba's fourth trip to this race, he's gotten to know many of the volunteers.  They know that we have moved to our own farm and raise alpacas.

So I felt it was important to find something that reflects alpacas and/or Colorado... enter Mary King.  She and her husband own and operate AlpacaKing in Fort Collins.

Mary wrote a book about one of her alpacas.  It's a fantastic and uplifting story about believing in something even in the darkest of times and seeing it through to a positive outcome.  The book is guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes... in a good way.  :-)

Alpacas are relatively new to Japan and therefore quite popular... especially with their cute faces.  So one of Mary's good friends, who is from and lives in Japan, had her book translated and published in Japanese.

I thought this was the perfect gift for those volunteers who help so much during the race.  Since I am not making the trip this year, I told Hubba to tell them the book is from me to thank them for taking such good care of my beloved hubba.  ;-)

If you're interested in reading the story of Rocky, you can get the book from Mary directly or email her if you're interested in the Japanese version.

If you would like to watch the race and won't happen to be near Oita City on Sunday, there is a live broadcast, 10:45 am to 2:00 pm, Japan time on Sunday, November 14th... that's Saturday evening if you happen to be State-side.

Fiber Arts Friday: Plumber Sweater, part 2

As I mentioned here, I have been working on my Plumber Sweater for a very long time.  Officially it's been more than one year now.

The body is complete.

The first sleeve is in progress.

This was my first time casting on using multiple double-pointed needles and then beginning to knit in the round.  However, as one of my friends pointed out, I was actually knitting triangularly.  ;-)

I went back and forth between long and short dpns as well as three or four dpns.  But I was always afraid the sleeve would slip off, so I spent a lot of time capping the ends as I went.  Which means the progress was s l o w.

I decided I needed to find a pair of very short #7 circular needles...

I went to three stores but finally found a pair that are only 11 inches long.  I made the switch and began knitting much faster.

I have about five inches to go on the first sleeve.  Then the second sleeve, chest and neck remain... that's it.  ;-)

It's Fiber Arts Friday, so head over to the Wonder Why Gal's blog and see what she and the other Fiber Folks have been up to.

We Took a Walk

Last weekend, we took a walk along the Cache la Poudre River in Fort Collins.

There is a great bridge and huge cottonwood trees.

The sky was interesting.

The light was great.

It was a good walk.

Fall in my Front Yard

One Small Change: A Garden, Canning and Cleaning

I've been wanting to get our garden prepared since, well, since last spring, but I've been talking about it as part of One Small Change since August.  Finally, last weekend I staked it out.  Hubba decided he didn't like it and selected a different location.

I staked it out again and Hubba agreed.

This new location has no underground wires so we can start digging at any time.

Now on to official business: my One Small Change for October was to continue to can and freeze produce.

I added more apple butter and an awesome chunky apple sauce to my September stash.  I have one more sack of apples to process and potentially a few more apples on the tree.  I haven't checked them out since the freeze earlier this week.

I also acquired a food dehydrator.  I'm thinking about drying some of the apples I have left along with making beef jerky.

Learning to can and freeze produce over the last two months has been really fun and satisfying.  I feel I can handle most anything that comes my way next year.

For November, I plan to clean my ovens.  Blech.

Soon after I started participating in One Small Change, another changer wrote this post about her experience with home-made cleansers...  I really need to clean out my ovens, and I like the idea of home-made cleansers.  I  hope it goes well.

Fiber Arts Friday: Crocheted Balls

The other day my sister sent a photo of a crocheted cat toy.  She thought it was super cute and wondered if I could make one.  She said, "It's just a ball.  It can't be too hard, right?"

I'm not a huge crocheter.  But there are a couple of patterns I really want to make that are crochet.  So improving my skills has been on my list for a while.

I decided that I should be able to make a couple of crocheted balls and found a pattern for a hackysack.

I went to my stash and found this bright cotton left over from a weaving class I took a while back.

Here's the result of my experiment:

I think they're a little big and heavy to be a good cat toy.  I filled them with dried lentils so they feel very much like the hackysacks of my younger days.  ;-)  I bet they'd be pretty great filled with lavender.

I wonder what we'll see today at Wisdom Begins in Wonder... it is Fiber Arts Friday.

Solving Problems: Preferred Content

I subscribe to a lot of blogs via RSS.

I like the convenience of it.  It's passive.  My email isn't full of blog posts.  I can see what's been posted to recently and read in any order I choose.

The down side to RSS is that I don't always have a strong enough connection to receive the feeds when I'm travelling and the RSS subscription is specific to one computer.

Solutions other than RSS:

Email Subscription.  Initially this was my preferred method of subscribing, but I already mentioned I like having less in my email.

Google Reader.  I understand there might be some Phone Apps that work with Google Reader for when you're "on the go,"  but I don't like Google Reader.  Perhaps I don't know how to use all of the "features," so I might be willing to give it a try again.

Links from my blog.  My solution was to create a list of some favorite blogs on the Kathryn's Brain home page.  You'll see them if you scroll down a bit on the right sidebar.  --->

What's your solution?  How do you keep up with your preferred content when you are away?  Or do you?

Manure Delivery

This past week we made two alpaca manure deliveries to our friend's garden.

Hubba spent his day's off shoveling the manure into the bed of our truck.

It seemed like a lot... until we dropped it in their (giant) garden.

So Hubba loaded the truck again, then promptly announced he wanted a tractor.

We don't have much manure left.... for now.   I just love making farm deliveries.

Roasting Turkey

Hubba and I used to get whole fresh turkeys from Keller's Farm Store in Albuquerque every 4-6 weeks.

Since we've returned to Colorado, we've had a challenge finding fresh turkey, let alone frozen ones.  I really haven't seen much other than at Thanksgiving.

So I've been asking around, hoping and praying that we would find a suitable turkey source.

In the spring, the chicken farmer at the farmer's market told me he had some turkeys that should be ready for Thanksgiving.  So I made a note and kept looking.

The boy who delivered our hay about a month ago told me the manager at the feed store raised turkeys and that they might be available for individual sale.

Finally, a couple of weeks ago at the farmer's market, the chicken farmer had a sign out that he had turkeys available.

He was embarrassed that they were a little big.  This was his first year raising turkeys and had gotten them a little too early.  I told him not to worry.  I desperately wanted farm-raised turkey and would take a big one.

It was there for me to pick up last Saturday and let me tell you, I got what I wished for...

... a 29.6 pound turkey.

Eek.  I didn't know if it would fit in my oven.  It certainly didn't fit in the refrigerator, barely fit in the sink and was way too big for my roasting pan.

But don't worry, I bought a (recycled) aluminum roasting pan, defrosted the turkey in the sink and roasted it earlier this week.

We've been having turkey sandwiches and tacos for days.  Yum-my.

As for the manager at the feed store?  I'm getting one of his turkeys next weekend.  I plan to save that one for Thanksgiving.

Fiber Arts Friday: Orange Cotton Hats

Quite a long time ago, I was trying to make a hat (Ravelry link) for Hubba that was (a) not too hot, (b) washable and (c) an orangy-red color.

I ended up with a cotton London Beanie.  He liked the hat in spite of some some issues it has.

Then I made one for our friend's young son and Hubba decided he loved his hat.

The young son, decided they would have a private orange hat club, so his dad needed one too.

I didn't have enough of the orange yarn left over and was unable to find more at my local yarn shops, so I went to Ravelry, found some there and knit a third Orange Cotton Hat.

I hope they stay true to their word... that this is a closed club.  :-)

This is, of course, my weekly installment for Fiber Arts Friday.  Please head over to Wisdom Begins in Wonder to see what everyone else has been up to.