Fiber Arts Friday: Voie de Vie

Sometime last summer Denise at Voie de Vie offered to make a cowl for me.

I don't exactly remember the circumstances, but I do remember feeling both inadequate and grateful to be offered such a gift.

Miso the kitty loves my Voie de Vie La Coeur Cowl too

Having made for others and rarely making for myself, I know how generous this sort of gift is.

We talked about some of the prepared yarns I had available and she decided on my handspun Keyla singles.  I sent her all I had left and included a skein of Bandit that I had spun last year for her trouble.

Keyla's yarn

She decided to use all of the yarn I sent and included some of Wonder Why Gal's handspun too.  She wrote about it here.

Bandit (grey) paired with Wonder Why Gal's handspun alpaca

I'm not certain I can convey what this gift means to me.  I bought the yarn before I bought Keyla.  She was always a teacher for me, up to and including when we lost her over the summer.

Denise, Thank you so much for this wonderful, generous gift.  I love it so much.  :-)

The pattern is La Coeur Cowl.

Giving Thanks

This was a surprisingly hard post to write.  Today is Thanksgiving in the US so social media will be covered in thankful and food posts.  I am most definitely thankful for my life and the food I'll be eating later, but it's been a tough year on many fronts.

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday.  Not only do I love turkey (and food in general) but I love getting together with my family.  They are loud and overwhelming.  There are a whole lot of them and I adore them.

I will laugh at my BIL's stories until I cry.  I will compare my height with nieces and nephews.  (I seem to be getting shorter.)  We will tease and make each other the butt of jokes.  We'll talk about what's going on, jobs, school, dreams and goals and we will toast each other's successes and blessings.  This is really one of my favorite days of the year.

Of course I will make time to watch the National Dog Show.  The show itself was November 14th, but the NBC broadcast is today.  A couple of friends were exhibiting and one's Tibetan Mastiff won Best of Breed, so I'm looking forward to watching her in the group ring.

I will take moments through out the day to pause, reflect and say thank you... as I do most days.  Life is precious.  I am grateful for the one I have and especially grateful for the many blessings and acts of kindness we've received.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Feeling Grateful

A few years ago, when we moved back to Colorado from New Mexico, I bought a big down coat.  I call it my "Saint Paul Parka."

I bought the coat because New Mexico has mild winters, I had lived there for a very long time and was suddenly commuting to the Twin Cities of Minnesota... specifically, Saint Paul.  I knew my winter coat, that had been perfectly fine for New Mexico, was not going to cut it in Minnesota.

What I didn't realize at the time is that Northern Colorado gets just as cold, only it's not for as long.  Of course the sun shines more here, but I digress.  ;-)

So when the weather is like it is right now, I am grateful for my Saint Paul Parka.

We went below freezing (+32F) yesterday afternoon and will stay there for the next week.

Feeling Grateful

I was thinking this morning about how so many things have changed over the last few years.

One of those things was starting this blog. I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about having my thoughts out there for all to see, but I felt I had a voice and I needed to write.

I wasn't confident enough to think anyone would actually find, let alone read this blog. So I just tried to be honest about what was going on in my head, and was conscious not to share too many details that might affect my privacy in a negative way.

There's been an ebb and flow with posting.  Sometimes I seem to post every day, sometimes not for a few weeks.  I like to post at least a couple of times each week, but if you're reading this you know I haven't achieved that goal much recently.

Eventually though, the first comments came from people I didn't know. It was surprising and exciting and caused me to want to write more.

Now a few years later, I'm still surprised that there are regular readers of this blog. Some of you have become more like friends and less like strangers which makes me very happy.  There's a good chance we wouldn't have met without this thing called blogging.

I love being able to review the post I've been willing to make and the many, many that are still in draft form.  But most of all I am grateful. I am grateful for the people who take a little time and read this blog. I do hope you find it useful and/or inspiring because most of your blogs are useful and inspiring for me.

Happy

While I was doing my farm chores this morning.  It occurred to me how happy I am.

I mean, it didn't just occur to me.  It occurs every time I do farm chores.  I just love working on our farm.

This morning the weather was lovely and my time was flexible, so Hubba and I worked on one of those put-off-until-later chores.

Our farm isn't huge, but the list of things to do and fix is.  Sometimes it's overwhelming, especially since Hubba and I each travel a lot for our day jobs.

While we were having lunch later, he said something about how happy I am when we're working outside and how happy that makes him.  I told him it's true and that I had just been thinking the same thing.  Then I read this post on The Knitty Gritty Homestead, one of my more favorite blogs.

It's wonderful to know that others are out there doing the same thing.  People are building a more rural, sustainable life and making it happen one day at a time, in between all of the other things that need doing.

Teachers

Today is National Teacher Day.

As a product of public schools and state colleges, I would like to say that most of my teachers were great and a few made a huge difference.

I've had an amazing career and life so far. A big part is due to all of the teachers, professional and otherwise who spent time coaching and helping me understand "why." They probably don't really know how big of a difference they made.

For my teacher friends and family, you may not really know how much I admire you. You do an amazing job and our future is in your hands. For that, I am grateful.

Giving Handmade

Last weekend, I had the privilege of giving my hand-knit plumber sweater to our neighbor.

I had worked on it for what seemed like an eternity and was both thrilled and stunned to be finished.  Then I felt a little sad to think about giving it away.  However, as I became comfortable with the idea that the sweater was finished, I became excited to give it away.

I have given away most of my hand-knits, so I was a little surprised by the range of my feelings.  I think it's because handmade items have a piece of us in them.  It is scary to give away something you have poured yourself into.  There is always the question of whether they will like it or whether they will appreciate it.  That's a big place for fear to settle in and grow.

Hubba was super excited about the sweater being complete and ready to give to our neighbor so I let him call to see about a good time to stop over.  Our neighbor offered to stop by our place on his way out so Hubba told him "Great!  We have something for you to look at anyway."

As he came in the door, I assured him we did not have any plumbing for him to look at.  I told him how he's been a great neighbor and I wanted to say Thank You.  He was touched and the sweater fits perfectly.

My heart is full of joy.