Bumps and Loops

I've been spinning in circles for a couple of weeks, now. I've been trying out different yarn spinning techniques, both with my wheel and with my spindles. It's interesting what different results you can get!

Here's a photo of my final drying rack in my kitchen. Sophisticated, isn't it?

Here's a run down of the yarn created.


This yarn is made with pencil roving purchased from The Woolery when I bought my wheel. I bought a "cheese" of it. For the most part, I simply plied it together (2-ply) using a Golding Tsunami spindle. I didn't spin it first, but plied only.




This is 100% Merino that I've posted before. I tried spinning it on my smallest spindle, a Cascade Spindle's Mt. St. Helen. I plied it using the Navaho Plying technique. I've got it down, now, but you should have been around when I was totally tangled up in yarn with both hands tightly wound into the loops!




This one is my first plying attempt using the wheel and, also, my first consistent (well, sort of) spinning on the wheel. By this I mean, I didn't have to stop every 3 feet. I discovered it's hard to keep the wheel going in the opposite direction. For spinning, to make "singles," you spin with the wheel going clockwise. Then, to ply the singles together, you spin the wheel the other direction. It's odd how different that feels.




These are the same singles, but plied using a large Shacht 3" spindle.


And, finally, this is the same singles, plied using the Tsunami spindle and Navaho Plying method.


All the cream yarns are somewhat thick, although two of the skeins are about worsted weight with a few "chunks" thrown in. The merino brightly colored yarn is light worsted and the turquoise merino is somewhere between fingering and sport weight.

Oh, by the way, when this stuff dries, it smells (remarkably) like a wet sheep. Fancy that!

I have enough cream yarn to make a nice scarf for someone. It should also be a quick knit.

I'm going to continue to do the brightly colored fiber the same way and should have enough of that, soon, for a project. I'll also keep plying the turquoise roving the same way, too.

I'm not sure if I like spinning or knitting better. I think what I'll like best is knitting things from home spun yarn.

I like to rearrange furniture - without notice. I've been accused of setting up a "danger zone" whereby unsuspecting family members can trip over unexpected furniture, or fall to the ground on their tailbones, expecting a chair where none exists. Silly family members.

Well, this is what I did yesterday. It's totally different. Absolutely the only thing that's where it was in the morning is the white desk.

Please note all the cute birdhouses. They're made by patients at the state hospital where Jim works. They're all charming and they get to use part of the money for parties and part of it is to purchase more supplies. I adore these little birdhouses!

Every time I go out to Hungry Mother Park, I wonder why we don't go MORE often. It's such a beautiful place. Here are just a few photos for you.

There's something magical about some mornings in the mountains. This is one of them. There's a mist that's settled everywhere, but it's not very damp outside. The birds are ecstatic and there's a kind of unusual quiet as their backdrop.

This is what it looks like from the front porch. It's too bad the sunflowers are past their prime, but they still make a nice picture.

There's also this really cool little fellow that lives on our side porch. Every now and then, he (or she) gets industrious and builds a little web. Later in the day, it's consumed so as to conserve web materials. We managed to catch this one this morning. Jim and I both took pictures, but this one of Jim's is the best:




I'm killing myself trying to learn how to spin. This little spider had no training, has no spindle, nor a wheel. Amazing.

As I posted in an earlier post, I've been working on a Swallowtail Shawl. It's not a difficult pattern, at least until you get to the edging that gives it the name "Swallowtail." There is a stitch called a "nupp" that consists of doing 3 knit stitches with yarn overs in between them into ONE knit stitch of the previous row, THEN purling once into all FIVE of the stitches on the next row. It's a bear to get all five of those little stitches on the needle because they tend to tighten up a bit. It's also hard NOT to catch the next stitch with the five.

I learned a trick to do them and have, finally, finished three complete pairs of rows for nupps. That leaves only eight more pair.

Some time ago, I was told by a friend about a wonderful spinner named Chimera. She does mostly handspun yarns, handpainted riber and really nice artsy items. My friend had told me about a wonderful yarn she had bought and from which she'd made a hat for her son. It was a woodsy green and had little felt leaves and ladybugs in it.

I contacted Chimera, and she agreed to make me a fairly large batch of this yarn. It came today. It's beautiful and I love it. It was worth the hefty (although not so hefty for this type of thing) price tag.

She also gave me a "silk hanky." There are many ways silk cocoon fiber is readied for spinning, and this is one of them. The cocoon fibers are spread over "something." I believe Chimera dyed the fiber before sending me the hanky, but I'm not sure. In order to spin the silk into yarn, you start at the center of the hanky and begin pulling the fibers, moving to the outsides. There are several layers of fibers, and I haven't done it, yet, but it looks like it'll be a lot of fun.




I also started spinning some of my hand dyed (not by me) merino top I purchased some time ago. I'm using a spindle from Cascade Spindle Company in Washington. It's called a St. Helen and is made from wood from trees in the Mount St. Helen area. As you can see, I'm starting to get to the point that I can spin a pretty fine fiber on the spindle. This fiber should ply up around fingering weight (with the obligatory lumps). I love spinning on the spindle when I'm watching TV or movies.

This is the first reasonable yarn I've spun that's not really bulky. It's still a little thick, but at least it doesn't look like thin rope. This yardage (all 32 yards of it) was done on the spindle and plied 2-ply. I pun it, put it in a center-pull ball, plied it on the spindle, then used a niddy noddy to skein it. It was then washed in hot water with shampoo (dog shampoo, actually; it has a lovely scent), then hung to dry. The fiber was a nice plain mixed wool top. I used the ply and park method of spinning, which gave me a little more control, but by the end, I was starting to do more "free spin."

I have almost a full bobbin of the same fiber on the wheel. I'm going to finish filling that one today and will, then, spin another bobbin full. I'll ply it and wash it and see how that comes out.

This past weekend, Jim's dad turned 80. We went to Pittsburgh on Friday for his birthday party and had a great time. We went with Jim's brother Alan and his wife, Pam, and the two boys (Ethan and Nathanael) to a great Italian Restaurant for a late lunch. He sure doesn't seem like he's 80!

Afterward, we went on an impromptu weekend trip to Erie. Back in the early 1990's, we lived in Erie for seven months. I always loved it and was kind of sorry we left. At the time, we didn't have the right transportation for a place that can get 50-80 inches of snow in three or four months and it really made living there less than pleasant.

It's an interesting place. Of course, like everyone else who's been there, Presque Isle is a big draw. I've posted pictures of Presque Isle below. I even bought a camera for the purpose of taking pictures of this trip. It's a really nice little camera. I have a big Sony monster, which I love, but it's really something you have to want to use for special photographing trips. It's big and unwieldy. I bought this little guy:

One of the great features of Presque Isle is Sara's and Sally's. Sara's is an old hot dog-type stand and Sally's is an old diner. The food is wonderful and totally unhealthy. The best raspberry milkshakes in the world come from Sara's. I also had a yummy foot long hot dog and we shared a basket of very crispy, tender, greasy onion rings.

Here are the promised photos of Erie. Judge for yourself.

I've finished the back of my Central Park Hoodie for the Knit Along. This is an easy pattern and it has seemed to keep my interest. We'll see if I still think that after I do two fronts, two sleeves a hood and a band!

I love my new spinning wheel. Her name is "Libby" (short for Liberty). I "graduated" from the pencil roving to real wool "tops." Don't ask me why they're called "tops." They're long strips, about 3" wide, of soft wool fiber that's been carded and coiled up. You divide it into smaller sections and feed it to the wheel.

I can't seem to get this stuff started. It breaks over and over.

I posted on Ravelry in the Beginner Spinners thread and got the answer. I'm treadling too fast. OK. That's all well and good, but I've been trying to treadle slowly. It's hard, when you don't know what "slow" and "fast" mean with regard to spinning.

I was told the Kromski wheels, the brand I have, are so smooth that it's hard to treadle slowly. It takes practice. So, I'm sitting in front of the TV, treadling as sloooooowwwwwwlllllllyyyyyyy as possible. You CAN treadle slowly, but they're definitely right: it takes concentrated effort to learn.

I was growing parsley in my little garden. The plan was that I would harvest it and dry it for the winter.

I went out to pick it, yesterday, and found these:

They're so well camouflaged, I almost grabbed them and, ewwwwww!, squished. At first, I was a little ticked off because they were gobbling down my parsley so fast! They're pretty, though, in their wormy way.

I went inside and hunted and hunted until I could figure out what they were. Well, they're called (how strange) "parsley worms." They're the larva form of this:




I've decided I don't need home grown parsley. I'll sacrifice my herb supply to have these pretty guys around.

Someone I consider to be a true hero died today. He was only 47.

Far from the action heroes we watch on the television or on the big screen or read about in comic books and novels, this was a man. This wasn't a man who fought on the battlefield. He didn't rescue people from burning buildings or protect them from thieves and murderers.

He was a college professor. He was a man with pancreatic cancer. He had a family. He was a real person. In 2007, he gave a "Final Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon University. He became an example, not only of living well, but of dying well. He gave, every day of his life and was brutally honest with his description of the ups and downs of his disease, his hopes and his dreams.

Here, you can read an excellent article about his death, written by Valerie Nelson in Los Angeles.

I never met this man. I didn't need to meet him. I could read what he wrote and watch the brave battle he fought with dignity and love and a nearly constant sense of humor.

We lost an important man today. We lost a hero. We lost a person in the world who I will miss from time to time.

My new spinning wheel arrived yesterday afternoon. I unpacked it and looked at all the parts and the rather sketchy instructions and turned around. I was just too tired last night.

This morning, I decided I could do it. So, I got out the instructions and started. Then, there were things like: assemble the "Mother of All" and install. Huh? Whassat? What do I do, now?

So, I got out the DVD that came with the wheel and figured I'd do it step by step that way. Well, that's all well and good, but they don't do the steps in the same order. Between the two, I got the thing together, but my wheel came with just long strings, not tied in any way, although both the dvd and the instruction sheet say it's already attached. Whoops! Now what!

I looked on the wonderful Internet for instructions from Kromski, or anyone else. Nothing. Nada. Nunc! So, I called The Woolery where I bought it. Now, of course, this is 9:00 a.m. and I was even surprised to find them already there. The young woman on the phone, who was very nice, said she was new and didn't know how to tie it, either, but she'd have the owner call me when he got in at 10:00. Well, at Noon, I called again and she said she was surprised and he must have gotten caught in traffic. I told her I'd hold tight, then. My suspicion was he was hungry. It's easy to get hungry in Tennessee.

Me, being me, though, couldn't just "hold tight." I kept looking and looking and looking on the Internet. Nothing on the Kromski. I found instructions for another brand of double drive wheel and thought I might be able to figure out the correct method, even though the wheel was a bit different.

Voila! It worked. The wheel works just fine and the installation of the drive band is a piece of apple cake.

So, here's a picture of my little darling. Now, to name her.

Do you know what a distaff is? Not too many people, except for spinners do.

I made one today:

What's it for? You put it on your fiber hand when spinning with a drop spindle and wrap the raw fiber, roving, etc., around it. It's made with a fiber that kind of grabs the raw fiber and keeps it out of the way of the spindle and the spinner. There are beads on it to give it just a bit of weight. Two nice side advantages of the beads are the quiet "clacking" sound it makes as the fiber is swung off and, well, it's just pretty.

I learned how to do a round 4 strand braid doing this. I made my distaff out of Noro Kureyon. It's possible, the Kureyon won't be as strong as I'd like. If it's not, I have an excuse to make another one.

I've finished spinning up the practice wool fiber that came with my drop spindle. It was a real learning experience!

Here are the three little balls of what's called "singles" I made from my wad of fiber:

This is the first attempt. It's full of slubs, thick and thin, and has both under spun and over spun sections:




Attempt 2 produced yarn that has a more consistent spin, but some of it is very thin - almost lace weight - and a lot of it's really "hard."




The final attempt, and the largest amount of yarn single, is a lot better. It's still thick and thin in places and the spin isn't totally consistent, but it's acceptable.




I'm going to take all the singles and ply (twist) them together to make one ball. I've been told it's important to knit something, anything, with your first yarn, so I think I'll make a mug cozy with it.

Here's what I'm trying to spin on the drop spindle these days:



This is from Gale's Art and is 100% hand dyed merino wool. It's not as easy to spin as the other yarn and I'm having to "reset" my methods. The colors are really nice. I could spin it as one long "single" and have the colors as they come off the roving, but I think I'll spin it thinner and ply it to see what I get.

It's amazing to watch this. When you see a skein of pretty handpainted yarn on the shelf, don't be fooled. The way it looks in the skein is nothing like what it is in a ball and, even more so, after being knit. It's a complete adventure from start to finish. It's the same with spinning. It adds a whole new depth to the knitting experience.

Now, all I need is about 20 acres for sheep, alpacas, goats, camels, yaks, llamas, angora rabbits and a spot for a bamboo grove. There are people who do this, you know. I'm not totally crazy.

A few weeks ago, I bought from my neighbor, a microwave cart for the kitchen. This meant I could move the big red cabinet into the living room for "messy stuff" storage. By moving the microwave off the kitchen counter, I got almost 3 feet of new workspace.

This kitchen, while it has quite a lot of cabinet space, most of it is really inconvenient for me because it's high. Even with the microwave off the counter, there's still very little workspace.

We bought a large kitchen cart. The thing weighed a ton in its boxes. It's a great cabinet, though. It's made by Home Styles and, as advertised, was very easy to put together, for something of its size and it's very sturdy!

Jim sat on the kitchen floor for about 2 hours on Sunday and put it together. This has enabled me to organize the kitchen a bit better, things I use most often are very easy to reach, there's a little more countertop (not to mention a space for oils, towels and paper towels) and it's easy to move. The best part of all? I have a home for my beloved Kitchen Aid mixer.

Here's a photo of the cart. I think Jim did an amazing job, don't you?

You all know Skittles the Bird, of course. He's the little genius who's been sharing our lives for the past 2 1/2 years.

Well, my birthday is tomorrow and I managed to work out an arranged marriage (I hope) for Skittles. We went to the local pet store in Rural Retreat and purchased a cute little girl (I think). For the moment, she's in a separate cage and has already started flirting with Skitty (the hussy).

I tried to get a photo of her, but the bars of the cage are interfering with a good clear image. She's mostly white, with greyish, yellowish tinting and some blue on her underside. She has HUGE eyes and is quite cute.

We are hoping for the best and that Skitty Bird will have many years of happiness with his future cagemate.

I'm taking part in two Knit Alongs that are children of two groups I belong to on Ravelry. One of them is a part of the Mosaic Maniacs group. Mosaic is a local yarn shop in Blacksburg, of which I have written before. I've made cables before, but never knit an entire cabled project. Nor, have I ever made a garment with a hood.

One of them is the Central Park Hoodie. My version is below. At first, I wasn't very happy with my yarn choice. It felt scratchy and the color looked dull. Now that a good section is complete, I like it a lot. It has the further advantage of making a hole in my yarn stash that I can fill up with a more contemporary yarn. I wanted it navy so I could hang it on the hat stand to grab when I run out the door when the weather gets cooler. I'm enjoying it so much, I may have to knit it again.

The color is more like the top version, but there are little flecks of purple and red in the yarn. Very subtle.

The other Knit Along is a Swallowtail Shawlette. I love lace knitting, but have kept my projects to simple scarves or socks. I've always had problems keeping track of the repeats and number of stitches and the number of rows and on and on and on. When a member of my other main group, Misery Knits, said she'd start a Knit Along for it, I jumped at the chance. I figured that, if I had someone to "hold my hand," I'd keep at it and do it. So far, I have.

This project contains something called "nupps." Nupps is a particular stitch sequence in which you knit three times into the stitch on the row below and add yarn overs in between. That's 5 stitches in one stitch. Then, in the next row, you have to get all 5 of those stitches on the knitting needle, without getting anything else caught up in it, and pull the yarn through all of them at once. It's a contortionist's delight.

I've knit the entire center part of this shawl and have completed my first two rows of nupps. I only have about 15 more to go. I do think I'll finish this time, though. It's so pretty I may have to knit it again, too. There's also a way of putting beads on this little thing to make it even fancier.

Mine's done in slightly heavier yarn than the one shown in the link above. I'm not totally crazy. When it's blocked (that's where you wet the yarn and stretch it out using pins or wires and let it dry to "open up" the knit, it'll be much bigger than it looks and much airier. I'll post a photo when I finish it, and finish it, I will.

We've subscribed to the Roanoke Times for about a year. Living here in Marion, for national news in printed form, we're between Bristol and Roanoke for "larger" city newspapers. We subscribe to the local News and Messenger, which is a great little newspaper for local color and information. For national news we, of course, watch the network broadcasts, read The St. Petersburg Times online, and The Roanoke Times for information about Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Recently, we received a letter from the Circulation Department of The Roanoke Times informing us that, because of the increase in gasoline prices, after July 31, we would not be receiving home delivery of our morning newspaper. Instead, The Roanoke Times, in its infinite wisdom would be mailing our papers to us. This means we would get morning news in the late afternoon except, of course, for Sundays and any national holidays. These we'd get the next day.

Well, I don't know about you, but I like to get the newspaper in the morning before I get bogged down in daily activities. Also, by the time I get Sunday and holiday papers a day late (if the mail service is really, really good), the news is old and I've heard it, seen it, read it before.

I called to tell them we would be canceling our subscription immediately. I was met with incredulity from the "customer service" representative on the phone. I'm not sure why, since a prominent member of the local community had already written to the paper expressing his disappointment at this turn of events and my neighbor next door says she's not going to continue, either. Surely I couldn't have been the first person to cancel immediately. At any rate, I told her that, yes, indeed, we figured we may as well cancel now as to wait for the end of the month.

Today, Jim wrote a letter to the paper with his feelings. Here's the body of his letter:

Dear Roanoke Times,

I am writing to you after having spent a luxurious Sunday morning sitting in my rocking chair on the shady porch of my Marion, Virginia, home reading the Sunday edition of your fine newspaper. Recently, your publication sent a letter to me indicating that you would no longer be delivering my Roanoke Times due to fuel costs. Instead, you said that the U.S. Postal Service would be delivering my daily morning newspaper each afternoon except, of course, Sundays and all federal holidays. When your Customer Service representative was notified that I wished to cancel my subscription effective immediately, she seemed somewhat incredulous as if she did not understand.

Instead of subscribing to your newspaper, I am now helping you to save money. I am also not seeing the ads of your advertisers which, perhaps, will help them save money as well since they do not have to pay their suppliers to deliver the merchandise to them. A penny saved is a penny earned. I presume this is a win for your business, since this is what you decided to do.

Fortunately, I can go several hundred yards to a convenience store to pick up a copy of the Roanoke Times whenever I want to read the hard copy, instead of picking up the news items via television, radio, or the Internet. Today, for instance, I wanted to enjoy the Times on my porch, and the coupons in the paper paid for my newspaper. This is definitely a win for me, and I thank you.

Somewhere, there is an adage that it is always less costly to keep a customer than to get a new one. It is refreshing to know that Roanoke Times is immune from this adage, since apparently you plan (somehow) on continuing to grow your business by losing subscribers. I presume the person who made this decision worked their way up in the ranks of your organization from their initial position in Customer Service.

James R. Moon, Ph.D., MBA
Licensed Clinical Psychologist (FL and VA)

This echoes my sentiments, exactly.

Is this pennywise and pound foolish?

I was thinking today that we may have the most expensive dog in Marion, VA. First of all, there aren't too many people here who would pay what we did for a dog. I think many would think we were nuts (and, perhaps, we were). I also felt a little guilty, since there are so many poor dogs in shelters that need homes.

When we bought Kelly, I was actively looking at rescue sites and considering adopting a rescue dog. Somewhere along the way, though, I became overwhelmed with nostalgia for a little toy poodle I once had named Nina. She was a cute little black toy poodle that I showed in obedience trials.

So, on a lark, I looked at poodle breeders and we found Kelly.

Kelly will be seven months old in three days. She's a well house trained pup, although she did go through a phase where she thought the back part of the basement qualified as outside. She'd poop and then bark at it like it was the offending party. At least we were notified of the transgression!

Anyway, Kelly was boarded for ten days at our local veterinarian's office. Kelly dearly loves her doctor and all the people in the office. She even went home with the vet and his wife two nights.

All seemed good until yesterday afternoon, when Kelly just suddenly squatted and peed. I mean ALL OF A SUDDEN. I took her out and, not a half hour later, it happened again. When Jim got home at 5, it happened, yet again. Now, at first, I thought it might just be excitement of being home, or she might have been in her crate at the vet's for awhile and had "stored it up."

This morning, before we could get her to the door, she peed right at Jim's feet (at least she was going to). He grabbed her up and was holding her and I took her out. While we were outside, she started walking around on just three legs and grabbing at her tummy. At any rate, she seemed sick. I called the vet and made an appointment for 3:30. I suspected a UTI.

During the day, she seemed better and I thought about canceling, but she still needed to go out to pee a LOT. And, she'd squat for a long time and only make about a tablespoonful. This is NOT normal.

I took her in and, I think they thought I was nuts, too, until we ran around behind her trying to catch a urine sample and the sample came back with 3 different kinds of crystals in the urine, one of which the vet says is "bizarre." UTI confirmed.

Also, he told me she has patellar luxation. This is where the lower leg bone comes out of the kneecap. This is on, surprise, her left hind leg, the one she was holding up this morning. He showed me how to put it back in place.

So, Kelly has a propensity for UTIs, patellar luxation, AND the weepy eyes toy poodles are prone to have and very hairy ears that poodles get that can lead to ear infections if the hair isn't cleaned out periodically. Furthermore, she retained her baby canines, another issue that toy poodles tend to have. Of all the issues toy poodles might have, it seems Kelly has them all.

Her medical bills are huge for a seven month old puppy. There's a possibility she may need surgery someday for her leg.

Do I care? NO! She's funny. She's cute. She's pretty. She's good company. She's worth it.

So, should anyone think I'm crazy. I agree. I just don't care.

Before I start this entry, let it be said that I am completely in support of designers, authors, musicians and other artists receiving due credit and any monetary appreciation due them in the creation of their art.

There's been a recent hoopla (ongoing) on a wonderful knitting/fiber site that is bordering on the ridiculous.

On Ravelry (the wonderful knitting site I mentioned), there are groups for just about any knitting or other fiber-related activity you can think of. There are groups of knitters who support Barack Obama, or who like the author Stephen King. There are groups in support of certain designers or local yarn shops. There are sites where people discuss almost anything in the world.

There are groups here, specifically, discussing copyright. That's how detailed and "drilled down" some of these discussions become.

There's a great blog post about this on another site: Fleegle's Blog - Copyright Confusion. She's funny and has discussed this issue in a much more entertaining way than I ever could. BUT, I have to get my two cents worth in. If I buy a pattern, what does the designer think I'm going to do with it? Put it in a book and admire it? Knit it for fun and entertainment and, then, rip it (frog) it? I'm, hopefully, going to knit it up. I may keep it and wear it down the street. I may give it to someone as a gift. It has occurred to me that I might knit it up and sell it, if it's something small that someone might want to purchase.

No, no, no! You may NOT give it away as a gift, unless there is specific information about the artist permanently attached to the garment. There's some question as to whether you can wear or use it without said information permanently attached. You absolutely, certainly may NOT sell it in any form, under penalty of imprisonment or death.

Well, you say, what if I take this design as a jumping off point and change it and then knit it. Oh, no! ALL iPod cozies are covered under said copyright laws. ALL v-neck, raglan sleeve sweaters knit from the bottom up are covered. Ditto for said sweaters knit from the top down. It doesn't matter that raglan sleeved v-neck sweaters have been around for centuries. It doesn't matter that any and all stitches are out there for the taking. Now, I don't think you should copy someone's design and call it your own. I wouldn't think it would be likely the same complicated Aran stitches could be put together in the exact same order and design, so I'd think doing something like that would be a copyright infringement. I think it's hard to determine exactly WHERE inspiration and piracy begin. Is it the change of 25% of the stitches? 75%? If you say 100%, no more Aran sweaters will ever be knitted.

In the case of the iPod cozy I mentioned above, there are people who think you can't look at their pattern and say, "Wow! I don't need a pattern for this. I can make up my own." If you do, they say you got the idea from them and you should have to pay for their pattern. That's nonsense! An iPod cozy is nothing but a sock foot that never made it. Or a bag that was too small. That's it. Any idiot that's been knitting for more than 2 days can knit (and, yes, even design) an iPod cozy. Again, I wouldn't think you'd copy any cutsie designs or stitch combinations to make exact copies, but ... Even changing the yarn can make it look totally different (and, sometimes, unrecognizable) as the "designer's" copy.

What it seems to me is that the "designers" want to be able to corner the market on ALL iPod cozies knit anywhere in the world. You can't knit them to sell, even if the designer doesn't want to, or have the resources to sell even one of them. The world is doomed to wishing they had iPod cozies while gazing lovingly upon the designer's pattern.

Think about it. If this kind of reasoning were carried through to every other craft or art, there'd only be ONE painting of the Eiffel Tower. There'd only be ONE home with cantilevered balconies. There's only be ONE pair of hoop earrings for crying out loud!

No, I'll never, ever knit up a designer's sweater and sell it. I might come up with my own. Elizabeth Zimmerman was a great knitter who has gone to the great yarn shop in the sky. She, once, had a TV series about knitting. She has several books (charming books with lots of life anecdotes in them) on the market. They have very generic-type patterns in them. I don't see how anyone could determine if any bottom up sweater knit in the round was, for sure, knit from her books or patterns (short of direct copies, of course). This technique isn't THAT innovative. Someone else could easily (if they were talented) come up with the idea. Does this mean these sweaters can't be sold? OK, designers - prove it.

Personally, I don't buy many patterns. I have no intention of selling anything from a book or pattern I buy. However, I do reserve the right to look at a pattern in a book and say, "I can come up with something better than that." I would hope people would give me the benefit of a doubt to believe I can knit and purl and yarn over and knit 2 together to come up with a pattern for a toe up sock that never makes it. The inspiration can't be copyrighted.

All this being said, I'm NOT going to put tags in everything I make as a gift giving "complete details" of the designer and where to buy the pattern. If I'm giving it as a gift, the person isn't likely to make one for him or herself. I WILL say it's from such and such, if I'm asked. I'm NOT going to knit 15 copies of the thing to sell. I get bored too easily. I'm NOT going to make photocopies of the pattern to give away - I'm too selfish. I bought mine. You buy yours.

Here's what I might do: I might give the pattern away, just like I might give a book away. I know you don't want me to do that. You want to sell another pattern, even if I buy it and decide I'll never knit it (it happens). I might knit it over and over again (some designers only want you to knit ONE of a design) and not buy a new pattern each time. I might even give it away as a gift. When I started knitting, I bought books at that level. I've given some of those books away to people who are starting out. Is this copyright infringement?

Like I said, I'm all for designers getting paid. I'm not going to try to bilk someone who's put time and effort into designing something out of their hard earned dollar. Designers deserve to be paid. I just don't think they deserve to be paid over and over again.

Here's my bottom line: If someone is that worried about it and, if they think their design is worth so much and that it'll be abused over and over again, the answer is simple. Charge very large sums of money for the designs. This way, no one who plans on knitting one or two of something will buy it. Only those who plan on mass marketing the finished designs will buy it.

Look at it this way: It's one way to insure your local "garden variety" knitter won't be buying your pattern with an eye to "ripping you off."

I needed a quick and easy project to feel a sense of accomplishment with the knitting. Here's the result:



It's a little neckwarmer made from Koigu Painter's Pallet Merino Wool. The colors in the real scarf are just a bit brighter and slightly greener than the photo. The thing just fits around the neck and has little loops above the heart shaped pieces. You pull one heart through the loop and it just keeps your neck warm. It should be perfect for wearing with a sweatshirt or tee, with or without a jacket to keep the neck warm.

Jim likes it a lot and, now, he wants one. I feel the pattern as it's written is too "girly" for a guy, so I'm looking for a neckwarmer designed just for a man. Barring that, I'll knit him one with just plain tabs on the ends and out of a heavier yarn with nice, dark, masculine colors.

I've been attempting to commit "suicide by cabinet." I've been refinishing the kitchen cabinets. They're over 30 years old, but really well built. They had, naturally, over the years built up sticky messes wherever hands would come in contact with the drawers and doors and had the usual build up of grease and dirt. The hardware was in pretty good shape, but when I tried to polish it up, it just got sticky. I also had the problem of, being so short, my pockets would continually catch on the little ends of the pulls. It was most annoying.

So, I bought the bin pulls I like and found matching door pulls that were completely smooth - no more caught pockets!

I've removed all the hardware, sanded all the drawers, doors and cabinets and then used a mixture of two different stain colors. After that was dry, I polyurethaned everything. Finally, I crawled around and put new hardware on. I think it looks supreme!

At one point, I had considered painting all the cabinets white. I'm so glad I didn't go that way.

Now, all I need is a new countertop, backsplash, floor and black dishwasher and fridge. A donation fund has been set up. Donations can be made to "save*the*moon*kitchen.com." Don't I wish!

Here's a picture of just one of the walls. There's another one. Also, there are more doors above the counters than there were drawers and doors on the bottom. I have just begun!

There's no reason for this post. I just love these guys. Let's hear it for the Hillbilly Gypsies!

Here are some of the most recent beauties from the yard. I think next year is going to be spectacular and I've ordered a couple of azaleas and some big grasses to use near the street where I'd like some barrier. It gets pretty dry out there and it's hard to haul water to it, so the grass should be just the ticket.

Here's a nice hollyhock that's just coming into bloom.

The columbine are really coming into their own.




This daylily is blooming right smack against the house in the back yard. I really should move it because it's so pretty.




And, here is a group of tomatoes that are coming up. I can hardly wait!!!




I'll tell you one thing, these flowers need to have their seeds saved. I want more columbine and more hollyhocks. Jim has collected some yellow columbine flower pods from the institute. Unfortunately, they clear off the flowers when they fade, so he had to get fresher ones. I'm hoping they'll dry OK and the seeds will grow. He tried. You can't get what's not there, can you?

I've always thought it would be fun to try making the yarn for a project. Because of that, I ordered a Golding spindle "How to Spin" kit. It came with this pretty spindle (Tsunami) and some fiber and a little book.

It's not hard to do. It's just hard to do well.

Everyone suggests knitting something with your first yarn, no matter what it looks like. I guess I will, but will it ever be odd. I may knit a coffee cup cozy with it.

Here's the beautiful spindle. Even if I'm not a spinner, I may collect spindles just because they're so pretty!

I've started a couple of new projects lately.

I started a small neck warmer with cute loops so you can pull the tail on one side through the loop on the other.

This is supposed to be a shawl called "Upstairs," but I didn't have enough yarn to make it as wide as the pattern calls for. I've left off four repeats, so it'll be about 12" wide. That's plenty wide for a nice scarf.




I started a scarf for Jim.



I've also started a correspondence course with The Knitting Guild of America. Since I taught myself to knit and have had no formal instruction, I thought it would be nice to do this. You knit up the samples and send them to an instructor who critiques them and sends them back with comments. Here's the first sample, although I may knit it again to see if I can improve upon it:

No, I'm not talking about Jim's feet - or a police officer.

I'm talking about this cool way of selling yarn:

They machine knit the yarn, separating the two squares with waste yarn. Then, they dye it any way they choose. This one is in squares, but they have some in circles, free form, etc. Then, you remove the first waste yarn and start knitting a sock. When you finish the first, you remove more waste yarn and start the second. Naturally, the finished socks come out very different from the knit fabric.

This makes me want to try the technique with other yarns. All I have to do is machine knit the yarn the same way they do and then, dye it with Kool-Aid or the good fabric dyes. It would be especially easy if you didn't have to make sure you had two matching pieces. For example, you could dye a large piece to be graduated for a sweater or a shawl. I'm definitely going to try this.

I'll post a picture of the sock, if I ever get a pair done!

California is, now, performing gay marriages. California, always a front leader in change has taken, grudgingly, a big step. The Court in California has ruled that "separate but equal" is still not enough. It has ruled that a legal "domestic arrangement" is not equal and, as a result, gay marriages are legal in California.

Washington Post Article

Naturally, there is the usual hoopla of the definition of marriage. The Washington Post article, lukewarm as it is, brings up a number of interesting points. Even in California, the battle is far from over.

Here's my personal view on the matter.

I have, personally, watched a young woman who had lived with another young woman for ten years be banned from that second woman's hospital room by her mother and father as she lay dying. Now, these woman had lived together, raised a (well adjusted) child together, and done all the things married couples do. The banned lady had supported the ill lady all these years while she stayed home to take care of her child. They had "affirmed" their commitment at their own church but, naturally, this was not a legally binding marriage. No matter how much the ill woman begged her parents, they would not reverse their position. This woman died without having the chance to say good-bye to one of the most important people in her life.

The grandparents removed their grandchild from the home of the only remaining person with whom she had a relationship. This child, who had been an honor roll student, plummeted to failing grades within one grading period of being removed from her home. Two years later, she was arrested on prostitution charges. Would this same situation have occurred if she had remained with my friend? No one can say with 100% accuracy, but the fact is she had been a model child with normal relationships and above normal accomplishments.

All the years they lived together, they lived quietly and ethically within the community. They paid taxes. They fed the economy. They did these things without benefit of the usual tax breaks and other communal benefits. They couldn't both be covered by the breadwinner's health insurance. This is a fact that may have hastened the death of my friend.

Why is it wrong to allow these women the same benefits of other tax paying citizens?

There's the argument that marriage is a union between a man and a woman and it's purpose is, traditionally, procreation.

OK. I'll buy that. I can see traditionalists feeling this way. I understand fully.

However, there IS an answer.

A clergyman I once knew and admired was preparing for a large wedding in his church (Anglican/Episcopal). While he was delighted these two young people were marrying, he was struggling with the very issues I've outlined above.

His comment to me was this (paraphrased): Originally, marriages were of a civil nature. They were a contract between two people AND the government or state. This is not the case for many, many years. They were taxed by the government and all sanctioning was done by the government. Over time, the Church became the main civil source of marriage. This is why there are still civil marriages performed by notary publics and other civil servants. In my opinion, marriages should all be performed by civil servants in a civil setting. Either before or after the civil ceremonies, I would be thrilled if these couples would, then, come before a religious congregation to have their union blessed by the Church. It makes no sense to me that the Church is considered the maker of marriages, but there is no similar involvement in divorce. He was, of course, speaking of Christian unions.

This makes sense to me. The religious aspect of marriage is personal - very personal. The Church can't stop a marriage from dissolving. The Church can only initiate the marriage.

It's only my opinion, but I see no down side to this. The civil union for ALL individuals could be the legal contract and called such. The marriage could be the religious sanction and blessing of this union. All religious entities could determine which unions they would bless, just as they do today.

My heart just breaks to see situations as I mentioned in the beginning of this rant.

I know I'm treading on controversial ground here. I know there will be many who disagree. That's OK. I just feel I need to say what I believe.

The world is what it is and I, alone, can't change it. I can live with that, as long as I've made my own personal position clear.

John came to visit last week. He got here Wednesday afternoon and stayed until after breakfast on Saturday. It was so nice to spend time with him. On Wednesday night, we went to Macado's for dinner.

We drove quite a ways into the area on Thursday. We ate at Dip Dog (a/k/a Greasy Spoon Heaven) on Thursday. Dip Dog's a local legend and has been in the same location of Route 11 for many, many years. People used to stop there on the way to the drive-in theater down the road. Today, people come from all over to visit and eat the nice greasy corn dogs, onion rings, french fries, and drink the smooth, cold milkshakes. It's a gallbladder attack waiting to happen, but oh so good!

We drove toward Bristol and then drove south to Damascus. It was an awful lot of fun.

For dinner, we went to The Log House in Wytheville. It's made up of two log houses that have been combined and a gazebo, gift shop and garden, complete with doves and bunnies. The roses were going wild. John and I had the most wonderful pord loin, stuffed with yummy apple dressing. Jim had the Fish Platter. This is, probably, one of the best restaurants I've ever eaten in.

Friday, I kind of pooped out. I don't know why. It's one of the times I have to realize I'm really getting older (even if I don't like to admit it!). We kind of hung out at the house and, then, went downtown to walk around. We had a late breakfast at The Apple Tree restaurant. We also were able to get inside the Lincoln Theater for a look, too. Dinner was at the Restaurant at the Park at Hungry Mother State Park. They can't seem to get a steak less cooked than well done. John and I asked for medium rare and got well done. I think, next time, I might ask for "raw." The bread here is to die for and the salad and soup bar is its call to fame.

Saturday morning, we went to the Apple Tree for breakfast before John took off. We were quite relieved to get his message that he was home safely.

Who says Kelly's spoiled? Why would anyone think she was spoiled?

Just because she's the smartest, cleverest, cutest poodle on the planet, why would anyone spoil her?

Doesn't every dog get stuffed kong toys every day? Doesn't every dog have not one, but THREE sets of bling to wear? Doesn't every dog get to sit on her human's lap almost every time she wants? Doesn't every dog get taken to visit Grandma and Grandpa? Doesn't every dog get her teeth cleaned every few days? Doesn't every dog shower with Mommy? Doesn't every dog have her Dad wrapped around her little waggy tail?

Doesn't every dog get her bed wherever she wants it?

Little Kelly went to the vet yesterday for a lot of work.

The poor little girl, as poodles are prone to do, had retained all four of her baby canine teeth. I was told the root is often longer than the tooth, itself. No wonder dogs can win every tug of war!

As a result, she was going to need them pulled and, hopefully, her new canines would move over where they belong.

Since she's only two weeks shy of her six months date, we decided to get her spayed at the same time and to get ALL the hair cleaned out of her ears. Poodles grow a LOT of hair in their ears and, if you don't get it out, the ears get infected. I'd been removing bits of it but, now, I'll be able to get ahead of it.

She's sore, of course, and doesn't understand why. The vet sent her home with pain medication for the next few days. She's really doing well, although I worry that she's licking her incision too much.

When I was at the vet's office for her rabies shot a week ago, she never once squeaked when she got the shot and her nasal vaccination for bordella. At that point, the vet said she was tough. Well, after yesterday, she has earned the nickname "Cast Iron Dog." They said after her surgery, when she woke up, she looked around and seemed to be asking, "Well, when do we get started." When we left, she was flirting with the human baby that was sitting on his mama's lap behind the checkout counter. My husband has started singing "I ammmmm Iron Dog!" to her.

What a good puppy!

Here you go! Here's a photo of the next belt I'm going to buy, if I don't stop eating!

I've written about this yarn shop many times. Here's a picture of one of the nicest yarn shops in Virginia (along with On the Lamb in Staunton).

Presenting -drum roll- Mosaic!

Wed Jun 4, 1:11 AM ET UTRECHT, Netherlands - Utrecht police say a 21-year-old Dutch man is recovering after a "mooning" that went horribly wrong. A police statement says the man and two others had run down a street in Utrecht with their pants pulled down in the back "for a joke." It says that at one point the 21-year-old "pushed his behind against the window of a restaurant" that broke and resulted in "deep wounds to his derriere." The statement released Tuesday says police detained the three men after the incident Sunday morning. But the cafe owner decided not to press charges after the men agreed to pay for the broken window. The injured man was treated for his injuries at a nearby hospital.

Every now and then, living up here, looking at the mountains reminds me WHY they're called the Smokies. In the morning, or after a rain, or just every so often, the mist rises up from the mountains and hovers. It looks, for all the world, like they are on fire or covered with smoke. European "visitors" didn't name them the Smokies, the Native Americans did.