Pollyanna Rainbow Sunshine and the Needles of Doom

Lyda here. And yes, I am a bitch.

Canine version, that is.

Your family is what makes you tick, and you never “flea” from an opportunity to hang out with the whole gang. A family picnic complete with hot dogs, deviled eggs and a refreshing swim in the lake is hard for you to stray from. Your sparky temperament and dogged intelligence mean you are not only a blast to hang out with, but great to work with as well. Your close pals appreciate your patience and forgiveness, knowing you’d rather let sleeping dogs lie than dwell on the mishaps of the past. Your dashing good looks may one day lead to a modelling career, if only you can tame the unfortunate clumsiness that sometimes causes you to go flailing from the catwalk.

I found this quiz link on The Dust Bunnies Will Wait. See, ya’ll? Leave a comment, I’ll read your blog and link to it. Not that I’m obsessed with the blogiverse or anything… hrumph.

And speaking of knit blog - which I belive this is - ya’ll have to check out this post. Looks like it was made for Martha Graham, doesn’t it?

And how deep was the snow the winter this person knit this??

But this one makes me laugh. Yukon, ho!! Also, I direct your twelvenesses to her use of the phrase “pattern porn”. Yes, “twelvenesses” is a word. Yes, it is too. Oh, hush.

And ya’ll might get a chuckle from this, over at Susan the Shepherd’s blog for Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm. A great place to get your RDA of adorable fiber animal pictures. See? More fiber on the hoof - and dogs too.

AND IN TODAY’S ZOMBIE NEWS:

Zombie catepillars! Weird science… Lucky we have If You Were a Zombie.com to keep us up on this important news. Be sure to check out their line of zombie e-cards and check the blog for more. 

And finally, a candidate my Zombie Army can really get behind… shuffle behind, of course:

Zombie Lincoln for President!

Anna-Liza here again. I really can’t do justice to my subject, but I can’t ignore it entirely, either. It doesn’t help that I completely forgot to bring the camera for Solfest. Someone else has promised me pictures of Darlin’ K firespinning in front of the stage, but he hasn’t emailed them yet. I’ll post some if he ever does—he said they were good ones. And I’ll tidy up the Wool Market loose ends later. Really! Anyway, my solstice celebration was a bit more active than Lyda’s, but every bit as pleasant.

Most of last week, I left work as close to on-the-dot-five as I could manage, made a pit stop at a fast food place, and then hustled over to the Double Rainbow Ranch for a series of four workshops with Aumrak. I’m still absorbing and processing what happened for me there, but I will say it was gentler and sweeter than I was prepared for, and yet I know I did some very deep work. In terms of forms, we did everything from formal ceremony to guided meditation to two straight hours of dancing as parts of our work, and every bit of it built on what came before. Darlin’ K was super-supportive of this whole thing, uncomplainingly taking sole charge of the kidlets for three nights in a row, listening to me talk about my process, even listening to me sing to him! Now there’s a man in a million.

I was very pleased with the workshops and very happy to get to work with Aumrak. She is very gentle in her approach, but that gentleness in no way dimishes her power. It’s an example and a lesson for me, and I hope I “got” it. My fellow “workshop-mates” and I helped her prepare the fire and mandala for the Solstice ritual at Solfest. That was also very satisfying and fun into the bargain.

The music at Solfest was every bit as good as I’d hoped. Darlin’ K did some firespinning with Lunar Fire and got a really positive response. The man really has no idea how beautiful he is when he does that. I feel like I have to beat him over the head with the positvie feedback he gets from the audience afterward! He also organized and ran the free spinjam that happened after Lunar Fire’s set, while Muse of Turiya performed. I gave up and went back to the tent to sleep after about 12:30 or 1 a.m., but Darlin’ K stayed up and drummed with the drum circle until 3-ish.

The music started at 4 p.m. Saturday, went until 2 a.m. when the drum circle started, then started again 10:30 Sunday morning until 3:45, when we had the closing circle. And there was a big ol’ potluck brunch on Sunday in the middle of everything, too. Oh, and let us not forget Sunday morning yoga, which was about 2 hours long and very gently nearly killed me — although that was my own fault, really. I didn’t have to try to do all of the poses, or hold them for quite so long. I didn’t do any knitting, although I had some with me (of course), but I did do lots of spinning. Practicing with my hand spindle just seemed to fit the setting and the music.

The site was beautiful–a little valley in the foothills, lots of trees, a really pretty creek running through it, lots of space, actual bathrooms with running water and showers! And peacocks. Oh! and wild turkeys–real ones! (I suppose someone might have had some of the alcohol variety, too.) They gobble and look just like the cartoons. I’d heard them before, but I’d never gotten a good look at one–they’re usually just a little movement in the trees, that you’re not really sure you saw. It was all very comfortable and friendly. I overheard one woman say it was like a mini Rainbow Gathering, but without the sketchy part. I admit I spent most of my time wearing batik and tie-dye.

Oh, and I got a henna tattoo. During the opening circle at Solfest, a big yellow and black butterfly came and hovered right in front of me, just at the level of my heart. I took it as a sign of transformation, and so that’s what my henna tattoo was–a butterfly and a heart. I had Darlin’ K take a picture before the henna paste came off, because I wasn’t sure it would darken enough to be visible in a photo after. Here’s a close-up of my henna’d chest (do try to contain your excitement):

If ever I get over my needle phobia long enough to get real ink, it will most likely be something like that.

Lyda here.

Yesterday, I worked in 95 degree heat - So Cal is having another heat wave, help us Al Gore! - moving and unpacking boxes in a warehouse and carrying empty boxes to the dumpster. I was filthy, covered in old dust and dirt, sweat matting my hair. My fingernails split and broke, my feet got blisters, my muscles ached, and my breathing became ragged. For nine dollars an hour.

It confirmed so many things for me. One, of course, is that I am not suited to this kind of heavy manual labor. Also, I am grateful for every skill and gift I have that will keep me from having to do this kind of work for the rest of my life.

Also, clutter and chaos is not confined to homes. This place was unpacking after a move, which is why they had us there. There were more boxes marked “Misc” than anything else. When I moved, there was one - count ’em, one - box labeled “Misc” and I knew exactly what was in it.  Packrat-ism afflicts warehouses and offices everywhere. Each place I work, I clean and organize and declutter the office while doing the work. It’s a gift and a curse, this Cleaning Obsession o’ mine. And yes, packrat-ism is an official term. Or it should be.

Yesterday confirmed, yet again, that I work harder at any given task than any four or five other people. There were two other temps there plus various employees of the company who wandered in and out. Nice people, but all together too inclined to stop working and talk about sports, or politics, or how hot it was.

I worked hard all day. They worked… easier. With frequent pauses. Especially after the first few hours. Their natural inclination seemed to be to mill about aimlessly. Like sheep.  My natural inclination is to take charge, and I did to some degree. That’s me, I’m a sheepdog.  The company manager thought I was the supervisor of the other two temps.

I’ve had this experience many times before - I’m working flat out, and everyone else is coasting. Sometimes it makes me angry, sometimes it amuses me, often it is frustrating. I am definitely a product of my upbringing, my sturdy peasant stock. Keep going, get the work done, don’t stop until the sun sets and it’s too dark to see. Or someone loses an eye.

When we were growing up, we worked with Dad and Mom at the theater. Dad said we were better and harder workers than any of the adult volunteers, and called us his Ant Army. Mom even had Ant Army t-shirts made for us. There was nothing we would not do. We built and painted sets, we made costumes and props, we ran sound and lights, we sold tickets and soda, we cleaned up at the end of the show, we broke the sets down at the end of the run. And we acted, sang and danced too.  We were the first to arrive and the last to leave. Just like our parents. And while we had a lot of fun, we worked flat out. Dad and Mom kept an eye on us, enforcing safety rules and calling a halt when we were exhausted, while working flat out themselves. As a family, we left everyone else in the dust. If the Ant Army had been organizing that warehouse, today it would be unpacked, organized for maximum efficiency, and clean as a whistle. As it was… not so much.

It’s a family thing, a legacy, a twist to my psyche. I work hard for the money. I work hard at quilting, at cleaning, at everything. I’m the volunteer every event needs, and the manager few subordinates want.

I didn’t start learning to take it easy until I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. It has been hard to learn to ease up, to stop pushing myself so hard. To rest. To relax.

That’s why knitting is so good for me. It keeps the Ant Army part of my mind busy and let’s the rest of me relax.

Today, I’m taking the day off. To read. To quilt. To watch TV. To knit.

I may even take a nap.

But you can bet, tomorrow I’ll be hard at it again.

It’s a family thing.

Hi, Anna-Liza here, of course. I call myself a “restrained yarn whore” because I had $6 left over when I was done shopping, but I decided to just eat the muffin I brought with me (Morning Glory from Java Stop, yum) rather than getting a full meal for lunch, so I could spend my lunch money on fiber. (The meal would have cost $7, so it turned out to be a good idea.) Lyda would like to be a yarn whore, too, but she’s too busy at the moment preparing to be a yarn whore creating room in her house and collecting weird links for you. Speaking of yarn whores, have you read this post of Franklin’s? Probably, because if you read here you very likely read there, but if you missed it go read that first. Really. I’ll wait. You can even come back here tomorrow if his thoughtful musings put you out of the mood for fiber shopping reports.

The fiber photo was, of course, a still life of all my purchases at Wool Market. We’ll work our way through them. In fact, I may have to do a couple of posts, both for reasons of very little writing time and of not wanting to hypnotize my readers. Not very much, anyway. Falling forward into your monitor or keyboard can be a very painful thing indeed.

Knitting Sprite had wanted to come with me to the Wool Market, but she couldn’t get anyone to trade her shift at work. Driving up by myself was actually very pleasant. You saw the scenery I was driving through, and I had Kirsty MacColl’s Tropical Brainstorm on the stereo all the way up. (Another bonus to being the only one in the car–I sang with it all the way up there and back. Loudly.) Estes Park is only about 30 miles from my house, but it’s mostly windy mountain roads, so it takes about 45 minutes if the traffic cooperates.

My first order of business was to deliver some books to Laura at Textiles a Mano. (Who’s a good little CSR?) Then I started my first scouting circuit around the vendor barn. I kept running into people I know, not surprisingly. First I saw Terri Lynn of Larkspur Studio, then I ran into a very good old friend I hadn’t been in touch with for a while. (She’s not a fiber person, but she was there with a friend who is, which makes it even odder and more serendipitous. And I guess I’ll have to call her Not-Fiber-Jean, as my knitting friend Jean–hereafter known as Fiber-Jean–has the same last initial and both of them are redheads.) And then I saw Laura and Connie from work and inapproprately hugged them both, but they said they didn’t mind. This is Connie and me–Laura took the photo. It reminds me that there’s a reason I don’t wear crew-neck t-shirts very often, but it was the first time I’d worn my white Ravelry t-shirt–the one with “where my stitches at?” on the front.

That was during my first scout through the Plain and Fancy booth, and that place always makes me a little high. Such beautiful colors, such soft yarn! Oddly enough, with my love of strong colors, everything I bought before lunch was natural-color wool. The very first thing was a sample pack of Navajo Churro wool, very suitable for a beginning spinner. Churro has a long staple and isn’t too slippery, so it’s really good for learning to spin. It’s also a bit rough, not used for next-to-the-skin items like scarves. It felts well, and is used a lot in weaving. I don’t know yet what I’ll make with it–I’m just hoping not a mess. Aren’t these great colors? Black and two shades of beige …

     I got this from Woolly Designs, run by Tracy and Jean Eichheim from Crawford, Colorado. Jean and Tracy were both there at the booth, and they gave me a lot of really excellent advice on hand-spindle spinning. I also got my hand spindle from them, after I’d gotten some encouragement from Ana Carranza of Entrelac Stitch Markers, who let me play with her hand spindle at Wool Market last year and is therefore the earliest known source of my new addiction. Tracy makes beautiful hand spindles, and I really love buying handcrafted items from the crafters themselves! Here’s the spindle I bought:

         I’ve had just a little bit of time to play with it, and it’s beautifully balanced. I don’t have the question in my mind anymore whether any problems I am having are due to me or the spindle–it’s pretty much all me, all the time at this point. Tracy even bends the hook just slightly, so the yarn is at the absolute center of the whorl–if the hook were straight, the yarn would be very slightly off-center. Is that not an elegant thing? And even his most detailed, fanciest spindles are cut by hand on a scroll saw, not using a laser or a computer program. Even the Dragons! Which are my new objects of lustful fiber desire. Haven’t you always wanted a dragon spindle?

Three ounces of Churro will last me for a while, but I’ll eventually use it up. While Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins has a very nice selection of rovings (and everything else), I decided to get a little more to feed my new spindle. At the Mañanica Farm booth, I bought an ounce of roving from Teeswater/Cotswold crossbreeds.

    That’s going to be fun to spin, I think.

The last thing I bought before lunch was this:

   Pure Colorado Cormo wool from Elsa Sheep and Wool Company. It’s 700 yards of laceweight woolen-spun, which cost all of $17.00. Such a deal! I might actually make a small shawl with this. It’s lightlightlight and just lovely. I suppose the grey is pale enough for dyeing, but I love it the way it is.

And you know what? It’s already Friday, and I’ve been working on this post in bits and pieces since last Sunday. So I’ll tell you about what happened after lunch later, and get this thing up where you can see it. Knitblog! 

Lyda here. Yeah, I thought that post title would get ya’ll to read. It made the Zombie Army laugh. At least, I think that was laughter…

Okay, join me in some hump day madness, won’t you? #6 & #10 are from my own demented mind.

1.) First, check out Best. Meme. Ever. at Faith’s blog. She’s got links to the origin of this awesome meme. Funny stuff!

I would draw a zombie saying: “Must… have… internet… traditionsssssssssss….”  But I can’t figure out how to get it into the post. So just imagine, okay?

2.) What could be better for a hump day than killing zombies? And other free games to while away the endless afternoon…

And in Zombie News from around the globe:

3.) If I were in Atlanta, I would go see this zombie musical.

4.) While we were knitting in public, the zombies were taking over Australia. But politely. Look out, it’s the Dunny Brush of Doom!

5.) Hey, why not both at once? Next June 14th: the Zombie Knitter Uprising!

6.) The big problem with being a zombie knitter?

Yeah.

Blood on the yarn.

7.) Here’s a video tribute to zombies and the people who kill them. How many of these movies have you seen? Warning: Graphic violence.

8.) Check out Otto, a gay zombie looking for love. And flesh. Not necessarily in that order. Warning: This movie trailer is explicit and gory; definitely NOT suitable for work.

Ya’ll thought I was kidding about the humping part?

9.) For a more intellectual approach to zombies, read this. Or this - Warning! plot spoilers for “The Happening”.

10.) Why does it take zombie knitters longer to finish a project?

Wait for it…

 Zombie knitters drop their balls.

Hi, Anna-Liza again. I’m really sorry, y’all. I have so much more to tell you about Wool Market and the cool stuff I got there, but I’m in a serious time crunch. I’m taking a series of four workshops every evening this week, and then Darlin’ K and I are going to be at SolFest this weekend. I’m going to keep working on the fiber post(s) in the bits of time I find. I’ll also try to break it up into smaller bites, so I can at least post some of it between now and … next week? Maybe Saturday morning, before we leave. So much to blog about, so little time to blog!

I finally did get to play with my new drop spindle yesterday, with some of the black Churro wool. I know you’ve seen this a couple of times, but here’s a very quick description:

New drop spindle in the middle; directly above that and then clockwise is some Navajo Churro wool in three colors; on top of the Churro is some Plain and Fancy sportweight singles in “Purple Mountains”; the eye-searing pink/purple/turquoise is merino/mohair; the pale grey wool is laceweight cormo from Elsa Wool Company; the stripey grey/black roving is wool from a Teesedale/Cotswold crossbreed.

I sound like I actually know what I’m doing! I do not.

Hi, Anna-Liza here. Lyda’s getting rid of stuff and I’m acquiring stuff–what a balanced pair we are, are we not? Yin and yang got nothin’ on us. Oh, that picture up there? It’s one I took on my way back home from Estes Park. Pretty nice, eh, Lyda? Might could even make up for the snow.

I find I’m still rather addled by the whole Wool Market experience (plus it’s Father’s Day, and I have a few other things to do than write. Especially considering I had such a grand holiday yesterday.)

So I’m afraid that photo I posted will have to tease you just a bit longer, but I’ll give you Part One of the Estes Park Wool Market report, as told by Pollyanna of the Rockies.

Since I don’t raise fiber animals, the animal part is of purely academic interest to me. I spend far less time in that part of the show than in the vendor’s barn. However, there are a lot of breeders and fiber animal raisers in this area, so those parts are very busy indeed. Add to that the people who bring their kids to see the animals, and curious folk like me! I did overhear one woman say to her friend, “My husband just asked me to not bring home any livestock!”

There are rabbits,

llamas, alpacas,

sheep,

goats, and paco-vicuñas, which are so shy they used their hypnotic powers to defeat my flash. The fellow silhouetted on the left here had a sign on his pen saying he was for sale, for a mere $48,000.

I didn’t spot any bison or yaks or water buffalo, but that’s not to say they might not show up one day. Other attractions include the kids’ tent (where kids can try weaving and spinning), and the wool fleece judging, which is way over my head just yet:

And of course, there are the people and the other scenery.

Note the matching Hawaiian shirts and black jeans …

And of course, this …

Oh, and we mustn’t forget this:

Hey, Anna-Liza here. Yes, I survived, and so did my budget! I came out with $6.00 and change, and that included parking and food. And apparently Lyda survived her yard sale and (I hope) came out with appreciably more than six bucks.

But I feel like I’ve been carrying stuff while walking around all day … wait, that’s exactly what I was doing! So no wonder. So I’ll blog more tomorrow and for now, just leave you with a little something to whet your appetite …

Hi, Anna-Liza here, in case you were wondering. Just a quickie to remind you that Estes Park Wool Market is tomorrow tomorrow tomorrow!!! Well, it’s Sunday too, but that’s Father’s Day and I’m going tomorrow. I don’t know if I’ll make it to the Ravelry breakfast gathering at the Big Horn restaurant (I’m not even entirely sure if it’s happening!), but I plan to show up for the blogger meetup at 11 a.m. (outside the vendor barn, on the west side) and for the WWKIP Day gathering at the stadium. I’ll have my Ravelry name button and t-shirt on, my Franklin Habit tote bag, and my camera!

I have also had thoughts of ransacking the vendor barn while so many people are occupied with blogger meetups and KIP events … but I guess I’ll just take my chances.

On my wish list–a good drop spindle, at least two kinds of spinning fiber to play around with (one Corriedale, most likely, and perhaps a little alpaca, just to try), enough “Heather’s Colors” from Plain & Fancy to make a cardigan, and something that I will discover as I browse. We’ll see if I can accomplish all that and stay within budget. If I have to give something up, it’ll probably be the Heather’s Colors, because I really do have enough yarn. *snorksnorksnork*

Hey, Anna-Liza here, reviewing my shopping list and wondering if I need to add Satan Wipes. Or maybe a purple sequin dress …

I blogged earlier about taking a couple of days off, but there was one thing I forgot to mention. Mr. R, who is 6, has been wanting to learn to knit for at least a year now. Unfortunately, I’m not a really great teacher and his attention span has been such that knitting with needles just hasn’t been working. After some internet searching for ideas, I decided to try teaching him finger knitting. This is pretty simple, the loops are big and don’t fall off your fingers easily, and I figure he can learn how the loops all work together before trying the needles again.

He took to it like the proverbial duck to water, made me a yarn necklace (which I wore all day Sunday), and has threatened promised to make a necklace for everyone in the family (including Darlin’ K) with accessories. I bought him a big bag of iridescent pony beads so he can make beaded necklaces, etc. He is also contemplating a Christmas tree garland.

Darlin’ K was in the room when I told Mr. R that we needed to get in the car to go somewhere, and Mr. R looked up at me pleadingly and asked, “Can I take my finger knitting with me in the car?”

“Sure,” I said, “we can bring a pencil to hold the loops when we go in the store.”

Later that evening, when talking about going to day camp the next day, he asked his dad, “Can I take my finger knitting in my backpack, so I can do it during free time?”

Darlin’ K looked at me and muttered something about pushers and corrupting children.  I smiled and said, “He’s being assimilated … “

But I think I like the Padawan Learner metaphor much better. Next step, a knitting spool, or maybe the Fiber is strong enough with him to go for a loom …