Tweaking Elizabeth Zimmerman,

 My favorite knitting writer!
 My fiber friend, Virginia who is guzel36 on pinterest, came for a visit. Our trajectories of interests overlap and part company  much like the weaving that interest both of us. For some reason having her around boosted me to try something that has been in my mind for some time: Elizabeth Zimmerman's round shawl from her "Knitter's Almanac".  She wanted me to start the center of this knit till you drop shawl on dpns. I didn't think she would mind if I crocheted until I reached the required number of stitches and then picked them up with Denise Knitting Needles. I started out with size 8 then to size 10 and now I am committed to size 11 until the end of time or the end of this project, whichever comes first.  Color wise nothing is a certainty.
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Leslie

Return to Auntie Zaza's

  This time I went with RoseAnn Hunter who was teaching two classes that day on her Shaker inspired rug making techniques. Each class made ornaments to solidify the lesson. From there they could make rugs, or clothing embellishments or....more ornaments!
   I tagged along just to be able to spend more time there and brought my new (used, thank you Internet postings) Ashford Traveller. I love the easy of transport and the onboard lazy kate. I also brought a few tools and wire and made "stitch chasers" which are like orifice hooks but can be used to rework a dropped stitch.
  I spun the above wool rainbow to show other knitters/crocheters that the "pot of gold" is potentially within our fingers.
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Leslie

Auntie Zaza's and me.

   On the road to Aunty Zaza's in North Easton where I will be tomorrow from 12:00-6:00.
 I will be demonstrating and teaching one on one mini lessons. The photo shows a simple cowl tab that snugs up the top to hug the neck while leaving the rest to slouch  below. A quick and easy first project that will double as a shawl pin when your cowls are hibernating this summer.
  The cowl is hand spun by me from black alpaca/sari silk which bought from
Painted Spring .
 Blog On!
Leslie

New Year's Resolution Gone Awry

  For years now the sea shanty group I sing with has performed at Rockport's New Years Eve celebration. It was a particularly frigid night and as I headed out I remembered  my resolution to take better care of my skin. I am not fond of comercial preparations so there was no long standing go to product available. In the refrigerator was a bottle of some kind of oil to put on my cats' food which promised better fur in return for remembering to use it. I put several drops in my hands and applied it to my face. A few more drops for my hair and I was good to go.
    I am standing next to Alexander during our performance when he leans over between songs and whispers, "I wish I knew who brought the fish". It took a bit of thinking to realize it was me.
  Fish oil, good for the insides but not a good  choice for the outsides.
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Leslie

Spinning for Peace

 Long before I learned to spin I was mesmerized at fiber festivals when I saw someone at a spinning wheel. Perhaps it was the hypnotic combination of smooth repetitive movements, shifting color and the fact that right before my eyes fluff become yarn. Once I learned to spin I remembered the same feeling from my pottery class with John Semple in the mid 1960's at Thayer Academy. There are so few times when you experience the feeling of a material being transformed right in your fingers through movment: lump of clay on a potters wheel  becomes a bowl, wispy wool on a spinning wheel in now yarn. I found it so calming that I wanted to share the experience. So I started spinning publicly.
 A few days ago I realized a goal of spinning at the Kaplan House, a twenty bed hospice facility in Danvers, MA. I took the volunteer course this past Fall which helped me understand the fullness of where I was. I set up in a beautiful sitting area and spun for about two hours. I brought a basket filled with soft colored roving for a pleasing visual rest stop. I talked to staff and visitors who were curious and will be back next week.
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Leslie
 

Jean and I Make a Scarf

 

 

 

   I now understand how someone can spin wool just for the sake of spinning. You don't need a project in mind to motivate a session of sitting at your wheel. So I found myself with a fair amount of yarn when I met Jean, a weaver for five years,  at a dance at the Lanesville Community Center. Here is the scarf, brought to me today by Jean. Now I am psyched to spin more and pass it on to Jean for more projects!

We hope to donate it to the center for a fundraiser. 

 

A Soap Hammock

  This is the time in my life where I have made room to identify and delete the little things that bug me.
 You are washing your hands and drip water when picking the soap up from the dish and again when replacing it. In twenty minutes of crocheting I made this soap hammock that holds the soap out of the way INSIDE the sink where it can drip to it's heart 's content. Made out of jute, (If memory serves what that unmarked cone was.) it can be machine washed when necessary.
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Leslie