While Tangerine Dreams

Summer Spun Away

Oh where, oh where did the time go? My mom's right, once you have kids time seems to accelerate. Or else, my girlfriend's right. The Earth's axel spin is picking up momentum and the world is literally spinning faster and time is accelerating. Whoa. Trippy. Smoke another one sister-girlfriend. Regardless of which conspiracy theory camp you're a member of, the mornings around here are getting mistier too. I love that. It's like frost but not cold. So thick I can't even see the mountains surrounding our home. But when I look straight up - blue sky.  Though I always wish for just one more beach day the fall is so beautiful here it totally makes up for it. Not to mention, the beach isn't exactly the most relaxing place in the world with naked yoga guy (and I'm not talking about Craig) and a baby in tow putting grub in his mouth then crying about it. Exactly what dosage of Benadryl does Soulemama feed her kid to get him sleeping on  the gorgeous handmade quilts in all the beach shots?

 

My little man officially turned ten months old yesterday. Double digits! This has been all a blur the last ten months. Damn earth spinning. Now he's creeping around, not slamming his fingers in drawers over and over again , not trying to scrunch into a little scrunchie then pull certain body parts off his person anymore. Sigh - they grow so fast. Stop with the spinning already!

Speaking of spinning - I spun this up to participate in a spin then knit along. I spun all the Isabella (the happy sheep mixed in with some splashes of subtle surprises) I had left to spin and then the tunic I was working on only came up to my belly button. Yeah, my belly button's not ready for a return debut quite yet after he, up there, happened to it. So I frogged the project and I'm going to put the rest of Isabella up in my shop sometime today. Going to be a sweet sheep deal so check it out!

Brown-Eyed Susans, Black-Eyed Kathies

So cute, Edie had a boyfriend come over (a friend that's a boy - don't want this all over the Perez Hilton type sites) and he brought her flowers... awwww! His mom and I had lots of note swapping to do. She too has decided to homeschool her boy this year on a Kindergarten level. I was nursing Kale to sleep last night and realized that every single mom that I consider a friend out here is homeschooling. And there's  a lot. And not for the lack of schools around here. There's a public school smack dab in the middle of town and a real cool alternative school spearheaded by hippies in the seventies that has recently relocated downtown too. There's so many reasons to homeschool, for our family anyway, I just find it interesting that all these families discovered similar reasons on their own as well. So if anyone has experience with Live Education please let me know! That's the course we're heading toward. At least for two years of Kindergarten anyway. After that we're leaning toward Christopherus; both of these are Waldorf-based. So much to learn! Luckily, learning's fun. Or should be. Thus, homeschooling (then unschooling later on - mwah,ha, ha).

 

And finally, I hopped back on the wheel again. Must come up with a name for the spinning wheel - how do you spell Kway-lood? Quaalude apparently (just googled). It relaxes me so. I decided to come up with a line celebrating the opening of the second shop. The yarn above is part of my Jupiter Dreams space series.  And now for the Black-Eyed Kathies bit of the post title- Ay Karumba! Yesterday I sold four items in the While Jupiter Dreams shop! Things are a bit different over there in that when I sell something I have to then make it. Which is cool. I get off on the rush. But I'm hopping now, excited about the fall plans and fun challenges ahead.

Mid-Summer Dreams

Dreaming of fall apples. The apple fairies are not quite done sprinkling them with ripening dust yet. This has been an extra special summer so far with our family complete and finally being able to establish our roots and roots of other yummy beings deep into the Quack House soil.

The garlic tops doing there curly-q dance. The garden is so beautiful - this is all Craig's doing as I mentioned before. I attribute my lack of contribution (though I did plant the sunflowers - oh yeah) to little Mr Big Guy, (it's impossible to garden with a baby, you know?) but while my mom gleaned while she was visiting "Kahhh-tee, you're jast like me. We're happiest inside doing our work.' Maybe, but there's something in me seeking that inside/outside time balance and is happiest when that's acheived. A trip to the beach does the trick nicely.

 

Speaking of happiness outdoors, my latest tickle trunk batt was cranked out to a loft of happiness outside on the picnic table, under a huge umbrella with little buddy waiting patiently in his playcage on the deck. Time to deek out for our morning walk to the mailbox.

Back to the Grind

Oi! Stink foot! Think I'm going to suck it! We're home now, safe and sound - back from a whirl windy family visiting trip. Though homesick, I got to sit back, knit and bask in the glory of my Mom's Peruvian cooking. Love being back to the day to day routines I love and thrive in though. Here we are back to starting the day with Kale adjusting Craig in a morning yoga practice while Mama finishes her coffee and online stuff - parenting's my yoga these days. Edie's up a few hours later (sleeper-inner!).

And of course, Barney. In case I forgot to mention, Kale and Barney have a special thing going on. They really missed each other so while we were away visiting family - many of whom got to meet Kale for the first time. The reunion between these two was bordering on making me jealous. Meanwhile, it's been hot here so we try to spend the remainder of the day eating, cleaning up after our eats, hanging out and creating in the coolness of the strawbale walls. Love!

And guess what this is. It's a felted pencil case coughing up a handspun fur ball! I call it Barney. Just kidding. This is Petunia; your friendly hand-spun in a felted bag gifty gift! Two more colourways are in the fiber pipes and will be listed in my shop over the next couple of days. Off to crank off some bloomers for sale too! Deets to follow in my newsletter due out next week. Stay coo.

Blue Lagoon

I got a request from a client to spin up some blue and green. Can't seem to stop. Might make a whole sweater's worth for a KAL on Ravelry for the Year of the Goat Medium is the Message Tunic Sweater (whoa, that was a mouthful). So far I spun up this hearty stuff:

 But it's all oatmeal while I'm more hyped about free-range egg souffle these days. Might hold out instead for my shipment of merino to come in and dye in those shades of Christopher Atkins frolicking with pre-pubescent Brook Shields in paradise - gosh, I seem to keep bringing that one up.

Here's another blue project in the shop. Leftover fabric from Edie's water parade outfit.

Blue and red. One of my favourite combos! Makes me feel like Super Girl.

Through Thick and Thin

I felt stretched a little thin this week. And not just  because little big guy is busy sucking all the life-giving fat source out of me (who, by the way, turned six months old two days ago!). I experienced a wicked migraine that hit on Tuesday, left me nauseous on Wednesday resulting in a really not-as-wonderful-as-usual Mommy/Wifey until just now (I'm awesome again, Cheech!). That and there were a couple of other post-it notes from the Universe suggesting the idea to par down some projects and online commitments; simplify, simplify, simply simplify (would typing one simplify have been simpler?).

On the way to a doctor's appointment on Tuesday I was listening to an interiew on CBC with a woman who wrote a book on the long-term effects of growing up online. Me being mildly attention challenged I only retained her recommendation to get off the computer and onto something that engages you so much that time seems to hurl by seamlessly leaving you refreshed and at peace. Since drinking my morning latte all day long may be contributing to the problem I can't wisely put that on my list of meditative things to do, so I'm slowly backing away from the computer and backing toward the spinning wheel or sewing machine as part of my Mommy-time morning ritual.

And the Universe also took form of a fiber artist looking for a spinner to provide her with thick and thin singles in particular colourways for an incredibly cute project that involves naked newborns (I'll share more later - it's all legit). I had so much fun spinning these that I'm going to crank out more and set up a new category called Thick and Thins in my shop just for these simple beauties. They'll be a little less expensive than my art yarns just for simplicity's sake!

Here's the Dirt

So we're all on fire here after the farmers' meeting, spring's in the air, frost is just about to give its last kiss goodbye and the chickens are due to show up on Monday. We got some top soil from Paradise and my mum's here to help and hang out for the next two weeks. She met Kale for the first time last night and it's confirmed: he's extraordinarily cute.

And Edie's got herself a big girl bike now. The bike was a secondhand score and has 'L'il Sassy' written on it. Perfect for my little sass factor here. And it's purple ("so Kale can ride it" she says). And it has no Barbie or Disney marketing paraphernalia. Dada did well. So she tried to ride around and around the picnic table while I took my drumcarding outside to enjoy some freshly ground pine tree smells.

Carding, carding, carding. Edie's turning into my personal blog photo taker. You can tell because this is approximately how tall she is. I got my gardening hat on but I still have to pull together the rest of my 2009 gardening ensemble. Any ideas would be appreciated (I'm getting on those dreamy overalls, Angela!). I'm thinking bloomers with built in knee pads. Think Fly Girls meets Bronte sisters and they have a duke out and there's lots of pockets and poofiness involved.

 

Also just around the corner is the annual May Day Party and Parade in celebration of water here in town. I'm donating some yarn for the silent auction. I tried to make this one as liquidy as possible. I'm so happy my mom's here to partake in the event and meet all our wonderful town folk that have heard so much about her (at least my impersonations of her). Edie wants me to make her a Water Princess outfit for the festivities. Mum packed extra sequins in her carry-on just for that purpose. That's the dirt on all things happy at the moment :)

Busy Bee

Here's a little dose of Kale to squeeze your cute quota over the weekend. I'll be a better blogger next week, I promise! Took the little big guy (the one at the top of the photo) to the doctor for a 'well-baby' check out. Well, baby, just as we expected, he's a big boy. In the 95th percentile! Explains why when we call him 'Tiny' he smiles each time. He gets the sarcasm irony. This Yarn Every Day Challenge has chewed up a lot of my mommy time so not getting up to the sewing room which is where I want to live in these days.

This makes for a bit of a different routine here. In the evenings whilst watching Battlestar I spin. In the morning whilst Craig practices his yoga beside me, I spin again. Quite therapeutic spinning in the morning by the fire. Real mind-quieting. Then I wet set the yarn being able to take pictures by the afternoon and upload them and share with other sadomasochists before Craig shuts of the internet connection for the day. I'll have a nice inventory by May anyway. Kale is finally down for a long nap it seems. I'll see if I can cut into this sofa slipcover from our old couch and make Edie a pair of slacks. She'll look just like her dada in these seeing how he lives in Army Surplus pants. Ooooo... I should make Kale a pair too! Oh the cuteness that surrounds me these days...

Slippy Slippers and Spring Spin Challenge

I made some slippers and have confirmed the origins of the word 'slipper'. Love our stairs but whooooa, can't wear these puppies while going up or down. I slid down and one thing about strawbale walls; gorgeous, incredible insulation but damn they can give you wall burn! So these are now designated downstairs wear. These are a free pattern here: Aunt Maggie's.

Think I got knitting out of my system for a little while so on to spinning whilst we continue on with our Battlestar Galactica watching addiction after supper. Blonde Chicken came up with the idea of Yarn Everyday for April. Think I will participate to stock up the shop as well as the brick and mortar store here in town that is requesting more yarns for tourist season.  So if you're up for the challenge there is a Rav group here. Wish me luck!

Vest Intentions

Ummm... yeah. I see the stray trying to escape to my armpit over there by the shoulder and there are huge gaps between the stitches and the flowers look like a colony of  rare South American slugs crawling toward  my ear to nest and build a population of cyclons in my head (ooooo... we just started getting into Battlestar Galletica here by the way) but, you know what? It's surprisingly comfy!

This is Isobel a French Girl pattern. Love these patterns. Super basic but oh so Frenchy. Like when Craig and I went to Paris and were super bitchy at each other but then he asked me marry him anyway. Le sigh. So, I call this Iso-smell because of the slugs flowers. It's a perfect top layer for chilly morning coffee suckage. Once the swelling goes down in the chestal area in another two to three years or so it should somewhat cover the front of my body too! Until then, I just do my good 'ol morning yoga: hunch in front of the computer, type with one hand, coffee in other. Now the vest will just have to play halfsies with the coffee hand.

Oh yeah, I made the eyelettes to0 high on the back me thinks (this is why I need a dressform!) but that's okay, I learned a lot from this one. Pretty close at the top of the queue (after some slippers and a vest for Kale) is another French Girl pattern; Margeaux. I'll be spinning the yarn for that one too. Though this time I'll have no shame and will be using my huge orifice to the maximus (my wheel has the biggest orifice I could find to accomodate art yarn spinning) and hopefully that'll avoid the gappy look here on the back of Iso-smell. Now my favourite part, starting a new knitting project.  Exciting but the rush's a bit muffled by that intoxicating smell of spring in the air!