Fiber Dreams

Well, my fingers are, anyway. Very blue. From green yarn. Check this out—but please don’t look too closely at my “manicure.” I do it myself. And I’m quite lazy about it. So long as the nails don’t snag on things, and they’re close to the same length, I’m fine with it. And the wrinkles! Egads. My hands are starting to look like my grandmother’s!

You can totally see how I wrap the yarn around my finger when knitting. I’m not sure what the blue middle finger nail on the left hand is all about. Haven’t figured out yet what I’m doing to get that. Well. Besides knitting with green yarn.

Other than the bleeding thing, I’m loving knitting with this Sock and Baby yarn from Tess’ Designer Yarns. It feels great. It knits up like a dream. It has great stitch definition. Since I took these pictures yesterday morning I finished the first sock and started the second. I’m thinking of calling this pattern “Rivulets,” as it sort of reminds me of streams, water diverging, that sort of thing. But maybe not. I don’t know yet.

Kristie and I went in on a Knit Picks order last week, and it arrived on Monday. It’s so nice to be able to share orders like this. We both got what we wanted, and since our combined order was over the minimum, we didn’t have to pay shipping. Score!

I got a couple sets of the nickel plated DPNs—I’m hoping the gauge with these is closer that what I get with my bamboo needles—some nice big tips for knitting stuff to felt, and yarn—Wool of the Andes in Onyx Heather and Forest Heather, for felting. Yup. I finally broke down. I’m getting on the band wagon. I’m going to knit Bev Galeskas’ pattern for felted clogs. Now I just have to break down and get the pattern.

I keep forgetting to tell you all about the wonderful book my dear friend Mike got for me. There are a couple pictures of Mike with the Small Town Big Art Coffee Club. Mike’s on the right hand side in the top row of pictures below the description, also farther down showing off his creativity, and below him is his son showing off his creation. Mike and his kids live in Texas these days, moved there from southern California through a circuitous route. He always keeps his eye out for things he thinks I might be interested in, and recently stumbled across this book, Sylvia Sidney Needlepoint. Sylvia Sidney was an actress with a career spanning 70 years. IMDB attributes her with more than 100 on-screen performances from 1929 to 1998. And, as you suspected, she loved needlework, and did a lot of it in her spare time. This is from the New York Times obituary:

Her main recreation at her homes in Roxbury and later Danbury, Conn., was needlework. Her designs are sold as kits, and she wrote two popular instruction books on the art: “Sylvia Sidney’s Needlepoint Book” (1968) and “The Sylvia Sidney Question and Answer Book on Needlepoint” (1975).

The designs in the book are classic for their time, a lot of them include various kinds of animal life, like this frog design on the cover. I don’t know that I’ll ever stitch any of them myself, but the book is fabulous inspiration, and I love it. Wasn’t it wonderful of Mike to think of me when he saw this book, and send it along as a present? You’re terrific, Mike. Thank you.

Two years ago today my wonderful father shed his earthly constraints for a better place, one filled with freedom of movement, clear thoughts, and departed friends and family members. I still miss you, Dad, and I always will. You are in my thoughts, my memories, my heart.

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