very pink indeed

I present a sock, Vanilla strawberry, #1 of a pair in Petunia Pig Pink. It's part of a series of socks I have been knitting, which I'm calling Vanilla whatever on Ravelry. Suddenly, I want to do nothing but knit socks. 

I knitted these in less than 5 weeks, a personal record. They are called, of course, Vanilla blueberry.


What's the pattern, you ask? Oh, just something I whipped up, called 56 stitches (or fewer, if the yarn is thicker) on size zero needles with a ribbed cuff and eye-of-partridge heel. In other words, vanilla socks.

Before I settled on vanilla, though, I knit these, which by no stretch can be called vanilla anything.  Blame Penny. She gave me a truly garish colorful skein of yarn a couple of years ago. It didn't suit monochromatic Penny and she couldn't figure out why she'd bought it. I thought I'd make a cowl, but then I realized that it would give me nightmares to have something so ... colorful ... so close to my face, and besides, I'm pretty monochromatic myself. Ergo, socks. These. Yikes.



Anyway. I went to Rhinebeck last month and had a truly excellent time. One whole day was spent in a spindle class with Abby Franquemont. After years of correspondence, on-line and on-paper, Anna and I finally met by taking the class together. She brought along a Navajo spindle that had been confounding her. Within 1/2 hour, Anna was making amazing, fine singles when I wasn't interrupting her with hugs.


Sunday, I shopped (oy) and met up with the Tsarina, whose Glomerata sock on Knitty is but a taste of the re-launch of the Tsock empire. Betty of Moose Manor Hand Paints was there with her gorgeous, saturated Delphinium, as well as her other amazing colorways. Marcy was selling and demonstrating her support spindles. So many people, so much talent, so many colors... Rhinebeck was like being inside a whirling kaleidoscope that smelled like sheep. Fortunately, I like the smell of sheep.


And Sandi Wiseheart was in my dream... and I can prove it. Click over, scroll down, and you'll see a picture of me with Rachel and Jennifer.  Yes, a picture. Truly a rarity...


To be continued...

gobsmacked and proud

Sandi Wiseheart featured my little piece of handspun yarn on her blog.

And the card I sent.

And what I wrote.

Namaste, Sandi. 

 

Tikkun Olam, 15 yards at a time

I spun this for Sandi Wiseheart’s Prayer Flag project.

The day I read about the project, I received a Golding Le Fleur spindle (purpleheart wood) cushioned in fiber. The spindle is a mandala, and the fiber had enough bits of red and orange to pluck out and spin on their own. 

Sandi asked if we would like a particular blessing attached to our yarn. Yes, I would: tikkun olam, “heal the world.”

From the website for the magazine, Tikkun:
We in the Tikkun Community use the word “spiritual” to include all those whose deepest values lead them to challenge the ethos of selfishness and materialism that has led people into a frantic search for money and power and away from a life that places love, kindness, generosity, peace, nonviolence, social justice, awe and wonder at the grandeur of creation, thanksgiving, humility and joy at the center of our lives.

Kind-of a big job for 15 yards of handspun, but - you never know.