Ba Da Bing

Everyone is happy.  

Finn is in the northern woods and on the northern waters of Maine, paddling a 22 ft. long canoe that he made (along with 11 other skillful teenagers).  Lucy is camping in the Vermont woods with a group of young women who are, no doubt, as strong and clever as she.

What about Mom?  What does she do with that rarest of rare things:  time alone?  

It is called camping, Brooklyn-style.

This Machine Kills Fascists

Happy 100th Woody!

Into the Proper Hands

We have all done it: enthusiastically decided to take up some new skill or interest, eagerly purchased the necessary equipment, and then....quietly set it aside for a few days, months, years.  A friend was telling me that this describes her every attempt at taking up a fitness routine.

When I shop at thrift shops, I always have the feeling that stuff doesn't ever really belong to us.  It just shifts around until it finds its proper owner.

Yesterday, these two threads came together as I became the proper owner of a generous bag of spindles, niddy noddies and very high end fleece.  It was all originally purchased by a very enthusiastic would-be spinner.  She had signed up for the class.  She had purchased her materials.  And then.  Some time later, she gave it all to a friend (the talented Zabeth that I have been featuring regularly).  Zabeth may be a lace genius but she is not a spinner (yet - I am not finished with her yet).  So the bag of materials sat around Zabeth's house for a good long time.  And then.

Come home to mama!

I don't know the person who bought all this stuff but she has amazing taste!  She had a modest, beginner spindle - perfectly serviceable.  But look!  She also immediately bought a Kundert!  And a Turkish spindle.  And two sizes of niddy noddy.  Her fleece choices show excellent taste in sheen and softness but, perhaps, not such a good awareness of what is best suited for a beginner.  Baby alpaca, kid mohair, and 100% silk are not beginner fibres.  But, um, I like them.

A cat using a spindle!  Possibly the world's cutest photo ever.

Webster likes them too!  The best part of coming into this treasure trove was that I was immediately able to give away one of the spindles (not the Kundert - I am not a saint) and some fleece to someone who showed interest in learning to use them.  Ok, I might have told her that she needed to have this interest.  But I was not wrong.  And she has two children that I know she will teach.  And she teaches high school art so maybe she will bring that into her classes.

So you see, you never know the results of your one action.  Sign up for a class!  Buy materials!  The whole world is waiting!

A Match Made in Heaven

First, this:



Then, this:

Well over 500 yds of squishy Rambouillet yarn (hand painted fleece by Widdershins, of course!).  It started as lace weight and then it bloomed.  It bloomed like a teenage girl on her first date.  It bloomed like a lily at Easter.  It bloomed and blossomed and decided to be larger than lace weight.  But still beautiful.  And soft.  I think it is destined to fall into the capable hands of the above mentioned Zabeth (Loisel) Weiner.

Very Practical

Zen is “the biggest joke that has ever been played in the spiritual realm. But it is a practical joke, very practical.”  

Chogyam Trungpa