So Much

Hmmm... I'm not sure where to begin.

I've been having a look at all the horrible pictures of the devastation in Newfoundland from hurricane Igor. It's just awful. And even though we hear the news coming from there we have no idea of what those poor people are going through.

My Grandfather Coles  (who I called Gangpop) lived in a house in Elliston, Nfld, all his married life. And when I came along, I thought of his house as my house. I never really grew up there, but I really grew up there. I know that sounds weird but 10 months of the year I went to school and lived in Mount Pearl and when summer came or Easter break came we always headed off to my grandfather's house. I spent only a little time there but it was the best time in my life, and I spent it visiting my grandparents and getting to know their world. They were awesome folks, real salt of the earth people. I can tell you how many steps it was from the door step to the wood shed. I can tell you how my grandfather's work shop smelled (like freshly shaved wood and old paint brushes). I can tell you how much fun it was to lie in the tall grass on the top of his root cellar. I can tell you how the thorny bits on the gooseberry bush by the cellar door felt if you happened to brush against it. I can tell you how the wash stand stood in the porch long after everyone had stopped using it. I can tell you how many rungs were on the ladder that hung from the 45 degree angle roof. I can tell you how the white roses smelled on the rose tree in the front yard. I can tell you how many posts were on the gate that Gangpop would yell at me to stop swinging on. I can tell you how many steps there were to get to my bedroom. I can tell you how much breath I had to hold in order to get enough strength to push open the bathroom window when it would stick after a week of fog. I can tell you how good it felt to giggle with my older sister as we sat in the bathroom listen through the grate, to the adults talking in the kitchen below, (we used to lower things down on strings too sometimes just to scare the person sitting directly below). I can tell you exactly where my grandmother's Blue Willow jewelry dish stood on her dresser. I can tell you how freshly baked bread and freshly fried trout tasted for breakfast after being cooked on the big wood stove. I can tell you how many old hats were in the trunk in the cupboard under the roof of my parents bedroom. I can tell you how long it took to ride a bicycle over to Crawler's Hill. I can tell you how long it took to walk to Sandy Cove taking the Trickem's Rd. I can tell you how much I loved that place.

It's all gone now.  My Grandfather's house was purchased after his death by some unknown buyer who let the place go to wreck and ruin, and then 10 years ago my Uncle bought the house back and had it torn down because it had become such an eye sore. But 2 of the 5 poplar trees that I used to play "Go In And Out The Window" under are still there. So when I saw the brook that I used to go troutin' in as a raging river that had taken out a good 30 feet of road in front of my where my Grandfather's house used to stand, I knew that that small town would never be the same again.

It is funny how Canadians pull together and withing weeks of some disaster, dig down in their pockets and give generously to the victims of tsunami's in the Indian Ocean or to the victims of Earth quakes in Haiti.  But when it is in our own back yard .... nothing. Perhaps it is because nothing like this has ever happened here before. Though if you think back a few years ago when the Red River burst its banks in Manitoba there was a lot of outreach to those victims.  Still, perhaps Newfoundland is so far away that we just don't think about it. I'll be honest.... I'm the first one to admit that it just doesn't seem real. Newfoundland is such a peaceful spot... nothing out of the ordinary could really happen there.... at least that is what I felt until I started to do a little research on the effects of Igor. Newfoundland is hurting.... at least the area where I GREW UP. In Elliston on the Bonavista peninsula there are few roads left and infrastructure has broken down in a way we can only imagine. The Red Cross are taking donations for the victims of Hurricane Igor.... and I intend to donate. I will ask you to do the same. You can go here to find out more information about donating.

Now on a lighter note:
I went to FSJ today. My back is certainly on the semi-mend I think. And what a day it was.  It does the heart good to feel orange.... and that is certainly what happened as the sun hit the beautiful autumnal colours of the trees along the highway.... it was perfectly spectacular! Submersion a la orange! After threes weeks of the walls of my house it was nice to get a different view. And friends.... such dear friends.... there's nothing like being in the company of friends to make you feel, it's all good.

A little show and tell:

What I've been working on this last week.

A 3 ply Skein or Bison, Cashmere, Silk, and Merino that feels oh sooo nice!

Sock Yarn that I spun from black wool from my sheep, and some BFL rovings I dyed at the summer retreat.

Somme more of those little distaff bags.... that need embellishments and handles.

And a scarf that looks pretty plane Jane until.....

You turn it and look at it from this direction.

The scarf is from a book called Shadow Knitting. I think it is so cool because you can look at it straight on and never see the pattern until you turn it sideways and then, there it is in all it perfection.... a zig zag design.... hmmm.

So there you have it.... a gem of a day..... though I did have to give up Knit Night due to Teapot needing the truck..... Oh well the rest made up for that one small snafu....

I knew I had so much to tell y'all..... : )

A Long Walk Ahead

I am missing my long walks down through the forest. Ever since the trip down river back at the end of August, I have been dealing with a terrifically bad back. (I think I might have mentioned that). The disk at the bottom of my spine is still acting up and has been for six weeks, now. I'm not sure why this time it is not going away with medication but it's not. As a result walking has become next to impossible. I've been pretty much house bound for five weeks. This week I am able to sit up for about three hours before my back get excruciating and I have to go lie down again. It hasn't made life conducive to walks in the bush as normally I do at this time of the year. As I told you a few posts back that surgery seems implicit. I knew that eventually I would need another surgery on my back, I just hoped that I could put it off until much later than this. Yesterday I made my decision to go forward with the process. I called the clinic here in town and made an appointment to see the GP and get the ball rolling. It means facing that MRI, but I'm not going to think about that yet. (should I be saying "fiddledy dee")!! With Murphy's Law on my side, maybe my back will get better now that I've got an appointment with a doctor....

Teapot came home yesterday from a trip to FSJ with photos taken on the trip there. They are awesome... and I'm missing all those beautiful colours.

Now, if those don't make you wish you were out in the wilds of Northern BC... well, I'm sure you live somewhere just as nice....

I'm missing being outside though... a lot! Today I'm going to give walking a small way, (probably just around the yard), a try and see if my back will hold up.

Either way with surgery ahead I guess I have a long walk.... (I sure hope this doesn't affect getting level 4 done)!

A Little Gift

My guild is sister guild to the Pembrokeshire Guild of Spinners, Weavers, and Dyers. Every alternate year we choose something and everybody in our guild makes that item as a Christmas gift for the members of their guild. I know that is confusing but they do the same thing for us.  My last gift was a bag for my tools which I hang on my spinning wheel.  This year is our guild's turn to make and send a gift to them. We chose distaff bags that are used when spindling. It is a small bag that hangs off your wrist and you put fibre in it and then hold then end of the fibre between your fingers as you spin on your drop or support spindle. They are great handy little things because it keeps your fibre source from getting tangled in the fibre that you are actually spinning.

We have known that we needed to make these since last winter but as usual I put it out of my mind with the thought that I had lots of time to make a few. Our due date was the third week of September and we needed to make more than one each since their guild is larger than ours. So in a mad panic at the beginning of September I rushed to make a few. My first one was woven and I wasn't really happy with it. So instead of carrying on with woven distaff bags I decided to try felting one. The orange one was my first one.

I took a chunk of roving and wrapped it around my hand and with a felting needle started to felt it slightly. (Yes, I did poke my finger quite a few times, thank you very much). Once I had it so that it would hold together, I took another chunk of roving and pushed it down into the bottom... then I felted that with the felting needle.  I then patched any holes that there were and thickened up any thin areas with small amounts of roving.

After I was finished with needle felting so that it would all hold together. I got a tennis ball and covered it with Seran Wrap, and poked the ball down in the bag. I then sewed the top closed with a needle and thread, and submerged the whole thing in hot soapy water. Then I put the thing in the dryer for about 45 minutes. When it came out it was a well felted ball. I removed the thread from the mouth of the bag and trimmed the top of the bag to make it more even and less ragged looking. Then I stretched the neck of the bag to get the tennis ball out and turned the whole bag inside out.  Then I picked from my stash of hand spun yarns a yarn that was close in colour to the bag and chose some embellishments to decorate it. The yarn was twisted into a cable to make the handle and then was sewn on to the bag.

I made the green one at the same time as the orange one and then they sat there.  A couple of weekends ago, when we were supposed to bring them to the guild, I had forgotten mine at home. There were 27 little distaff bags to be shown that day which wasn't near enough for the Pembrokeshire Guild as they have well over 40 members.  I came home and thought about the ugly woven bag I had made early on. It just wasn't good enough to send but I needed more than the two that I had originally made. So two days ago I got at it, and made the blue one and the white one.

The orange one is Merino and silk felted, with autumn leaves as embellishments. The green one is Merino and silk also felted with a white woolly handle and sheep buttons as embellishments. The white one is plain wool and I'm not sure what kind, with gold cherubs and hearts, and roses as embellishments. The blue one is Corriedale, and Mohair and silk blended with the same in the handle and a ships wheel, an anchor, and a lighthouse as embellishments.

Teapot took all four of them and headed off to FSJ today and will get them to the person who is going to wrap them and prep them for their overseas trip.  I was very pleased that they turned out so nicely..... as a matter of a fact, I liked them so much that I think I'm going to make a couple for myself.

Sorry the picture is not brighter.....

See ya....

What A View

Northern Lights Over Prelude Lake, Nunavut

Thundery sky over Spain.

Every few days I check all my favorite blogs and websites.  A few years ago a friend led me to APOTD.

I just love that site.... if you can't find anything to read or see on the internet that one will always have something cool...

I can't imagine anything more awesome than the sky.....

These two pictures from APOTD are a celebration of what I like best about that site.....

Cool eh?!!!!

Eye Opener

Now here's a scary thought. Today is the 26th of September..... 3 months from now we will have had our turkey and the gifts will be opened..... it will be boxing day. Gak! There's only 6 paychecks till Christmas. (Argh!)

Indian Summer

With the leaves mostly gone from the trees, I think everyone is starting to prepare for winter. Already one flu has swept through most of this family. Daughter #1 got it first, then moi, now Daughter #2 is looking like she is the next one since she is going off to school with congestion and a sore throat. Teapot for some reason seems to be able to fight it.... so far.

Our yard looks odd with 1400 lb bales of hay standing sentinel. Teapot is heading off for a sleep over with the JCRs this evening and will be taking Daughter #1. They will be sleeping in tents and doing the usual challenge course where they repel, climb trees using arms only and 6 inch pegs, shoot, cross over a small pond using a rope and nothing else, hit specific targets with balls, tight rope walk across an 8 ft span, and other fun things too. They have lovely weather for it since in the last few days the weather has turned soft again. Indian summer...

It is a perfect time to take advantage of natural dyeing.... while my back is not better (not by any stretch of the imagination) it is good enough to be getting around a little more. I can move around the kitchen for a few short minutes before I have to go and sit down again. With my back feeling a little better, I am hoping that today I can do a little logwood dyeing. I have been planning a project for quite some time using Gems Fingering Weight Yarn by Louet. I will be using it and dyeing 25 shades of Logwood which was a question that I did in my level 3 course, only I did it with Madder.... I'm sure you remember those pictures of the vest I made with the dyed skeins.... So today will make a good day to do that... if I can get my back to cooperate. I can't imagine letting this lovely fall weather pass without taking advantage of it and doing something special.

The few leaves that are left on the trees are gently rustling in a small breeze.... the autumn day is calling...

Creativity

What a sunrise this morning. This is what I see as I sit here writing.  This is the kind of view that would inspire anyone.... and of course, the picture is nothing to the real thing.  It looks like the whole sky is on fire. I've never seen such an intense orange. Awesome!


Daughter #2 has been taking Art class this year, which for our school is great. Because our school is so small, there are not so many electives that they are able to offer. Mostly they offer the core classes that are needed for kids to go on to further their education. Electives are a luxury.  This year Daughter #2 is able to take Art class.... when she came home the first week I asked her how it was going and she was quite dismayed that they were drawing squiggles. So I told her that she needed to draw the best squiggles that she could and to put some imagination into her squiggles. But I had to admit that it wasn't the best start for Art class. Daughter #2 is very artistic. She has been drawing since she was 4 years old and by the time she was 6 she was able to draw a pretty good rendition of my spinning wheel.... my saxony.... By the time she was 10 she was drawing very recognizable portraits.... by the time she was 12 she was drawing monsters and relatively scary creatures as well as other magical creatures. Her ability to draw from her imagination is awesome. She's way better than I was at that age... and then last spring she won an award for art and creativity in school. I missed her getting it because I was in Olds. Still, I was very proud of her.

But as I was saying... squiggles... were not what she was hoping for from an Art class.  High school you see, in a small town does not always have teachers with the right credentials to teach the electives.... so they make do.  I have more artistic know-how in my big toe than does the art teacher.... but they have curriculum.... This week was better for Daughter #2. She came home yesterday afternoon with a smile on her face.... "guess what Mom, we have to draw monsters and give them a personality!"  Well considering that she has been drawing monsters for two years, this was great. She has drawn some acid spewing, bat winged, fanged, weird thing..... and she is in her hay day!  I wish she was drawing portraits..... but then monsters are not my thing.... but she's in to it... ever since she watched Lord Of The Rings. (She liked the Ents too.) But obviously she's enjoying Art a little more.

It's funny how creativity is different for everyone. One person's idea of a creative outlet is different for someone else. Daughter #2 is into monsters and magical/mythical beings... I love to paint and draw birds, flowers and trees. Daughter #1 likes to draw squiggles and small repetitive patterns. Teapot couldn't be bothered to create anything.... he's quite content with his world the way it is. (Though he does like to photograph the world around him.)  As a matter of a fact, he hates when I ask him to do anything involving creating something... especially wood. He groans quite often! Mind you he does kind of enjoy tying flies.. for fishing...too.. I guess he does do some create things.

I get such a feeling of accomplishment when I finish creating something. I feel tickled when I finish a poem, or when I have a yarn that's just plain awesome.. or if I finish a painting and look at it with pride.

That's why I look at a sunrise like the one I viewed this morning and I simply just have to say Wow!
I'm so glad to live in a world where creativity is such a freeing act. I wish I could be God.... just for an hour and create something like a sunrise....

Pat on the back?!!!... yeah you bet...

Makes my wool look like crap.....