Archive for the 'friends' Category

a little gift

If you follow Sonia’s blog, you will know that she recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. Sonia and I have been bloggy friends more or less since we both started blogging, and so when I heard her news I couldn’t resist knitting up a little something for her.

Here are the details:

Bootie pattern: Little shoes, by Ysolda

Hat pattern: Vintage Pixie Cap, by Shescrafty

Yarn: Natural Dye Studio Dazzle sock yarn, edged with Rowan Kidsilk Haze

I used vintage buttons, but as I didn’t have three the same, the booties have blue buttons and the cap has a pink one.

And on the back, just for a little extra pixie fun, I added a tassle:

Now back to the cardigan – one sleeve down, one to go…

Published on February 7, 2010. 17 Comments Tags: , .

images of 2009

2009 was a knitting-lite, event-heavy year for me.

First, the knitting. I made mostly small projects this year: socks, scarves and small shawls, quite a few of which were gifts. It was fun looking over them, and thinking about what I’d like to make more of next year.

This is what they are (links go to Ravelry project pages): 1. Dark Ice Cowl, 2. Vintage Floral Tea Cosy, 3. Druidess Beret, 4. Laminaria, 5. Om Shanti Bed Socks, 6. Hemlock Ring Blanket, 7. Anemoi Mittens, 8. Over the Garden Wall Socks, 9. Hedera Socks, 10. Kate’s Ishbel, 11. Cath’s Ishbel, 12. Another Laminaria, 13. Wedding Shrug, 14. Tess, 15. Ruby’s Layette, 16. Haven

And the events?

Well, on the family and friend front, we visited relatives in Germany, and had family and friends come and stay with us.  Our dear friends Kersti and James got married, and baby Ruby was born in November.

I ran my first 5k in May, and Alice and I ran our first 10k in September.

My year was punctuated by the month-long intensive yoga training course into which I immersed myself in August. It was the first time I have been away from my family since, well, since I have had a family. The yoga training has changed me. I am now  calmer, more detached in stressful situations, and quicker to bounce back from things that might have affected me more deeply in the past. All of which is another way of saying that I am more happy, more often. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to make this change, especially to Steve and my boys for so happily sending me off and fending for themselves in those weeks!

The second half of the year marked changes for several members of my family. In September, my boys both started new schools and I started a new job, as well as starting to teach a yoga class. Life felt very hectic for a while as we all adjusted to our new environments. My new job has taken up much of my time and energy over the last few months. Next year, I hope to regain a better balance: to have more time to spend with friends and family, and more time and energy for myself.

Whatever you are hoping for in 2010, I wish you all the best, and hope that it comes to pass. Happy New Year!

1. Our holiday in Amalfi, 2. Running my first Race for Life, 3. Visiting family in Germany, 4. Cousins sharing afternoon tea, 5. My boys performing together for the last time at their old school, 6. A wonderful week with Anthea and her daughters, 7. Training as a yoga teacher, 8. Alice and me running our first 10k race, 9. Kersti and James’s wedding, 10. Baby Ruby is born

Published on December 31, 2009. 15 Comments

finished object: wedding bolero

My dear friends K and J got married two weeks ago – it was a wonderful, happy day.

I was flattered to be asked to make a shrug for K’s wedding outfit. Here are the details:

Pattern: Bolero Jacket, by Debbie Bliss

Yarn: Rowan RYC Silk Wool DK, colour Milk

Modifications: I knit the body in one piece, and made the sleeves top-down to get the length right. I cast off with a picot edging. Otherwise I just followed the pattern as set.

Ravelled: Here

Notes: I must admit that I’m not the hugest fan of Debbie Bliss’s designs. I used this patterns as it was the closest to the sketch that my friend had made, and I didn’t want to spend any time working out a design of my own as the schedule was quite tight on this project. If I was going to make a similar shrug again, I would make the fronts slightly smaller, leaving room for much more ribbing, which I think would make it look more glamorous.

K  also asked me to read a poem at the wedding. I chose one one that I came across quite recently; it’s fairly long, but I thought I would share it with you here.

The Invitation

by Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dreams
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon…
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your
fingers and toes
without cautioning us to
be careful
be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand on the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after a night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the center of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like the company you keep
in the empty moments.

Published on November 8, 2009. 23 Comments Tags: , , .

coldharbour mill

We’ve had some dear friends from the States staying with us this past week. It was an incredibly special time, and we talked and laughed virtually non stop. I thought I would share with you one of the places that we visited: Coldharbour Mill, in Uffculme, Devon.

This is a working mill that has been situated in this Devon valley since 1799, and was in continuous wool and yarn production until 1981. It reopened the following year as a working museum and is now the only surviving woollen mill in the county.

It is one of the few mills in the country that has both of its original sources of power still in operation: a water wheel from the 1820s and a steam engine from 1910.

Taking a tour of the mill demonstrates the textile process from fleece to finished yarn.

A self-guided tour takes you through the different stages of making yarn into a finished woven cloth. You can see the original spinning and weaving machinery, some of which are still powered by the fully restored water wheel.

The mill continues to produce both worsted and woollen knitting yarns and is now home to John Arbon Textiles and their wonderful wool and alpaca yarn and products.

Dusty and smelling of engine oil, and with the constant clicking of machines, the mill is a fascinating insight into Victorian technology.

There are also glimpses into the lives of the people who worked at the mill.

Oh, and the yarn! I haven’t taken pictures yet of the yarn I bought there, but I’ll post them as soon as I do.

Published on July 26, 2009. 15 Comments Tags: , .

finished object: ishbel

Pattern: Ishbel shawlette, by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: Posh Yarn Diana 2ply,  70% merino 30% silk, in the colourway Escape. The colours can best be seen in this photo of the scarf blocking:

Needles: 4.00mm

Size: Small

Notes: I made this shawlette as a birthday present for a friend – one of my rare knitting projects for someone other than myself! She is one of the few people I know who really appreciate a hand-made gift, and is such a good friend that I am happy to knit for her.

This was incredibly quick to knit, taking just one weekend to knit. Both the stocking stitch and the lace sections were fun and easy, without being boring. I loved it, and luckily my friend does too!

Published on June 30, 2009. 24 Comments Tags: , .