So It's A Thing...

Starting in about a week, I will have handspun yarns, hand knits, and small woven items for sale in an Etsy shop called TwistedWillowFiberWork.

I'm really excited to be offering the things I love to make to people far away. It isn't perfect, at all, but each thing is I make is made because I love doing it. Even (especially) the projects that frustrate me and make me feel all thumbs leave me feeling a whole lot better at the end. When spinning yarn I hope someone else will knit with, I always hope whoever gets it loves working with the yarn as much as I loved working with the fiber. I hope whoever receives the final hat, or shawl, or monster, will feel all the love that went into it.

In some Yarn Harlot post years ago, she wrote that knit wear is like love armor, it wraps you in love and keeps you safe. Handspun knitwear is even stronger. Every level of love put into something shows in the end result. I don't want people to just buy my yarn because they love it, I want people to buy it, and love it, and pass it on with love, or keep it with love. 

Yarn is very much like love. Knitwear is very much like love armor.

But really I'm totally scared of bad reviews because all I have to take pics with is my iPhone.

Best Dog Ever

So, because of all the talk of these August meteorite showers, I got the romantic idea into my head that I would wake Bean in the middle of the night to watch shooting stars in this mother-daughter bonding moment. I shook her gently, "my love! Let's go watch shooting stars!" She stretched out and curled her toes into her dog's fur and mumbled, "mommy, I'm sick." And her dog licked her toes and they went back to sleep. I went out to the hot tub and saw four clear and bright shooting stars. 

Some Stuff. (with pictures)

This is 8 ounces of Navajo Churro singles waiting to be dyed different colors then ply'd with the other 16oz I still have to spin. Yay. 

This gorgeous thing came home with me recently. Yay. This is a Cowichan (Indian Head) Spinner on an old Singer sewing machine base. It spins suuuuper chunky yarn and since the bobbin is the most jumbo thing I've ever seen, I think this will make a phenomenal plying wheel. 

I use it as a table for my loom... and coffe and knitting and......

Farmer's market and Eat Mendocino (if you're into food sustainability you should totally google Eat Mendocino) LOVE!!! 

We've done tons of exploring this summer. Many car trips and many many walks. No matter the weather, these guys are pretty much almost game for whatever their crazy momma dreams up. 

Like hitting the Sand Dunes on the coldest, most overcast day in July. They had a blast and I knit. It was a win win. 

Awesome. 'Nuff said. 

A homesteaders old canning room. Creeeepyyyy

My latest knitting project, my beloved Cowichan, and Great Mustaches. 

To be continued. 

 

Working

Hi everyone. I have no idea if anyone still comes here but I swear I'm coming back. And soon. I've been building my stock of meditation yarns and experiments and practice weaves, playing with these beautiful children, and finding a way to fit our little family into the household routine. Huz's album dropped on iTunes, I'll be posting a link to the album this week (every sale goes to yarn, or... you know, life expenses). The video for the first single is dropping this weekend and we're all super stoked. The kids and I have traveled to and from my grandmothers house in Sonora 3 times and LA twice. 

It's amazing how all this time has passed, but really ya no time at all. 

Stay tuned. Leave comments. Get ready for yarn spam. 

No Particular Order, with Pictures.

Ok, so it turns out satellite Internet is expensive.

I just got an iPhone 4S which wants to be on wifi all the time. I have nothing to do with that.

There are tons of free knitting apps I'm trying out so I can tell you about the best ones. (But not Knitting Stash, which I guess is only an Android ap. which is super lame). I have nothing to do with that either.

There are also lots of (really lame) yoga apps and some one needs to point out the sucky ones.

There are also things called Instagram and (fucking) Facebook which my new phone seems to love.

And this new Blogger app, testing testing.

The Man of the Worst Homemaker Home is releasing his debut album on iTunes on January 29th and a certain Worst Homemaker had to download the exclusive Wifey Masters.....

Satellite Internet is free after midnight. The goal here is to stay awake for the next 40 minutes so I can post this post.

I may or may not have been collecting twisted willow branches for stangs... You never really know with me.

A Walk at the Ocean and No Camera.

I walked on the MacKericker board walk today with Isis before the storm broke. Even as we started back for the car, the wind was already trying its best to blow us away. Isis kept trying to make a break for it and get to the car as quickly as possible. I started thinking about what a blessing it is to have a safe, warm place to go to at the end of my walk. I thought about what it would be like to need to be able to build a shelter and find food and not freeze to death because it is fucking cold as ice balls. But I had to tear my thoughts away from survival, because I did not need to build a shelter, or find food. I get to enjoy the feeling of the ice cold rain on the few exposed parts of my skin. I lost my breath when the wind hit my face several times. Bliss. 

Quite a few stops were made as I rummaged thru my bag to grab the phone, only to realize it had been eaten by the Dunes a few days before. The interesting thing about these stops, though, was that each time had been to take a picture of the beauty that is the Pacific Ocean. And every time I realized there wasn't a camera I paused and took in the scene with more focus. The colors, the way the waves came into the bay in backwards C. The waves were big, rolling, steel blue, cold looking. Beautiful.

We spent the day watching movies and participating in all my mom's christmas traditions. But in order to attempt the Martha Stewart Christmas my mom loves, I've had my 2 little stringing popcorn and cranberries, glueing popcorn and cranberries, glittering... lol. Tons of fun making new decorations this year for grandma's house. 

It has been a long a day and this post has taken me all day to write. I feel at peace today, I am praying for the moment of awakening at 3:15am pacific time. Something needs to change. I love you.

PD Eastman and Limbing Trees

hello.
hello.
do you like my hat?
i do not like that hat.
good bye.
good bye.

Been feeling very creatively challenged since landing at my parent's house. It's hard to just get in my zone here, we have to be very careful not to sprawl out much here. wouldn't want to get finger prints on the armchairs. So instead of knitting, I have attempted to become a weaver. Lenorre over at the Mendocino Yarn Shop had a knitters loom she wasn't using and when I told her my spinning wheel was all packed in storage in Las Vegas for real, i'm still sorta crying about it, she told me I could borrow it! yay! But, that hasn't been as inspiring as I'd hoped. I've already finished one huge ass scarf for one of the grandma's and I started a bit of a smaller scarf for my mom, who likes to complain that I never knit her things. And even though it is easy, and it is playing with yarn, it still hasn't been enough. 

Which brings me to the solution of the last few days... I've been clearing redwood suckers and under brush from the property. Starting with the trees and stumps that make the best forts, I've been going out for a little while every day with some heavy-duty clippers and my little hatchet and cutting limbs. I like to tell myself that by cutting the low branches and clearing away some of the dry(ish) sticks and bushes, I'm helping prevent a fire. in north-coastal california. in december. But really, I just need to be out of the house. When Huz is not here, the kids come with me. Everyone gets their own tool, a little rake or shovel, and the wheel barrow and we truck off to the day's target area. But then my man comes home and likes to say awesomely helpful things like: "it's too cold" or "it's raining" or "he's only 2! i think that a double sided hoeing tool with prongs is not safe for him and i'm taking it away!" And so lately, I've been out on my own. I don't like work. I don't like manual labor or jobs that make me sweaty or itchy. But for whatever reason, cutting the branches back has been exactly what I needed.

Pray for some yarny action soon, though, my shoulders hurt.

Also, the sand dunes at my phone.

bitches.