Finishing my vacation

Okay, I started this blog post last month. Now it's the official end of summer in the US, Labor Day, and I realized that the post still isn't done!

The summer was full of projects and, I think overall, that a lot got done. It just went by really, really quickly!

There has been cleaning and decluttering, and there is more yet to be done. But I'm feeling better about the lower amount of stuff in this house. Some people say there is a feeling of lightness that occurs, and I think I'd have to agree.

However, does that mean I've gotten rid of yarn stash? Not entirely! I am, though, using some stash.

Proof:

The Fall Twist Collective came out, and I immediately fell in love with the Hawthorne shawl. I have some alpaca yarn that I bought several years ago up in the Medford area, from Alpacas at Lone Ranch, and it's knitting up beautifully. It's done, and I just need to get a modelled shot of it.

I've started the Bryony tank by Amy Herzog and am knitting it in BabyBoo, a bamboo/nylon blend. We (Sandi and I) did some customizing of the pattern because the row gauge of the original yarn is very compressed compared to the row gauge I'm getting. And, I'm combining two sizes for the front to accomodate my hips, decreasing down to the appropriate bust size. Back is done and I'm halfway through the front. Love the cable detail on this!

I have about 3000 yards of this beautiful Artfibers Alfabeto (silk/mohair) that Sandi so kindly gifted to me. I started a mindless project to take on vacation up to Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, so I came up with the Point Edge Wrap. Show knitting was supposed to be garter stitch with a beautiful edging. However, I failed entirely to manage an 8-stitch lace pattern in the dark.

Hence, a stop at Web*sters in Ashland for yarn for a simple mindless scarf - no yarn overs! I got some Colinette Cadenza in the colorway Marble, 2 skeins became another Scrunchable Scarf. Even better, I had a gift certificate to use!

While in Web*sters, I was in the sale room when I turned around to see this gorgeous braid on the table. They had just gotten this beautiful tri-color BFL in "stained glass" from Frabjous Fibers in Vermont. MUST.HAVE.NOW. So I did.

But I had also bought 8 oz. of gorgeous Mendenhall Merino black fleece from Purlescence. Much of the fiber I buy has to sit and marinate for a while until I decide what it wants to grow up to be. However, this stuff --- yummy! Must. Spin. Now! The locks are almost 3 inches long and the crimp is beautiful and tight. So I washed it, and now it's completely dry, and I want to just spin it right off the locks as is. But I should be good and flick card it first...

And now, I'm taking the SpinU class at Purlescence, so there is a lot more spinning in my future.

That led up to this past Saturday. Rachel and I decided we needed a day to dye. So she brought over some supplies and fiber and yarn and I ransacked my stash, and we spent over 4 hours playing with color in my backyard.

I dyed some light grey colonial top with a mixture of violet & lavender, and another braid with blues, experimented with some tussah silk, and overdyed some Malabrigo worsted. "What!?" I can hear you saying, "But Malabrigo comes in such gorgeous colors!"

"Yes" is my reply, but the ones I bought weren't quite my colors, so now they are! See the Mineral Red skeins in the top left corner? The big picture on the right is the "after" shot, with the addition of mahogany and royal blue.

One very different project occurred before school started when I took a break from my fiber obsession and took a little trip up to San Francisco. Last year when my parents came up this direction, they went to the National Archives in San Bruno and found / copied some documents about my mother's grandfather and his family. Supposedly, he was born in San Francisco in 1878 at 531 Jackson St., the brick building on the corner. Now it's a Chinese restaurant. Some of these documents were transcripts of interviews with him to prove his identity as a native-born citizen. There are addresses of the places where he lived as a child and adult, his work as a laundryman and merchant. So I went up to SF's Chinatown and walked around, trying not to completely look like a tourist, but pulling out my camera at each address I found. He was about 18 years old at the time of the 1906 earthquake, and of course, many of the addresses are newer buildings.

However, I've since found out that not one address in those documents was connected to my great-grandfather at all. Sigh! According to a written history that my grandmother created about the family (that I did not have a few weeks ago), her father-in-law came to this country through Mexico. Since a lot of documents were destroyed during the 1906 earthquake, many Chinese men created stories about their early lives that could not be verified. They had to have every detail in place to "prove" that they were "citizens" and eligible to stay in California. These "Paper Sons" made it difficult to discern what is factual and what is false about their lives. I guess I'm having a hard time reconciling these other documents because I don't want to believe that someone in my family lied, even if it ultimately led to all the other truths that I know about my family.

So, some of my summer projects have been more productive than others, but all in all, I'm pretty pleased with how much got done.

Now, on to the new school year!

Summertime!

I love summer. Okay, maybe not the heat, but the feeling of freedom. That's what you get when you work at school. 2 months of freedom!

The freedom to not wake up at 5:45 AM every morning.
The freedom of no grading.
The freedom to travel.
The freedom of unstructured time (that is quickly becoming structured)!

So, we've been out of school for the last 10 days. What have I done in that time?

Finished the retirement shawl for my friend Linda, although it's not yet gifted.

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl
Yarn: Dream in Color Baby (laceweight) in Pansy GoLightly, approx. 1/2 skein
Needles: Size 6 (4.0 mm)


Knit Shakespeare-themed socks (completed 4 out of the 6 that I wanted to do)
Socks that Rock:
Midsummer Night for The Hubby
Korppi for The Dork (couldn't find the right color for him)
Peaseblossom for me (toe-up Monkeys), but I only got to the heel turn by Saturday evening.


Went on vacation to Ashland, Oregon for the OSF Shakespeare Festival. Fabulous! We saw 5 shows (Comedy of Errors, Coriolanus, Othello, Midsummer Night's Dream, The Clay Cart), all of which were wonderful. This was our 5th year, and we have never failed to be amazed with the quality of the shows. We are lucky enough to have a son who also enjoys watching live theater, especially Shakespeare. He's been a tech theater kid for years, so he looks at staging, lighting, fight choreography, in addition to enjoying the plot and acting.


Let's just say the character of Peaseblossom of Midsummer Night's Dream did not match at all the socks I'm making! Combine the 70s Disco Queen fairies with the 50s Jersey Duke/Hippolyta, Hermia/Lysander and Helena/Demetrius couples, throw in the 60's VW bus with flowers painted on it for the earnest performers of "Pyramus and Thisbe", and the audience was screaming with laughter.

Knit lots during shows - Shepherd Sock in Grumperina colorway. Learned to be careful about trying to pick up dropped stitches in the dark. Spent lots of time in the evenings fixing the mistakes I made, even though this was supposed to be plain ol' stockinette! This sock is almost finished.



Knit during WWKIP day with The Hubby (waiting to see Midsummer)







Ate delicious food! We always stay at a motel just off the downtown area that has a kitchenette. There is a market directly behind the motel, a great place a couple blocks away for freshly made ravioli, and Rogue Creamery about 20 minutes up the road. Smoked chicken and cheese ravoli with gorgonzola cream sauce, swiss chard on the side. But we also ate a great meal here, too! Oh, and don't forget Lillie Belle chocolates either. Darn it (snapping fingers), they opened a retail shop right next to Rogue Creamery, so of course we had to stop in! And ice-cream after the shows at Zoey's Cafe (no website).

Got stuck in stopped traffic on I-5 (not freedom!), due to this tragic event, with a subsequent almost 3 hour delay and detour. We didn't get home until 3 AM, after sitting for an hour, then turning across the center median and using much smaller roads to try and get around the closure. Part of the detour we were directed toward was several miles of unpaved road. Thank goodness they caught the perp about 10 hours after the original incident, but the highway was closed so they could try to find him and the rifle he used.

Need to finish the Montego Bay scarf by Wednesday night so I can block it on Thursday for gifting on Friday! It didn't go to the original recipient, because there was no way to finish it before school let out. So it's going to our head fencing coach who is leaving to work on her PhD out-of-state. Our club has now merged with another one a little further north.

Whew! I've done a lot already...

Sigh!

Summer is officially over for me...sigh! Wasn't it just a few weeks ago that school was out? What do you mean I have to return to full-time work tomorrow?!

What I did on my summer vacation:

Projects:

1. Finished my Kiri shawl. Hmmm. can't find a good picture of it - maybe tomorrow...

2. I was gone this weekend to visit my family because of this new nephew addition (and his big brother and cousins, as well as Mom & Dad). Ian was the one I made the Ribbon blanket for in July.



3. Made a Diversity scarf (scroll down to the Nov. 13 entry)
Details:
Pattern: Diversity scarf (pattern available from Purlescence)
Yarn: Bazic wool
Needles: US size 9 (5.5 mm)
Begun: July 23, 2007
Finished: August 9, 2007


4. Made a Clapotis for my friend L. who loves it!

Details:
Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Ritratto color #64
Needles: US size 8 (5.0 mm)
Begun: June 24, 2007
Finished: August 13, 2007







5. Started this Gemini vest in Bombyx silk (pics later).

6. And the Pretty-in-Pink tank top from "Simply Creative Crochet" (2003). Of course, mine is in purple! (pics later, too)

Other stuff:

Went to Ashland, OR to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

Hung out a lot at Purlescence Yarns.

Worked a lot at the public library.

Read all the Harry Potter books (started and finished #7 yesterday).

Drove my son to fencing lessons 3 days/week.

Hmmm, I guess I was busier than I thought. Just think of how much I'd get done without the kids at school! Oh - there is this little thing called a paycheck...