Soft and Feminine

     Having accepted that alpaca is definitely addictive, and that I am totally hooked, I'm still knitting beautiful things for Rocaro Alpacas for the spring Saltscapes show. The feel of the yarn is so inviting, soothing, and it knits up beautifully. I've now had the chance to try almost all of the yarns Caroline has available right now. There have been trials and tribulations, as I figured out which worked best for what type of patterns, how many strands looked and draped the best, etc. She has such lovely fine lace weight products that I love, but they really need to be knit with two strands for the best result. 


     These cowls have had beads added as well. I use the 'add a bead' as you go method with a piece of monofilament as a threader to place the beads over a loop before I knit it. I have a 1.25mm crochet hook which will go through some of the larger beads, but if they have extra coatings, that won't work so I found the simple piece of monofilament worked best for all the beads. I also had the challenge of fitting the crystals over the double strand as they have smaller holes. The edges of the crystal were beginning to cut the yarn, so it was best to loop the bead over only one strand instead of both. I didn't find the end result took anything away from the look of the crystals so one strand it will continue to be. 

     I now have three of these finished. The latest still needs blocking and it's a dark brown with white luster beads. Very attractive! The next one will be a medium brown with more sparkling crystals. Each cowl has a total of 60 beads in the pattern. I even learned a couple of new stitches for this project. The picot bind off is very lovely and since it's done on both ends, a provisional cast on was necessary so the stitches could easily be picked up again. (Bowing to the Internet Gods in appreciation of YouTube!) The finished result is so professional and pretty. I'm actually rather impressed with my newly learned stitches. 


     Now if this cold weather would ever warm up so a person could get outside! That cold blast last night has erased all thoughts of spring from my mind. I'm still waiting for my plow guy as there's a huge drift at the bottom of my driveway. There is nothing but ice and blowing snow as far as the eye can see and it's too damn cold for the road salt to work so driving is really fun!  Hibernation has been a good rest but I'm anxious to get out and do something different for a change. Seems like it's been a long winter so far. I did manage to get some major housework done recently so wasn't time wasted. Come on Spring .... please! 

The Great Ring Project

I have made a lot of rings ... big rings, little rings, light rings, dark rings, rings of every color and bling bling rings. They are totally addicting to make and I can whip one up fairly quickly now, due to all the practice. The fact is, I love making them. The first one or two were confusing but now I can play with the pattern in my head to mentally visualize color changes, and that speeds things up considerably. They seem to be a popular item. All the ladies who've seen them thus far, have been impressed. I've had a nice batch of orders and I've run out of some of the colors so put in another order last night. I've also noted that all the orders are coming from people who have seen them in person, so obviously the photography is lacking and this item is just poorly represented in pictures. It just means I have to get them out to more places where folks can see them. I haven't sold too many of the ones I have already completed but have made lots of similar ones in custom sizes. Rings are so size specific and there is a wide range of possibilities, but I suppose that is to be expected, however frustrating it might be. In any case, it's a quite extensive sample display. 


It's another dreary, cold day. I have a few errands to run later on, and I'm hoping to make a run to the bead supplier, either today or tomorrow morning. Then I have to make an appointment to get our taxes done. The deadline is sneaking up and I have all the documents ready so just need to commit to a time to do it. 

Zharyha and Easter Sunday

     A couple more small details have been given to the Spirit Mask. She has tails on either side of her head now, with some crystal and small glass beads added, the idea being that the wall where it will eventually live is lit in the evenings often only by the warm glow of the fireplace. I was hoping to catch some of that light in the crystals and have it reflect and glitter occasionally. I've been making more sketches, so she will have family. I've started working on a second one already. She now has a name and a story to go along with her. 

     Zharyha       She and her sisters are spirits who live and play in that mystical place where surf and sand or rock collide. They dance in the sea foam, playing on the crests of the crashing waves. They watch over this home of theirs and make sure the ocean and shoreline are always in harmony when they meet, as the friction erodes the rock away to form substrate for the beginnings of new life. These spirits are more visible now, in our lifetime. This is due to the increased density of the sea foam, from pollutants and chemical changes in the water. This makes the spirits' job much more difficult, and they often weep with the howling gales over the slow, but inevitable loss of their environment. Please help them survive and respect the symbiotic relationships of nature. 

     So, besides that, yesterday was a fun day. Being Easter Sunday, most folks have family commitments, but there's still a bunch of us old single birds out there, so we got together at the home of a couple of old friends and had a big feed. We started with appetizers of crackers with black pepper goat cheese, burn yer lips off guacamole, and smoked Genoa sausage. Then we moved on to the main meal which was a big ham dinner with several choices of vegetables, hot cross buns, home made pickles and beets, three kinds of mustard, oh my! Everything was so good and it looked like everyone had a pretty good appetite. Dessert was fresh made lemon cake and pumpkin pie. This is where I gave up ... I had no room left for dessert. None ... nada ... not the barest crack or crevice.

      I had brought Daisy along with me to play with their husky. Both the dogs were tied outside all afternoon and played each other out. They both enjoyed a portion of leftovers from our dinner. I took her home in early evening. She was played out and getting cranky and I had overeaten so just wanted to have a nap. That is exactly what we did as soon as I got home. I had lots of sleep and felt rather chipper today. Managed to get several hours worth of mundane chores accomplished and actually enjoyed doing it. I'm going to cook a nice pork tenderloin supper with fresh broccoli ... healthy and lean, watch a little tv, do a little felting and go to bed early in hopes I feel this good again tomorrow. 

Wooly Brooch

This brooch was snapped up yesterday on Facebook buy a return customer. He loves my wool creations and this is the second piece he's purchased. I managed to get the rest of the completed ones uploaded to Etsy so they're waiting for new homes.  www.SponalgeKarney.etsy.com


While doing some blog browsing, I came across a nice recipe for Scottish oatcakes. There was a lovely photo of the ingredients, so it was easy to figure out the consistency of the oatmeal required, as I wasn't familiar with the local names. They turned out great and they're party worthy, easy and delicious, so will likely be sharing these with my friends at our next gathering. 

I haven't heard any more from Don. We agreed on  one phone call a week and decided Friday would be good. It's still only Tuesday. Being garbage day, I spent some time in the garage yesterday, sorting and bagging various trash. I managed to get up early this morning and have everything to the edge of the road before the truck arrived for pickup. I over slept last week and missed it. There is nothing else on the slate for today, so I can enjoy finishing up the pins,  begin either a pair of earrings or a ring ...  the new ring pattern I received is very enticing, and do a bit of cleaning up. Tomorrow I have to make a trip into Dartmouth to drop off a couple of pieces and meet up with some friends for coffee. I don't plan on being in there more than a few hours so Daisy will be fine here by herself for the afternoon.  Well, that's all for today folks, and now I'm off to begin working. Wishing all a fabulous day.