musindigo

the last few weeks have been kind of surreal, not really settling into a particular rhythm or focus and i’ve woken up nearly every day having to think ‘what day is it?’ since the usual day-before rhythms have not been typical.

given the recent holiday visits and preparations and xmas concerts and other attendances, i am sitting here today thinking, wow, it’s Dec. 31st.

thrown into the mix as well was yet another recent wake and funeral, this time for my uncle who passed away on Christmas morning. it was a bittersweet kind of passing, if there is such a thing when it comes to death. my uncle was one of those souls who you know had a lot of his incredible potential blighted by life circumstances. he lived most of his adult life dealing with emotional and other pain, and sometimes, i think, feeling confused and lost. his daughter was murdered in infancy. his exwife was mentally ill and manipulative. he succumbed to alcoholism and dealt with epilepsy. he was a bright man, a welder, whose services were sought out worldwide. in the end, he died of lung cancer, thought to have developed from the chemical smoke always present in his workshop, at 62.

during the final moments of his funeral i could only think, ‘rest in peace.’ i hope he is, finally, at peace.

so with all of this over the past weeks, i am gearing up for a hopefully normally ‘rhythmic’ week ahead, once we are past the ‘new year’s’ bells; i have lots on the needles (not too much, it’s manageable lol), knitting in bits and pieces between all the social activity.

Ariann has been a bit of a consistent refuge, the only project currently on the go which does not require the mental calculations and observation of design knitting. i am working on the collar. it’s been a great knit; i’m thinking, i may knit it again in a different yarn, something with more drape, like a silk/cotton-wool combo. hoping to have pics very soon. :)

i am also swatching a few things right now out of my hand-dyed merino, and have one project well underway. next week i will dye up a whole bunch, stock is pretty pathetic at the moment.

and on that note, looking forward, i wish everyone much peace and many blessings in the new year. :)

i began my week last week with a wake. it’s not a great way to begin a week, and it was perhaps a foreshadowing of the general tone which would hang over things in the coming days. it was difficult to ‘breeze through’ things on my list with my usual enthusiasm; however, we manage however we manage. within a few days of that first wake for my very long-standing friend’s wonderful father, i heard of another i could have attended for another parent of a friend (albeit too late to attend). both of these brought thoughts of my mom’s illnesses and death close to the surface.

and then i heard first-hand from one of my supplier contacts of another tragedy, a little boy who died as the result of a freaky accident at school. this one hit incredibly close, as it would for any mother. we send our children off to school each morning with the confidence of school being a relatively safe environment for them to spend their time. when that confidence is shattered, it’s a painful experience. thinking of the mother who lost a son, who was retrieved from work by the police and taken to her child who was beyond her ability to save by then, was almost too much to deal with. i sent my sympathies knowing it would do little to ease any of the incredible aching.

whenever someone passes on, especially a child, i am reminded, as well, of my own two boys’ near-death traumas during and/or shortly following birth. i am so grateful of their smiling faces in front of me every day and of the blessings they bring to life (even when they are being loud and stompy, jarring my concentration at 30-second intervals to the point where i can’t work).

all of this emotional hash still hangs over; it will be a long while before it dissipates.

in the midst of all of this, i am doing what i do; knitting and designing. i completed multiple projects this week. if it is a result of everything i don’t know, but it’s good to be productive and see results, in any event. some of these projects are still being written into patterns, and others are off the needles, waiting for darning and what have you. i haven’t taken pics, yet, but they will be photo’d soon.

and, i decided there was no time like the present to redo musindigo. it’s been long coming. i never was happy with the original design but there was always a priority [or two or three] in the way of sitting down and redoing the code and the layout. i think it’s a bit nicer on the eyes and more organized. i hope to add a gallery one of these days… hoping to get to it before i get lost in everything else

next, cookies. it’s that time of year, eh? although i don’t bake a lot in general, this time of year i do like to get some goodies made up for sharing.

sending blessings of the season out there…

testing… testing 1 2 3…. [remember that song?] bet it’s in your head now…

noted over on Marlene’s blog.

oh and for good measure…

ha.

innertresting… never thought about the zipper thing.

[these both posted between rows of knitting knitting knitting...]

ok, i read of this from Moo, who linked it from a few others and from a few others before i got to the heart of the matter …

this is a meme test. do it. it’s easy. it’s for science! it’s cool. :)

okie, now i go back to work.

i cast on for Ariann by the ever-talented Bonne Marie Burns. that itself is not maniacal at all. it’s a fabulous design. i’d come across it a while back and told myself i had no time, i’d be a nut to even think about it.

however, after reading Cara’s posts about this sweater, i finally, in a fit of impulsiveness, purchased the pattern. i had just the right amount of Cascade 220 in my stash (and it’s tricky to not blur the edges here, because i always have Cascade 220 as part of design stock, anywhere from 20-30 skeins at any given time float about in my office… but this was in my personal stash).

now the maniacal part of all this [go ahead, roll around on the floor pointing fingers in a fit of hilarious laughter; snorting, even... i know you want to, and you SHOULD] is that i have, currently on the needles, a moebius [originally intended for xmas, for myself, in some nifty fleece artist merino i've had for a few years] and… a merino scarf which i’m developing for a pattern kit, some mittens in Lang Angel which i’m still working on for a client, and 7 skeins of Oceanwind Knits merino still to skein for an order this week! and i’m also knitting Jenna’s Celtic Cap and working out a shawl design in OWK Merino .

my silly impulsive mind would like Ariann to be ready for holiday wearing…. i know, Ha ha ahhaaaaaaaaaa. ha.

i’ve never been deterred before with UFOs, so i should be just fine. ;) i figure i may have time to join the KAL by january. but then, who knows, some sort of time-warp might happen between now and the 25th and, well …

anyhoo, all the maniacal silliness aside, several new bits available at Oceanwind Knits:

Ingrid

is available in both PDF form and as part of a knitting kit — kit includes Cascade 220 in the original colour + printed pattern.

and Belisama

–a hand-dyed noil silk scarf knitting kit, in three colours (at the moment; i’m sure i will have new colours soon).

well maybe after I finish Ariann. :P

one can always have hope, eh?

we had a lovely time last night. one of the novelties of small town life is that lots of life comes right by your home, because you’re never all that far away from anything that goes on in town.

however, sometimes things don’t quite get broadcast as expected. i sent hubby out to inspect the downtown area, in the middle of a snowsquall, at about 5:45 pm. not a soul around, one van parked on main street. no one about, not a peep of activity.

the thing is, the Santa Bop parade was scheduled to start at 6 pm! one would expect folks to start lining the sidewalk a bit early, but i guess not. i thought perhaps they’d cancelled due to weather. we were deciding whether or not we would go downtown for dinner or cook at home. with everything looking abandoned, we started cooking. about 5:55 pm i chanced to venture out front, since i saw the neighbours out standing on the sidewalk. the parking lot on the corner about a block away was brimming with cars! there had been zero cars not 5 minutes earlier. in the blink of an eye, the whole town had ventured out for this parade lol. the fire patrol folks moved to our corner to block the highway.

the cool thing was, being on the route, we just bundled up the boys [Sam is just totally enthralled by the whole parade thing this year] and went out on the front lawn to be entertained on our doorstep by the parade of lights and horses and large trucks and folks all festooned in holiday spirit and finery.

very cute, indeed.

anyhoo, i have yarn to skein and knitting to knit…. hahaha..