This is Platinum in its raw state. It is fantastically beautiful…. marled and imperfectly beautiful.

Here is my Platinum. This is a 50% superwash merino/ 50% tencel blend. It is a DREAM to spin.

It looks just like those beautiful brushed platinum men’s wedding bands. It spins like liquid metal right out of your fingers. I am in love…. this fiber is BY FAR my new favorite. Hands down. Just for the shimmer… the lights and darks drift in and out in subtle shifts. I am mesmerized. Completely enamoured…. sigh…..

Hey Cruisers and Future Cruisers!

There are only 12 spots left on the cruise. That’s it. 12 and gone! Go see Patricia today and get yours! 200.00 reserves your cabin. C’mon…. you know you wanna come! There will be workshops. Shore excursions, SNB’s with all of us (we are close to 75 knitters!)… and did you see the swag list. Yup… you GET STUFF for coming.

GO.GET.YOUR.RESERVATION.TODAY!

Email me here if you want this:

5 years of marrital bliss for me and D. And many, many more in our future. Love you!

Well.. no it really isn’t.
This is a catch up post. Some LONG overdue thank you’s to start off.

Michelle…. my wonderful secret pal… sent me these!

hello? BAMBOO! Oh yea! I am psyched! I can’t wait to spin and dye it!

Some beautiful ashland bay top. I love the way it spins up!

Kat… of the secret pal group that I hostessed… sent me a sparkly bunny batt…. I spun it and am in love! More, please?

Ok… on to the Knitting with Margaritas Soiree…

D cleared out for the “COVEN” meeting…or so he calls it.

(ummm…one of these things is not like the other… one of these things just doesn’t belong…)

I asked some of my girlies to cram themselves into my tiny rowhome to knit with me. I promised appetizer-like food and booze. If you feed them (more likely booze them)… they will come!

Miss L is learning to knit. No margaritas for her… she is getting a serious lesson from Amie. (who was drinking margaritas!)CAm was present and threatening bodily harm to whoever snapped her pic. Hey..she had pointy sticks!

Coleen and Jolene…. like the camping chair? The cowboy calls it “CHAIRY” from Pee Wee’s Playhouse…

ummm.. still in my living room. The boy likes it. Oh well. Missed a few friends that could not make it. Next time, ok? Oh…. did you see….

Nice one sister! Have another????

What else?

OH!!!! Chocolate… yum!

could you eat that? That is my chocolate colorway for the swap. Email me if you would like some! The skeins are 400 yds/ 4oz of 80%wool 20% nylon sock yumminess!

I think I covered most of the updates except for the stuff that is heading here:

I love Michelle. She is a joy to work with! We have some plans brewing…..

Also…. there are still the secret projects that are being finalized…. Whew! Did I miss anything???

YES… Fall Sock Clubbers! You are not forgotten! Shipping Monday!! Woot!

I told you time was not on my side! If I only did not need to sleep….

EDIT:

Thanks Carole! I love me some olive! Meet Olivia! She is on her way to Cloverhill.…

Yup… there are secrets abound here at Chez Mama…. not quite ready to tell the full scoop… but I see a large body of water…. a BIG BOAT…. my spinning wheel and MY KNITTTING needles…. and you! That’s right… YOU! Patricia, Amie, and I are cookin’ up some East Coast fiber action! Say…. in Fall 2007? Could be…. sailing takes me away from…somethin’ somethin’ somethin’!
My good friend Marie and I are cookin up some goodness! Yup…. more secrets….. but really, REALLY good ones. Stay tuned for that….. should be fun….
More on my Monday “Knitting with Margaritas” soiree later! And I joined the OCTOBER Birthday Swap. Yea… go libras… go scorpio…it’s a party… yup my Birthday!
Happy Wednesday Everyone!

5 years ago today I was staring out my classroom window thinking how beautiful the weather was in Maryland and wishing it would never end. It was the day before my last day of work. I was getting married in 5 days and in the throws of last minute/ week before wedding mania.

A colleague came into my classroom and said a plane hit the Twin Towers… and I thought her mad. Another colleague (I was one of the few teachers without students at the moment) ran in and said another plane hit the 2nd Tower. And they were passenger planes. And this was terrorism. In Lower Manhattan. The world stopped for me and my wedding mania ended…. I frantically tried calling my D. I could not find him. I spoke to my dad. He and my family were ok. (They live in CT). I tried Arnold (who lived in the East Village) No Arnold. I found D.. I cried and told him that through hell or high water that we were getting married even if it was just us and the officiant. They could not alter my life that much. But..inevitably…they did.

I stayed glued to the media for the two days following the attacks. Through many phone calls and emails… the next few days unfolded, friends and loved ones were accounted for, people traveled from far and wide to be with us (yes… even on planes) and the wedding went on as scheduled. We celebrated extra hard to throw some joy out into an uncertain world.

We were in Montreal for our honeymoon and it hit me there. People were still unaccounted for. Firemen on the streets of Montreal were collecting donations… people offered me their condolences…. my city… the city and place I loved best in this world… was attacked. And people died…many, many prople died.
My mother told me after my honeymoon that they could not find Chris. Christopher Ingrassia was one of the kindest, most gentle humans on the planet. We all had secret crushes on him in high school… he was athletic and smart… and kind to EVERYONE.
My Family in CT lost a dear friend Candace. If my dad were alive today he would cry again for her loss.

Many of my friends and family have a running away from the destruction story… and they are fortunate that they got out of the towers when they did… or they took a later train… or called in sick to work….

The funerals began… many for some…. and the tributes were never ending…. and then it stopped. I hope the world did not begin to forget and let this insanley evil act fade into memory for fear of reoccurance.

I will never forget my 9/11/01…. I have vowed to try and walk this earth in a gentler, kinder way. I have tried and will continue to try to bring kindness into an uncertain world.

Namaste’.

Edit:

OK… I have been a flippin’ mess all day from the tributes. I keep tearing up on and off….

I was thinking that tonight may be a bad night to host some knittah friends at Casa Mama… but am rethinking that. It is good…. really, really good.

I love me some chocolate. Good, good chocolate. I saw this swap over at Dave’s place and was meaning to sign up. Then I got an email from Abigail regarding a chocolate colorway… and um… I was so in. The colorway is drying as we speak.

ummmmm….. chocolate…..

when my little boy requested to listen to this song off the Curious George soundtrack in the car and sang it all the way to the sitter this morning….
My Own Two Hands

I can change the world
With my own two hands
Make it a better place
With my own two hands
Make it a kinder place
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I can make peace on earth
With my own two hands
I can clean up the earth
With my own two hands
I can reach out to you
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I’m going to make it a brighter place
With my own two hands
I’m going to make it a safer place
With my own two hands
I’m going to help the human race
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I can hold you
In my own two hands
I can comfort you
With my own two hands
But you’ve got to use
Use your own two hands
Use your own
Use your own two hands
Use your own
Use your own two hands
With our own
Our own two hands
With our own
Our own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands

Sometimes… in those stressful mommy days… you get a glimpse that you are doing something right.

The last foray of dyeing produced a new colorway named Flora. I tend to think in terms of pictures… and there is this marshy spot on my uncle’s property in Maine. It was early afternoon with the sun peeking through the trees…. I spent hours there with my two friends sketching and thinking… and that picture has not faded from my memory in 12 years.

Meet Flora….

Here she is in the early stages of being single.

Here she is with her twin single.

Plied together … all 4 oz of her.

In her finished state….

A close up…

This is the first handspun that I am truly proud of. It is between DK and worsted (depending on where you look at it!) and is 4 oz. There was no waste.

I love long weekends. I started spinning her on Sunday and finished her tonight (these pictures are pre- setting the twist). She is hanging with a little weight on her as we speak. I feel like I truly did some things right. I split the roving lengthwise in quarters… took my time with the draft and preparation. I know that I still have a long way to go in learning the craft… but this is the first effort worthy of becoming a finished knit piece.

The flora colorway has made it into the C*EYE*BER Sock line.

This is a handwash. I am sure that a superwash would be a little more vibrant. I am thinking she will become a laceweight too…. and…I think she is here to stay.

Yarn Crawl 2006 has come to an end… it was FANTASTIC! Here are some highlights of the journey…

6:30 am: Get on bus in Elicott City, MD

9:30 am: Arrive Manhattan, NYC

This is what I saw when we got off the bus in midtown.

I don’t know if you all know this about Mama-E… but she LOVES herself some Diddy.
Coleen was smart enough to map our destinations out and get a feel for where we should go…. you rock, friend!

Happy NEW YEAR! This is Times Square complete with the TRL studio in the upper right portion of the photo.

Walk past RENT Marquis… sing Seasons of Love like a BIG dorky tourist… annoy Coleen slightly… continue on to:

10:30 am:

SCHOOL PRODUCTS …. The family who owns this is really sweet. I will be seeing them at Stitches East. My review of School products is they have a big selection and you need to know some about fibers and yarns on the cone to truly get the best value. I bought this:

a 1lb hank of silk/viscose for my dyeing pleasure. Yea!

They do have some widely available yarns like this:

(For soapturtle… an ENTIRE wall of Lamb’s Pride in all weights and Cotton Fine.)

but their best deals are specialty fibers they have milled. Study up and make a list before you go. You will get a great deal.

Marie met us at School Products, shopped a little, and took us to her LYS: The Point.

We ate, we knit, and we were happy. I enticed one of my oldest and most-loved friends to join us… Arn! Arnold and I have been friends forever…. any day I get to spend with him is a fantastic one.

We ate…. we knit…we laughed (A LOT!) and pawed some Tilli Tomas yarn… I am in love. That silk with the beads in the red makes me go crazy!

My review of The Point: small and cozy. Good snacks, coffee, sandwiches. Great service staff with the usual NYC snark (in the best possible way). Carries a wide assortment of yarns and Marie’s handspun. A place that is perfect to gather and snug in for the day.

After The Point we got Arn to drive us to Downtown Yarns…in search of the elusive seasilk by Handmaiden.

2:00 pm Downtown Yarns:

How cute is that knitted web in the window?

Here is Arn being a great sport with the girls. Sadly, no seasilk was to be found . Theyh were all out and waiting for more. I am knitting some right now and understand the demand. It is heavenly. Big selection of yarns n the coziness of the Esat Villiage. There was some handmaiden seasilk… but not laceweight. Coleen got some stuff… and I was happy just to paw at more yarn. Even Arn was happy… well.. happy thinking about someone knitting for him. He is a non-knitter that enables us junkies suppports the fiber arts. He even drove us to Knit New York.

2:30 pm Knit New York:

There was a good selection of Alchemy Yarns that I HAD TO GET AWAY FROM. Step away from the Alchemy… man that stuff is top notch. I am inspired by it’s beauty and in awe of the craftmanship of the dyeing.

More coffee was consumed ( did I mention that I got up at 4:30 am to make it to the bus?) and sadly… Arnold was off. Time to go play a gig… thanks man! Love you!

4pm: Knitting wind down

We were sadly denied a frozen hot chocolate a Serendipity…. they had a 2 hour wait time. Marie, Coleen, and I went to get some dinner and drinks… Raspberry mojitos that may or may not tasted like cough syrup. Anyhow… alchohol + lack of sleep = tired and loopy Mama and Coleen.

5:15 pm:

Sadly, our day had come to an end after a brief trip to Dylan’s Candy Bar…. we said goodbye to my girl Marie and headed off to the bus.

Now…. I am from the NYC area and my dad took me to the city many, many times when I was a little girl. We always ended up at St. Patricks Cathedral. This was one of my dad’s favorite places. I feel close to him in the city… and even closer when I am here.

And this guy… outside of St. Pat’s cracked me up. You can’t really see that he is walking with the FRAME of an umbrella in a hurricane… soaking wet and looking at us as if we have a problem. Go on brother….

6:30 pm: The bus departs.

Ok… tired, wet, and very happy…. we get back on the bus. Coleen and I sit apart..and that is ok because the SPACIOUS accomodations on the bus are only spacious if you are a small child or a tiny adult. Everyone is talking about their day and we pull off….. but wait! We end back the bus meeting point. Why you say?

a COUPLE MISSED THE BUS and called the depot. The driver was NICE ENOUGH to turn around and get them. They never said thank you to him. Not once. Apparently, they may or may not have sat in the seat I coveted on their ride up. I felt NO NEED to accomodate them and left them to get the last available seats together on the bus. The ones in front of the bathroom. If they were nicer to the driver I may have felt differently. My ride home was very comfortable even though I frogged and cast-on again for the lace wings shawl.

The decision was made for YARN CRAWL to happen every Labor Day Week from here on in…. I can’t wait until 2007. Many, many thanks to my friends whom I love so much. Arn, Coleen, and Marie… you really made my year!