and away we go...

our flight tomorrow is 5:30 am so we'll be getting up around 2:00. keith is coming with me this time for a few days - to help set up my booth at the ooak and to help out for the first few days. this will make the 11 day show seem alot shorter.
this time i'll be selling skeins of handspun yarn and batts, handknit shawls and cowls and scarflettes and knitting kits (that include handspun yarn and handmade needles and a pattern for a scarflette or a pair of fingerless gloves). my booth is R32 (around the middle of the show) and please introduce yourself as a follower of my blog when you drop by.
i'll be returning dec. 7th and will get my blog and etsy shop up and running again that week. see you then...

it was cold but we felt warm

it was a cold blustery day, but over 100 people still showed up for our tire burning protest yesterday. we marched to city hall and then to the mill. we got alot of media attention (even made it onto the national news) so hopefully the provincial government will take notice. being part of a group that shared my sorrow and outrage at the prospect of burning tires in the centre of our beautiful city, made me feel not so alone.

first snow and a happy cat

we got our first snowfall on the west coast yesterday. actually quite beautiful.
and a report on flora. she's eating again and seems to be putting on a bit more weight. the kidney medication is working and we have our kitty back.

say it isn't so

corner brook is a mill town. it was established in 1924 on the humber river/bay of islands because of the pulp and paper mill.
5 years ago the mill put forward a proposal to burn tires as an alternative fuel. at that time there was enough of an uproar to squelch the idea.
it's happening again and it sickens me that it is even being considered as a safe and sane thing to do to an environment and it's population.
tomorrow there will be a march (meeting in the back parking lot of the university main building at 11:00 and marching to either the city hall or the mill gates). i pray that there will be numbers to show the government that we don't want this.

good company

in these final weeks leading up to the "big show", working 12-16 hour days, i've had good company. i've been listening to the sequel to ken follet's "pillars of the earth" - "world without end". it picks up the story about 200 years later - the time of the great plague. so the church, medicine. power and greed. serfs and landowners.
36 discs.

do i live here?

i leave for toronto in less than a week and the house is in chaos. i'm still making product. i'm beginning to pack. my attention is turning towards my booth display and what i will need to take with me. every surface in the house is covered with clutter. before i leave it will all be sorted and swept up and packed. and i'll come back to calm.

batt bags

last year at the ooak i had a number of spinners drop by asking for batts (fibre that has been prepared for spinning). so this time i'll be prepared. yesterday i started preparing batt bags - batts that have been carded with hand dyed mixed fibres (merino, shetland, mohair fibre locks, bamboo, soysilk, angelina glitter and bits of cut up commercial novelty yarn). these batts will be good for felters too. i'll only have a limited number, so if you're interested, come early.

the light

the hours of daylight are so short now. i feel that mostly i'm working in darkness. my work is about colour and when i'm making a batt, i'm carrying my dyed fleece to brighter areas of the house just to see what colour i'm using (is this dark purple or brown?) lately we've had a rash of sunny days in a row so this weekend i made up all my batts during the day in the rich strong light. and then spent the evenings spinning (something i could do blindfolded).
yesterday was my last day for spinning. today i'm making little batts to sell at the ooak as well as painting up some knitting needles to sell seperately. one week of work to go.

a fine day

this is the first weekend in months that hasn't been rainy.i took the morning off. got together with a couple of good friends for coffee and then went to the spca craft fair. this is my favourite local craft fair. love supporting the spca in any way i can. but also it's where i get my knitted socks for the year. i love these thrummed socks to wear as house slippers. and after we went to the 2nd annual women's international food and craft fair. there is no ethnic food in corner brook. so even just walking into the legion and smelling spices was a treat. we bought enough african and bulgarian food to last at least the weekend and had a real feast last night for dinner. in the afternoon keith raked the rest of the leaves and i spun. a fine day.

sunshine and frost

we've had lots of sun lately. the mornings are crisp. a delicate fringe of frost on every surface. i've been getting out early for my walks. easier then to settle into a long day of work. and abigail is content.

i'm in love...

occassionally i make a skein of yarn that i fall in love with. this was the case with "the silk road". i wanted to capture the feeling of the desert. of pale sand dunes. of camels carrying riches from the orient - silks and spices. this skein is super soft and luxurious - hand dyed and handspun with merino and bamboo and soysilk and a camel/silk blend that makes it shimmer. and this softness contrasts with vibrant and sparkly snippets of novelty yarn. this, and 100 more skeins will be for sale at my booth (#r32) at the ooak show in a couple of weeks.

haunting

a little late for hallowe'en. but i just received these photos from another grandmother (antje) and couldn't resist posting them. eamon and lucy and their little cousin and a good friend. i find them hauntingly beautiful and wanted to share.

stategic planning

with less than 2 weeks left before i leave for the toronto one of a kind show, every day counts. last week i concentrated on spinning. this week i'm making kits (which include handspun yarn, a pattern for fingerless gloves or a scarflette, and matching knitting needles). the kits will be selling for $35.00 and will be perfect gifts for the knitters on your list or for anyone wanting to start knitting with a simple project. next week i'm going to be making batts that i'll be selling to the spinners.sooo now ... back to work.

letting go

flora (who now has kidney failure) has good days and bad days. on the good days she eats a little, gets her meds into her and i'm so happy. on the bad days (we've just been through a couple) she won't eat (which means no medication that's sprinkled on her food) and i'm so down. she still has lots of energy - playful and affectionate and curious. but she's loosing weight and i know that can't continue.
last night i was lying on the bed petting her and i suddenly saw this through her eyes. i have to let go of trying to control it. she's doing it her way. some days she just doesn't want to eat and i have to let that happen. and relish the days when she's feeling good.

the view from here

it seems that this has been my only view for the past month (since coming back from st. john's). all i'm doing is working. dyeing, spinning knitting, dyeing spinning knitting. it's what happens this time of year leading up to craft fair time.
yesterday was gorgeous (almost 20 degrees celcius - unheard of for november). in the late afternoon i broke away from work and went outside and raked leaves for about an hour. feeling muscles that haven't moved for a month. i swept off the back deck and lay down on it and looked up into the sky. this is the view i've been missing.

bonfire night

friday night was bonfire or guy fawkes night. small communities in newfoundland still have huge community fires where all the autumn leaves and branches (and old furniture and tires etc.) are piled together and burned. the hills that surround corner brook are dotted with fires and the air is filled with wood smoke. but friday night was rainy and very windy and most of the fires were cancelled. so here's a photo i love of eamon and i at the cabin a few summers ago instead.

windy

we've had strong winds for the past 2 days - southerly so it's abnormally warm. yesterday all the maple leaves blew off. the air full of gold, the ground quickly covered. everything becoming one.

my limitations

when we are young we assume we can do whatever we want. we can count on our bodies to get us where we need to go. staying up all night to finish off an essay. partying into the wee hours and then getting up at 6:00 with the babies. hitchhiking across the country, throwing down a sleeping bag at the side of the road and continuing the next day with the same energy and excitement.
this week i tried pushing my mind/body to an extreme. spinning from 7:00 in the morning till about 11:00 at night (trying to make enough product for the upcoming toronto ooak show). and of course, at 60, i couldn't do it without repercussions. mid-week my left shoulder started to give me pain (the left arm guides the fibre on the spinning wheel) and i realized that i could do serious damage if i continued at that pace. so - i took wednesday night off - lying on the couch on a heating pad (i startled flora when she came upon me - she didn't know me lying down!) and yesterday i mixed up my activity - dyeing, knitting and spinning - along with a good walk. so today i feel good. and i'll just go a bit slower.

a watery sun

on these early grey novemeber mornings. even when it isn't raining. even when the sun comes out. the sun has so little energy. it's gone still.

essentials

november. most of the leaves are gone. the snow hasn't yet come. i'm looking at nature stripped bare. no padding. no colour. pulling back and waiting to begin again.

all in a days' work

i keep thinking i can't work and harder and then somehow i do. this week i'm getting up at 6:00 instead of 7:00 and in the studio by 8:00. yesterdays output was the best yet - 7 skeins and alot of dyeing.
flora is coming along. we're spoon feeding her - encouraging her by warming up her food (mixed with chicken broth) and with her powdered meds mixed in. every day she seems a little more interested in her food so we're beginning to be hopeful again,
and... (drumroll) the winners of the tickets to the ooak are radmilla and dawn. email me with your mailing addresses and i'll send off the tickets. thanks to all of you who left comments or contacted me privately.

ticket giveaway

i have 2 pair of tickets for the upcoming toronto one of a kind show to give away. so if you are in the area and planning on attending, or if you know someone who is and would like to win the tickets for them, just leave a comment and i'll randomly select 2 winners tomorrow.