Winter Goals

I love the way one can see the sky through the Australian trees.

Life continues to give me lessons aimed at keeping me flexible in my plans and expectations. Even the weather brings surprises. Overcast days alternate with warmer nights. We throw off a layer or two of covers. We leave wool socks in a pile and dig through clothes, looking for something cool. We have no need for a morning fire. Winter isn't really over, it's just taking a break.

My Bendigo Woolen Mills yarn order arrived and I've completed a pair of knitted socks for the other twin who may not really like socks, but sometimes socks are required and perhaps that's when Gran's handknitted socks will find acceptance. (We grans know about patience.)

Second pair of handknitted Toddler Socks:
ChippySocks for Kids - pattern by ColorJoy
Bendigo's Harmony yarn

I began thinking I might want to knit a more colorful pair or two, like the one's illustrated in ColorJoy's Chippy Socks for Kids pattern. Then, reality struck and I faced the fact that I've never done colorwork knitting which requires knitting with two (or more) strands of yarn, held two in one hand or one in each hand. But, how hard can it be? My first go at a sample plainly demonstrated: yes, this is going to require patience....

Lucky for me, ColorJoy posted a series of five videos on YouTube. She made them to accompany a KnitAlong featuring another of her patterns, Crystal Socklet, published in Knitty. One of the ColorJoy videos addresses the how-to of colorwork. I feel encouraged after viewing it. Maybe I'll feel brave enough to start a pair of Crystal socklets for myself!

On the weekend I'll start spinning cotton as a member of the Tour de Fleece group in Ravelry. I joined the Team I Spin Cotton 2012. My goal is to use my Ashford wheel as well as a support spindle to spin cotton daily throughout the Tour de France. (Australia's Cadel Evans won the Tour de France last year.)

I plan to use the resultant handspun cotton yarn in my weaving project. I've finished sleying the reed for that project – though not until after discovering I had miscounted ends and had to wind two more. Next, I thread the heddles. I have plenty of plans. Life gives me opportunities to practice patience... while adapting and pursuing my goals.

Post by M in JaM

Photos by J in JaM

Handwork

Toddler sock

I finished knitting a pair of toddler socks. They provide “growing room,” sez mum. As soon as my order for more Harmony yarn (30% wool, 69.6% cotton, 0.4% lycra) from Bendigo Woolen Mills arrives, I can begin knitting another pair... that's what you do when it comes to twins... you knit more!

I used a sock pattern called ChippySocks for Kids by ColorJoy. The pattern calls for 2-3 colours (and looks incredibly cheerful), but I had only one colour on hand. I found the pattern easy to follow. I think I'm getting quicker at knitting socks... but that's probably a personal illusion inspired by such small socks.

Have you noticed how many people these days seem to believe whatever suits them, ignoring facts to the contrary?

I cling to my small fantasy of getting faster at knitting socks. It gives me hope that I can produce knitted socks faster than the twins outgrown them. Since we live in the Tropics, socks are winter wear. Kids in Summer favour bare feet. I can take a break then... or get a headstart on the next winter.

Sleying the reed

When it comes to weaving, I've finally come to enjoy the complete process: winding a warp, sleying the reed, threading the heddles, beaming the warp, weaving and finishing. The complete process takes however long it takes. To avoid aggravating shoulder problems, I divide my weaving chores into numerous short sessions. I've reached the halfway mark in sleying the reed. 

Coffee assists with sleying the reed

You can see that a mug of coffee adds to my pleasure. I warp my loom front to back, following excellent instructions found in Warping All By Yourself by Cay Garrett. (No longer in print, but used copies can be found.) 

Post by M in JaM

Pix by J in JaM

Queen's Birthday

We've enjoyed this public holiday at home, sitting in front of the morning fire, walking the dog, visiting via the phone, reading things of interest on the internet and working on creative projects. Well aware of global financial problems, threats of mining expansion nearby, concern over water sources and water quality, climate change... well, to avoid being overwhelmed, we purposely turn our minds regularly to finding contentment near at hand.

Leg warmers, knitted last year (NeedleFood hand-dyed yarn)

Last week I stretched my knitted sock sample (no pics as yet) onto a toddler foot and realised I have to knit to the future, not to the moment. The sock was too small for one twin but fit the other twin's foot perfectly – we all know that perfect fit would last for about five minutes. By the time I got home, knit the sock's mate, mailed it and it arrived... there's no way the socks would fit. The twins are growing and changing so fast. So, my mission remains to knit two pairs of larger toddler socks that can be worn this winter, that is... NOW! I am not a fast knitter. Keep your fingers crossed, would you?

Cottolin warp for new weaving project

In between knitting sessions, I've wound a warp for a new weaving project. Similar to the last project, it will use a crackle weave threading and summer winter treadling. The warp is 22/2 cottolin instead of the 5/2 cotton I used last time. The loom lives upstairs in the guest bedroom (you can see the mossie net over the bed in the background). With the heat of summer past, I can weave upstairs during the day quite comfortably. Instead of being too hot, the room in winter is warm and cosy.

May you and yours find contentment nearby, too.

post by M in JaM

photos by JaM

Lunar eclipse as well as Venus transiting the Sun

Handknit sock
(hand-dyed yarn by NeedleFood, a New Zealand supplier
that closed after the Christ Church earthquakes)

Winter is here. The temperature fell below 10C (below 50F) this morning. We do like sitting in front of the fireplace on these clear, cold mornings. We've unpacked our handknitted socks and fingerless gloves. Grevilleas bloom outside the kitchen window and currawongs claim the nearby birdbath. The currawong tribe has brought young ones and several times a day the air is filled with their melodious songs as they forage in the area.

Grevillea superb

We are spending tomorrow with the twins and their mum. I have finished knitting one sample sock and shall try the sock on each of the two grandsons. Surely, it will fit one of them! Of course, that's just the beginning of this knitting project. I am also ready to wind a warp for my next weaving project.

Is it today's lunar eclipse or the transit of Venus across the Sun that has stimulated this wave of creativity?

Captain Cook sailed to Tahiti to record a transit of Venus across the Sun in 1769. The data collected helped navigators determine longitude more precisely. Cook sailed on and “discovered” Australia in 1770, on the same voyage. The British declaration of this new land as “terra nullius” - or land belonging to no one – continued to characterise Australian law with regards to land and title and was only overturned by the High Court of Australia twenty years ago (3 June 1992) in a case that made the name Mabo familiar to every Australian. Eddie Mabo, a Torres Strait Islander, campaigned for indigenous land rights and played a remarkable role in helping achieve that landmark Mabo decision twenty years ago.

So ends today's lesson....

Post by M in JaM

photos by JaM

Breathing easier

All quiet at our place while we recuperate from respiratory virus running rampant in the region. I don't think I have ever experienced such extreme nasal incontinence before, ever. Could there be a conspiracy to inflate the value of tissue stocks?

Both of us are feeling better at last and wishing there was a short cut to full recovery. In the meantime brain function continues at below normal levels. I'm keeping this post brief as coherency remains a challenge.

Handwoven table runners in crackle weave

Before everything went downhill healthwise a couple of weeks ago, I put the finishing touches on some handwoven table runners that I started about two years ago, just before the twins were born. All cotton except one runner features handspun wool weft. Crackle weave threading, new to me, on 4 harnass loom. I must be feeling better because I'm starting to think about doing more crackle weave. There's something very satisfying about having my own handwoven runner on the table.

Post by M in JaM

Photo by J in JaM

Mother's Day

Auntie Ediee and me

Mothers venture beyond genetics into the physics of resonating heart strings and the fuzzy realm of love. Caring and nurturing makes the world go round. It can be done by young and old, male and female, those with and those without children.

Speaking of fuzzy, I'm knitted more ankle warmers. I'm wearing mine regularly. I decided to try a pattern called Sidekicks by Melisa McCurley and I've enjoyed using it. The wool yarn is Luxury by Bendigo Woolen Mills. The cable pattern is not really a cable but a twisted stitch. Knitting ankle warmers may be addictive – as soon as I finished one pair, I started another.

"Sidekicks" - handknit ankle warmers

It's been brought to my attention (by Time Goes By) that sitting for long spells takes a toll on one's health even if one exercises regularly. Many of the crafts that I love require sitting – handspinning at a wheel, weaving, and knitting (some people can knit while standing, sometimes I stand when I'm weaving). In addition, when I sit down to write, I easily lose track of time. I've used a timer to remind myself to stand up and move around, but too often I forget to push the timer's start button. J is developing a Sitting Monitor. I am his guinea pig. I'll let you know how things go....

post by M in JaM

photo of Sidekicks by J in JaM

unknown photographer (probably my Mom) took photo of me and Auntie Ediee

A Sense of Place

“Favorite Scarf Ever” pattern by Lisa Bruce

I finished knitting a scarf from my handspun optim yarn. I started knitting the scarf last winter, but it went into hibernation when warm weather arrived. It's now completed, washed and blocked and waiting for use, just in time for the coming winter. I love working at handcrafts at home.

My daughter has been ruminating over her current essay assignment and this has caused me to reflect on the implications of Place as a part of Identity. I realise that one of my motivations for writing Yakkajam and posting photos is to offer a sense of what it is like to live in this spot, in remote, rural Far North Queensland, that is, to provide glimpses of our Place - the flora, fauna, the seasons and our human activities.

My ancestors and J's ancestors migrated from Europe to the New World - the east coast of the United States - and then took generations to gradually move west across the United States. We have continued that restless western movement – across the Pacific to the east coast of Australia. What happened to our sense of Place? Perhaps, as eventual roamers, we carry our sense of Place in our hearts. The place where each of us was born, the places where we grew up, fell in love, worked and had our children – those places and the people in our lives helped shape us as have the stories we've learned about our ancestors. Yet I feel very protective of and connected to the Place now around me.

The times have influence as well. The Golden Gate Bridge across the San Francisco Bay remains a magical Place in my heart. In 1937 my Grandmother and Aunt walked across the Golden Gate Bridge when it opened for the first time. In 1987, on the 50^th anniversary of the opening, my husband and I walked our bicycles across Golden Gate Bridge only to get stuck in the middle of the bridge in a shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrian jam that lasted an hour or so and caused the bridge to sag. If you look at the first two photos to which I've linked, you'll get an impression of the vast difference between those two times, at the same Place.

Rachael Carson's book Silent Spring was published in 1962 and environmental awareness began to grow. For increasing numbers of individuals, the boundaries of one's sense of Place began to expand to include global concerns - oceans, rivers, underground aquifers, forests and plains, mountains, volcanos, the atmosphere. I worry when dead fish are discovered in the river nearby after heavy rainfall caused mining spillage into the nearby creek which flows into our river. I worry about polar bears.

Is the Global Village becoming our Place?

post by M in JaM

photo by J in JaM