Karen's Gift of Color

Colors and textures that hold Karen's delight

The doorbell rang. Saturday afternoon is not our usual time to receive unannounced visitors. No visitor, the mail carrier had left a box, a rather large one.

Grey and pale green yarn on the lower left
 is silk and sea cell by Hand Maiden

Now with Leonard Cohen playing from his Old Ideas album, I'm removing the yarn, skein by skein, from the big box sent to me by her brother in his cleaning out of her house.

Each wrapped bundle of fibers reveals surprises and delights. Colors that warm my heart line up on the table with their mates. I can feel Karen watching me, eager to share the excitement of her gift to me.


Karen passed last November in Boston. We are having a remembrance service for her tomorrow for her West Coast friends. Things I get to do today are to feel her close one more time, to touch and feel all these yarns that she touched and felt, to bask in the delicious colors, and to put my creative thoughts to mesh with her gift: planning more knitting projects.

A Gaggle of Swifts

Completed wood project of three swifts for winding yarn

I'm pretty sure they come in flocks. But if this group of swifts were ever again to be together, it would for sure be more of a gaggle. Tomorrow they all fly out to their respective new homes here and there about the country to live with friends of mine. That's where the gaggle comes in. We are a talkative bunch who know well enough when to be still, but that event does not arise often.  So when we are together, gabble and gaggle we do.

Giving wings to these swifts is my friend-related item of Things I get to do today.  It's taken awhile to cause these "birds" to come into being from a 1"x6"x 8' piece of maple lumber.  I've learned and loved the process.  It all started with an idea.  Any idea held firmly long enough will come into being one way or another.  The thought took wings and landed, finally, fully-formed, in my hands.

Slowly a Swift

Words don't teach.  Life experience teaches.  And I'm learning.  Several months back my post was about one of the simplest and most clear devices I'd come across in a long time: an Amish-style swift.  A swift holds the yarn so that a person winding a ball of it can do it by themselves without growing another full set of full-length arms.  Brilliant contraption!

My first Swift

When I saw one and then bought one, I knew I could make this thing called "swift."  I bought the wood, enough for four it turns out, and cut it to dimensions.  Then I shaped it--all four of them.  Sanding and smoothing came next. The Things I get to do today will see me finishing the first one.






Which brings me to a quote from Confucius adapted for woodworkers, "By three methods we may learn wisdom (woodworking): First by reflection (seeing the process completely before beginning), which is noblest; Second, by imitation (watch Hubby demonstrate), which is easiest; and Third, by experience (learn as you go), which is the bitterest."

Somehow as I drilled the holes in all the parts of this swift that needed holes, I thought of my comment to Hubby last night that I would have him show me how to use his mini drill press device so I could learn by imitation.  But today I moved directly to experience which, though it was not really bitter, was a bit disappointing.

Whoopee!  I have three more that will benefit from what I've learned so far.  And as you can well see, this one looks pretty darn good regardless of its being my lesson book.

Swift and Simple

Knitting season has been officially extended by another couple weeks. Maybe it's the groundhog's doing, but it's another good thing about the snowy stuff that came down all day today.  It seems like I got fired up late in the yarn year, so I appreciate the extra time to finger the fibers and needles to see what will come forth.

Adjustable for various skien sizes

Ease in life comes from simple tools that work well.  I've found mine.

In cahoots with the wool winder

I've wanted a yarn swift for some time but have been stubborn about paying nearly $100 for something I "need desperately," would have to store, but would use infrequently.  And then I found the simple version--an Amish style swift.

This baby is truly SWIFT

One quarter of the cost brought it right to my door.  And the yummiest of Things I get to do today is try it out for the first time.  Sweet!

Not the best part, but close:  storage is simple

I'm in love already.

Peace of Yarns

Chaos

There was chaos in the "warehouse." Generous gifts from two friends who encouraged me to sort through and keep treasures from their huge yarn bins resulted in bags that overflow my warehouse (single, previously-half-full crate). Bags are on the floor and a great mishmash lives in the crate. I am not complaining! But I like order.  And I like to handle the wool--the more I did repeated hands-on reviews of my stash, the more tangled it became.

Another dear friend, the wool winder

My delight  after finishing other Things I get to do today is to settle into some serious wool winding.  There is a soothing magic that happens as scrambled hanks of yarn are transformed into beautiful cylinders of wound wool.  It is a restful and unhurried process, draping the opened hanks of fiber around my knees to hold it in place, one hand holding the strand high and one hand turning the handle of the winder.

Never thought of my knees being a substitute for hands before

Still space for the last bag

It creates such peace and order that three bags of fibers now fit neatly in the space which before held only one.  Make peace in the yarn bin.  Make peace with where you are.  Make peace.  Look how tightly we can live together when we are at peace.

Everybody's in the bin!

Sweater Seeds

I crossed it off tonight.  Two bold lines through the item on the Big Project list of Things I get to do today.  It felt good on so many levels.  Finishing a project that was started nearly three years ago is benefit enough, but with the completion of this "get to" comes cozy, colorful warmth for years to come.

Sweater seeds

I finished my sweater!!  It all began with the cutest mittens you can imagine--the ones that pop their tops off to reveal half covered fingers.  A Christmas present from Aimee.  But then we visited the yarn shop in her town.

Unwound skeins of luscious wool

All knitters know it is just common courtesy to buy yarn if you even glance into a wool shop.  So I was polite enough to leave them with several hundred dollars in exchange for yarn that was a reasonable match to my mittens.  I could feel the snuggle of the sweater against the sharp cold that day even though the skeins were still in the bag.  That's the way it is with knitters.  We can imagine the miles of wool fibers in their final form.  It's not necessary to focus on the hours of knitting/pearling between that yarn in the sack and the future sweater on ones back.

My wool-winder makes tidy, manageable balls of yarn--real magic.

Knitting seems incongruous with summer.  So most of my knitting time comes slowly with the chill of fall and that first frost when little fairies and miniature superheroes stand shivering on the front step chirping "Trick or Treat."

Lumpy and curly sweater parts

Now three falls and winters later, the project and, I must admit, guilt of not finishing it have built enough momentum to carry it through.  The body and the sleeves are eager to find their true connection.  

Pressed and ready to assemble

With the help of the iron, steam, a measuring tape and careful attention, the willful lumps become supple, compliant, recognizable pieces of a sweater.

Now I'm on a roll.  All other tasks, "get to's" and "have to's" are set aside as I focus total energies on the neck and front bands.  As soon as the most obvious yarn tails are worked into their roots, I wrap myself into the brand-new hug of this garment and head off to Josephine's Dry Goods for buttons.  From their exquisite selection the perfect ones head home with me to be attached.

Suppose it will stand out in a crowd?  

Here's the thing, there's enough yarn left over for several little projects that will no doubt "go to seed."
It's probably a knitter's weed.