It's hard to be humble

Ya'll, I'm oozing with pride over this yarn. It isn't because it is a lace weight single spun from my own Cotswolds and some luscious brown alpaca. Nope, not because I haven't spun any before. It isn't even mine. Hence, the oozing. About two weeks ago, thing 2 came in my 'bedroom, studio, sewing room, cave' and asked, "Mom, can I borrow some sock knitting needles?" Now, you know I don't really dig sock making. I mean, I DO it, of course, but I'd rather knit something else most of the time. Yet, the demand for hand-knit socks here on the funny farm always far outweighs my skill or time constraints. So, for about a year now, I've been trying all sorts of tactics to get these little critters to knit their own socks. Hypnosis, chocolate, ice cream, free fiber, still no interest. I'm practically laying myself at thing 2's blessed feet in praise of his interests - 'Yes, needles, of course. Do you need some yarn, a pattern, want me to show you how?'.

No, he's going to make up his own sock off of a basic pattern and will be spinning his own yarn. A laceweight/sport yarn? I didn't want to say anything - who can it hurt to try? Perhaps the woman with 5+yrs. of hard-earned self-taught spinning in the place where her ego lives? With bold determination, he sits down and within an hour or so - this is his yarn! Some might notice some flaws but, I'm here to tell you - it is really good. Then, thing 1 astonishes me with this cool baby get-up that she designed and knit herself out of wool and cotton. She just listed it in our Etsy store. Who's kids are these? Thing 3 is decorating the house with all manner of pipe cleaner dragons and has taken to turning every pointed stick into a decorated dagger complete with a yarn hand-hold and glitter glue jewels down the hilt. Now that the pig meal of the year is over, we are launching straight into xmas decorations. I figure that by next year, this end of the family doings will be up to them - tree and all - sinch they appear to be far more talented than I.

But, I did get some fun in this weekend. For any poor persons who have been kind enough to follow the farm blog, my promises of yarns and roving are probably a bitter pill two months after promised. It has taken brave acts of readers and yarn enthusiasts to gently nudge me back into the on-line sales. I mean, I love you blog/internet knitters to a point of fanatacism but, I feel about three years old, intellectually, every time I sit down at my computer. Between that and that lovely wrm I received over the summer, it kinda scared me away. I have missed it, greatly, and not just because it helps with the ever-mounting bills. I've missed it because it feels so good to make something and have someone else really like it - I could be happy if I could accomplish this every day of my life. Course, I'd also be happy if I didn't have car trouble, if my kids always adored me, and if hubster was more diligently tackling his training. but, we won't go there.

Let's go to Northern Arizona, instead - shall we? Many years ago, when thing 1 was pudgy and in diapers, hubster and I flew (with thing 1) to Phoenix, rented a car, and drove all over Arizona for a few days. Pheonix might have been more enjoyable if I could stand to be out of the air conditioning for more than 5 minutes. Ya'll, I'm from the hot, hot South and I can tell you - it doesn't matter that it is a 'dry' heat - it is still damned hot! But, what really got me was Sedona north to Flagstaff. Up in the mountains, where the red rocks of Southern Arizona still scatter in and out of the brown, rich mountains - topped by an almost unreal blue sky and, if on a good day, dotted with bright, perfect cotton clouds - you could get religion if you stayed too long. There is beauty and then there is a landscape that makes you feel shaky with awe - this is Sedona. I recorded the scene in memory and, now, in yarn - Big Sky, Merino sock wgt. It is available on the farm blog . It felt so good, I had to do it again, in lace wgt. merino this time. The lace wgt suggested a later time of day, perhaps wherein the mountain chill would make a sun-lover desire a delicated lace shawl to drape over her shoulders in the wind. So, a little hint of sage brush needed to be there, as well as a deeper stretch of color and less white cloud sprinkled here and there - the dimming of the day. Then, I got out this yarn that I bought a bit ago. I have to say right here that this yarn and I have history. It was very expensive and came in a huge skein that was, I am sure, designed to drive small start-up yarn artists to the brink of insanity. Finally, I tackled it and dyed it up. It has 10% nylon which makes it very stretchy, great for socks. The nylon also gives it a bit of a sheen which is really cool. A kettle dyed rainbow, perfect for the rainbow loving mama. There you have it. If you want it, go to the farm blog. Thanks.

Aren't you glad we took this little trip? I mean, I could have chosen to blog, instead about how much fun it was to corral the beasties in the barn and give them their shots over the weekend! Yes, you want to be the person delivering an injection into a kicking, spitting, bucking 200+ lb wool machine!