post 8: my best thanksgiving

I posted this in 2006, and I'm sharing it again. with some edits and additions, 11 years later.

My best Thanksgiving dinner ever was 27 years ago. Far from home, far from the Land of Pochohantas and the Pilgrims. I was in South America. These were the guests of honor :

(when I first posted this  I added the 16 yo age, he is 27 now)

The cuties were in the process of being adopted from an orphanage, by families from the US. Dave and I had received an official adoption decree in court the day before, after a very long process, for the tiny guy on the far left. The US Embassy was closed to celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving.  We needed to wait till Friday to get our baby's green card, to take him home.
We found other families in similar limbo to share the day. The meal itself was forgettable, save for the can of jellied cranberry that a woman from Kansas had oddly brought with her. What is forever memorable is how thankful we were to have our son, and be a family, and how we marveled at the dips and turns life takes to place you in such wonderful moments.

Being an adoptive parent makes me forever conscious of what family means. Years later I worked on a book about what happen to kids who age out of foster care. The one thing the subjects all said, whether their lives were going well or a struggle, was they wished they had a mom or dad. Not for the big things but for the small. Someone to show up at your sports games, or know you won a prize, or to call on a bad day when your car breaks down and fail a test or have a problem with a co-worker. One man in his twenties, a huge strapping entrepreneur and former college football player got tears in his eyes telling me that no one, zero, zippo, was there to see him graduate from college.

ETA:  When that baby in the photo and his younger brother, adopted 3 years later from the same orphanage, became teenagers, they brought home an assortment of friends. Some were quite likable, some were tough nuts to crack. Some had problems at home that'd make your toes curl, not that we'd know details until years later, when they finally felt OK to tell.  Some spent weekends here, some seemed to just be here a lot.  Mostly, and especially when they were younger, they just wanted to sit at the table and eat a meal together, have me yell at them to go to bed or rinse dishes and do homework and stay away from partying and give them a ride, or run their idea for a school essay by me.  Believe me, I was not always gracious about all this, it just happened. In fact, it happened before I even knew it was happening.  I'm not a "cool" parent but I listen and give opinions. 

So what can anyone do? Most of us can't make grand gestures but here are some small acts
- Be a mentor, or  volunteer at a community center, even just once in a while
- Calling the local high school and offer to have a kid shadow you in your job for a day. 
- Talk to a kid who looks rough around the edges.  A little goes a long way.

And --back to the knitting! While we are on the subject of kids without support systems and/or families
Consider a quick knit for the Red Scarf project . They are collecting handmade red/red-ish scarves  throughout December.  The students who get a hand knit scarf in a care package this February don't have families to send them something that says"I'm thinking of you". But they'll know that someone was, thanks to the efforts of Foster Care to Success , who also have an easy-to-donate-to emergency fund and textbook fund, from that link.
 I've worked with this organization for a decade+, and I will vouch for the good folks there.

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Sorry for turning into Ms Preachy McPreachPants today-- I only do it once in a very long while.  I'm about to turn my attention to FOOD  and dive in to the Thanksgiving prep/ whirlwind housecleaning. Make a mess, clean a mess, make a mess. 

I'm doing pretty poorly with the daily blogging this month but hopefully I can squeeze in  Three on Thursday, tomorrow.

granny squares with doc mason's edge

Four days and a long round trip drive to Chicago later.  It turns out that I only needed to bring this one project along, it held my attention and was a perfect companion.

Over the first seven hours of the trip, when I wasn't driving, I made the last five squares, to bring my total to 42. ThenI ripped out the first three squares and made them more interesting. Followed by having a stern talk with myself to prevent ripping out and re-doing any more.  Somewhere around Ohio, with just one painfully expensive speeding ticket in the glove compartment, and just as we finished the last chapter of S-Town *(recommend!), I grabbed the Doc Mason's yarn and started crocheting the outer edges, through to Indiana and then Illinois.

I seriously love this yarn. It's totally working to bring the squares together tonally. Some are relatively muted, like these two, some have, let's say, more punch than I really would like.

Yarn with that farm-y sheepy glow. Don't you want to huff the lanolin fumes? I'm dreaming a whole sweater of it now. I was lucky to get the last of the 2016 Doc Mason's but keep an eye out, Ellen is poised for  another trip to the mill, you can see the clip ready to roll from the link. 

My favorite sight from the trip was these three together again, if only for a few hours. Two of us drove out to Chicago, two flew. The four of us not in the Navy drove back together. Quality togetherness.

* We were completely absorbed by the S-Town podcast, to the point that Dave doesn't even remember seeing most of Pennsylvania, which  let me tell you, is a long long section of the trip. I found it the best kind of reporting and storytelling, and so brilliantly edited. We failed to latch on to any other podcast after it---but did discover that there's a Pandora station called Road Trippin' that was good for three hours of punchy-tired  singalong to mostly early 70's hits and got us home by 2am on Sunday.

nash island roundup & shearing 2016

At the very end of May,  the Nash Island roundup and shearing. Downeast, Maine.

 It's my favorite day of spring. It's beautiful, it's elemental, it's timeless, it's all about community and fiber and friends and work, and the light and smells.  I shoot sheep shots and hold lambs and I am pretty sure, smile all day. Here's the Nash Island flock's history.

6 am-ish, dawn, by the dock on the mainland. No one but the sheep live on Nash, we ride out on lobster boats.

It gets festive quickly, with about 25 or so family members and friends of the Wakemans (who own the island) and Jani Estell (who manages the flock) bustling down to the harbor with coolers of food for the potluck lunch, shearing gear, and many layers of clothes and boots. The year's clip is what Jani spins in her Starcoft Fiber Mill to make yarn.  The island has no docks, we clamber into smaller boats when we get close to shore, ferry over and hop out in shallow water.  This year's crew includes knitwear designers wearing plenty of handknits. L to R on the boat: Gudrun Johnston, Carrie Bostick Hoge, Sarah "FiberTrek" Hunt* and Mary Jane Mucklestone**.  (I don't know what  great hat Gudrun has on, but Sarah is wearing a Rivington Cowl designed by Kirsten Kapur, who is also aboard).

You don't see many sheep at first--the island is hilly and the sheep are shy. Plenty of gulls swooping and calling, though.

And the views are stunning, though quickly eclipsed by the irresistible lambs.

Everyone gathers around the camp (the solitary building on the island) while Alfie Wakeman lays out the plan for roundup, assigning areas of the island to small squads.  The next generation of Wakemans, on the left, work hard . Wren Wakeman, in overalls, joins her mom Eleni(on the right in blue), and two other women, as shearer.

My squad (mid island,cough mid aged women) are assigned an area where we squat in tall grass or on hillsides, slowly creeping forward till all the sheep have been spotted and nudged toward a ridge of the island. On a cue, we all stand up and make ourselves large, then converge running  behind the flock, toward a corral. I am amazed, every time, that this works, and works well.The sheep run noisily into the corral by the water, and the gulls scream overhead, warning us off their nests..

It takes some shoving and catching and chasing, but the end fence piece of the corral finishes pushing the sheep into the pen, where they stay, just till sheared. The other 364 days of the year they roam free, grazing on seaweed and grass.

The first order of the day is sorting all the lambs out from the adults, and getting them into their own pen. This is the first time they'll be counted this year. They all call for their moms, it's very noisy and a little sad.Thought that one in the middle right seems smiley...

To separate the lambs, 3 people are in the corral quickly handing out lambs to the rest of us. We run a  parade down the hillside, over and over till all 80 lambs are moved to their own pen. It is the very best part of the day.  The lamb poo that inevitably covers your shirt is your merit badge.Here's Grant Estell doing double lamb duty. (no pun intended).

Knitwear designers wearing lambs. Gudrun on the left, and Kirsten on the right.

Pretty sure Kirsten was trying to sneak this one home with her. 

While the lambs are tended to and then released to wander baaaaing for their moms, the shearing starts up. Wren Wakeman, above, grabs a sheep to shear. 

Lily Wakeman and her cousin spend the day wrestling and carrying sheep over to the shearers, keeping order by the gate, and sitting them up for shearing (here, by Donna). You can see how much lanolin is in the fleece, by how shiny Donna's hand gets.

Sarah's job, upper left, is to catch the sheared fleeces, pull off the daggy parts, and then toss the fleece onto the skirting table, where a group of us stand ready to quickly pick out any seaweed or grass.  Jani (upper right) oversees and grades the fleece, calling out "Yarn", "Fog (her fabulous airy fingering weight lamb yarn)","Handspin" , the categories. The skirted fleeces are rolled into towering burlap bags- or if handspin quality, lovingly protected in bedsheets. You cannot imagine how much light gets bounced down and then back up off these fleeces. Or how easily our hands get sunburned, but soooo soft, covered in the oils from the sheep. This year's skirting table crew looked stylish, though, right?

It's noisy, and fun, and hard work and so so beautiful.

The lambs, who have all been released from counting and ministrations,  gather around our feet, looking sweet and baaaa-ing their little heads off, waiting to be reunited with their shorn moms.

There's a potluck lunch break that rivals any fine restaurant, and time to take a quick snooze on the warm beach stones. Or, as Kirsten did, break out your spindle and do the irresistible,  as a handspinner surrounded by pure fresh fluff. (For the record, I lay down and close my eyes on the warm stones).

By late afternoon, the skirting table has a mountain of discarded wool bits, Jani triumphs as the last of 111 sheep are shorn, and Mary Jane and Grant tie closed giant bags of fleece.

Back down to the boats we go.

This time the bags and rolls of fleeces get ferried out to the lobster boats, followed by us.

 Back on the mainland dock, waiting for the truck to take the fleeces to the Starcroft Mill. That's a Stopover sweater on Kirsten, and Sarah's wearing a gorgeous Cockatoo Brae knit in Starcroft Tide wool, from the island sheep.

Pretty much a perfect day. This is the 4th year I've helped at the roundup & shearing on Nash, the 4th year I've photographed it, and the 4th year that I am sure no imagery or recording can really capture it. But I'll keep trying. 
Here's a Yankee magazine story that narrates the day well. 
If you have a chance, try to knit with some of the Starcroft yarn, it is special and soft and strong -and even  if you didn't  meet the sheep and  know the story, as a knitter you'd know it by the feel. 

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*Check out Sarah's Fiber Trek TV YouTube channel for her adventures with all things sheep. I'm so happy to have met her. And you should see her knitting, I did a poor job of documenting all the great sweaters on the island that day.

** Mary Jane is wearing her Nash Island sweater, based on a traditional style, you can't get a better match than that. Another sweater that I didn't manage to show much of. Grrrr.  She often designs with Jani's yarn.  (Among many other wonderful things, Mary Jane designed the Stopover, which was my island wear choice for the day.)

midweek making: Zoe sweater

 

About time Zoe got a new sweater, isn't it?

 

"Mine? Me!! "  She noticed when I started to sew on the buttons --and stayed right on top of me till they were all attached. These perfect buttons, had to get them at Vogue Knitting Live, even though I surely have a dozen in the old button tin that would work.

The sweater is Playful Stripes by Alana Dakos, I intentionally made it larger than needed, to last a while. But it came out even bigger than that. Yarn is mostly Dale Falk.

Accessories? All Zoe. She insisted on grabbing my red Thorpe* hat & her coordinating sippy cup. Girl's got style.

A test drive at the park. Extra floppy big sleeves? Did not slow her down.

Those picot sleeves and hem are what made me knit this--that and using all the stripey colors. And seeing a couple other versions at knit night....

Tulle and handknits. Can never go wrong.
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* Funny story about my Thorpe, and meeting Kirsten Kapur, the designer (now my friend & crafty collaborator, too) on this old post from December 2007, scroll down to the end.

when handknit gifts go right

....it is a very. good. feeling.  But before we get into it:  it is only 1 week till Fiber College of Maine. Details at the bottom of this post. Whether you can  be there for 3 days, or just an afternoon, do it!
Back in May I mentioned having my mom request a handknit shawl from me.  My mom is an ace knitter, and knits for everyone else, so this? A very special thing. Done in June,  delivered last weekend. Caliz, designed by Romi Hill
A fun knit, but even better? She loves it, proclaiming it exactly what she'd had in mind. Phew! I was guessing what to make, based on her wish for something crescent-y, not too old lady-ish (fussy) and a pink "that would go with everything". She mostly wants it to cover her shoulders with dresses in the warmer weather, but said it'll go well worn frontwards, like this, in the winter.Also, we tested it:  a perfect shawl to go with snuggling a 19 month old Great Grand Daughter Zoe.
details: Caliz is a sweet knit, done in purl garter stitch. So, if you are someone who hates to purl my questions would be a) why? and b) can you transpose the whole pattern to knit garter? I have to admit I found the purl make 1's and yo's a little odd, but only for a few minutes and then it was totally enjoyable knitting.
Knit in Anzula Oasis. Really, really love this yarn-it is somehow both rustic and elegant at the same time. But that's Silk/camel for ya. This shade is named, not too aptly, Paprika. One skein, and I had enough to do an optional few rows extra on the border (included in the well written instructions). 

 Did you make it to the end? OK! Then read on and consider joining us at Fiber College! Mary Lou Egan and Kirsten Kapur/Through the Loops , my partners in crime and lobster, will be there, too, not to mention Ellen Mason and her mentored dye tent. Yeee-ha!

Fiber College of Maine deets:  I blabbed & raved about it here, here and here....and this year, I am looking forward to teaching Savvy Storytelling, an all day class on Friday with co-teacher, writer (and professor) (and knitter) Beverly Army Williams--and I am so offering One-on-One Photo Clinic sessions, on the weekend mornings. See you?

focus on the sweetness

2012. What year of highs and lows; of complex problems and simple happiness, of triumphs, and of losses.

there's the Honey Cowl in action, dogsitting this am

What can we do but move ahead, trying to make the world a better place in whatever way we can ? That's all I got,  in the way of words. But in the way of visual: plenty on  the sweetest simple pattern, the Honey Cowl .

I am so late to the party!  I watched Kay Gardiner,  aka canary in the coal mine for good knitting patterns,  declare allegiance to the Honey over a year ago. I even photographed her in a gorgeous grey one. And it went through my LYS like the flu. I wondered why it had, like,  gazillion (seriously, over 9000) versions on Ravelry.

Looking good even after an accidental partial felting in the washer/dryer, And btw? Isn't Zoe looking old?

Giuliana saw it online when I offered to make her a scarf.  She chose a green Cascade 220, despite my steering her toward fancier yarns. Eh, nice color,  I thought, but it's not going to be anything special. Fool on me!  The stitch is somehow zenlike.  It transforms the piece.  After a soak and pat out to shape,  it was soft and elegant.  The cowl looks good from any angle.  It's been in constant use by her since, making me ridiculously happy.

quick phone shot, you'd think we'd use some real cameras more often, right?

There it is, above, before the partial felting incident.  With the Thanksgiving flan*
 

I immediately cast on for another, for me, with a skein of Enchanted Knoll woo/silk in a bulky weight. A quick gauge swatch , I changed up the numbers and  knit it with size 10.5 us needles. While in process, I fretted the handyed color shifts. I wished I was using a solid for me, too.  For a while it looked a  like a 2 day old bruise, hue-wise. (One of my beloved smartasses at knit night named the colorway Domestic Violence.  No disrespect to the social problem. We have a dark undertone to our humor).

crappy phone self-portrait. shoemaker's kids, and all that.

Anyway, I love how it turned out. It won't be my last from this pattern.

Wishing you all a year of sweetness and light and satisfying outcomes of all kinds. I'm making my usual resolutions: finish projects underway (knit and other), act on my ideas, do more yoga, be kinder to those poor people who work phone customer service jobs for annoying corporations....y'know the usual stuff. What about you?

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* One of my happy accomplishments in 2012 was perfecting my Peruvian flan. The one shown, the Thanksgiving one, was double sized and not as pretty as usual, I'll need to remember to get a shot of it done right. Next I want to try curing my own salmon.

ariana cowl

Now that the best FO of the year is here, some of the non-human wips cluttering the joint are starting to  deliver as well. Like this cowl, designed & knit for niece Ariana who came up last weekend.

 

She is my favorite niece to hang out with. (Easy to say since she's my only niece.) Aside from her brainy & artistic accomplishments, she knits and likes to make things too. Win.

 

This is when it's double wrapped,and you are imitating models in Japanese pattern books. Here's my inspiration, something I saw that was not handknit. Now that I am returning to  it---they look nothing alike. I guess that's what "inspired by" not "knocked off" means, right? . It;s a long loops with two  textures but when wrapped together had a nice interplay of the different pattern stitches as if one was wearing two matching but yet not-matching scarves.

Looped over only once you can clearly see the two different stitches and yarns weights. I'd like to play around with another loopy cowly thing,  with one stitch pattern knit the long way, join it into a loop then pick up and knit the second stitch pattern part 90 degrees from the first. (Yes, I do know there are patterns like this, I just have one I haven't seen yet in my brain).

Mistake rib in Peruvia Quick on size 13 US needles. 

A reversing lace stitch on size 10.5 US needles in Peruvia.

 

This is an easy fun knit: only one skein of each yarn. Peruvia is a single spun yarn, and Peruvia Quick is the bulkier plied version of it . It's soft and lofty and the colors have a little bit of subtle contrasting halo; this nice green has lots of gold shot through it. Not as in "spots of color that'll pool" but as in" in the late afternoon sun it gets a nice glow going". 

 

PS It also looks most excellent worn for getting to know your new cousin Zoe.(Like how I snuck her in? Can.not.resist.)