Loving Life

Life is sooooo great right now. I heard from my Secret Pal last night. She says she wants to knit me socks!!! I think I'm in love.
I also sent my own Secret Pal a couple of cards and emails. Can't wait until she has time to update her blog (ahem!) My brain is stuffed with exciting things to do for her.
Meanwhile, I am late in showing you my wonderful knitting-related Solstice gifts:
Here we have some interesting yarn, a gift from my mil. She is so sweet and always buys me yarn. This year I prompted her to buy more than one skein...the better to MAKE something. This could be fun for...something. It's darker in person. Now I KNOW there are some cool yarn shops in Colorado. I think I need to let her know where they are! Any ideas out there?!
From my dear lovely sister:
This is something I have seen my friends in the Spinning Guild using and craved for myself. It winds the most beautiful center pull balls like magic! Don't be fooled, these things are more expensive than you would imagine! My sister was so sweet to get it for me. Now all I need is a niddy noddy and I am set!
And from my very talented daughter, Princess #1:
She crafted these beautiful stitch markers with beads from her stash. I think she did a wonderful job, and I am honored to use them....hhhmmmm, they'd made great gifts too don't you think? This girl has talent beyond her obvious soccer skills. She is a great artist with her mother's sense of color and flair! Rah! Thank you so much Maddi girl!!!
And lastly, do you remember this?
All Hail The Red Dragon! Here is the cloud of Merino I called Sunset Over Santa Cruz, all spun up. I spent Christmas Day at my sister's house, and it took just a couple of hours too knit this:

It's super soft, fun to wear and just keeps the old ears warm. I can't believe how incredibly pleasurable it is to knit with homespun, especially your OWN homespun!! Next up I need to start on this:
My sweet generous Spinner's Guild friend has extended the lease on her wheel - twice! It's a cranky old thing that she bought on Ebay....I'm not too surprised at her insistance that I keep on keeping it for awhile. I am still getting the hang of spinning, I've got the drawing out process down pretty well, but adjusting the wheel is a challenge. My biggest problem is how to keep it from scooting across the bamboo floor as I pedal. I guess that's why they call it an Ashford Traveller? OK but it's NOT funny. I've resorted to spinning in front of a table so it is wedged up to the leg and can't move. Not much of a view there. If anybody's out there, can you tell me what kind of wheel you spin on, and why you like it? I'd love to hear from you.
And now (drum roll.........) a FO!

I really needed a break between socks, so I knit this garter stitch scarf. OK, it's SUPPOSED to be all garter stitch, but knitting on circular needles sometimes still baffles me, and so here is a closeup:
I think it's beautiful. I like the way it made it's own fringe, being knit vertically, and letting them just hang out the ends. You can see the stitch variation here...just randomly knit, as were the color choices. I was happy to use up a little of some old eye lash yarn left over from past disasters. I guess you could call this Ode To My Stash. The pattern: Cast on 240 and knit on size 8's. Keep going until you love it.
Well that's all for now. A BIG THANK YOU to my Secret Pal for her messages and inspiration to Keep On Blogging! It's sooo fun. I leave you with this final image, I call it Cat TV:
The rats have paused for Station Identification. We will soon be back to our regular program.
Bye bye for now!