Stitches East and, oh hey…we’re moving!

Indie Spun is on at Stitches East THIS WEEKEND! Right now, in fact!

Booths #318 and 320, today through Sunday. Click on the link above for all the details. I won’t be there in person this year, but my yarns and batts are there at the booth in company with many other fabulous indie fiber artists. Be sure to check out the vendor bios on the Indie Spun blog and then go check out the event!

Pardon my absence and my lack of keeping you all in the loop, but we have been preparing for another cross-country move. It’s back to the green mountains of Vermont for us, and the prep has been all-consuming, especially with fiber events to get ready for at the same time. So, the shop will remain open, but shipping is suspended until Monday, November 8th. Of course, all my yarns and batts are you-know-where, but there’s hand dyed top and fiber clubs still hanging out in the shop until I get the studio unpacked.

By the way, it’s amazing what a little paint will do…

I don’t know what’s sexier…the man in the suit, or the Volvo now that she’s put back together. More on these things later. In the meantime, wish us luck on the journey and we’ll see you on the other coast!

xoxoxo

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Another One Bites the Dust

***

We really thought we’d found it this time.

And now I feel like a deflated balloon. As much as we want to pursue cooperative farming, the timing is just all wrong for us. For now, we just need to be our own little family in our own little nest with our own little garden. Regroup. For a year, maybe two or three.

Emotionally, this past week was a roller coaster and I still feel a wee off kilter. There was a fabulous dip in the American River…that was good. I was productive once we got home, and that was good, too. There were bike rides and a transmission installed (but the clutch fork broke. drat and bother.)…all in all, the goodness outweighed the one crippling sucker punch and I’m entering this new, sparkly week with fresh plans and renewed hope.

The Boy has a morning summer camp this week (his first one!) and so I am working very hard, as you can see. I intend to finish up some commission work, get started on some more goodies for Purl Jam and eat a lot of comfort food (read: hot chocolate and toast with apple butter.). One of the teenagers is also away all week, and so I may even have some quiet moments to sort out the many jumbled piles of ideas cluttering up my brainspace. So, what am I doing here?

I dunno, but I’ll pretend I’m working by letting you know I’ve brought down The Beast from the attic and we’ve been making these together:

And I might be letting go of some falklands, too. Dyepots are firing this week. Just sayin’. Oh, and the picture will take you to the shop.

Off to the quiet. Enjoy your Monday.

*** Daisies help.

Stuff and Nonsense

So…the move:
-Plan A: Santa Cruz, CA
-Plan B: Humboldt, CA
-Plan C: Eugene, OR

We’ve picked it. The spot. Apparently, The World’s Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors. Anyway, third plan’s the charm. Right?

So, next step…find a place to live and job/jobs and stuff. No problem, right? Seeking reassurance here, people. Oh, and if you know anyone in the area we should hang out with, let me know.

When not in a knot (ha!) about impending major change in my life, I’ve been working on new goodies for Renegade:
Monkey Mitt Knit Kit:

Tea not included. Just some yarn and a pattern.

Maybe yarn that looks like one of these:

Or maybe not. Whatever tickles me. Don’t worry, there will be a color you like.

Am actually feeling rather hopeful today. In fact, I’m going to make rhubarb sauce to celebrate. Lots of ginger and love, people.

Oh, and PS: there is this  downtown.

hmmmmm…..

…situation up in the woodsies not going to be easy…

we can’t stay at the farm itself because one of the main ingredients used in the kitchen that we would have to share is BUCKWHEAT (READ: EVIL).

not much in the way of housing in willow creek…need to find something, though. a place that will take us AND our 26 chickens. cripes.

i wonder if it’s even possible?

can i please have a home now, please oh please? 

i miiiiiiiiiiissssssss my husband.

eta: fluffy weekend-post tomorrow. with pictures.

overwrought much?

Yeah, so I went to the naturopathic clinic today to get the blood draw for my allergy panel.
After leaving my crying kiddo at school, then passing the clinic by and driving several minutes out of my way, I arrive fifteen minutes late.
The receptionist is sorry but the doctor is already in with her next appointment.

It was just. too. much.
I started to try to explain and next thing I know I am weeping and she wants to come around and give me a hug. Can I be any more of a mess?

I found out yesterday evening from an exhausted C that the Santa Cruz situation wasn’t going to work out. In pretty much a thousand major ways. Not the least of which being that the roof is rotting and the contract is all kinds of different from what we’d discussed with the landlord previously (like not being able to tell anyone we live there). C and his dad spent the night at the house and the former woke up at 1AM, turned on the light and found a scorpion next to his head. Thank you very much, Universe, I read your signal LOUD AND CLEAR.

So, in my flustered panic at being 3000 miles away and completely powerless in helping to make decisions regarding my very near future in California, I call an old friend.
Who just so happens to be in need of a farm manager.
Goodbye, Santa Cruz. Hello, Humboldt County (tea,  ?)

Everything has changed in a span of 12 hours. Instead of the south-of-San Fran Pacific Coast I will have the Trinity River and HELLO I WILL BE LIVING IN THE BIG FOOT CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. No joke.

I need a nap.

btw, I love you all who offered encouragement in my locked-post moments of freak-out. And you,  , I am so taking you up on your offer, but just for one night before we fly out from Boston later in June. 🙂

Points of Interest…

*It’s time again to make dandelion biscuits. Remember these? YUM.

*I saw a naturopath today and have an appointment for an allergy panel blood draw. I’ve never been so excited about getting stuck with a needle.

*It is, apparently, amazing that I can even stand up with such low blood pressure. I am a delicate flower. Or maybe my adrenals need some TLC.

*C leaves with the truck tomorrow. Our space feels very lonely right now…a shell of a studio and a futon on the floor. The little guy was awesome about saying goodbye to all his stuff for a few weeks. He seems to understand that goodness will come of this move.

*I sold the Subie to a junk guy for $100. When he came to get the car, which mind you is/was actually still running at the time, he said, "So, since I came today, can I give you $94 for it?" $94???!?
I took $100, thank you very much.

*I still miss my goats.

*I’m going to miss my cat.

*I appreciate "the nineties" more as a decade than as a temperature. This is only temporary, seeing as how all my skirts are now packed on a moving truck. Why did I do that? 

*I have a new pattern/kit…pdf coming as soon as I figure out how to make one. Ha ha. I need to find me some of this magical stuff called "time" so I can learn how to use some of the seemingly awesome programs I have on this computer.

*Anyone know any tattoo artists who knit? 

The Crapola and The Goodness

Crapola first: I haven’t been posting because I’d love to have something else to talk about besides how preparing a cross-country move is rapidly destroying my soul.
We are seriously tense over here, people. C and I don’t usually argue over petty bullshit, but here we are, doing just that. I’ve been purposefully avoiding most forms of communication with my friends. It’s so much easier to shut down and be an asshole than to feel my heart break every time I feel closer to a good friend I’m soon to leave behind.

Goodness = The weekend was awesome. Stacey and I went out to see Jill Sobule at the Iron Horse, and I am really going to miss that venue. Jill was full of Adorable and Charm and Hilarity, and I had a very nice sparkly water with lime. Before the show was a shared pile mountain of deliciously greasy tempura (hence the sparkly water to settle the tum) and a solo-effort chocolate truffle that was much too large and delicious for one person to consume (but somehow I managed it).

The next morning was you-know-what (which, btw, I had totally forgotten about…I’d like to think I honor my mothers every day) and I was allowed to sleep in (7:50am!!!) and a pile of french toast awaited me at the bottom of the stairs. Sleep + Toast = The Good Life.

The rest of this week I can pretty much do without. Our tenants (yeah, the new ones who moved into the house we haven’t been able to sell) just decided to move out…a week before C leaves and so now we scramble to get new tenants in.
We have friends to buy our wood, though, and I might even get $100 for the sad Subie that is minus one cylinder. It’s all about balance, right?

Oh, and before I forget…and this one’s for the locals…well, the locals who are into fiber:

This Saturday, May 16th 10-4pm…The 6th Annual Jamaica Fiber Festival
in Jamaica Village, VT

Come visit. It is my last New England hurrah. 

And when we get to where we’re goin’ and I have a whole new set of locals, there will be this:
 

Here: on July 18th and 19th! Woo!
 

I’m teamed up with Kim of Infiknitty for this event, and I’m very excited! It’s a fabulous way to be welcomed back home. I’m keeping just enough of my studio here to keep up on production while 99.5% of my worldly belongings are on the other side of the continent. I’m borrowing a spinning wheel and I won’t have my drum carder, but felting gear is very minimal, so I will be focusing on the summer Tangled scarves and a couple of new kits for the show involving a sweet little mitt pattern and some dyes. 

Happy…what day is it? Thursday! Happy Thursday!

Where I’ve Been…

Here:

I have a few hours of tagging ahead of me before I can ship a big fatty box to Cloverhill Yarn Shop for MDSW. No sigh of relief, however, as production mode shall remain in full swing until C takes my studio away…I will have zero fiber for nearly an entire month. I am building inventory like a crafter possessed. No sleep for me. Oddly enough, I don’t even want the sleep. This deadline business has been fueling my creative fire rather than dampening it. I just can’t get enough wool play.

There are other places I’ve been….mainly enjoying the quiet of the housemates (a family of five) having been away for two whole weeks. I had no idea how much I missed about having my own cozy home. We function much more smoothly as a family unit on our own…I need a village, not shared housing.

I’ve also been in packing mode in between things like eating and felting. We’re aspiring to a much higher standard of pre-loading organization this time around, because we won’t be able to unpack right away when we get there, maybe not for several weeks or months, and will undoubtedly need to find this or that in a box somewhere. I’m not at all anxious about this and that’s a BIG FAT LIE.

Okay, I’ve gotta know…

***BRIMFIELD LADIES***…what is UP?!?
which day? can it be on a weekday, like Friday? (I have a fiber fest on the 16th I really shouldn’t flake on, but will if I have to)
I want to see you all and fight over buttons at least this once before I leeeeeeaaaaave.

 

It’s official

I’m going to miss this place.

I’ve been spending my days in a wistful haze, quietly drinking in sounds and smells, trying to take in as much of this amazing seasonal transition as I can…knowing the seasonal shifts in the redwoods will be the merest of subtleties compared to the utter bursting forth that is a New England Spring.

I’m going to miss this girl, too:

My Alice.
But she’s a Vermont girl and has zero interest in long journeys and the salty sea. She likes bracken. And lots of it. And she probably won’t miss me all that much. Or at all. But I’m okay with this.

Really, I’m okay with all of this. If only because I am very distracted with the fact that I have only two more weeks until Twist and less than that to ship out for Maryland Sheep and Wool.
I have been mad prepping:

Have not even begun work on the shiny new thing that I intend to have ready for both. Luckily, I can run remarkably well on very little sleep.

Since C has been back and housemates have still been away, there has been family time and even a few quiet moments in the day…I had forgotten what it was like. We are quite the efficient little unit when we have our own space and time to manage. I really enjoy not needing to schedule my laundry and showers.

C leaves soon…in a few weeks time. A solo drive. The whole storage idea became ridiculously expensive. So, the standard moving rig it is, and we’ll just have to move everything around a lot when we work on things like the floors and such. The little guy and I are still planning on taking the train…just the two of us…a few weeks behind C so he can get some of the more major work done without having to worry about kid-safety, or un-safety as the case may be.

I’m going now to soak up the remaining bits of this glorious Spring day. And eat a popsicle.
xoxoxo

I love today…

*Woke up, feeling empowered…fed the horse and the sheep and goats and the chickens, even the nasty rooster who went out of his way to attack me yet again, pilled and fed the dogs and then the cats, built a fire, made an awesome multi-grain hot cereal, got us dressed and out the door for 8:30am school…

*Seems I should be left alone with a shitload to do more often.

*Took an amazing snowy, hilly, winding, windy walk to my friend’s house where we had tea and knit on things.

*Came home to find that C had called…we are 100% go on this place…we will be in the heart of redwood forest…oh how I have missed those amazing trees…5 acres not 3…some prime veggie-growing conditions once the brush is cleared and terrain that is perfect for raising goaties again. So much work to be done to make it a safe place to live, though, that C is thinking about going out there a few weeks maybe a month ahead of the little guy and i so he can get started on creating a livable space before we get there. I intend to spend most of my time outside this summer, anyway, but it would be nice if there was, you know, a place to cook, a dry place to sleep and that kind of thing. The views are of pretty much the whole damn Bay all the way to Monterey. This is so worth the leap.

*With this slight change of plans (staying behind for a few weeks), I may not entirely miss strawberry season in Vermont.

*I have an amazing yarn on the bobbin I hope the little guy lets me finish. Time to get him.

*Whoooooooooooooo!