Monthly Archives: April 2019

Ten at a time.

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jenjoycedesign© sock stack
Knitting a literal pile of socks.  Nine legs in the pile so far, but one more is about to be cast on as soon as I figure out which yarn, making an even ten.  I’m working the legs of all ten “at a time”, then I will work the heels, then the feet, then the toes.  Eventually all of them will see their sock mate I am certain, and if you consider the second sock to all these, there are twenty socks underway.  I am testing my eight styles of my forthcoming sock ensemble, and at the same time trying out the size run. I am finding a balance in waiting out the weeks, floating through spring with plenty of yarn and birch dpns at the ready, trying NOT to get strung out over the details this time. 

jenjoycedesign© sock stack 2

I just can’t see coming down for landing any time soon.  That’s me here, now, and in spite of the long wait in going home to our rebuilt house,  life is good.

Out woolgathering . . .

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Emmerson, Henry Hetherington, 1831-1895; Wool Gathering

Wool Gathering, 1883 by Henry Hetherington Emmerson

wool·gath·er·ing
/ˈwo͝olˌɡaT͟H(ə)riNG/

 Indulgence in aimless thought or dreamy imagining; absentmindedness, daydreaming, reverie, musing, preoccupation, absorbed.

I have learned a new word and it rather defines me in my life as though I invented it. Meandering in thoughts, as if walking through hilly meadows collecting tufts of wool, I do ponder, always one thing or another.  I guess, it is ” woolgathering ” that I am up to; contemplating life-to-be when our house is finished being rebuilt.  I am embracing the woolgathering, and in more ways than one.

In the painting, there are three women stuffing found things (wool) from bushes, or the  ground,  into their bags.  One of them and her dog seems to have come upon and surprised a small group of sheep.

I am bemused by gathering actual wool too.   Knitting in a frenzy ten-at-a-time, on my new birch wood dpns, and writing and testing a new pattern, and collecting wool in yarn form (mostly sock yarn presently) and in dyed roving form (for blending on my remade blending board) and to spin on my wheel (a gift, which is destined to be freed from a tightly packed shed)  … to fulfill that quest which consumes me.   I gather wool, thoughts, ideas, and the tools of the trade for the work in the territory ahead.   Woolgathering is just what I do for now.

I am definitely a woolgatherer (noun), out woolgathering (verb).

What are you woolgathering about?

A house in progress.

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on-the-roof

I thought I’d post a little about the progress of our house rebuilding!

The most exciting thing is that half of the openings in the roof for the sky lights have been rough cut and light is already pouring in and illuminating things in a most magical way.

Compare the original house skylights of Then …

jenjoycedesignc2a9-yarn-scape

From the Archives: Sweater Descent

to the rough cut openings of skylights of  Now.

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Fantastic! I recognize my dearest of old friends Light &  Shadow, among the beams.

Oh how I have missed them!
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Its been a really late spring folks, with gobs of beautiful rain, and it is still a bit chilly & breezy, but now the perpetual deep blue skies & sunshine is on its way!  The foliage from the year-old shoots from burned trees are growing rapidly, and the flowers are bursting open everywhere . . .
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 Soon will be siding and roofing…

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And at the same time Jeff is now rebuilding the deck, with a little bit of my help.   Rebuilding  has been slow going all winter, and while our county beurocrats have not shown any effort to hasten things,  our dedicated few builders commuting from far away have stayed through the worst of storms, and have remained positive and encouraging, so now at last it looks like things will speeding up.
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I meditate everyday on being ‘back home’ in our rebuilt house, setting up my loft room and setting new lofty goals for myself ! It is so comforting and gratifying to see how much it looks and feels like our original house, after all it is the very same kit, and its easy to feel like its all just a dream, which I am soon to wake from.   I am amazed at some of the blog readers that have commented, apparently keeping track of me and the progress since the wildfire , and that is so heartwarming. I am getting a clearer vision now of the next equinox being a time when I will be a busy bee reacquainting myself with my old routine again.

But do tell me, how is the weather where you are?

All posts Rebuilding

Never far from a prayer.

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sunstruckdpn104

Sunstruck needles by Knitpicks

I have been going a little off the deep end hunting & sleuthing out the best finds on ebay of small vintage baskets, as well as made an order for a few more sets of Sunstruck dpns.  Add to that the sox box I found only weeks ago, and my recent filling it with half-ball cakes of sock yarn. Can you guess where this is going?  But first let me give you a little backstory;  I have for a long time, even years,  wanted to have a simple little knitting project in a small basket in every room of the house,  like socks, so I am never far from a prayer.  I suppose I aim to find peace in constant knitting.  I have only to wait until the house is complete of course, before I can fully actualize this notion, but I am intending to start as soon as my first little baskets show up,  filling them each with something simple like a sock project and setting them up everywhere about.  I don’t know what’s happened to me, but in these last few days knitting with the beautiful birch wood double-pointed needles is nothing less than a sock knitting epiphany. I have been feeling rather spiritually lifted from it all.  I know, strange how it is. So please hang around this space as I begin to transform and organize something deep within me which has been nothing short of lost, but now seems nearer to being found.

Franny & Zooey

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jenjoycedesign© Mt Veeder Raven.JPG
I have been thinking of names for our pair of lovebird ravens, predictably a famous couple, and  Franny & Zooey comes to mind.  A fictitious pair of genius siblings who are perfectly worthy of these smart trusting birds, and well, its just that I’m a fan of Salinger.    Here’s Zooey, on the wood pile, right next to our tiny house ….
jenjoycedesign© Mt Veeder Raven 2.JPG
jenjoycedesign© the-male-raven 1
He is preening and watching over his shy lady Franny, who walks on the ground at a greater distance in the Charcoal Forest.
jenjoycedesign© the-male-ravenjenjoycedesign© the-female-raven

But distance is relative, because I tell you folks, I was 20 feet away at the most, quietly inching forward ever so slowly before Zooey caught on to me, and took flight.

jenjoycedesign© the-male-raven-taking-flight
Beautiful birds, I just can’t get over them.
They have so far snubbed my yarn offerings by the way!