it was nice for a few minutes . . .

so i ran out to the garden to get the vegetables in quick, before it started pouring again. jeesh! it just hasn’t quit. we haven’t been out on our bikes for days. in fact, my bianchi is in the shop—we took advantage of the bad weather to take it in for a checkup; it’s been sounding kinda dry and scratchy, and david thinks it needs new bearings.

quick moth race news: erin is out, having completed her shawl on saturday. go take a look at her piece and give her a cheer. we are hoping for blocking/modeling shots soon! i think beth is coming in close behind for her finish . . . but all is quiet over there so we’ll have to wait. carole, cheryl, daphne, and liz are chugging away, so those who bet on them still have a chance.

when i was out in the garden, i noticed that the dye plants are really in need of attention, and though i was saving that harvest to do with a friend (ahem—someone whose initials are M-A-S-O-N), he is too busy for me this week, so i went ahead and took in the basil flowers this morning. the heads were getting so big and heavy that the plants were bending over. the bees will be sorry to see these go . . . i wish i could send you scent signals from the perfumed air that is hovering over this table.

(i did leave the flowers on the green basil for the critters—there has been a lot of bee activity around the herb bed this summer; i wish i knew where the honey cache is!)
this african blue basil has a purple dye in its flowers and stems. it’s not especially colorfast, but it will be great to work with for our purposes. i started saving stems last year, and i have a bunch from this year too; there is plenty to make a decent dye bath.

since some one asked about that in a previous post, i will explain a bit. if was dyeing yarn to make an heirloom blanket or shawl, christening, bridal outfit, or even a sweater for myself, i would be very concerned about using dye materials that have proven to be light- and colorfast. but since right now we are most concerned with how and why wool absorbs and keeps dye, i think using familiar plants, that we can pronounce the names of and can be found commonly, is most instructive.

we will be dyeing small amounts which we might use for knitting, and might not. we might end up just making a journal with samples. because there is something to learn from dyes that fade as well, having mason keep a notebook about how different plant dyes behave will be as instructive as making something which is always a success in the long term.

otherwise, this has been a weekend full of housekeeping on knitspot, which is why i haven’t posted in a few days. melissa has been working like a demon to get the store up and running and we are down to the last punchlist. i could never have done this myself. ever.

i dunno how she does all that—i wouldn’t have the patience for it.
now i know how that feels. just sayin’.

anyway,she deserves muchos kudos! and i have to say, it feels really good to pay the bill (or at least part of it) with money i earned from selling patterns. seriously, i have never enjoyed spending money more!

i haven’t knit nearly as much as i’d planned. friday night i finished a sock and started the second one. i have to say that, after all my concerned clucking about color-pooling, they do look appropriately camouflage-ish

on friday, i SWORE i would knit all day on saturday. instead, i spent the morning researching stitch patterns and made selections for groupings for a few upcoming designs. then, i made a database and set up the shopping cart for the store. oh, and we also shopped for sorely-needed storm doors for our second-floor porches. hopefully, having them means we will have no more winter winds IN our bedroom.
finally at 2 am i crept upstairs to join david for some TV and knitting. there has been progress on the cashmere shawl

this is the nicest thing to knit when i feel achy and sore from sitting at the computer. it is the complete antithesis of all that—softer than soft, comforting to the eyes, and every stitch a pleasure. cashmere is the old favorite t-shirt of knitting.
starting from the long side has been a little less than gratifying up til now—then finally last night, i felt i had turned a corner and the rows started to feel a little shorter—in direct opposition to how the moth racers are feeling right now (don’t listen to them though—YOUR shawl knitting won’t be anything like that)!

speaking of which, remember the story i told a while back about reaching into a bag of vintage yarn acquired during my mom’s move, and finding cashmere in it?
my friends, mo and kellie are in the process of sorting through his mom’s house, as she has moved to an assisted living facility. they sent two boxes of yarn, cuz they know i love the stuff, all the while telling me it’s acrylic, but useful, etc.
so yesterday the box arrives and i opened it this morning. inside there was, indeed some mohair/acrylic yarn. but also there was this gem:

11 skeins of dark blue patons beehive scottish fingering wool, imported from great britain—perfect for one of the shawls i was thinking of making (and dontcha just love those labels—i mean, i want wallpaper from those . .). in fact, i had searched my stash yesterday for that color, but didn’t find it, and then, of course, i wanted nothing else. does anyone happen to know how many yards would be in these 1-ounce skeins? it is the old 100% beehive wool fingering yarn.

i played with them, setting them up for the photo. after i finished snapping pix and was gathering everything up, i put my hand on those two skeins at the right front there—the ones that look like a slightly different color?
heh, yeah, well they look that way cuz they are cashmere, baby!
i knew it as soon as i touched my skin to it—a current ran through my hand, i swear.

thank ever so much, mo . . . you are SO getting a nice christmas present!