a smaller life

Haitian Relief Auction

"My own experience and development deepen everyday my conviction that our moral progress may be measured by the degree in which we sympathize with individual suffering and individual joy." -George Eliot

Haiti's recent misfortunes are hard to write about; how do you even begin to get a mental grip on suffering at such a scale? It's mind- boggling. In case you've missed the news this week, Haiti has been hit by a series of terrible earthquakes which have devastated the nation. The number of dead, dying and injured is staggering, but aid is finally reaching the country; supplies are being flown in daily, and more and more aid personnel land every day. The outpouring of support and assistance is one bright, shining point in all of this; there has been a stunning amount of fundraising and humanitarian aid offered.

While we know we can't fix the world via yarn, we do make our efforts. Tonight, from 7pm EST to 10pm EST, we'll be auctioning off 4 custom- dyed skeins of Bugga on the Ravelry CPA Haitian Relief Auction boards- a sweater's worth of yarn. We'll dye the skeins in any colorway past or present- you name one of our colors, and we'll make it for you, whether it's a current colorway or a discontinued one. All proceeds go towards Doctors Without Borders.

The details are in the auction thread itself, but to sum up: the auction occurs on the actual thread itself. Winners of every auction- and there is a lot more going on there than just us, some really lovely items!- are asked to pay their donation directly to the charity itself, and then to forward the reciept to us, at which point, we'll get into our dyepots and get working on your skeins.

Please, do take a look at the auctions, and if you've got a Facebook account, or a Twitter account, or any other social networking website, please help us spread the word. Thanks, everyone.

details

 

In the rinse bins.

 

photoblog

In the Easton studio today, and to hell with the snow. (The snow! I love the snow!)

I woke up this morning to Cacie knocking on my door- which seemed rather inevitable, I suppose. I've always known that in working from home I was running the risk of oversleeping and thus waking up to my employees, but I only just got to experience it today. Agh, fail. I'm spending tonight making up for my lost morning knitting/ coffee time.

Instead of a post, behold: the Easton Studio.

Herod, lolling about in large quantities of silk- cashmere yarn:

Steam off the dyepots.

 

     

Yarn in the racks...

 

  

Elissa beating Gryphon with a skein of yarn...

 

 

 

A pretty typical day, really. :)

 

oh my coldness

It is freezing out here. Literally. FREEZING. This was our rinse water at the Baltimore studio today.

 

 

Cacie and I went out to the barn this morning to fetch tools; we just stood there, staring at our frozen bins of water, rather in shock. This isn't even the worst month of winter- we still have January and February to look forward to! That measuring cup has hot water in it, to help us unfreeze some skeins that needed repair- didn't make a dent in that frozen water. Luckily, we're doing repairs (indoors!) and twisting/ tagging today.

 

 

 

Even with the weather, though, I'm happy. The overall vibe at the studio (and oh, how I hate to use the word "vibe") is one of cheerful industry. This is so different from so much of my previous work; even when the weather is miserable, when we're outside working with cold water and wet fiber, I'm 329472390358 times happier than I ever was in a warm cubicle. That seems to me the biggest indicator possible that I'm exactly where I need to be right now; working in the winter wind, huddled over a stove, making colors. It's definitely not everyone's idea of a dream job, but oh, it's nice to be happy. I think about where I was at this time last year, and it all seems like another life.

 

 

 

a quick peek

 

It's been a good week- decent weather, a fair amount of yarn and lots of rovings dyed up- and a ton of laughter.

 

Exhibit A: Baltimore Elf Corrine with a merino- silk Fu Manchu.

 

 

 

Exhibit B: Baltimore Elf Cacie with her hands of blue.

I wish I had a photo of our third Elf, Noelle, but she always seems to be moving whenever I have my camera out. As proof, I offer about three seconds of video, instead.

 

We're having a good time out here. How many people have this much fun at work? It makes up for those cold, rainy miserable dyeing days we occasionally have.

 

 

 

catching up

 

I know, I know. I don't write, I don't call. The truth is, I've been so absolutely wiped out lately- there is so much going on (so much to write about!) and I've been struggling with my health- a bad mix if there ever was one. I take my pills and my shots like a good girl, but only recently have I begun to feel what seems like the beginnings of improvement- and I say that with great reservations, as it's only the last two days or so that really seemed better.

We opened the new studio, Sam and I are playing with the idea of (finally!) demolishing the kitchen, dyeing has stepped up at least two- fold (if not three- fold), my daughter is a full- blown teenager with a boyfriend, I'm still not driving which leaves me feeling a little claustrophobic, and I'm suddenly feeling just how responsible Gryphon and I are to at least nine other people, not to mention our customers and oh, yes, of course- our own families. There doesn't seem like there is too much room in there for me to be sick, which is the way I traditionally approach any sort of physical infirmity- placing it firmly on the back burner with a stern I'm sorry, I just don't have time for this right now.

It turns out, I don't get that option. MS turns out to be a prima donna of sicknesses; if I'm not paying attention to my body's cues, she'll step right up center stage and remind me exactly who is in charge here. We're learning how to live together, and I'm quietly plotting my revenge with my nightly shots and what seems like fistfulls of pills, because no matter what this disease thinks, damnit, I'm the one in charge here. I'm determined to subjugate this in some way, to regain control over my body and my time.

Learning to take a proactive stance on my health- on realigning how I live, focusing on the right fuel and rest and exercise and staying informed and not just blowing this whole thing off as another thing that will go away- that's new, and it eats up more of my resources, too, but I'm learning, and trying. 

In the meantime, I knit- nothing that I can show, all holiday knitting, but it's happening- mittens and shawls and socks, as well as the world's most boring project of all time- a six- foot tube scarf in stockinette for Kiddo with her own handdyed yarn. It's a labor of love, to be sure; God knows I'm not knitting this because it is interesting in any way- but I know she'll adore it. 

So I'm here, intact, although some days it really does feel like "intact" is all I can manage. I have some designs cooking in all that holiday knitting, including a lovely pair of colorwork mittens in both Skinny Bugga and Djinni Sock as part of a collaboration with the ever- lovely Kate of Dragonfly Fibers. I'm focusing on getting well, and working hard, and all the sweet bits in the details of life, the stuff that really matters- the kindnesses of friends, my daughter's smile, my husband's hands, good food, crisp mornings, flannel sheets, cats, reading Sherlock Holmes stories in bed, strong morning runs, apple cider and milkmen and hot coffee.

In the end, that's all that really counts, right? The small moments, they're all we have.

on the lines, this afternoon

 

  

Also this gorgeous soaker skein of Kypria; completely unrepeatable, this was a blank skein that caught extra dye from all of last week's work, and it's very, very unlikely to ever leave my house. Look at those fall, maple-ish colours! Love love love love LOVE.

  

 

 

in which I am a slacker (but a slacker who finishes things!)

   

Sadly, I didn't make it to SAFF, opting instead to spend the week in emergency rooms and doctors' offices. It's no big thing- more medications, more tests, more bother- but I got a fair amount of knitting done, knitting myself a hat, converting new and lapsed knitters in waiting rooms, and finishing woefully neglected old projects.

     

  

This sweater, for example; this is my first attempt at making a sweater up off the cuff, begun about seven years ago. This languished, armless, for at least six years; it's made of Handpaintedyarns.com Handspun Bulky. HPW has gorgeous base yarns in infamously unreliable colorways- things are not always as they appear on the website- which is how I wound up with a pinky- green instead of the blueish purples I'd seen and dreamed of on the website. I needs blocking, and overdyeing (and not in that order!), but at least it has arms and all the ends are woven in.

   

 

  

There's something lovely in finishing old projects- remembering what I'd initially loved about them, what frustrated me, why I deserted them- so rarely the objects' fault, and usually a refresher on important knitting lessons past. For example: if the color of a yarn makes you crazy, overdye it before knitting the sweater, because if you don't, you'll just abandon the thing for AGES. But it's a pleasure to revisit this: I can see how new of a knitter I was in my choices here- I'd have gone about my shaping differently today, and I would have made the bottom bit of ribbing longer, too, and the neckline doesn't lay quite right, but it's mine, the first sweater I ever made up by myself, and there's a real sweetness to that.

Currently on the needles is another sweater, knit in two shades of Thirteen Mile Worsted I got for a song at Spinster Yarns- she's closing the shop, and everything is on sale for 40%- 50% off. Here's hoping it takes me less than five- six years to finish this one, eh?

 

where I was a Flower of the mountain

 

Well, the poll was pretty definitive; fingering- weight sweaters are out. Not that I won't be making them, or possibly even designing them for others, but as of this morning, it's 80% for sport weight, so I've been swatching in Bugga!- which, while listed in Ravelry as a fingering weight is really more of a light sport and seems to me like a happy medium.

I've also begun thinking about color- something rich and red and joyful, which is where the photo comes in; I've got to start planning my half of our winter seasonal colorways, and this seems too perfect, the darker russet-y loveliness of these leaves, spotted while doing errands on Saturday. It seems the best bits of inspiration are always just sitting out in public, shamelessly exposing themselves in the everyday.

The test dyeing will begin in earnest once we're back from SAFF- we leave this Wednesday morning, gulp! I never feel as prepared for a show as I wish I did. Asheville is beautiful, though, and it's such a perfect time to head out there, which makes up for a lot of my last- minute flailing. (Where, oh where are my fancy- dress shoes?!?!?? And my travel kit? And my conditioner? Eeep!)

 

for once, I hope a fortune cookie comes true

 

A quietly perfect day; cool Monterey- style weather, dyeing at Gryphon's, a new and completely unexpected album by Shane Koyczan, piles of alpaca roving to dye for SAFF, cheesesteaks for dinner, and the best fortune cookie ever. (Sam and Kiddo had Chinese for dinner.)