Stasia's Place Of Grace

Thursday, August 14, 2003

 

So Many Things For Which I Give Thanks

This is a long entry. Go and get yourself some coffee or tea, and put on a relaxing CD, and then please come back and savor the great things I have to share with you today!

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First, I'm grateful for:

• Getting that awful photo of me in my shawl off this page! Ugh! No more pics of me on here - now if I looked like Claudia, I wouldn't mind people seeing me, but geez! My knitting is bad enough.

• Tastes of fall - calling crows in the woods behind our house; a warm sun on my shoulders with a cool breeze leaving me comfortable in jeans and long sleeves; kids returning to school soon (thank goodness!) and school supplies in the stores (get yourself a journalling notebook and some colored pens and stickers, just for fun!); ripening sunflower seeds, and tiny pickles and "spaceship" (patty pan) squash in the garden.

• A hand-cranked coffee grinder that makes perfect, even grounds (ours is from Jeff's grandpa, but you can try Lehman's). Feeling the beans crunch while I grind them, and smelling the aroma of them, adds a whole new dimension to the coffee experience - who needs Starbuck's? Add a presser pot that makes just the perfect amount of coffee for one or two people - the best coffee you've ever tasted using Alterra Coffee's Organic Blue Heeler Blend. For Sundays, a stove-top espresso pot - so fun!
  

  I'm now a coffee addict, I'll admit it. It helps my body and mind function like nothing else! Hail, Coffee, thou fount of my existence! I don't know why people mess with electric coffee pots and espresso makers when these old-fashioned devices work so easily, and make coffee that is 100% better!

• Being able to get Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant stamps directly from the U.S. Postal Service online. Forget about trying to buy them at your local P.O. - if they didn't order them in, you'll never see them. Add some pizzaz to your envelopes by subscribing to their philatelic catalog (800-782-6724) - and order any of the cool, new stamps you'd like. I'll bet there are some you've never even seen before! Stamp collecting is still a great hobby for kids, too. Learn about nature, history, the arts, and more with your kids - more info on collecting is available at the website above.
  

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Now, some other neat stuff!

This is an adult Sandhill Crane. I have no idea what he was doing in our orchard, as I usually spot them grazing in farm fields. I was amazed to see him (and so were the dogs, who set up a fearful racket at the bay window from which I took this picture.) Bear in mind that this guy was about four feet tall, and you'll understand why we were surprised to see him! Maybe he was looking for toads for lunch... in any case, he stayed for a few minutes, then lifted gracefully off the ground and flapped away, over the grape fence. Awesome!

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This lovely, handwoven bag was sent to me by my dear friend Judy S. in Oz. She did the weaving and sewing herself! It is lovely work, and the fabric is wonderfully soft, with sparkly shots of blue, pink, and green fiber. Great job, Judy! I will treasure it... I'm thinking spindle tote!

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In my own fibery news, I'm working on a lace scarf. It accidentally incorporates a pattern stitch from the Creatures Of The Reef shawl (from Fiddlesticks Knitting) which I'm also working on - but, I didn't know that until someone pointed it out, because I'm not to that part of the shawl yet! Sorry, Dorothy, I didn't mean to copy!

The scarf is being knit in my own handspun silk from The Silkworker in her Parking Ticket colorway, a gift from Kary. (While at her Blog, see her completed COTR shawl! Way to go, Kary!)

Here you can begin to see here how neat the color changes are, and how the little "windows" are taking shape. It reminds me of looking at the stained glass window panes in church when I was little.

I thought that the scarf was ending up too wide, and that the little "windows" would disappear in the scrunched-up fabric when someone wore it, so I made a 90-degree turn in modular fashion and am now knitting vertically instead. Now the little "windows" remind me of raindrops leaving trails on a pane of glass. I can't wait to block this and see how the lace parts really look when fully opened.

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I waited and waited to order this year's fiber from Lloyd and Margrett Stretton's Running Moon Farm, knowing that the perfect "Stasia Blends" would appear. Sure enough, they did, and I snapped up Winter's Heather and Lavender Whisper just last week. Winter's Heather turned out to be so lovely that I have just ordered another ten ounces - no fair ordering until Margrett gets my message, you guys! But then after... get thee all hence! It's the neatest stuff!

I absolutely love spinnables with a bit of flash and sparkle in them. Margrett has a light and sure hand with the Angelina (or whatever she uses), so that it's just an accent and doesn't overwhelm the soft, shiny fibers from her sheep and goats. Doesn't that color look just like a winter evening's sky?

Thanks, Margrett!

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Lookie, lookie what arrived today! A Kingwood Hummingbird Hook from Grafton Fibers!

Along with it came some yummy, softy-soft fiber - Linda, is this a Linda Batt? I think I could even crochet some of this unspun fiber, to make a little bag, and maybe even felt it... shall I try?

The lovely hook workmanship is by Tom Diak. Grafton Fibers has lots of different hook styles currently available, and they're just as nice as Tom and Linda's marvelous spindles.

Speaking of Tom and Linda, our mutual friend Kathy P. remarked that she uses one of the Grafton Fibers Spindle Barns as - get this - a sort of lazy kate to hold balls of laceweight yarn when she is knitting lace. What a great idea! I have just found that a center-pull ball of laceweight yarn is not a good idea, so I like her idea of a rolling ball holder, and am off to check out the Spindle Barns myself... wonder if Linda could paint one with pictures of my pups on it?

And have you seen the treadle that Linda woodburned for Kathy P.? If you're not current with Linda Diak's pyrography, take a peek at her Blog!

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I have been trying for a long time to figure out what the music for The World's "Geo Quiz" is, and I finally tracked it down: It is "Diaraby" from the album Talking Timbuktu by Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder, and it can be found here.

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Well, I think that's enough to be grateful for for one day, don't you? I hope your day is as rich - full of the taste and aroma of a soothing brew, the soft touch of marvelous fibers and tools, and the knowledge that you have good friends to share these blessings with!

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