Knitting on the Rogue River

Thought I’d let the world know I haven’t disappeared entirely. I’ll post an update this weekend, or sooner. 2 more grandkids and lots of fibery goodness.

BTW – It’s my birthday today

Wow! It’s been 6 months since my last post! Since registering on Ravelry most of my internet time has been spent there. Which doesn’t help any of my friends and family that aren’t fiber nuts like me and the other folks on Ravelry.com.

I’ve changed the look of my blog and will probably work on it a bit more so expect more changes in the near future. The main reason I’ve been working on my blog though is that I’ve become a new grandmother. Nicki gave birth to Avril Lynn Marie on Saturday, February 7th at 8:36 pm.

This picture is minutes after she was born.

and here I am holding Avi. She looks happy. I know I am.

What a cutie. She looks just like her mother.

Nicki at 1 hour old.

Avi at a few days old.

If you want to see more pictures go to http://flickr.com/photos/cgoyer.

Kiera will be one year old on the 11th of this month. A whole year has passed, hard to believe. She is such a cute baby!

She also has super powers!

She’s only like this once or twice a day.  Here’s grandpa enjoying himself.

In a few months there will be another baby for grandpa to hold. Nicki is due in February and a coworker’s wife is due the same time. Great excuse to buy yarn and knit.

In anticipation of the baby Nicki & Phil bought a car.

Not the one Peter recommended but better than what they had.

This last weekend my youngest daughter, Nicki, got married. It was a wonderful ceremony and all of my children were there. Just wish my mom & dad could have made it too.

A picture of all of the kids together can be see here. You can view all of the wedding pictures if you want by clicking on Albums at the top of this page. Peter and I are happy to add Phil as another son.

If you’re reading this and plan on attending Black Sheep Gathering this year then you might want to play Black Sheep Bingo. All of the details can be found on violinjodie’s blog. If you’re in Ravelry join the Black Sheep Gathering group for more details on who’s going, what classes everyone is taking, whether they’re a vendor, and where everyone is staying. This is a chance to make connections with all those Ravelers and bloggers that you’ve only met in the virtual sense. There are prizes involved (I’m donating stitch markers). So be sure to sign up and play!

My weaving guild is having a napkin exchange. Weave 8 napkins and get 8 back, all different. Sounded like fun and I’m always up for anything fibery and fun. Well, in my experience and overzealousness I’m unable to participate this year. (. I wanted to weave shadow weave napkins using 8/2 cotton. Since I made the dishtowels without incident I thought no problem. So I wound 7 yards of 8/2 and warped my new to me 8 shaft loom. And that’s where the problems started. I totally screwed up the warp and had tension problems from hell from the start. Part of the problem was the sectional beam that I didn’t warp correctly. After struggling with the warp and trying to weave anything useful I finally decided to rewarp the loom. When I tried to undo the warp from the sectional beam I started getting a tangled mess so in frustration I cut the warp off, took off the sectional parts and rewarped what I had left.

I ended up with 2 unequal napkins with mistakes and a swatch using a third color. On to another learning experience. Stayed tuned for Overshot Pot Holders.

Last weekend I had the good fortune to participate in a weaving workshop taught by Jannie Taylor on loom controlled lace. Besides learning about lace weaves it allowed me the opportunity to weave on several different looms including a computerized AVL. Following are some images from the workshop.

16-shaft AVL – I Love Huck Lace Butterflies

8-shaft Canvas Weave

16-shaft Louet Loom – Huck Lace in a Mist

4-shaft Rasmussen Loom (the one in the foreground – it’s mine) – Swedish Lace Blocks

More Pictures

My favorite loom from the workshop was the 16″ 8-shaft Woolhouse folding loom, probably the Mimi. Folds flat, easy to use, and good shed. I’m in the process of deciding how much loom I really need. The Woolhouse loom might be perfect for me for quite awhile.

Finally I leave you with an image I took on my way to work yesterday. Table Rock was in the clouds and looked awesome. Just wish it was a better shot.

p.s. It’s snowing outside right now.

I couldn’t be more pleased with the fit of the sweater I finished for hubby. And to prove it here’s a couple of pictures.

After 15 months of knitting it’s a relief to have it all come together so nicely. And such a handsome guy to knit for! This pattern wasn’t especially difficult to knit, just a lot of knitting. Design is by Nancy Marchant and was featured in a previous issue of Knitter’s. Don’t have the magazine next to me right now.

A couple of weekends ago I got to see my daughter who lives in Colorado. She was featured in a special concert of the Jefferson Baroque Orchestra that she helped form. She flew in on Thursday afternoon and spent the next 3 days rehearsing. Sunday I went to the concert in Ashland which included a visit to Web-sters and introduction to a couple of Ravelry friends. After the concert Heather and I spent time catching up and stayed up very late since she was flying out the next day. On Monday we went to the mall to visit my younger daughter while she was at work, went to Middleford in Medford so Heather could buy sock yarn, and had a nice lunch at a local Thai restaurant before I dropped her off at the airport. Too short! But she is planning on coming back for Black Sheep Gathering.

Thank you to all for your comments about my brother. There are no guarantees in this life and I only wished he had lived his life differently. Enough said on that.

Here we are on New Year’s Eve. It was the perfect evening for us, we were home by 10:30.

In my long absense from blogland I’ve been busy weaving, knitting and dyeing. Starting new projects and finishing old ones. The dishtowels were finished and gifted to both my mom and sister-in-law. The Opal Tiger socks that were started just after Stitches West last year were finished about a month ago. I’ve woven a couple of scarves for myself. One from a rayon rickrack yarn purchased at Black Sheep Gathering last year and the other a handspun hand dyed scarf. More recently I completed the sweater I started for my husband for Christmas 2006. Just in time for his birthday. 2007 was a year of firsts for me – I made soap for the first time, knit my first pair of gloves, learned to weave on a multi-harness loom. To accommodate my new weaving hobby I bought two floor looms and increased my weaving yarn stash. Another first for me was joining one of the local weaving guilds.

I joined Ravelry last July but have only recently been active. What a great resource for spinners, knitters, crocheters, dyers, and weavers! You can search by yarn, find patterns for just about anything, meet up with like minded fiberholics in forums, join groups, or participate in knitalongs. It’s all in one place instead of cruising the net looking for fiber prOn just log into Ravelry and look at what other folks are spinning, crocheting, knitting, weaving, or dyeing.

Besides fiber adventures we have been howling at the moon when the cloud cover gives us a break. My husband bought a new telescope and every clear night has been out looking for galaxies, the moon, and whatever he can focus on. It’s great and we’ve been able to get some decent pictures of the moon.

Here are some pictures of what I’ve been up to lately.

1. GreenScarf-017, 2. Dyeing Weekend, 3. mp3Bag-004, 4. KnitDyeReknit-005, 5. Urchin-002, 6. Dyeing Weekend, 7. Dyeing Weekend, 8. Dyeing Weekend, 9. pincushions001, 10. mugRugs009, 11. mugRugs008, 12. mugRugs004, 13. mugRugs003, 14. knittingMarkers005, 15. knittingMarkers003, 16. Dyeing Weekend

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

1. WeavingProjects-006, 2. WeavingProjects-003, 3. WeavingProjects-001, 4. WeavetteProjects1, 5. Rayon Rickrack Scarf, 6. Tiger Sock, 7. New Gloves, 8. woolMohair, 9. SoapDay-003, 10. SoapDay-007, 11. SoapDay-013, 12. SoapDay-008, 13. SnowDay-002, 14. Wonder, OR, 15. moon1, 16. urban Camo Socks

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

Yes, I’m still around. And, yes, I’m still computing. Last September I received a call from my mom that my oldest brother (not older) was in the hospital. While I’m not clear on the details, he either had a heart attack or a diabetic episode, the final outcome was fatal. I did get to see him before the end but not before a stroke had left him mute and essentially unable to communicate. That whole experience made me more introspective than usual and blogging was relegated to the unnecessary. Well, I’ve decided to re-enter the land of the blogging with a birthday tribute to my brother Cliff. (Dayton, if you see this I hope you don’t mind me using this photo.)

This is my brother. He started growing the beard when he got out of the Air Force in the 70s and never shaved until they shaved him in the hospital.

This is me and my brother in September 2006.

The two of us again. And him in the first grade. So many things I wish I could say to him now, so many regrets and lost opportunities. Maybe next time. I love you.