Bye Bye, Blogger

I have not been cross-posting here for some time.

I have a new blog here: http://thespunmonkey.wordpress.com/

and archives can be found here: http://thespunmonkey.livejournal.com/

I'd Rather Be Eating a Blueberry

We've been missing our New England friends.
So we play with crayons:

I made the crayon case for our cross-country trip from some wool felt and embroidery thread. The last few weeks we've been using the beeswax crayons to make rubbings of leaves in grandma and grandpa's backyard. Then we send them to VT friends who may not have a fig tree or bamboo growing in their backyard.

........................................

.............................................

I'm pretty sure I'm going up with the little guy to visit C at the farm this weekend.
I know I will want to stay there.
Being separated by 6 1/2 hours drive, I might as well have stayed in New England to enjoy berry-picking season. I WANNA BLUEBERRY. And then I wanna make blueberry ice cream out of it. And then I wanna make blueberry pie. And muffins. And smoothies. And waffles And syrup for the waffles.

What was I talking about?
Oh, yeah...the farm. If we go up, I will just want to stay there with C and live happily ever after...and I would totally just camp there until we had the funds for our dome, but I have commissions and new wholesale and it's already time to prepare for the holiday show season and STITCHES (yikes). I cannot set up studio in a camping tent, and I'm hoping my wooly efforts will get us closer to being together, which I would love to make happen before the end of the summer (rapidly approaching...eeeeeeek!).

My other option for the weekend is to stay here and let C come down for a week, which would save me the pain of saying hello and then goodbye-for-who-knows-how-long to the woods and the river and the farm, which will make me immeasurably sad. I don't function well in the suburban landscape. I have two more days to decide. I just miss him, damnit. And I miss water that doesn't have chlorine in it and I miss tromping through damp woods.

So, a shameless plug: I have been updating Etsy with oodles of Monkey Mitt Kits and felt. Every penny goes in the dome jar! Spread the word. We need to be a family again, ASAP!

Oh, and in other news:

ME: Can I make a little banner to put over the door that says, "Welcome to our Dome-icile?"
C: Ummm...NO.

I'm so going to do it, anyway. Tell me that ain't some funny shit.

Backwards and Not So Far Backwards

A couple weeks ago we tried the Merry Go Round:



This about sums up how he felt about it:



But, then, yesterday, we tried THIS:



Oh, HELL YES.

Children + tools + paint + freedom to do whatever they want with it all = LOVE.
They don't just give out the tools for nothin', though. One must earn 'em:



Seriously, watch out for Mr. Dangerous.
Anyway, grab a tool and then...build stuff! Something small, or add on to something big:



There are structures, houses, boats, all over the place, mostly built by kids! There are also slides, a zip line and some pretty serious rope nets to climb in/on/around.

Recycled water-dispenser bottle drums!:



My dude, workin' it:





So, yeah. Merry Go Rounds are scary. Give my boy a saw.



So...



Bring your friends:



And,

Renegade silliness

Okay, so everyone is off doing Summer things. Fine, that's fine.

Instead of wishing it all away for everyone else while I pine for the beginning of my new enchanted life by the river, I will post these stolen photos:

Kim and I goofing off with yarn.

Eling, myself and Kim, ready to pack it in.
Stolen from Jamie: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mary

janesattic/

Knit. Read. Bed.

Found

Unfinished projects.

In a box.

A little early. Or late?

From my great-grandparent's steamer trunk. Not sure which family member played with crochet cotton, but there are many intricate doilies and finished projects I did not bring home with me. The unfinished goodies, however, I have plans for.

Happy Wednesday!

Presently...

...there are PEARS.

Many pears:

That's one table...the rest are spread out over the hearth and in a basket, and oh, there are plenty more on the tree. Pear butter, here we come! C's mom already sold several pounds to a neighbor via Craig's List and that very same neighbor saw my tub of yarn and bought two skeins (thank you, Amy!!). Three cheers for laziness, as I had planned to be out on a bike ride with the li'l guy. Actually, it's not all laziness. The small person ate entirely too much fruit over the last few days and kinda needs to stay close to home today unless I want to bring lots of spare clothing. Yep. There are grapes ripe on the vine and baskets of pluots so temptation to gorge himself has been great.

Meanwhile, C is up in Trinity County in temps that will be near 110F today. He is doing serious outdoor manual labor on a neighboring farm involving trenching and plumbing and so he has to wake early to get a good start before the heat becomes unbearable. In the afternoons, he jumps in the river. I guess it's not so bad to be down here where it's somewhere between 80 and 90F each day, but I sure would prefer a river to the community pool.

Oh, and working backwards as promised, the weekend before Renegade was an awesome spinning workshop led by Jacey Boggs of Insubordiknit at Knit One One in Berkeley, CA. Yes, I participated in the video and had learned most of the techniques before, but there is nothing like being in a room full of enthusiastic people bouncing all kinds of creative energy off each other. I loved the workshop and the fabulous people I met and I would do it again and again and again. Jacey is wicked-talented and hilarious and come on, people...she wore her Yarn Bowl Hat:



There was laughter and silliness galore, and of course, a whole lotta this:



There's a Flickr set here for the rest: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesp

unmonkey/sets/72157621640065513/

And for you locals or potential Bay Area visitors, Knit One One is a great space offering wonderful classes and events, including a craft sale every 4th Saturday of the month.

Alright...I'm gettin' OUTSIDE.

Disappearing Act

It's just easier that way, sometimes.

But then I have this back-log of awesome things I should have been blogging about all along and have no idea where to start. Usually it makes sense to start at the beginning. Well, boo convention, and besides, I haven't been uploading my pictures in that order. So, I'll start with the most recent thing and work my way back.

Renegade!

I had a lot of this on my table:

And a crap ton of scarves:

As usual, more people than I can count asked about Rhoda's dress and IT'S STILL NOT FOR SALE. Damnit, I look good in that dress, too! Needless to say, I need to make a pattern for it and go into a whole new biz.

At least she sold some scarves and put in her share of the work, rather than just standing around looking pretty in what I used to think was just a simple, yet nicely cut, run-of-the-mill white dress, maybe kinda boring but nice with jeans. If only I felt comfortable dying cotton this sucker would be black and I would wear it more than Rhoda does. SORRY, this is going way tangential. The real point here is that I LOVE GRIDWALL. I borrowed it from my Sis, and it made such a sweet way to display the Tangled scarves and some of the fancier yarns. I now want gridwall all over my non-existent studio.

Slight progress on that, but more later. This is about Renegade.

It was lovely to hang out with Kim-X...please check out her bunnies!
Mostly we sold a little, and knit a LOT (btw, I think the Whisper Cardigan is from Hell. The deepest, most fiery pit of Hell), met some awesome people and maybe wished that the show was Saturday-only. Sunday was much less busy in our little world, and I wanted to be curled up with C on his last day down here in the Bay for a while. Fort Mason Festival Pavilion was GIGANTIC and it was completely filled with vendors. There were well over 200 booths, which means around 300 vendors, I'm guessin'. In my opinion, it was overwhelming as a shopper and I didn't even get around to seeing everyone there, and I had plenty of time away from my booth to explore. I left with a Spincycle pattern, but only drooled over their fantastic yarns. Oh, and a dress from Texture, blue plaid hemp/cotton...too big but it was deeply discounted and it will be a nice project for learning how to take things in. Oh oh, and some manly yarn from Traveling Rhinos so that I can maybe knit C a hat he likes this time. I had some to/from BART adventures with Blas and Jamie (thanks, guys!) of Urban Fauna Studio and will be scheduling some felting and possibly spinning workshops at their shop in SF in the next few weeks while I'm still down here.

So, it was good...a little overwhelming, but good. In fact, I might eat my words and actually apply for BBB SF. I just might. Ha!

There are more pics at my Flickr set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thespunmonk

ey/sets/72157621793317408/

Btw: selling spinning/felting fiber? Good last-minute decision.

Leftovers slowly going up on Etsy.

Next post: Weekend of July 11/12. Spin workshop with Jacey! Also, beach adventures and train rides, OH MY!

On New Leaves and Shedding Skin

It's been so overwhelming, I don't even know where to start.

A week ago, the journey home began with a bus ride to Boston, a bus only narrowly caught by jaywalking across a wide, busy road with several small children and gigantic luggage. I traveled with only one of the small children, my own, and he was quite enamored of bus travel and made things much easier than I could have hoped. A little confusion and lack of communication on my part made for some fruitless runnings-around on Sarah (

sarahcoyne

) and Megan's (

suncloudedover

) parts (sorry!!!!!), as Alison (

wonderlandq

) found me lickety-split and we blew right on outta that bus station right quick, beating Sarah to her casa by about an hour and a half. OOPS! I missed Megan entirely. Boo on that bit.

Sarah heard some bedtime story and the little guy crashed out hard on the Deadly Daybed while we had the best dessert ever, which consisted of handmade ice cream, strawberry-rhubarb sauce and crushed dark-chocolatey/salty cookies. Seriously, it was so good. I'd try to recreate it here, but the strawberries aren't the same and the rhubarb here is ridiculous.

Anyway, the flight was uneventful but exhausting, and I've spent this entire week just settling into our latest state of limbo.

We're at my in-laws in the East Bay Area, and for several weeks, possibly a couple months, C will be up and down between here and the farm up in northern CA...the farm job is going to be awesome, but we need to get our shelter figured out. Right now, the plan is to build a platform and set one of these on it.
The little guy and I need to stay behind down here until something is set up. The only setback is that it's going to be a while before C is paid and we're not sure how we're going to purchase the actual structure. I'm confident we'll figure it out, though.

I avoided getting in touch with anyone since we've been here so I could process and absorb my new surroundings. Sure, it's all familiar...it's not like we've been gone twenty or thirty years, but still...it's very different from the life I'd gotten used to...flying in over brown, dry hills instead of lush, green mountains made my heart heavy...we hiked today and it felt like we're suddenly in a different hemisphere entirely. Bristle thistles and crunching grass, air that is dry and crisp...tell me that it's summer here.

Moving on, there has been a decision made through all this transition...this being that it's time to retire The Spun Monkey in it's current incarnation. I will still be producing yarn, and I will retain my Etsy shop...probably not my website, but the domain will link to Etsy...maybe just x-post to a wordpress blog that links to everything...but I cannot be a yarn factory any longer. Stick a fork in me. I can't keep staying up until 2am to meet the quota I set for myself so that I have enough for shows, consignment and my own shop. I have a child and a husband and will also be integrating myself into a cooperative farming scenario. I will still be spinning and creating art, but it will no longer be during hours when I should really be sleeping. And normal hours means less productivity. However, this also means that my time with my art will be precious and more fulfilling because I will be exploring what I want to rather than what I feel I should be working on in order to sell product, meaning: more complex pieces, fine art and mixed media works and varied mediums. This shouldn't be disappointing to anyone, as it should make my shop more interesting to follow and incorporate more of my passions as it evolves. Fiber and yarns will always be there, but I need to branch out creatively or I will burn out.

That's all I've got for now.

Test knitter, please?

Hi!

Okay, so I've got these kits (pattern + yarn)...about 30 of 'em ready for Renegade...refresher on the Monkey Mitt can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thespunmonk

ey/3611338056/

Before I go a-label-prinitng, will someone pretty please test out the pattern for me? I will send you a skein of corespun yarn and the pdf of the label with the pattern...it's a project that should take less than two hours to complete.

If you wanna, please comment on this post. If there's more than one interested party, then at the end of the day tomorrow, I will pick a name out of a hat (or perhaps just use a random number generator) and send a kit to the lucky winner. :)

The catch:
You don't get to pick the yarn. I have a very textured, silly yarn to send you, so that we can see how the pattern works with a lumpy, bumpy, lock-y yarn.
I'd rather you not commit if you're not sure you can finish the project within a week. I need to start labeling soon for Renegade and want to make sure the pattern reads well.

This is what you get to work with:

Bright!

Thanks yous.

Plunking Away

In one week, I say goodbye to Vermont as home.
Soon, it will just be one of those places I visit, where friends live whom I miss but don't keep in touch with as much as I'd like, a place to pine for when I'm lonely and a place to be glad I'm not when I have a mild northern CA winter.

BUT, I don't really have time to think about it, as I spin and spin and make arrangements for getting stuff home. I am beyond exhausted...the boy is clingy because he misses C (we are going on the fifth week of single-parenting) and so I don't start working until 9pm. He wakes up around 7am, so there is not much happening in the way of rest...but I'm accumulating a nice pile of work for Renegade.

Even though I was fighting to keep my eyes open during story time, we managed to create a little solstice festivity. Behold, Mr. Sun:

He's made from soft, plant-dyed felt, cotton/linen thread and LOVE.

They made friends:

We lit a candle at dinner while it poured and poured outside. The sun was mysteriously absent from his big day. We are hoping he's made at least enough of an appearance in the last few days to ripen some strawberries up on the ridge, but I'm preparing myself for slim-pickin' at the farm.

Today is filled with good-bye...friends I won't see again before the Big Day and friends who are starting their own new journey West. Impossible now to deny it's really happening.

xoxoxo

The Upside of Things

While my beloved almonds are on the NO CAN EAT list, chocolate is not (phew!)

While tumeric is out, and therefore curry (OUCH), I can enjoy as much rhubarb and strawberries as this glorious VT Spring can throw my way (unless, of course, I forget that moderation is best and they move over to the NO list...tricky, tricky)!

Basically, everything that I CAN eat, I need to put on a four-day rotation...so, I can only have rice once every four days. LEAKY GUT SYNDROME is L-A-M-E.

But, if I'm a good girl and eat enzyme pills and probiotics and practice avoidance of many of my favorite things for the next 6 MONTHS TO A YEAR, I may be able to start reintroducing said favorite things back into my diet. Then again, I may just discover new favorite things and wheat and all it's glutinous buddies can shove off forever.

I've had some time to mull this over, and I think I can turn this into an enjoyable sort of challenge. At least when I'm back in the Bay Area for a few weeks, I know I can enjoy me some Cafe Gratitude, Ethiopian and Thai (so long as I can resist a thai iced tea), and my favorite tea house (because black tea is A-OKAY).

I have no bad feelings towards my allergy panel. None, whatsoever. For the last nearly-a-year, I have had trouble sleeping, mood swings and headaches, random bouts of intense nausea. I looked in the fridge when I got home and it was full of everything my body can't handle. I think at least 40% of the Co-op employees must internally roll their eyes when they see me coming...I always need help with the bulk because I can't actually go into the department and today I returned $30 worth of almonds I'm sure they can't put back in the bin.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to feeling good and normal again. I am armed with goat cheese, bananas and cashews and some amazing-looking coconut-based "ice cream."

Oh, and the Newfane Post Office just called and guess what they have!

Nightmare Day

Just got my allergy panel results back:

I can no longer eat:

EGGS
DAIRY
GLUTEN

I will probably die of starvation.

Also, I lost my fucking wallet. I left it at a cafe and I'm not getting it back. I canceled everything and can only pray that I get a new driver's license before I have to get on a plane at the end of the month.
Wish it hadn't had so much cash in it (which is, of course, totally rare).

Today can suck it.

Marshmallows make everything Better.

I am going to say this really loud because I really mean it:
I REALLY WISH CRAIGSLISTERS WOULD GO BACK AND DELETE THEIR POST WHEN A PLACE IS RENTED OR THE ITEM IS SOLD.

I am already sick to death of getting excited about cabins in the woods where I could keep my chickens only to be ignored when I make an inquiry.

So, what do you do when the housing market is getting you down and you've decided to get aggressive about going back to school for your MFA in Fiber Arts??!? You celebrate by making yummy things with maple syrup:

No corn syrup...maple only, and they are awesome. I didn't have powdered sugar, so I dredged them in cocoa powder to keep them from sticking to each other after slicing them. We tried roasting them over the fire, but they just don't puff up like the hydrogenated kind...they melt, rather, but will be excellent in hot cocoa tonight. We have perfect cocoa weather today...delightfully gray and gloomy.

Anyway, so yeah...I'm aspiring to be a Duck: http://art-uo.uoregon.edu/index.cf

m?mode=areas&page=fiber

Back to spinning and obsessively refreshing housing listings.

As promised...

As promised.


( More Pretty )



Want to make everything.

New Toy

Ugh. NOT REALLY. Can you imagine?
But, I do have to carry it around now and hope hope hope I NEVER HAVE TO USE IT.

Prettier pictures tomorrow!

Craigslist is my new best friend

Rather, it might as well be. I spend pretty much every waking hour scouring housing ads. It's very discouraging. For the last five years, we've owned our home and could do whatever we want. All this dogs-but-no-cats shit and please-don't-touch-the-lawn-because-we-h

ave-landscapers-who-will-touch-it-for-you-at-inconvenient-times is really frustrating me. Now that I'm a sort-of landlord myself, I really don't care what people do, as long as they don't trash the house on purpose and will be responsible if they really screw something up. Have a cat. Have a horse. Have a cow, even! Just be happy.

I'm really hoping there is an inexpensive couple of acres that we can stick a yurt on while we spend a year or two or three building a cob house. That would make me ever so much happier than having to worry about preventing the little guy from drawing on a wall or some such...after all, I do encourage creating art wherever one happens to be inspired.

I knew this wasn't going to be easy.

In other news, I have a massage today. It was a gift and I'm trying to gear myself up for it, as I have absolutely no idea how to relax. I used to work behind the desk there and would get a free massage each month...usually I would become really anxious and tense before the massage and then just wish it was over the whole time. I'm going for a different approach today, and I'll let you know how it works.

Stuff and Nonsense

So...the move:
-Plan A: Santa Cruz, CA
-Plan B: Humboldt, CA
-Plan C: Eugene, OR

We've picked it. The spot. Apparently, The World's Greatest City of the Arts and Outdoors. Anyway, third plan's the charm. Right?

So, next step...find a place to live and job/jobs and stuff. No problem, right? Seeking reassurance here, people. Oh, and if you know anyone in the area we should hang out with, let me know.

When not in a knot (ha!) about impending major change in my life, I've been working on new goodies for Renegade:
Monkey Mitt Knit Kit:

Tea not included. Just some yarn and a pattern.

Maybe yarn that looks like one of these:

Or maybe not. Whatever tickles me. Don't worry, there will be a color you like.

Am actually feeling rather hopeful today. In fact, I'm going to make rhubarb sauce to celebrate. Lots of ginger and love, people.

Oh, and PS: there is this downtown.

Visual Stimulus Post

Square One

...or maybe we're further back than that.

C is in California, the little guy and I are still here in Vermont...and the possible living situations are dropping like flies. The place in Humboldt is not conducive to family life (surprise, surprise) and we are now still homeless AND 3000 miles apart.

I guess I'm flying out for a workshop and Renegade (two consecutive weekends), for sure, but whether it's one-way or round-trip I don't know.

The only thing keeping me going is trying to build up stock for Renegade and to package off to consignment. I feel like I'm overstaying my welcome (although I'm sure that would be denied by my friends) where we've been staying for the past five months, and it's hard on the little guy for us to be separated from papa. Sure, it's hard on me, too, but I'm a grown-up and can pretend I'm fine. The little guy wears it all on his sleeve...today he enlisted our buddy Raph to turn his truck into an airplane...they attached a propeller to the front...so that they could fly to California to see papa. I was instructed to bring a salad. It was all very dear but heartbreaking at the same time.

I had managed to generate excitement about the move to the redwoods and now I don't know what to tell him. So I just keep doing what I need to do to get through each day...spin, spin mostly. Next week I will have to take advantage of his last few days of school to get a good amount of felting done. But then...we are in summer and I will be out of wool and what? what?

I do enjoy that he is having an easy time of living without toys. We embroidered together for an hour yesterday, and he drew a mango to give to his friend across the road. Today we took a long walk in the afternoon and then he entertained himself while I spun a little bit of the stress away. But this is all getting old really fast.

I wish it were easy for C to just come back. Everything I want is right here, but he has said no, absolutely not, he will find a way to make it work out there. Our communications are punctuated with sadness and frustration.

Maybe it is time to pursue my childhood dream of living in Finland for a while. Anyone have a farm by a lake we can live on?

Vacation and Sharp Knife are synonymous

x-posted from LJ

....yeah, so anyway, here is something NICE to cut the stress with:

ME/MA Weekend!

My friend Stacey, our little guys and I took a three-day weekend and headed north. The plan was to camp a couple of nights on Hermit Island, leave Friday morning, come back Sunday night.
On the way, I had a knitting emergency occur just as we happened upon Purl Diva:

Phew! Super-cute shop! Brunswick, I think???

Later that evening, we ended up here:

Magical.

The air was so damp we couldn't even get paper to burn, so we spent a rather chilly night (no cocoa by the fire!)...and then the rains came. We woke up to water in our tents and soaked sleeping bags. I had the beginnings of a cold and so we decided we would pack up later that day, head to the beach and skip back down to MA where we could sleep the night in a warm, dry cabin. Before packing up, though, we headed into town...first to try to find a part for the cookstove that was forgotten and then on to Bath, ME to check out the farmer's market there.
Like everywhere we went, it was right on the water and I think I could totally live there. However, I was very disappointed that the sign saying "Chocolate Church" did not in fact lead to a place of chocolate worship. Just a regular church that happens to be painted the color of chocolate. Harumph. OMG, Stacey, it's so not a church at all...we should have made a pit-stop! Take a look at Amanda's comments!

Anyway, we played on the beach:

...where aggressive gulls tried to steal our sunflower nut butter and raisin bread.

Then ended up here:

to play amongst young trees and sunshine...and maybe a wee thunderstorm thrown in the mix.

And in case you didn't know...

FERNS ARE VERY EXCITING!!!!!

I did succumb to the nasty cold, but am now on the mend. I don't think I have quite the constitution to hold up to damp Maine summers. A very satisfying weekend, but next time we're skipping Maine and just heading the short journey south to Mass...woodsy, watery and just as splendid.
eta: not because Maine isn't totally amazing, but rather an hour drive is better than five hours when there are two young boys in the car!

hmmmmmm...

...situation up in the woodsies not going to be easy...

we can't stay at the farm itself because one of the main ingredients used in the kitchen that we would have to share is BUCKWHEAT (READ: EVIL).

not much in the way of housing in willow creek...need to find something, though. a place that will take us AND our 26 chickens. cripes.

i wonder if it's even possible?


can i please have a home now, please oh please?

i miiiiiiiiiiissssssss my husband.

eta: fluffy weekend-post tomorrow. with pictures

overwrought much?

x-posted from LJ May 26

Yeah, so I went to the naturopathic clinic today to get the blood draw for my allergy panel.
After leaving my crying kiddo at school, then passing the clinic by and driving several minutes out of my way, I arrive fifteen minutes late.
The receptionist is sorry but the doctor is already in with her next appointment.

It was just. too. much.
I started to try to explain and next thing I know I am weeping and she wants to come around and give me a hug. Can I be any more of a mess?

I found out yesterday evening from an exhausted C that the Santa Cruz situation wasn't going to work out. In pretty much a thousand major ways. Not the least of which being that the roof is rotting and the contract is all kinds of different from what we'd discussed with the landlord previously (like not being able to tell anyone we live there). C and his dad spent the night at the house and the former woke up at 1AM, turned on the light and found a scorpion next to his head. Thank you very much, Universe, I read your signal LOUD AND CLEAR.

So, in my flustered panic at being 3000 miles away and completely powerless in helping to make decisions regarding my very near future in California, I call an old friend.
Who just so happens to be in need of a farm manager.
Goodbye, Santa Cruz. Hello, Humboldt County (tea, modernacorn ?)

Everything has changed in a span of 12 hours. Instead of the south-of-San Fran Pacific Coast I will have the Trinity River and HELLO I WILL BE LIVING IN THE BIG FOOT CAPITAL OF THE WORLD. No joke.

I need a nap.

btw, I love you all who offered encouragement in my locked-post moments of freak-out. And you, sarahcoyne , I am so taking you up on your offer, but just for one night before we fly out from Boston later in June. :)