magic

Kindness is like magic, if you ask me. I believe in the adage, One good turn deserves another. I am fortunate to have been on the receiving end of much magic lately.

Last spring I wrote about my huswif project and told you about how generous Theresa was with encouragement and guidance. Well, her kindness has been constant since that time in the forms of reading here, commenting, and thereby encouraging me further. For those gifts I am humbly grateful. In December, she hosted a give-away which I entered, fingers crossed, and considering her large readership, I figured I didn't have much chance of winning. I did not win. Jokingly, I posted a "whine" comment, and she took pity on me! (or probably more accurately, she saw an opportunity to be generous!) The give-away was for some goodies from Namaste, a company that specializes in knitting bags in some beautiful colors and styles. Bag Lady that I am, I had no Namaste bags in my collection. Well, Theresa remedied that and then some! Look what she sent me for not winning but whining:

Now, I do not advocate whining, I have a five year old, and she'd be the first to tell you that my hearing is unusually poor if a request is made in whiny-voice. I thought maybe I'd get a chuckle out of Theresa with the whine, but, wow! She sent me a parcel with a colorful, handy Namaste Catalina pouch, a purple Namaste totebag (did you know purple is my fave?), and two skeins of Noro Blossom which is soft and jewel-y and gorgeous! All that, out of the kindness of her heart, her generous heart. Thank you, Theresa. <3

And also from her generous spirit, sprouted the idea of a Magic Yarn Ball Swap a'la Knitalong. The participants (it took me about 20 seconds to join that fun!) were assigned a swap partner, and we each wound a Magic Ball to send. My swap partner, Britt, was so quick! The guidelines for the swap allowed us until January, so my last-minute tendencies found me sending my Magic Ball on Saturday. I had fun hiding items inside, and I hope Britt enjoys it to its very core! Here is the ball I received:

Do you see those very curious bits of paper? I've been dying to find out what's inside this ball, but I've been waiting until I sent her Magic Ball, it only seemed right. I'm planning on casting on for a pair of JCasa fingerless mitts today. Thank you, Britt! <3

Of course, you noticed that delicious pile of flannel goodness that the Magic Ball is perched upon... more generosity! My knitting group recently gathered for our holiday celebration (better late than never), and the Girls rolled my birthday in there too! It's a bunch of Anna Maria Horner flannel from her new Folksy Flannel line and the cherries are from Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market line. I'm looking forward to some happy sewing time and all the comfy-ness this fabric will yield! We're planning a pj pants sew-a-thon sometime soon. :) Thank you, thank you, knitting Girls!

So, about that saying, One good turn deserves another:

Theresa, I've sent a wee little something. :)

Britt, your Magic Ball is on its way. :)

Knitting Girls, let's make some pj's! :)

xoxo - Annri

a toast

Here's to 2009 in craft! {click the photo to enlarge}

Thank you for all your visits here. Your comments put a smile on my face and lift my heart; I really appreciate that reverberation, and I hope that same good vibration echoes over into your place wherever your nest may be. I have made re-connections and new connections, have been reassured of kindness and generosity, and have marvelled at creative beauty in so many forms because of this Woolnest and my travels around the wonderous web. The experience has nourished me in the most delicious way!

So, I raise my needles (tee-hee!) to You, to 2009, and to 2010, bring it, I'm ready! (that is, once I finish those few straggling projects from 2009....) ;-)

xoxo

best - Annri

pile up

Here are the complete potholders for the Swap!!! I am happy with the way they turned out and that they are done in time! I'm the type who will take full advantage of a deadline extention, a procrastinator of epic history. "Good under pressure" is what some folks call it. wink, wink! They'll start their journey to Swap headquarters later this morning. Thank you to Adrian + Maritza + all my fellow swappers for this challenging and fun opportunity!

Besides that happy pile, other things have been piling up around here - the number of days w/out a post to the blog for instance, sorry. But there's this pile:

and this pile:
and this one too:

A beautiful bundle of tatting thread which I will treat as teeny-tiny crochet cotton. I have been bitten by the crochet-bug big time, and want to make some small motifs for hair clips, key chains, necklaces, brooches, buttons (hey, there's another pile - of ideas!) Last year, for May Day, I crocheted some flower chains with sport weight cotton, and now I'm going to go even smaller! I've been known to dabble in minituae...

Of course, this time of year brings a pile of happy events for attending as well. Our son finishes grade eight in a few days, and there have been concerts, presentations, and field trips full of proud moments, laughs, and comraderie. Coming up: families celebrating together, a formal honors evening, and a lake party, all sure to hold even more proud moments, laughs (and tears), and a speech by me! (That there, is a pile of nerves!)

It is amazing to me that we have gotten to this place in our family life. It is astounding really; I look around and see it all happening, I try to witness each and every moment, and yet it is a blur. It is perpetual and halting all at once.

What kind of piles do you have going on? ("Laundry" is not the kind of answer I'm looking for!)

Today's going to be a busy one! I wanted to stop here before the day gets off on its way to give an update on what's happening in the porch:


and in the yard:

In the porch, early this morning, I began embroidering a motif on linen which will become the backing of the potholders/hotpads that I am contributing to the Swap. The photo is of a pile of snippets from crocheted part of the potholers. Happy colors! So I hemmed + hawed about the embroidery, but since the deadline for the swap is quickly approaching, a choice needed to be made! Now that I've decided to go ahead with an embroidered fabric backing instead of another crocheted layer, I'm really glad I did. I've been waiting for an opportunity to try out Sublime Stitching, and this is a perfect chance. I own a notebook of transferable patterns that are an off-shoot of the book. I borrowed the book itself from the library to get Jenny Hart's tips, and I think I will invest in the book now for future reference and for the ton of transferable patterns in there! It is simple and fun to do (once one decides to go for it!) It often takes a bit of a push, a sniffing out of the territory if you will, before I begin a handwork project that is not in my usual comfort zone (i.e. something other than knitting). But once I take the leap, I almost always love it. I am loving this embroidering!

In the yard, yesterday, Hana was picking a bouquet of dandelions, trilling about springtime and bumble bees while I watered the garden and seedlings. It was not an uncommon scene. By the time I was done watering, she had moved on to the swing, and I asked her if she wanted a jar of water for her flowers. She quickly put the brakes on the swing by disengaging her bottom from the sling of the swing and dragging her feet (I love the way kids figure that out) and made a bee-line to the picnic table, waved her arm, and shouted, "Tah-Dah!!!"

My little Andy Goldsworthy! Here are the words to the bumble bee song:

"busy buzzy bumble bee; buzzing by busily; busy buzzy bumble bee; flying by!"

That'll be our theme song today, I hope you have a great one!

watched-pot knits

A while ago, Leslie posted about knitting while standing at the stove fixing food and she wondered, "You do this, right?" Right! It makes me smile to know I'm not alone in what I call my watched-pot knits! Again, I'm in good company...

That's another square for the Barn Raising Quilt posing with some veggies for dinner prep. It's Lorna's Laces Sock in Bittersweet, an all-time favorite colorway. Now that my hands know what to do automagically, it's perfect for those minutes when I'm waiting for the pot to boil; I can put it down at any moment and not worry about losing my place.

Along the cooking goes with handwork lines of thinking, I've settled on a pattern for the Swap (but I'm not tellin'!) I'm playing around with colors, looking for some cheery combinations for the kitchen counters of my fellow swappers. I'm leaning toward colors that I've seen on traditional Mexican celebration dresses like these beauties. I'll show you the colors when the camera battery is feeling more energetic.

BTW, could someone please advise on carriage returns on my entries, I can't seem to get them consistently... thanks!

tickled

I'm tickled that I'm hearing more variety in the birdsong, that some sweet crocuses bloomed in our garden, and that I've started a blog! So far, this blog has turned out to provide so much of what I was hoping for: comraderie, inspiration, motivation, and education. Education? Yes, I'm getting an education with our cameras, one a pocket digital and one an intimidating digital. I'm a novice, but I'm sure it'll be fun learning what there is to know.

I'm also a novice crocheter. I taught myself a few years ago for simple edgings on knitted projects, then came the snowflakes, then a mini-Babette for Hana's dolls, a few washcloths here and there, up there is the beginnings of a ripple afghan, and now I've joined the hot pads! and potholders swap (link thru that button over to the right). I'm deciding about colors and style now. I've got a healthy stash of Cascade 220, so that'll probably be the yarn, but to choose a pattern - yowsa! that's really tough. I've got my copy of 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton just like fellow-swapper Kathy (aka Grumperina), but there are 200! I just want to say that I feel like I'm hob-nobbing with blogosphere celebrities with my name alongside the names on that list! - also tickling me. ;-)

What tickles you?