Category Archives: Musings

Musings

The first snowfall and I missed it

Leave a comment

As I mentioned in my Playing in the Leaves post, I was able to be at the Colorado home to take in the magical changing of the leaves for the first time in a long time. Shortly after leaving Colorado to return to Louisiana’s heat and humidity (ugh!), the last gasp of Fall left and was replaced with the first snowfall. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) I missed that. So I asked John to take a few quick pictures so that I (and you <g>) could enjoy the setting from afar. Here they are —

An almost perfect Christmas card scene with snow on the large blue spruce tree across the street

Image 1 of 3

What a difference in the picture of the aspen tree here compared to the golden-leaved tree there just a few days before. And the rose blooms of Smelling the Roses is now replaced with a soft blanket of snow.

As you can see in the pictures, the snow was already melting from the road and driveway by the time John got out to take the pictures. And it’s interesting that after those few days of cold, the weather will now be in the 60’s during the day there. Sounds lovely to me, too. Maybe next year I will be able to spend more time in the late Fall in Colorado to see the first snowfall for myself.

Related Images:

Musings

Playing in the Leaves

1 Comment

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve actually spent time in a Fall season setting. Watching the daily (sometimes hourly!) changes as the leaves turn colors is magical. And shuffling through piles of drying leaves, hearing their faint crackle and swooshing sounds, makes me feel like a kid playing in the leaves again.

Some of you might remember seeing an aspen tree in the photo I had of John’s patio with the cedar glider. See What is your favorite knitting spot?

Here are some more recent photos I was able to quickly take before leaving the beautiful Fall weather in Colorado last week to return home

[Show picture list]

These childhood memories were the inspiration for designs in my Playing in the Leaves pattern. It’s been really, really nice to be able to relive some of those memories at John’s new house in Colorado this Fall.

Related Images:

Musings

I Love Yarn EVERY Day

Leave a comment

“I Love Yarn Day” is today, October 12th. The day that the Craft Yarn Council has designated to affirm our passion for yarn. Like I need an excuse, lol.

I think it is great to bring focus on something that can be loved. Like Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day, or …? Why not Yarn Day?

Strengthening the yarn industry is a good thing. Encouraging, preserving and advancing the skills in textile arts is a good thing. It’s about retaining the role of individual creativity in an ever-increasingly technological society.

Citing Rumplestiltskin when he expanded on the metaphor of  spinning straw into gold:

“Those who do it are really saying that technology will never entirely replace individual creativity”

How do I love yarn? Let me count the ways … (don’t have enough fingers or toes to count all the ways, lol!)

Or rather, just know that I have never met a “bad” yarn. Some of you might remember the motto from the Looking at Yarns in a New Way class that I used to teach:

There is no bad yarn, just yarn looking for a good purpose

So today, as in most days, I live yarn and do what I can to bring together people in many walks of life with the joys, skills, and inspiration of textile arts. In my small, humble way, this seems to be the inner core of what I was meant to do.

Related Images:

Musings

What is your favorite knitting spot?

7 Comments

Looking out the back door of John’s new patio home. I am so glad we have an Aspen right here in the back yard. I am really liking the neighborhood and Greeley, Colorado.

 

I love the outdoors, so I am claiming this cedar glider as my favorite knitting spot on nice days when I visit John in his new patio home. There’s even room for you to join me.

Can’t you just see us sipping our coffee? (or I could make tea if you prefer)

Besides liking the outdoors, I have always loved swings, rocking chairs, the gentle rocking of a boat while fishing … well you get the idea. Even as a little gray-haired lady now, I can’t pass up a kids playground with swings without wanting to hop on. I know … very silly, but I guess I am still a kid at heart.

Aaah … day dreams. Oh well, gotta get back to work in my studio. The computer is like a slave driver these days, lol. But seriously, there WILL be time for relaxing. Remember to Take Time to Smell the Roses.

Now let’s hear from you .. What is your favorite place to knit? (it can be in your dreams or reality!)

Related Images:

Musings

The Key to the Mystery

3 Comments

Earlier this week I was looking around for a photo prop to go along with my article The Key to Keeping Your Free Membership Active at the Knit HeartStrings learn-and-knit-along site. A regular house or car key would not be very interesting. And photo’g one of those new-fangled hotel card keys that is loaded with advertisements would be too crass. Then I thought of  this old hotel key that is both interesting and mysterious to me.

central hotel glasglow key
Room key for Central Hotel Glasgow

Isn’t it’s design lovely? (at least I think so) They just don’t make keys like this anymore. I like it’s boldness. It’s strength. It’s manly, rustic look.

How did I come into possession of this key? It’s a mystery! The name plate identifies the Central Hotel Glasgow. A little Internet research reveals this hotel dates back to 1883 and was built at the site of Central Station, the main train hub of Glasgow. I’d love to go to Scotland one of these days, and  now this hotel is definitely on my list of places to see. But I still don’t know how I got the key to room 473. Something in my child- memory tells me my grandmother might have said my uncle had stayed there while on a tour of service duty and gave her this as a momento. But I might just be making this up as a fantasy.

Please help me start solving the mystery behind this key. Does this style of key look familiar to you and could you help date its time in history?

Related Images: