October 22, 2004
At Last, the Yarn Speaks
I polled the wheels of Icelandic yarn. None of them wanted to be cats. "We've worked hard to get where we are today," the medium brown told me. "We don't want to be 'cute' and we don't want to be modern. We want to be traditional."
The silvery gray agreed. "We are primitive and proud of it. We don't want to be intertwined with the colors of other sheep. We can live side by side easily enough, but our hairs rub each other the wrong way when you color strand us. And please, I beg of you, do not force us to be steeked."
I asked the shyest one, a caramel-colored beauty that hadn't said a word, "what is it they want to be, little one?" Meekly, she whispered, "a shawl."
"Do you guys want to be a shawl?" I asked loudly. I heard a huge cheer and little strands of Icelandic fiber rained on me like confetti. "All right, then-- who's volunteering?" And immediately the black, the medium gray and the silvery gray marched forward and stood at attention.
And so begins the Icelandic shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls book. With extra long "tails" and slightly shaped shoulder, it will be a pleasure to wear.
Meanwhile, the species Afghanicus Mountanium Rowsarium Ramblicus has been found to be growing at a steady rate. Even though the fireplace has been convinced to work, making the need for an afghan less urgent, once Afghanicus got started there was no stopping it.
Speaking of fireplaces that work, I have been spinning in front of mine, making some headway into the cranberry Ashland Bay merino but mostly just enjoying the spinning. Who knows what this might become? Maybe even another afghanicus!
And now I must make a confession. I have been aiding and abetting criminals. Yes, last night the big masked faces of Lewis and Clark showed up at the back door just as I was turning off the lights to go to bed. They looked at me so wistfully-- I do believe they would have come right into the house had the door been open. Their problem? We were out of dog food. They wished to be fed.
Well, what does an animal lover do? I couldn't say that it was wrong to feed wild animals-- obviously, whether we wished to or not, we had been. And the racoon pair had left our cats alone, which was certainly kind of them. So I told them to stay there, went upstairs, got some cat food and tossed it off the upper deck.
Was that so wrong?
Believe me, the would have come in. I once stayed at a guesthouse in Lewes, Delaware. I was on the 2nd floor and kept my door standing open for breeze, and looked over in the late evening to see someone inspecting the piece of luggage I had just inside the door. Later he came back and tried the door handle, I swear.
Posted by: CarolineF on October 22, 2004 11:16 AMAnyone who spins on a Kromski saxony (I have a Symphony) in front of the fire can do no wrong. Love the afghan. Looking forward to seeing it completed. Not to mention the shawl (s?).
Posted by: Cathy on October 22, 2004 02:34 PMExcuse me, but is that Sherlock's paw holding down the corner of your shawl? What a little prince he is for helping you get a good picture. My dog hardly ever helps me like that.
Posted by: Tami on October 22, 2004 07:43 PMThe Afghanicus Mountanium Rowsarium Ramblicus is looking beautiful. And it was awfully kind of the Icelandic yarn to come forward and tell you what it wanted to be. I had some Icelandic roving that wouldn't speak to me no matter what I did. We finally decided to part ways and I think we are both happier.
Posted by: Heather on October 23, 2004 08:15 AMLewis & Clark and who knows who else showed up again last night. The funny thing is, all three dogs were in the Parlor but only Sherlock objected.
Cathy, I do love my Polonaise, and the oncoming winter just makes me love it all the more. Caroline has a Symphony, too.
Tami, I was wondering who would be the first to notice! Yes, Sherlock assumes that he is the subject of all photographs, and that the knitting is the side dish.
Ah, Heather, sometimes a woman and her roving were just never meant to be.
Posted by: Sheila on October 23, 2004 09:37 AM