Spring's Eternal Bliss...or something like that!

It's a lovely day in NW Vermont. Almost 70 degrees f. Here's a little snapshot off of one of our need-to-be-replaced decks... In the background are some birch trees I let grow about 4 years ago. They create a nice light backdrop for the flowering crab tree. The leaves are burgundy red on one side and a coppery tone on the other. They pale to a greenish color in the summer. The blossoms are a light pink. We have another one that stays red/bronze all year, and the blossoms are a darker red. Picture in a couple days when it flowers.

Two or three years ago we had a heavy March snowstorm that broke off the center right leading branch. You can see about 40% up from the bottom the tree now kind of goes to the left. some branches are filling out in the middle and there is one leader that may strengthen....

Spinning: here is a pic of the last three things I spun. Left: is the shetland I got from Carolina Homespun. Really nice. Long fibers, spun up really stretchy, and fluffed up after the wash. In this case, I found that I could spin it thinner than the desired end result. In the middle is the merino/alpaca blend. I got that at Paradise Fibers. It is 70/30 merino/alpaca. I have enough for socks....yum! The skein on the right is the romney wool/angora bunny blend. Maybe only 20% bunny, but it's REALLY soft! I have about 8 oz of each of the fibers.

Blogging: Oh! What to do?! I emailed Zhenya about all the wonderful things in life I want to blog about: knitting, spinning, cooking, Zen, being gay and alcoholic in Vermont, etc. Each one in itself is time consuming. Oh wait! I also have to spend the time DOING the things! Lol. I'll try to do a short blurb about each one, if there's anything going on about it.

Have a great day!

May in Vermont

Two weeks ago it was 82 degrees here in northwest Vermont. Today it was 60. Kind of springlike, but it's damp and cold. Like our trip to Portland, Oregon in November '07. The trees are budding, the daffodils are gone by, and it's just about time for J. to do the first lawn mowing. I cook. He mows. And takes care of the compost for our organic garden! (He does eat well, I must say.)

Tonight I made a Thai/Indian dish. Curried broccoli and Quorn (vegetarian fake chicken breast-type food...yum) with organic golden rose short grain rice and red quinoa. I used Indian curry from our trip to India in '06, Thai green curry paste, and some of my homemade yogurt. It was yummy.

Knitting updates:

• Audacity yarn from blackbunny (rav): it's part of a fund raiser for my guy Barack. It's 100% superwash merino, yummy feel and yummy colors! I was planning on making socks from it, but i have several pairs of socks planned/done and maybe I'll do a scarf. Was goggling scarf patterns last night. Just need to find the coolest one!


• Sun ray shawl (1950's dinner cloth/tea table garment in shawl disguise). I'm only on row 98 of 7 billion! Seriously, there are about 260 rows. But, the stitches are increased by 1/3 for each section. I just went from about 213 sts to 640! So each row will now take 3 times longer to do.

Other things:

The Men's Spring Knitting Retreat in Easton, NY is only a couple weeks away! I can't wait! Gay male knitters! Whoo hoo! Joe and Ted have done a lot of work for this. I'm teaching a short workshop on spinning cotton. Joe, Ted, Dan O. and Mr. DV are attending. Such esteemed people with loads of talent! I'm honored and humbled--to share my knowledge and to learn from them.

Off for now, gotta load up pics. more later...

knitting update

Here's an update on my UFO's now FO's:

• Finished my "yes we can" socks, yarn from Mama E's C*eye*ber fiber on etsy. Really nice colors! these were my first toe-up socks. Once I got used to knitting with the two circs, it went quite smoothly. I actually like starting the socks at the toe much better, as I can try them on for size while I'm knitting them. I like learning new techniques. I hate getting stuck in old ways, just doing them because that was the way I was taught. Like going from the inchworm method of spinning most people do--not even a short draw, as they let the twist go into the drafting triangle--to the long draw, and then various modified versions of that.
• The second pair of socks I used Trekking XXL color 165. I LOVE the color scheme! I made the sock pattern up, combining the toe-up technique, ribbed instep, short row heel, then an OXO pattern from a sock book for the top. Adding the ribbing gave more arch support. The OXO pattern in the book wasn't technically accurate--it was missing one part and was more like an X morphing into an O. The O is supposed to be nestled into the arms of the X, so the pattern needed a repeat. Top of the O, then bottom of X, then top of X, then bottom of O.

Chris Blogs!

Finally! I've entered the age of blogging. I'll be working on the design of this in the next week or so, and I'm excited to share my talents, creativity, interests, and of course, photos of my life in Vermont with my partner Jeff, our rescue kitty Tigger, and my spinning, knitting, and gardening.

My blog title is the same as my name on Ravelry. If you don't know about it, and you are a knitter or spinner, check it out! I learned about it from Kyle, a super nice fellow knitter in California, whose blog I stumbled on a couple of months ago. You can learn more about Kyle at Kyle Knits.

On the right is Tigger. Mr. Spoiled, Mr. Anxiety-boy. Our rescue kitty. He thinks he's a dog, so we call him doggy-kitty! He follows us around the house, and when we call him, he comes running/trotting like a dog. He's sweet, although he doesn't want to sit on our laps, he has to sleep right next to me. I.love.him.

Greetings and latest blog status update. :-)

Hi everyone. I am indeed still here and will be posting more in the future. I am just having to take a some time out to take care of some personal matters, and also to learn some new multimedia skills so that I can upload lots of great new anti-pornography videos and other media for you in the future. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy all of the posts and 100+ videos that are currently here! :-)