Monkeying Around

I went to work with Pearl yesterday….friend, teacher and knitter extraordinaire. What a whorled, what a whorled….It’s one thing to work in my studio, it’s quite another to knit in a yarn shop for 8 hours. I have never been this productive or had so much fun.
As well as knitting yarn directly from the shelves, and shamefully rubbing quite a bit of it against my cheek, I was divinely inspired…….Which meant finally unleashed for you all…..my new hand spun .
Barrel full of Monkeys

The first ply was a lovely hand spun of natural merino and corriedale spun on the Kiwi. The 2nd ply, due to the chunkiness of the monkeys was done on the drop spindle. Plied on to fine angora in rusts and browns from which the monkeys are lovingly dangling.. Spindling in the store was fantastic as incoming customers really just could not figure out what was going on. Seriously, my little friends were airborne. Each layer of wool started trapping them into this wee yarn prison.

I have been thinking about this yarn for months, searching out just the right rovings, ply yarn, perfect monkeys —I spent more time thinking about this than my finances (which is clearly not good). I am immensely satisfied—- like if I smoked, I’d be smoking one right now.

Now on the niddy noddy….

Now in a skein.

Yarn stats

125 grams

58 yards of pure monkey goodness.

I may or may not sell this yarn. It is making me really happy right now.

Gratitude

The West Coast hosts a summer like nobody else. I have been in Facebook, catching up on comments from my friends who are locked up because of rain, are hating the rain or otherwise seem held hostage by weather.

When it rains in BC it is beautiful, when it snows here, it is a wonderful treat. While I was enjoying the breezy sunshine in the Farmer’s Market yesterday, there were snowboarders trekking up to the glacier. Such contrast and yet perfectly “normal” for BC.

I sold something yesterday I didn’t want to sell. Not my body, at this stage there is not much resale value left in this old model ;), but a piece I had just completed and barely had a chance to fondle. Like an elusive lover, it quickly slipped through my fingers and found itself in the arms of another….


Which brings me to the real reason I am posting today. Gratitude.

  • The lovely woman who bought my piece actually did take me seriously and sent me a photograph of it. Received with much thanks.
  • Someone I taught how to knit a few weeks ago came to the market with a card yesterday thanking me for sharing my gift of knitting with her. I never thought of what I do as “a gift”. What a beautiful reframing of my craft.
  • Someone requested a custom hat and then did not want it. Why gratitude? It is a new and charming design which will now be retooled as my new children’s design for the fall.
  • The big fat speeding ticket we got on the way home. A financial reminder to take things slow.

Thank you!

In a Perfect Whorled…..

……beautiful handspun yarn grows on trees.

Imagine —an entire day in the backyard, full sun, 3 girlfriends, spinning wheels, crochet, knitting and sewing. Pineapple tea and sandwiches and a fantastic show and tell.

Judy just returned from a trip to England. While she was sharing her stories the fibre goodness surrounded us.

The breeze moved the yarn in long waves and the scent of Eucalen and the lavender from the garden filled the air. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it is magic.

A Ham in the Mail

Before I talk about anything else today, I have to post this….

My insane friend Leanne from Oddwear crocheted a ham hock for me. For the record it is about 2 feet in length. I have barely stopped laughing since I got this in the mail and it is now the proud centrepiece of my dining room table. I can hardly wait until John gets home! A helicopter pilot/instructor, writer, goddess, hat designer and all round incredible friend –Leanne is the ultimate example of limitless energy and fun. I wish she had been at the Prudence Mapstone workshop!

For documenting and for sale, this is my completed freeform hat in all it’s regal splendor.

Here are a few more angles(of the hat)

I am calmed by a wonderful sense of completion, and it has propelled me into a new spinning cycle. Not frenzied….calm, happy yarn.

A Sunshine Coast Bus Station

Hanging around Pender Harbour

Large Bug Crossing

Artisan Hands and Fibre Landscapes


Intertwined and connected by a love of colour and texture, 15 got together and made magic happen. At the helm, fibre technician, teacher, designer and as sweet as Quebecoise sugar pie — Prudence Mapstone.

These are the hands that led us on an exciting journey.

Hosting this gathering was Yvonne Stowell from Fiberworks Studio in Mediera Park on the Sunshine Coast. What makes her studio and gallery so spectacular is that all the courses and workshops are taught in a yurt. There is something inviting and contagious about sharing in a circular environment. The energy created by this space was absolutely electric.


Loosely structured, yet packed full of information and inspiration, Prudence had all of us designing, knitting, crocheting, laughing and exchanging. It exceeded my expectations in every way. I cannot thank John enough for his gift to me, worth far more than the workshop itself was the fact that he took two days off work after Whistler to bring me there so that we were able to explore the Sunshine Coast at the end of each day.

John, finding his own inspiration in Sechelt at the beach.

All of the women in this class were exciting, vibrant, and rich with talent. I admired everyone’s choices for colour and texture and would have run off with everyone’s scrumbles, if I thought I could have made it out of town with them. This was all the samples placed together. How perfectly it all fit together.

This is what my head and hands collaborated on in the two days.

My “sampler” included all of the following: silk, angora, camel down, alpaca, Turkish angora, merino, bamboo and several “bits” of leftover hand spun in mostly merino.

On the ferry ride home, I ran into two ladies from our group. They were looking out over the water and imagining “scrumbling” the landscape. How perfect.