Tag: wool

Catch Up Time

A full summer combined with RWA in San Antonio at the end of July has left me wondering where summer went. Are you there, too?

Dorm Socks for Kiddos
Dorm Socks for Kiddos

Both kids leave for college over the next two weeks–one for his last year undergrad and the other for her freshman year at university (do you hear the sob/chortle combo? It’s the sadness of the baby leaving the nest, with the joy of freedom for moi woven in).
Besides the omnipresent work with stories demanding my attention, the offspring have asked for “cozy dorm socks.” In appropriate university colors. Actually, oldest asked for them because a hat I knitted him was waaaay too big (Saskwatch proportions) and since I’d used super wash wool, un-shrinkable. But I’d started a lovely shrug (think Jane Austen) for my daughter, who informed me “um, Mom? I’m never going to wear a purple shrug.” Shrug ripped out, yarn re-purposed for dorm slipper-socks. Need to get the boy’s done this week. I only allow myself to knit after the words are on the page. Will I do it?

WWII Wednesday: Craft, Hobby or Necessity?

When war hits, a nation learns to adapt and throw every resource possible into the fight. In WWII women knit socks, sweaters and more for their soldiers.

Pretty yarn becomes a luxury during wartime
Pretty yarn becomes a luxury during wartime

For the War in Afghanistan and Iraq, I know of several groups and friends who have knit helmet liners for our troops. I’m an avid knitter and it’s so easy to get caught up in the luxuries of my craft–beautiful hybrid fibers dyed in magnificent colors. Yet when a soldier’s life is on the line, it’s the simple, tried-and-true items that count. Socks, a cap, gloves.

How Do You Beat the Winter Blahs?

I went to Scotland. Castles, mountains, wool, history galore. A writer’s heaven.

Where JK Rowling Wrote Harry Potter
Where JK Rowling Wrote Harry Potter
As a kid in Western New York I loved winter and faced total confusion as my grandparents complained about the cold and snow. As long as I could make a snow man, ice skate, or even better, go sledding/tobogganing, I was thrilled.

Edinburgh Sun Rise
Edinburgh Sun Rise
The years have blinked by and now I “get” what they meant. It’s tough to drive in ice and snow, and worse to walk in it, especially in Russia where the ice can be inches thick on the sidewalks. If it’s hard for me and I consider myself in okay shape, how hard it must be for the elderly who need to walk to get to the kiosk that sells their favorite (most affordable) fruit or bread.

Swan on Loch Ness
Swan on Loch Ness
My children get a week off at the end of February for Winter Break, and we used the off-season prices to afford a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland. Friends and family in the States thought we were crazy–Scotland, in the winter? It’ll be cold, rainy, miserable! Nope. It was chilly the first few days, but a relative heat wave to us. And the last couple of days were downright balmy. In the 30’s at night, but 40’s, maybe even 50 during the day.

Edinburgh Castle--View from The Elephant House
Edinburgh Castle–View from The Elephant House
Enjoy the photos–if you’re still in the grips of Father Frost, wherever you are, I hope they give you hope for the coming Spring. By the way, it’s 9 degrees Fahrenheit as I write, -2 wind chill.

Do You See Any Literary Fairy Dust in the Air?
Do You See Any Literary Fairy Dust in the Air?