Time lapse...

It amazes me how fast life changes. We get very busy. Life throws us a curve ball every now and then, and it just takes a while to work with it and make adjustments.

We managed to get through the first partial week of the school year and then, sadly, that weekend my husband's grandmother passed away. It really came as a shock because she had just (seemingly) recovered from some major health issues with her heart that she experienced back in April. We almost lost her back then. Somehow, against very bad odds, she made it through the recovery. It's sad to lose her after all of the hardships she endured, but then again, she was able to do a few last things that she wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. Mainly, she got to see two more of her great-grandchildren come into the world. That has to count for something...

In this time I've had to work several extra hours (it was my MIL's mom that passed on, and as I work part-time for my MIL it meant that there were some extra days that needed to be covered at work), so I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on dyeing fiber for the shop, and I definitely haven't had a lot of time to spin, but I have managed to finish a number of things in the time I haven't been blogging. Here are a few of the UFO's which are now done...

Socks for my SIL knit from the handspun in this post...

The Waffles sweater for Paige -knit from kettle-dyed Knit Picks Bare Merino sock yarn (Paige was very pleased with me for finally getting this one done)...

And most recently this Ishbel for my grandmother's birthday. I was really proud of this one, not just because it's a shawl, but because (for once) I knitted this one on time (actually, I had a whole week to spare before gifting it) and that is a very rare occurrence.

Now that things are finally calming down a bit, I've been relishing the few minutes here and there when I get to sit down at my wheel. I'm slowly working my way towards finishing my Angel Lace Shawl, though there's no hurry for that one. It's coming along beautifully, and I'm looking forward to finishing it (so I can wear it -it'll be getting cold soon), but for now I'm just enjoying being able to take my time with it, savoring every stitch.

So that's what has been going on. I'm hoping that this weekend things around here will fall into place (at least mostly), and I'm hoping to get some fiber dyed and more spinning done once the household cleaning is all caught-up.

P.S. Lately I've had some wonderful messages from people sharing pictures of the yarns they've spun from my fibers & knitting projects with (which have all been lovely) and I've been considering starting a Flickr group so that they can share them with everyone. Is there any interest for this? Please feel free to voice your opinion in the comments. =)

Queen of the night...

I know I've been lazy about the blogging lately, and what I'm about to share isn't relevant to fiber at all... Still, it's special.

This is my favorite house plant. It goes by a handful of different names, but one of the most common (and easy to remember) is Queen of the Night.

It's a kind of succulent. This kind of plant doesn't bloom often and only at night when it does. By the time the sun comes up, the blooms wilt and fall to the ground, so it's a very special occasion when you get to see them (at least it's very special to me).

This plant was grown from a cutting taken from a plant belonging to my family's beach house before it was sold. The plant couldn't be taken from the house because it's home was in the garden room of the house and it was firmly rooted in the dirt floor. It was also ancient (as far as house plants are concerned). I'm guessing it was around 30 years old. When it bloomed, it really bloomed. Because of it's age, it would have blooms, usually 4-7 a night, every night for a couple of weeks. Along with their visual beauty, these blooms have a lovely scent.

I'm celebrating this occasion and sharing it here on the blog because this house plant of mine is about 7 years old and this is it's very first bloom. This particular plant had me fooled into thinking that it wasn't ever going to do anything. Mostly I held onto it because of it's sentimental value. Then, one day it just surprised me. I guess it's another good thing worth waiting for. =)