Time

A friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer.  Lots of people get cancer, that's not what makes him special.  His cancer is aggressive.  A year ago he did not have it.  Now he has just a few months to live.  What makes my friend special is his attitude.  I have never seen anyone with such a positive outlook.  He's quite sure that he's in God's hands and that whatever happens is God's will for him.  He's on his second round of Chemo.  The first didn't work.

So, why is he in my Blog?  Because he has made the most of the time he has left.  He has mended fences and grown closer to his kids and (ex) wife.  He is planning for the future - the next few months.  He has not given up and never will, IMO.  I was shocked at the level of "taking care of business" that he has tackled.  Things like house, car, life insurance, etc.  Making sure his affairs are in order to the tiniest detail.  I'm quite sure that's a hard thing to do.  You might think doing those things makes for some grim, dark days, but no, he's quite upbeat about it all.  Amazing!!

My suggestion to you is that you remember this man in your darkest hours.  Remember how positive his outlook has remained.  Remember to express yourself to your loved ones.  They probably know you love them, but do they know how much?

Finally, make something for them.  Nothing says I love you like a homemade gift.  It can be cookies, candy, a homemade dinner, a scarf, a hat, house slippers, a scrapbook page with pictures of you together, anything.  Show them you care enough to spend time on and with them.  Time is what my friend doesn't have, but he's found time to show his family how much he really cares.  You probably have more time than he does.  How are you spending it?

If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
'Til eternity passes away
 Just to spend them with you

December pattern: Karen's Amazing Hat

This one got too round on the top.  Oops!  Everyone makes mistakes.  It proves that it's handmade!!

I love my yarn.  If I didn't, I wouldn't knit, crochet or weave with it.  Why do I love it so much?  Because it does such amazing things while looking and feeling great.  In celebration of my yarn and the giving season, I have a super stretchy reversible hat pattern for you and it's free!

Karen's Amazing Hat by Karen Page.

This pattern was inspired by looking at other patterns and wanting just a little bit more, or less than what I could find.  So, I just made up my own.  And I'm sharing!

Yarn: FAS SW Merino DK, one skein,  Color used is Meditative Reflections.  36 stitches=4" in 2X2 rib.  Buy your yarn here:  www.TheFineArtofSlow.com/yarn.
Alternate Yarn:  FAS Round Sock Yarn, 4 Ply, one skein, held double throughout, in Meditative Reflections.    36 stitches=4" in 2X2 rib.  Note that the colors blend and become more subtle when holding two strands together.
You will need a similar weight yarn in a contrast color.  I used some synthetic yarn I had on hand, about 3-4 yards should be plenty.

**** Please be aware that you may not get the same results if you substitute yarn.  This pattern fits small child up through adult, but only if you make it with stretchy yarn! ****

Circular Knitting needles, 3.75 mm, US 5.  36 stitches =4" in 2X2 rib.

Gauge is not as important for this pattern because the stretchy pattern and stretchy yarn combine to make a super stretchy hat!

OK, now that all that is out of the way, here's the actual pattern, first the short version, then with helping hints.

1.  Cast on 100 stitches with a crocheted provisional cast on.  In case you are unfamiliar with this cast on, simply make a chain with a crochet hook and a contrasting yarn longer than 100 stitches and pull up a loop to knit with through the back of each crochet stitch, using the main yarn color.
2.  Join to work in the round.
3.  Work in 2x2 rib for 4 inches. (Knit 2, Purl 2)
4.  Work 2 rounds in pattern with a contrasting color yarn.
5.  Work 2 rounds in pattern with main color.
6.  Remove provisional cast on waste yarn, placing the stitches on a spare circle needle.
7.  Knit the cast on edge and the live edge together.
8.  Knit until piece is 6 inches long.
9. Place markers every 20 stitches (5) around work.
10.  *Work in pattern to marker, slip marker, knit two together through back loop, repeat from * until there are 20 stitches remaining.
11.  Knit two together through back loop until you have 6 stitches left, removing markers.
12.  Break yarn and use a tapestry needle to slip the yarn end through all the stitches.
13.  Pull to close the opening, fasten off and run in ends.

Using a crocheted provisional cast on, cast on 100 stitches. (In case you are unfamiliar with this cast on, simply make a chain with a crochet hook and a contrasting yarn longer than 100 stitches and pull up a loop to knit with through the back of each crochet stitch, using the main color.) If you are making this for an adult with a large head, increase to 120, 140, etc.  Just remember to adjust your markers and that the existing size fits me and my head is not small.  Did I say the hat is amazingly stretchy?

Join in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.

K2, P2 until the work is 4 inches long.

Change to contrast color and knit in pattern (knit 2 purl 2) for two rounds.

Change to main color and knit in pattern for two rounds.

Remove the provisional cast on, picking up the stitches.  I use a smaller diameter circular needle for this.  It doesn't really matter what needle you use, but I would not use a larger needle because it will be harder to knit those stitches.

Keeping in pattern, knit and purl the two live sets of stitches together, putting the loose ends from the cast on edge inside the tube that is forming.  This is like a three needle bind off, but you aren't binding off.  You're just knitting them together.  This makes the "ear" portion of the hat double thickness.  I live in Oklahoma and have to feed animals during the windy and cold winters.  A good hat is a must have item.  One of my pet peeves has been that hats don't keep your ears covered enough.  This one does!!

***NOTE:  The contrasting color stripe is what makes it reversible (and different on each side).  The line of contrast color is only on one side of these two ends of the same fabric. ***

Once you have connected the two ends, continue in pattern until the hat reaches 6 inches from the folded over lower edge.  At this point, add stitch markers every 20 stitches, which will place 5 markers around.  If you made your hat bigger, you will need to adjust the markers accordingly.

From this point on, Knit the Knits and Purl the Purls.  After each marker,  Knit two together through the back loop, even if one is a purl stitch.

When you are down to 20 stitches (30 for a more rounded look), Knit two together around, until you have 6 stitches.  At this point, break the yarn and use a tapestry needle to pull the yarn through the remaining stitches and pull together to close the hole.  Tie off and weave in your loose end.

If you put the other ends inside the two halves of the doubled portion, you won't have to weave in those ends.

That's it!  Now you have a hat with two beautiful sides.  One with a contrast line, one without.

My beautiful model is Lisa Page, age 12.

Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays!
Happy Hanukkah!
And a wonderful new year!

www.thefineartofslow.com

Making the most of what we have.

Sometimes you can bite off more than you can chew.  You know the feeling.  Oh, sure!  No problem.  I can wash 10 cars in one day, by myself.  Not!  We all have to know our limitations.  But we also need to know how to make the most of what we can do.

Isn't this a lovely fall picture!?

So, if my goal is to offer 5 different yarns in 10 color ways, I'm going to have a hard time keeping stock in ALL of them.  So, I offer to custom dye the yarn bases.  These can be in my colorways, or I can make one up for you.  See?  I went from keeping close to 100 skeins dyed at any one time to keeping maybe a dozen at a time.  Of course, there is a down side to that.  I don't have a good excuse to "use up" all that extra yarn on my projects.  <sigh>  Oh!!  I know!  I can "make Christmas presents".  OK, so a couple of them might be a present for me.  That's OK, too.  Sometimes we have to do something for ourselves.  You matter, too!  Don't ever forget that.

As for Christmas presents, maybe I'll wait and see which relatives drools over which color.  That's a pretty good sign that it would be a great match and very much appreciated.  The greatest gift we can give another person is to care enough to notice the little things.  What foods do they like, colors, temperature in the car, it's all part of the jigsaw puzzle that makes up each person.

Until next time - pamper yourself a little and do something nice for someone else, too.

Knitting for mental health

Today I want to talk about knitting to relieve stress. Lion Brand Yarn posted a story about knitting in the waiting room of ICU and surgery rooms. The story is about a woman named Carol and her infant daughter who wound up in neonatal ICU and having surgeries for years after that. Today her daughter is doing fine and has a career in the healthcare field the story ends well, but waiting in the ICU waiting room, unable to go and comfort her daughter, she could not read.  She couldn't watch TV. She could just sit there.  Until she remembered knitting, which she had done before and so she knitted while her daughter was in surgeries and while her daughter was being cared for in an ICU that she was not able to enter, except during visiting hours. Luckily those days are gone when our loved ones are in ICU and we are not allowed to be with them as much as possible.  Now we understand that being with our loved ones during their time of stress is very important, not just to us, the relatives and friends to see how they're doing, but to them as well.  Knitting for wellbeing, knitting for health, knitting for healing. It's a concept that I can fully support.  People may think you're crazy for knitting or making your own yarn, but the truth is yarn is very relaxing.  It's a way to focus yourself and regain control especially when you feel like control has been taken away from you.

Www.projectknitwell.org

Take a look at their website. Maybe you can participate.  You can donate money, you can donate supplies and you can volunteer to teach others how to knit during their times of stress.  In my mind it's not just the loved ones of the sick,  it is anyone who has to wait, including the patient.

Pass on what you have learned.  Teach someone to knit, spin, weave or ride a horse.  Someone taught you, so pay it forward.  And what better way to pay it forward than teaching a worried parent or spouse to knit?  Helping others is therapy for you, too!

This rooster picture is just because he's gorgeous!

Being where you need to be right now.

Pour a cup of tea and pull up a chair.  I'm not too long winded this time, so enjoy.

A cute crocheted "thing".

Sometimes we think we know what we need, but then we are shown what we really need. 

I think it's hard to know what we really need until we try a few things and maybe fail a lot.  Or you could be one of those people that succeed at everything.  I don't think this is for people like that, but please feel free to read on.

My daughter on her small pony.  Breezie was great and is now with another family, being adored!

Sometimes you need one thing now, but you outgrow it.  I wouldn't want my daughter to try and ride her small pony when she is ready for a large horse, but when she was only 5, she didn't have the strength to control my big horses.

Drop spindles are a great start into spinning - low tech and low cost.

So, maybe now you need to be in the moment of learning knitting, then later on you might want to learn spinning.  But regardless of where you are at, you need to be focused on where you are now.  Sound simple?  Yeah, but I am always looking ahead to the next thing.  I need to ride the young horse, so he learns how to be ridden.  But I want to be galloping him down the trail at the lake, whooping and hollering like a wild thing.  Needless to say, he's not quite ready for that.  Sometimes you have to be where your companion can join you.

This is the spinning wheel I chose.  A huge step up from a spindle, but not nearly as portable.

Once a year, I go to my daughter's school and demonstrate how to make yarn.  Kids like hands on, so I take lots of different fibers and some ready made yarn.  If I have a rabbit, I take that too!  What fun!  It's a blast for me and them.  I get thank you's from boys and girls for the rest of the school year, even from kids who have seen it 2-3 times!

Once you have learned something, it often helps to teach it to someone else to help you to the next level.  It's amazing how much you learn about yourself by answering the question of "what's different about these two?" The enthusiasm of youth can be infectious if you go with it.  Let your joy fill them and their joy fill you.  Who needs drugs when you can get high on each other!?

Welcome

The Fine Art of Slow is a concept I've been working on for a while now.  What is it?  A way of life.  It's slowing down to enjoy the little things in life.  But it's also about handcrafted gifts and unique one of a kind items.

Sock in progress - commercial yarn

I sell yarn that I dyed myself.  I take my time and enjoy the process.  I think I'm just the start, though.  I believe positive energy can be infused into lovingly made items.  So, I'm giving the yarn a good start. Then it's up to you to continue.  Take your time and enjoy the process!

Close up of yarn I dyed and knit.

Why is slowing down so important to me?  My brother, Frank.  He lived more in his 37 years than most people fit into 80.  He wasn't living today for a retirement in 40 years.  He seized life by the horns and went out sliding sideways.  Not all of us are going to be like him, but all of us can strive to enjoy every moment of our lives.

I dyed this sock and knit it, too.

In high school, I started crocheting. I also did a lot of cross stitch.  I enjoyed every minute.  I also rode horses, raised goats, chickens, rabbits, etc.  I truly love farm life.  It took me many years to come full circle back to farm life.  I shear my llamas, comb or card the wool, blend it with other fibers, spin it into yarn.  I'm way too slow to ever sell my handspun yarn, though.  I also dye my yarn and yarn I've purchased, knit, crochet, weave and design projects.  That's a lot!

I love the pooling and striping!

Why so much?  I love it!  I love creating.  I'll share some of everything I do with you.  Including my farm life with llamas, horses, cats, a dog, chickens and the occasional rabbit, goat or sheep.  Do stay tuned to learn more!

www.thefineartofslow.com

Being present in the moment

In Mid-September 2015, we were at an endurance ride.  That's a sport where people pay for the honor of riding up to 100 miles in one day, on horseback.  It's a blast!  And the people involved are incredible.  Of course, I have to admit that I'm riding at the "baby" level, 25 miles.  My wording on that, BTW.

This is my stallion, right before he became a gelding.  My daughter, Lisa is leading him.  I ride him in Limited Distance rides.

But that's not really what I'm writing about.  I always pack everything but the kitchen sink.  So, I took knitting and spinning things with me, along with my kindle, phone, laptop, DVD's, refrigerator, microwave ...  You get the picture.  Good thing I have a back seat in the truck and a large dressing room in the trailer.

Hand dyed fingering weight silk.

So there I am with my knitting.  And I even pull it out to work on it while I'm waiting for riders to come in to the vet check.  What was I thinking!?  I think I knitted one or two rounds all weekend.  I came to the conclusion that I needed to live that weekend in the now.  And that's what I did.  I learned a lot.  That's what happens when you are present in the now.

Hand dyed worsted weight wool.

Be present now!  And always be willing to learn, most especially when you think you have nothing to learn.  There's always something to learn.

My stallion before we started riding long distances.  Being overweight is no healthier for a horse than a human.

Fill your days with joy, stay open to ideas and learn something new every day.

I'm learning how to spin on a spinning wheel, how to design my own socks, dying yarn better and better, being a better parent, day by day.  What are you learning?  Remember, learning isn't about having a college class to learn in.  It's about absorbing your experiences, acknowledging both the good and "improvable" (lets not use the "b" word) and finally applying what you've learned.  Then the cycle starts all over again.

Hand dyed worsted weight wool.

www.thefineartofslow.com