Rain, Shelter, and Loft

So many posts have been started and rejected in the last few days. The King fire has been raging and so has the smoke in our little town, and my mood. The whole town felt crappy and I had nothing nice to say. All I could do is spit venom.

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This picture should give you an idea of how we all felt. A big thank you to Rick Ewald for letting me use it. And a thank you for being braver than me and going outdoors to take this picture for all of us.

This morning, waking up to the sound of rain, had me opening the windows and admiring the sound closer up from under my covers. Sad to say, it’s not even noon and the rain is over. Wonder how the firefighters feel? Is it muddy? Is the rain helping extinguish the fire or just making it harder to fight?

Toby’s hotshot crew is moving from the King fire to the Cascade fire. It’s only 35 acres at this point. But I believe it’s in the Tahoe National Forest and after all they are the Tahoe Hotshots. the last time I met and talked with Toby he was coughing away with a respiratory illness that he shared with the rest of the crew. I can only imagine how they sound right now after inhaling the King fire smoke up close. Somehow we should have the technology to protect our wildland firefighters.

The cowl I’m knitting had so much smoke and bad vibes knit into it that it needed the cleansing. The rain washed all the smoke and vibes away and the cowl is left with pure good energy. Instead of choking the recipient, it will lay cozy around their neck.

Last weekend I got a chance to score some yarn at A Verb For Keeping Warm in Oakland.  A sweater in the new Brooklyn Tweed collection knocked my socks off.

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I want to fit into that sweater. I need that sweater, but I’ll settle for Liana having it. Since the yarn, Shelter, is a little pricey, I got a couple of skeins at Verb to test drive. And while there I thought I’d try some of the Loft yarn.

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This yarn photographs very nicely, but in reality the colors are much duller. The yarn also tears very easily. When I cast on I tend to pull on the yarn, can’t do that here unless I want shredded yarn. If I cast on very gently it works, when knitting I had no issues. It is the softest yarn. I thought it might be itchy or scratchy, but no, super soft and gentle.

That said, I will not be using it for the sweater. The price is too rich and I could not find a color I would be happy with. So I ordered a substitute and am keeping my fingers crossed. Should arrive Saturday. What to do with these skeins? A hat, of course.

Unfortunately I not only left yarn money at Verb but also indulged in a little fabric. You know how that goes. I’ll just take a look and since I don’t need fabric I won’t be tempted. Nice try, Marianna.

The first fabric to call out to me, actually shouted out, brought memories of my childhood. This fabric could have come out of any child’s book I was reading in Germany.

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And almost, and I really mean almost, I got away, until I discovered the following while she was cutting the previous.

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From then on, it was shutting my eyes and mind tightly to not let another expense in.

So what will I do with the fabric? Why? Do I need to do something beyond stare at it and touch it?

Other people get happy having a glass of wine, I get happy looking at my fabric. And ecstatic and downright drunk looking and touching my yarn.

And now to the neglected baby sweater. Oh, the intentions were good. But then the package arrived with the yarn for the next project, and what can I say that I haven’t said so many times before? I’m fickle, I’m a yarn addict, I’m a start a new project every day addict….

But I am almost finished.

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I know it looks an awful lot like the last picture I posted of this little gem, but notice the arms. I still need to weave in lots of ends, sew down the seams all around and add a button band or some sort of band. It’s not that cold yet, I have time. I do, really.

Tomorrow I’ll show you the cowl with all the good vibes.

 

You’re Welcome

Hold all the thank yous.

Galileo Galilei, sorry, you had it wrong. I understand, because I was born so many years later and you could not have known. But here I am at the center of the universe.

Knowing we’re having a drought in California I knew it would be perfectly safe to make some major changes to our house that needed the storage of many items outside, exposed to the elements. Since the only element to consider right now is the sun, we were good to go.

Once all the shit stuff was outside and I’m in the middle of a huge chaos exchanging one room for another, rain! I rescued all the belongings that needed shelter and kept the rest outside. Probably did them a lot of good to wash the dust off a bit.

So, yes, of course it was going to rain, and you’re all welcome.

Since I find the pictures I could take of the big chaos very depressing, I’ll post some other photos of a phenomenon yesterday.

It’s a massive pyrocumulous cloud from the King Fire. Before I confuse you with describing that kind of cloud, I’ll send you over to wiki to read all about it. And I’ll share an impressive photo from the Wildland Firefighter Foundation taken from Lake Tahoe last night:

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Today was a super exciting day because Toby is home for his two day r and r period and we got to go out for breakfast. Unfortunately he’s very sick with constant coughing, respiratory problems, and headache, all of which he shares with the rest of his crew.

No time for the weary, they’re back to some fire tomorrow.

As usual I took a picture of young and old man.

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