I’m Back!

Hey everyone! Remember me? Well, here I am, still an insomniac and getting over a back issue.  Actually, I developed back pain about a week ago that kept me from wheel and kiln until yesterday. Anyhow, I’m much better and eager to get back in the studio. 🙂

Here’s a sneak peek at a couple of things I was able to finish before my back turned on me.

First up is a  medium sized sized, textured vase –

Next, a sweet little ring bowl –

I especially love the green shades inside this little bowl!

These will be going up in my Etsy shop,ClayDreamsPottery in the next few days, as soon as I can take a breather from playing pottery catch up!

Knowledge is addictive. Keep it up.  Teresa Sjoquist

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Lather Rinse Repeat/4 a.m. Is Better Than 2 a.m.

THURSDAY MORNING

So – it’s been a busy few weeks. I set up an Etsy shop, ClayDreamsPottery and have been putting a lot of hours writing and rewriting, tweaking and retweaking my shop stuff, working at getting more pots photographed and listed.  This is much harder than it should be since I’m a bit technophobic, computer illiterate and way out of my comfort zone when I encounter something unfamiliar computer wise. I have to reinvent the wheel over and over again. I’m figuring it out slowly but surely.

Today, I’m running a full bisque kiln this morning, then tomorrow or Saturday go into a glazing frenzy, then finally run a glaze kiln. I guess one good thing about insomnia is that I can start all this  2 a.m.

I’m anxious to see how the spiny things turn out.  I plan to stain them, fire them and then lace them back together with a thin leather thong.  I hope it’s going to match the picture I’ve been carrying around in my head for a long time.

FYI – The spiny things behaved exactly how I’d hoped (for once)!  The toothpicks burned away, leaving perfectly shaped holes for lacing them together later. I LOVE it when a plan comes together!

SATURDAY

Wow, I slept late this morning – til a whole 4 a.m.! If you guessed this week wasn’t exactly a good one sleepwise, in other ways it absolutely rocked. Let’s see. What happened this week? OK, got it.

• Mr. Insomniac had cataract surgery on his right eye on Wednesday morning and is doing great! He is seeing better than he’s ever seen, 20/30 on the right about 24 hours after surgery.
• I sold a pot in my Etsy shop, ClayDreamsPottery
• I’ve had time to work on several knitting projects that have been languishing for what seems like forever. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I also have a knitting blog.  You can check out this particular alter ego at http://iknead2knit.net.
• Filled a pew at Mass last Sunday with nearly the entire fam, three grands, a son, a daughter in law that I love, my bestie, who happens to be dear d-i- l’s mother, me and Mr. Insomniac.
• Successful glaze firing of pots to restock my Etsy shop.  Shop update is tentatively scheduled for April 22.

I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on man unless they act. G. K. Chesterton

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Dixie 8 Handknit Socks 0, WIP Wednesday

This little angel is waging war on my handknit socks!

I’m beginnning to think I  need to buy a safe…she manages to find and destroy at least one sock of a pair.  She’s learned to knock the clothes hamper over to pull out the socks.  I’m trying to cut her some slack, she’s still a puppy, but her taste for handknits and Mr. iknead’s azaleas is making me want to tear my hair out.

ON MY NEEDLES

This is about the fourth attempt at getting started on this.

Droplets Shawl

Knitpicks

Airy Yarn from Unique Chic Studios

80% Tussah Silk/20% Merino

I think I finally have a handle on it – I hope so anyway!

ONE MORE THING

I’d like to invite you to visit my new Etsy shop, ClayDreamsPottery..  I plan to update every other Monday morning, but now, I’m slowly adding things, but I’d love for you to come have a look around.  I hope you like it!!!!!!!

Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly. Plutarch

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By the Sea

I joined The Handmade Sock Society’s Season Two sock club this week.  Since the theme is “A Sanctuary by the Sea, I thought it fitting that the project yarn I’m using is Knitpicks Stroll in the colorway Seashell Tonal. I love the soft pink and grays of this yarn!

 

You can find my project notes here.

One more thing – I’ve started a pottery blog, The Insomniac Potter. I hope you’ll pay us a visit!

An ounce of emotion is equal to a ton of facts. John Junor

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It’s Been A While, Hasn’t It?

Here I am, attempting to jumpstart what used to be so easy, the habit of knocking out a blog post a couple of times a week and following the blogs I particularly enjoy, of which there are many – keeping up with what others are reading or knitting, baking or making music and/or just what’s going on outside the realm of Casa Coleman. I don’t know if you’ve missed me, but I’ve missed you and it feels good to be back.❤️

FIRST THINGS FIRST

The newest grand — then and now:

and we can’t forget big sisters…

OK everyone! It’s time to stop growing and changing – at least for a little while – I’m not finished loving this stage yet!

Now for the Bangkok branch update:

As you can see, they too are growing and changing much, much more quickly than I want!

NEXT INSTALLMENT – Knitting and throwing, ringing and reading and whatever else catches my fancy!

Whoever is happy will make others happy too. Anne Frank

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Knit All The Things, Finish None of Them (A Temporary Situation, I Hope)

ON MY NEEDLES

Due to an overwhelming case of wanting to cast on all the things, my WIP to FO ratio has fallen so far as to be nonexistent.  Every time I pick up whatever catches my eye in the WIP pile, I swear to myself that THIS IS THE ONE, the one that will spark my stick-to-a-tive-ness and soon it will move from the Land of WIPS into the Paradise of FOs. Yeah, still working on that.

Work continues on the Simple Skype Socks.  Link to my project page here.

This project probably would have been finished if I hadn’t noticed a few rows that were cataclysmically   screwed up.  I finally ended up frogging them completely, after trying for at least an hour to tink them back.  Lesson learned, don’t try to tink on the last leg of a 20+ hour trip.  It’s much more efficient to rip and start over.

Don’t even ask me what this hot mess is.  I think it’s a bit of handspun that I decided keep as a single.  This obviously was a mistake on my part.  I got busy and plied it into a double and we’re all a lot happier with the result.  See?

Found my notes on this hot mess!  Yay!  Organic Polwarth from Three Waters Farm Top of the Month Club in Maple and Hickory.

ON MY WHEEL

This is slowly becoming this –

 I’m working on spinning this lovely roving close to laceweight, hoping to end up with a nice sock yarn after plying – a challenge. This roving is from, you guessed it, Three Waters Farm Top of the Month  Club.  It’s a Blueface Leicester wool and called Living Color.

Anybody can make history.  Only a great man can write it.  Oscar Wilde

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Oops, It’s Been Awhile, Hasn’t It?, Lots of Excitement at Casa Coleman and Happy Easter!

It seems that the harder I try to plan and always, always intend to sit down and blog at least a few lines about whatever is catching my attention, somehow, it never happens.  I also know that one of the keys to blogging regularly is planning, which I’ve thrown aside for the last little while – stream of consciousness anyone??

Like I said in the title, lots of  excitement here at Casa Coleman these past few weeks, here are a couple of the high points….

After a run of five little grandgirls in a row, Babymama, Babydaddy, Baby Diva and the Elf are set to welcome a new BABY BOY this summer!  We’re all very very excited — think hitting the lottery or winning the Superbowl!  At their last ultrasound, Baby Boy cooperated beautifully, allowing a good shot of (ahem) what little boys are made of. 🤗

Next, our Bangkok trip is pretty much upon us; we leave Wednesday – DAY AFTER TOMORROW!!! This is about the time that my anticipation usually gets the best of me and I become very scattered, trying to do too many things at once without really accomplishing anything.  I’ve been mentally packing for days and tried on last summer’s shorts just to be sure they still fit (they do! Yay!), next to try – swimsuit – which isn’t something I ever look forward to. ☹️

As usual, I have several things on my needles, but only one WIP that I’ve made real progress on.

Julie’s Sweater

All this baby is lacking is the cowl neck and the second sleeve.  I’m debating whether or not to carry it to Bangkok, 25-30 hours of flight (knitting) time would just about do it.  It’s just a lot of sweater in what I’m afraid will be a small space.  Maybe Mr. iknead and I will get lucky and the third seat will be unoccupied, providing me with more elbow room and a place to put all my knitting essentials.  It’s happened before. 🤞🤞🤞

Spinning continues on the Summer Palette roving, but should be finished before we leave.

Summer Palette

Roving from Three Waters Farm

The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do.  The hard part is doing it.  Norman Schwarzkopf

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Hurray! I Did It!

Remember my blurb about having to resubscribe to follow my new self hosted blog yesterday???  Well, a little digging on my part revealed that I CAN migrate my followers to my new site and so I did.  Yay!   Anything that makes it easier to follow my blog makes me very happy!  So, if you are already following, you don’t have to do a thing…I took care of it.  If you haven’t been following and would like to, go to Follow This Blog in the left sidebar, fill in your email address and you are good to go.  Welcome aboard!

Simplicity is the key to brilliance.  Bruce Lee

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New iknead2knit.com blog post

Find my latest blog post here.

A BIT OF BLOGKEEPING

Unfortunately, when I moved from a wordpress.com blog to a self hosted blog, I was unable to bring my followers with me. So, if you are a follower and would like to continue to follow, please resubscribe. If you are a new subscriber- Welcome Aboard! Glad to have you! Many thanks!

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Heads Up!, BFF

BOLO

After months of “can I?”, “should I?”, “but I know next to nothing about”, “this makes me nervous”, “I’m definitely doing it!”, “maybe I should stick with what I know” and finally, “no guts, no glory”, I did it.  I have a website!  I do!  Mine!  Nothing much is going to change, it’s going to look different (I’ve been toying with the idea of changing the look of my blog for a while) and I’ll have a lot more options available, like using Javascript or HTML to add things I want my blog to contain, more storage, more security and since it’s my site, I’m the boss.

Since I know next to nothing or less about computers and codes and stuff, I decided to use Godaddy.com for site management, handling backup, security, updates, all the stuff that goes into maintaining a website.  I get to do all of the blogging fun stuff, I suppose it’s one of those “all of the pleasure, none of the guilt” things.

I’m hoping to go live with iknead2knit.com on Monday, 1/26/15 and plan on keeping iknead2knit.wordpress.com going for a little while, probably  mostly with links to the new site, hoping to make an easy transition.  As always, I’m always open to suggestions; I know there are a lot of bloggers who are old hands at this website stuff, and any tricks or tips will be appreciated.

GRAND ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT

Up until the last month or so, the grands and Josie the Pug weren’t a good mix.  Not because she doesn’t like kids- she LOVES them- but her being who she is, a lot of dog in a small body, and very exuberant, with lots of snorting, the littles were intimidated, shrieking and running whenever she got a little too close.  This was more than a little upsetting for Mr. iknead and me, having to keep Josie and the grands separated, usually with Josie having to be either in her kennel, in another room or boarded.  So hard!  Anyhow, all this changed over the last month or so and now, the Papoose, the Sprout and Josie are the biggest, bestest friends forever!  Yeah, Mr. iknead and I are pretty much over the moon about it.  Look.

How bout that!  Heaven for us all!

The trick is in what one emphasizes.  We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves happy.  The amount of work is the same.  Carlos Castaneda

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Small Potatoes

OH MY ACHING INBOX

Know what?  In the grand scheme of things, whether or not my internet is or is not working just really isn’t a big deal, it’s nothing and I’ve spent waaaay too much time and energy fussing and fuming about it.  I’ve been too busy bitching and moaning to do things that, to me, are much more important – like reading other blogs,commenting and responding to the comments others leave for me.  It’s not about pretty postings and perfect pics, it’s about community, connecting and communicating and really, it’s all good.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.  When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.  Lao Tzu

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Abundance

SOUL FOOD

I’ve been sort of hit or miss with blogging these past few weeks, and I’ve missed sitting down and putting my thoughts in order and then onto paper or into my iPad.  I’ve been too busy painting or drawing (these are new things for me) or reading or knitting or baking or gardening or art journaling or throwing pots or grandmothering or any of the other things that grab my interest.  Here’s the perfect description for what I’m blessed with – an embarrassment of riches.  According to (all-knowing) Wiki, an embarrassment of riches is an idiom that means an overabundance of something, or too much of a good thing.  All these things do more than keep me occupied – they feed my soul, I guess you could say I have an embarrassment of blessings.  With all the above said, I think what I really mean is “Thanks, God, for everything”.

Now, moving along…

ON THE NEEDLES

A pair of Los Manos Locos or Crazy Monkey Socks, a twist on Cookie A’s awesome Monkey Socks, toe up and purl-less.

This colorway is called Java Jive and I’m loving how it’s knitting up.  You can find out more about this yarn here.

The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.  Carl Jung

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