Dear Stitches,

I can’t believe it’s already been a week since we spent our last few hours together. It’s so different here and your Daddy and I have been so sad. I guess I knew somewhere in my heart that afternoon that when you didn’t eat your pumpkin seeds and you looked like you were trying so hard to breathe that we probably weren’t going to bring you home when your Daddy said it was time to take you to the vet, but I just didn’t want to believe it.

You were such a brave little girl. It’s been just over a year since I found your third tumor. I really wish we could have asked you if you wanted surgery again but we’re just too dumb to understand more than the basics of Bunny. I wish we spoke your language better. But we just couldn’t see putting you through that for a third time with the chance that it could come back AGAIN. And after we talked to the vet here in February I sometimes wonder if we should have even done the first two. You suffered so much in your short little life. It seems to unfair. And yet you were always so brave and upbeat. The last year we had been expecting the end so many times and you just kept on going. I guess I thought that maybe it didn’t have to end, but of course it does, for everyone.

I’m sorry we weren’t with you when you left but I hope you know that it was the best we could do to minimize your suffering. The vet said after the gas when he tried to give you that last injection the first vein he tried blew up. I’m so glad you didn’t have to feel that but I’m so sorry they wouldn’t let us be with you as you fell asleep. I hope you understand we tried to do the best for you. I really didn’t think you’d like those electric clippers.

We were so worried about leaving you alone last weekend. I hope you know we weren’t trying to rush you, but as best we could tell it was time. When your Daddy cleaned out your cage this week he found very small poops and since you had been gradually eating less and less and had refused your favorite treat we thought that was our cue. We asked the vet but he said giving you more pain killers or starting to use narcotic ones would slow down your GI tract even more. We knew it was just a matter of time.

I found the receipt from your last visit to the vet in February the other day. It was on the 28th. When the vet weighed you last week you’d lost 1/2 a pound since then. When we account for the amazing fiber you were still growing and the tumor, I’m willing to bet it was closer to a whole pound. You’d lost over a 10th of your body weight in the last 6 weeks or so. No matter how many treats we gave you, your body just couldn’t keep up.

I hope you know we tried our very best to do right by you. We tried so hard to get you better sweetie but that damn cancer just wouldn’t go away! We tried to make you as comfortable as we could. But you were breathing so hard in that last week, even when you were just sitting with me in the hallway. You were so brave sweetie. So brave. And I’m so sorry I didn’t spend more time with you in that last week. If I’d only known…

We love you so much. And your legacy is going to go on for a very long time. We gave some of your things to a shelter that has homeless bunnies. I hope they enjoy your food and some of your toys and maybe even like pumpkin seeds as much as you did. I hope they find a Mommy & Daddy that will love them and spoil them as much as we loved and spoiled you. And of course, I have all your beautiful fiber. So much I don’t even know how I’ll use it all. But it doesn’t matter right now. I have your first haircut spun up in a nice little skein I can keep forever and since I knew your last haircut was going to be your last haircut ever since it made you so uncomfortable to do it I put it in a special box and labeled it. I don’t think I’ll ever open that box.

It’s so quiet and empty here without you. When they brought us your body after you had left it I could feel the emptiness of it all the way to my core. Even when we weren’t at home this weekend I could feel how empty it was here. We miss you so much sweetie. We miss your nomming sounds and your bunny flops. We miss you just being here with us.

Thank you for everything you taught us. We were so clueless when we brought you home and you taught us so much. So much about how to be a bunny mom & dad, so much about love, so much about life. Thank you for everything you taught us. I hope you know that we tried our best. We really did. And we loved you more than I can even imagine sometimes. I don’t know if there will be another bunny in our future, but if there is we’ll be so much more well prepared thanks to you.

I’m sure Simba met you when you passed. Tell her we love her and miss her too.

Goodbye my sweet baby girl. Your time here was far too short but will be treasured forever.

Rest in peace.

Love,

Your mama

Stitches
2.7.08-4.20.12

… because I’ve been making all of this happen.

With a little help from the local retail genious (otherwise known as my husband)! I think he did a fine job with the new setup, don’t you?

See you at Clermont this weekend?

On March 21st I was sitting on the beach worried about getting a sunburn:

This week there’s talk of snow! I also had an interesting drive to the yoga studio on Wednesday that threw every possible form of precipitation at me in the course of the 1st 9 miles. And then the sun came out. O.o Gotta love New England!

Speaking of summer, would you believe that I finally finished a pair of socks I started *last* summer? The day after Christmas!

Medallion Lace Socks

Pattern: Medallion Lace Socks
Yarn: Zarzuela’s Fibers Chromatic in Navy
Needles: US 2.5
Knit: 7.29.2011-12.26.2011

This pattern was the first selected pattern for SOS last year and my delay in finishing them is by no means a commentary on the pattern. It was lovely to knit in fact but obviously life got in my way a bit. I remember at the time there were many complaints about how the pattern puckered when it was knit, but as you can see a gentle blocking took care of that.

The astute among you may also notice that my mind was apparently not with me when I picked these up after a long hiatus to try and finish them.

Uh. Yeah. Oopsie! You will also notice that I’m calling it a design element of my own creation and letting the socks live.

The yarn is my own hand dyed Chromatic Sock which is a 100% superwash BFL with a nice hard twist. It really makes a great sock yarn but as you can see in this Ravelry search there are other good uses for it too. I’m hoping to do a shawlette with my Vishuddha colorway sometime soon.

In shop news there’s only a short time left to get in on my next three month round of the Fiber Club! The first three months have been a blast so far for me and my customers and I’m looking forward to the next three months.

If you want to see my work in person I’ve also got two shows coming up. On April 21st (with a rain date of the 22nd) I’ll be at The Chancellor’s Sheep & Wool Showcase in Germantown, NY and on June 9th I’ll be at the Squam Spring Art Fair in NH. I love meeting customers in person so if you’re nearby to any of these events please come out and say hello!

I hope to have a few more knitting projects to share next time but it seems like my knitting pace is pretty slow these days. I’m grateful though because I’m teaching 4 classes at the studio and starting to find some private students as well and I couldn’t be happier with the work I’m doing. It’s really nice when the universe seems to listen when you ask for what you need.

See you next time!

… I guess I’d better use this thing! LOL!

Life is trucking on. Since my last post I’ve had a birthday, added 2 more yoga classes to my teaching schedule, lost one and we’ve changed our minds about our future car buying at least three times. There’s nothing quite like making a decision about something only to get an email the VERY next morning that turns that decision on its head! The universe has an interesting sense of humor sometimes so we take a deep breath and roll with it as best we can.

So since you probably came here for fiber related stuff, and all my current knitting is not ready for public consumption, here’s a better-late-than-never showing of the Christmas knitting I did.

My “boss” at the yoga studio is a Hello Kitty fanatic so I dyed up a special “Hi Kitty” colorway for her on superwash merino:

Spun it up:

And knit a quick cowl:

She’s a fan of scarves and neck coverings of various types so it was well received.

Next up was a hat for my grandpa:

It was a last second thought as we had other gifts for him. The strokes he had required draining through surgery to open up his skull in multiple places so I thought a nice soft and warm hat would be welcome to protect him while he was healing. Sadly, he never got to open any of his gifts but this one went in the casket with him.

I also decided to make a hat for my Dad. He likes to be outdoors quite a bit, even in the colder months, so I wanted something heavy and warm that would protect his ears well with an extra layer. Both of these hats loosely followed this pattern and this one was made from leftover handspun from this sweater.

Long time readers may remember that the yarn for that sweater was three ply and the sweater itself weighs about a million pounds so you won’t be surprised to know the hat was definitely heavy and warm. Also a little on the big side but not unwearable at least. I swear I need all my family members to send me measurements for anything that can be covered in knitting…

After finally finishing the socks that were supposed to be a present for Christmas 2011 for my Mom (oye!) I decided on something totally different for her.

These mitts were knit without a pattern and without yarn! I used a technique that I believe the Yarn Harlot made popular recently but only really finally became clear to me when I saw it on the Round the Twist video podcast. Silk hankies (or bells in my case) are separated and drafted into “yarn” without spinning first and knit up into mitts or mittens or probably just about anything else you can imagine. It was fun and interesting and something that I really enjoyed and I hope to do again in the future. I’d encourage you to give it a try if you haven’t done so yet. It’s quite fun!

The final Christmas project was for HWJF and was a complete case of momentary insanity. I saw this pattern posted by someone else on plurk, added it to my wishlist on Ravelry and was literally gifted with it in less than 24 hours. I thought that could only be a sign that HWJF MUST have one and so I set to work knitting it up while he wasn’t home in less than three days. It was impossible to wash and block it without him seeing it so I gave it to him first and blocked it afterward. The miracle of the season was that it actually fit just about perfectly and he loved it!

I still haven’t managed to get a picture of him wearing it himself. At some point I’m going to make another one in the reverse of the colors so I can have one because we are giant dorks like that.

So that was Christmas. I have a few other projects to share since then so just maybe I’ll get back here to post before another month goes by. For now I leave you with bunny cuteness:

I’ve thought about coming back to the blog off and on for some time now but I just couldn’t seem to find it in me to put something above my last post. I guess I just needed time.

Life marches on of course and I’ve been doing my best to march along with it. I’ve been teaching yoga and doing a little bit of dyeing (mostly for the fiber club) and quite a bit of crocheting. Yes I said crocheting! If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time you might remember that I used to do quite a bit of it back in the day. I’ve gotten away from it for quite some time but I’ve been inspired to get back to it by the thoughtful people at Heartmade Blessings.

I was a member of the group back in my early days of grad school and the early days of this blog but knitting became more interesting and natural fibers called my name and I got away from it. Before I did my Mom joined and she’s been a regular member ever since. When my grandfather became ill she requested a ‘ghan for him. Unfortunately he didn’t live long enough to see it and the group instead gave it to my aunt and made 2 more ghans, one for my Dad and one for his other sister. I made a square for each of them but that just didn’t seem to be enough so I made a goal of making enough squares to “make up” for each of the afghans given to my family and one more since I ended up requesting one for a friend’s son (you know who you are).

So I’ve been making granny squares like a possessed person and thanks to the help of some friends on Plurk I have more than reached my goal of 48 squares. And I intend to keep going. Making these squares has been soothing to me in a way that stockinette knitting usually is for me. And the idea that they may bring comfort to someone else, even if the yarn I have to use is not my favorite, is something I feel is very much worth my time and energy at the moment.

If you have some Red Heart type acrylic yarn in your stash that you don’t want any more, let me know. I can put it to good use.

And so I’m moving forward. One step at a time, one day at a time. So is Stitches. So is her tumor. I fear we may not have much longer with her but we made sure to celebrate her birthday with a big cake on the 7th. If 8+ min. of bunny munching good time sounds like fun to you, you can watch the video here.

Maybe next time I’ll show you all the things I made for Christmas gifts.

My grandfather left his body just before 7pm on December 25th after a thankfully short illness.

He was a sweet and gentle man and the memory of his 92 years on this earth will be cherished by his family. His children were with him when he passed and he allowed me the gift of a chance to say goodbye the day before. I’m so grateful for having had that opportunity with my last grandparent.

Thank you for being at my wedding Grandpa. I’m sure going to miss your smile and your light. I’ll just have to keep you in my heart until I see you again.

As a married woman a torrid love affair seems out of the question these days but knitting is an interesting mistress. That hat in the last post? Totally lit my flame when it came to knitting again. I suddenly found myself wanting to cast on EVERYTHING and not just for me but for anyone and everyone I know!

Which also led to wanting to buy ALL THE YARN for just about anything and everything. Since THAT is completely out of the question with the current budget at Casa de Zarzuela I decided to go shopping in my own stash and do a bit of reorganizing (didn’t hurt that there was also an impending visit from Mom & Dad!). In the midst of that reorganizing I found a bag full of cream colored Patons Classic wool that I apparently bought in Princeton in 2006 at the bargain basement price of $3.77/skein! At the time I believe I had an aran sweater in mind but I’ve also had thoughts of knitting a Hemlock Ring blanket with it for quite some time.

So I cast on as soon as I finished the hat.

And I couldn’t put the thing down.

In less than a week? Finito! And I did the whole chart too.

(It even forced me to go out and finally buy a blocking solution that did not require stripping a bed. I still miss the extra bed though.)

Who will be the owner of this? Well… I can’t tell you since they haven’t unwrapped it yet.

For now I’m going to cast on for the next project…

Do you ever find yourself knitting away and not really loving it? I’ve really been in a bit of a slump this year knit-wise. There of course have been some mighty big distractions in my life (hello major move and new career choices!) but I really hadn’t found myself in love with my knitting lately.

Then this came along.

I recently took a trip to Harrisville Designs only because we passed signs for it on the way to the Pumpkin Festival or I never would have known it was so close! We ended up out in that area again for a work event for HWJF recently so I took a little detour. I’ll tell you more about some of the reasoning behind that trip in another post, but while I was there I picked up this skein of Shelter

and the pattern above. Lately I’ve only been interested in knitting things that are fairly simple, don’t take much time and produce a quick result. The cables in this hat might not necessarily be in keeping with these thoughts but it’s only a hat so how bad could it be?

It wasn’t bad at all. It was down right inspiring!

I forgot how much I love cables. I forgot how awesome it can be to look at a chart and see where the twists and turns will take you only to have them show up in the thing sitting in your lap. Cables in knitting are an amazing journey that I love to travel. This hat reminded me of this.

I just love the way the decreases came together at the top!

I made it for HWJF (as might be obvious by the color choice) and finished it in 3 days. This wasn’t the simplest of knits so the timeline tells you how much I couldn’t put this down.

He wore it to the Christmas parade we had in town the other day.

In fact, I think I need to make a second one for myself. But this project lit a fire under me for many other things…

I told you there were a lot of people having babies around me lately. One of them was the Matron of Honor at my wedding last year.

Baby number three for her arrived in September. Nevermind that I just finished her sweater recently.

I dyed and spun up some superwash merino as I had done for the previous two. Only this time I underestimated the amount of fiber I’d need for the thickness of yarn I spun because I ran out with only a few more rows to go! But all was not lost. I’ve made two of these sweaters so far and they have all been for children of the same Mom. I found leftovers from the first one

And used them to complete number 3! That’s right. Yarn from this child’s older sisters sweater completed hers. I’m not sure if that’s weird, but since they were complementary and I didn’t have any more fiber on hand it seemed like the best option. I figured I’d find buttons that would bring it all together.

And then I remembered that I don’t have easy access to NYC and my usual button places any more! I haven’t looked at big box stores for buttons in awhile but the selection? Pathetic!! I couldn’t believe it. Luckily, Joanne’s seems to still have at least a wider selection than Michael’s or the like and I found something cute to make it all work.

And just for fun, here’s a mosaic of all three sweaters I’ve made for these siblings starting with the youngest and going to the oldest from left to right.

I’d like to say this is the last of the baby knits you’ll see here for awhile but there are at least 3 more on the way that I know of at this moment so this is not the end by a long shot!

Just in case you haven’t seen it elsewhere, I’m having a sale in my Artfire & Etsy shops this weekend!

Use code “THANKSGIVING” for free shipping on everything in both shops excluding the 2012 fiber club. That includes the sale section on Artfire which makes for some great deals.

Happy Shopping and I hope y’all had a great Thanksgiving! More knitting to come next post.