Busy, but organized!

My life has been continuing to feel less chaotic as I have gotten myself better organized, and although there are still some messy corners of my life I can honestly say that the spillover has helped me to feel more inspired and in control. Last week, I went to IKEA in Cincinnati and bought these shelves (found in the kid's section) for the studio. They fit in with the pine floors and trim beautifully, and hold tons of yarns, fibers and crafting supplies at my fingertips.

We had a super busy and enjoyable weekend. Saturday night we went to one of the funnest parties ever, at the country home of some artist friends. The weather was perfect, and we took a hike through a stunning gorge to which their home backs up. The best part of the evening was the coffee house type music that they, their friends and families shared on the makeshift stage of their back deck. We sat under a big tree full of white twinkling lights and were mesmerized by the bonfire and beautiful music of all varieties.
Yesterday, we hosted my stepson Jason, his fiancee Crystal (pictured above on a recent trip), and some of our combined families for Sunday dinner. Based on meeting Crystal's lovely family for the first time, we feel better than ever that Jason and Crystal are a great match and we are excited about their wedding next year!

Finally, I have actually been squeezing in some knitting and have a very nearly finished project to show off- a simple ribbed men's scarf (a future gift...) in some Seldom Scene Farm 100% alpaca yarn. It's a simple K2 P2 pattern with 38 stitches across. If I do it again from this yarn, I may go with 36 stitches to have slightly more length from the one skein.

While I was completing this post, I discovered that we have had a new cria! Read this post to hear more about it.

Bahama Waters

Okay, finally time to throw in some pretty yarn photos! Here's some hand-dyed yarn (contributed by an alpaca we sold named Senorita Libby, very lovely, soft and bright, commercially-spun)... I first started knitting what was supposed to be a "simple" shawl (free pattern on Ravelry, Blue Jeans Shawl), but it turns out that my definition of simple and fast lace never matches that of others.... After frogging it many times, I turned to one of my favorite tried and true simple lace patterns, Old Shale.

As I was knitting this, I had flashbacks of the source for this gorgeous shade of aqua.... the water of the Bahamas through which I've been lucky enough to sail and scuba several times on chartered sailboats back in the "good ole days" of college and singlehood. Here's a painting I did in 1987 after one of those trips, inspired by a photo I took at Great Harbour Cay. I wasn't thinking about this when I dyed the yarn, but I know that the images of that incredible water are imbedded in my brain and will likely be a part of the scenery when I (hopefully) reach heaven someday.

It got me thinking of other places that have inspired me artistically or otherwise... the Oregon Coast, the Rockies, my favorite vineyards, and oh yeah... the Kentucky Bluegrass! Beauty is everywhere I look on a warm summer day such as this. Hopefully, whoever wears this scarf will be wrapped in some of the same great karma that helped to bring it about.