preparing,repairing and getting ready

latest one from the inner landscapes series. so far this one's my favorite. 

adding a parenthesis here:

weird picasa!! the photo came out very blurry so i changed hosts and the photo came up ok . closing parenthesis.

yesterday was spent planing the camino trip i even had to open a g mail account to be able to download apps for my phone, something i had resisted with delight. why give in now? weight. i really want to carry a light load and that will do away with a guidebook.phone i need to carry anyway and as we all know books are heavy, especially carrying them  on one's back.

i wasn't counting  the anticipation and planning of the trip and it's almost exhilarating.
going to decathlon this morning to get my walkies and socks. learning about how not to get blisters. such science!


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i wish i wish

Paper City from Maciek Janicki on Vimeo.

 summer's here so have a great weekend!

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no luck exhausting

more dyeing-note the spelling-with brazilwood in a pot that refuses to exhaust. looking around the house for more stuff, whatever at this point, to dye.
 added about a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate to the pot. think that the color is optimal now.




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another finito

from the inner landscapes series. i am working my tail off because i want to finish the series before the heat sets in. yes, seems that summer's finally decided to show up.

there's also another reason for the haste. seems that i'll be accompanying two friends on their pilgrimage along the camino de santiago or  st. james' way.

i am so very much psyched . it holds many promises and i'm sure it will be something special. as the saying goes, it's not important to arrive in santiago, the importance lies in the way itself.or as we used to say way back;   it's the trip not the destination.
i know i'll be back with a head full of ideas.

therefore:
next.

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discovery channels

a whole world out there beyond our ...frontiers? mind set? did you know that the russians are a knitting super power? and they really do not care if passap, toyota and brother do not make knitting machines anymore. they make their own. russian ladies are fiends with those machines producing incredible work, especially lace knits. designs are somewhat iffy to my taste, but i am very picky. and not only do they knit with machines, they are also superior handknitters; i am paraphrasing someone on ravelry.

how did i discover all this? in one of my incursions i came across  this net which houses  many lace charts, patterns and ideas. above my head right now, but who knows in its due time. and thanks to google translate i had more than a few giggles. 

the second discovery is Pamela's awesome blog.in  her last post  she showed a sample  with the kind of knitting i like. she was kind enough to share a chart and give some explanations. it was a challenge for my slight dyslexia as it involves decreasing and decreasing to the right and left of each motif. i even had to mark the lefts! needs a bit more practicing, but i felt pleased to be able to decipher a chart.

 my take- increase decrease in one direction. less movement in the motifs, but also less stress. guess i'll have to get some valerian root pills to work on pamela's chart.

 my last discovery-for the time being- is these lace charts from another russian lady. bless her they are in english.

i am sure you proficient knitters out there will enjoy them.

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transformations

from an omg  kind of mess to

a nice and orderly skein with an added benefit of overdyeing. still trying to exhaust my brazilwood pot but looks like i'll be spending this wanna-be summer at it. it's like the duracell rabbit that goes on and on and on.



















what's left of the original mess in its original salmon color,the best i could get out of madder.
not bad, but i wanted red. perhaps this year.





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a lovely lesson

 if only the powers that be had watched more sesame street!
 let's call it a week  and have a great weekend





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