Living the Dream

Before I get into knitting and spinning news, I have an aside. You see on August 28th, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King shared his dream of a different United States with the world. A world where people are judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. A dream where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. In the 1960s, we all know that this was quite a lofty dream.

Over 40 years after that speech - one that still raises the hairs on my arms and makes my heart skip a beat - my family is living the dream. My husband chuckles and says that our little bi-racial slice of Americana probably isn't exactly what Dr. King had in mind but I beg to differ. Had passionate leaders like Dr. King not fought so hard for civil rights several decades ago, our family would simply not exist today. I am eternally grateful for those who worked hard and laid down their lives so that I can fulfill their dreams for a better tomorrow.

I'm not entirely a pollyanna and I know that not everyone in the US (who wants to have this freedom) have been as fortunate as I have. I also know that there are many around the world who are still dreaming this dream. For those still fighting, please don't give up. Dreams do come true.

I say all of this because another related dream might come true in the not to distant future. Some of you may recall our dear friends whom we've visited in California and who have visited us the last couple of summers. We've been close friends for half of our short lives and have spent most of them on opposite coasts. Well I got a mysterious call from Mr. K last week asking about some major cities in Virginia and North Carolina. I calmly tell him about the various cities and finally ask why. "Oh, we're planning on putting the house on the market next week and move to the East Coast." I nearly shit eggrolls but maintained my composure until I got off the phone. King Thing and I did the happy dance and then calmed down again because we've all been talking and dreaming about this for 10 years now and we'll believe it when we see it. But sure enough, we got the call last night that the house is on the market. Somebody pinch me. You have to understand that these people, who are also living the dream, are our soul mates. We have agonized for years at the thousands of miles that separate us. And now we might be reunited. I'm trying to stay calm. I know if its meant to be, it will happen. But I can't help but jump up and down with excitement when no one is watching. I'll keep you posted.

Okay, back to knitting and spinning.

I officially started on my first Christmas present, Cascading Leaves from Scarf Style (Thanks again, Heaz). However, I'm putting a new twist on holiday gifts this year. I'm going to try to spin the yarn for all of the projects. For this scarf, I spun up a gorgeous merino/silk blend into fine singles.



And then plied from both ends of the center pulled ball to get this.



I thought about Navajo plying to preserve the beautiful color variations but I didn't want a three ply, heavier weight yarn. And try as I may, I wasn't successful at spinning the roving into ultrafine singles without much cursing. Either way, I'm happy with the results. My goal was to produce a yarn with fallish colors so that the leaves in the pattern would look like well, err, fall leaves. I'm working up a swatch and hope that I won't be disappointed.

And I finished knitting and felting the "dreaming tote". I plan to put the finishing touches on it tonight and load pictures tomorrow. I'm very pleased with the results.

No, I haven't finished my knitting room though I sufficiently marked my territory over the weekend. What I did do was lots of yummy cooking. Last night, I grilled filet mignon, barbecued shrimp and sauteed crab cakes for an ultimate surf and turf night on the deck since the weather was perfect. We had simple sides of asparagus and garlic feta mashed potatoes. And for dessert, pears in puff pastry. They're simply peeled, cored, stuffed with chocolate chips, wrapped in puff pastry and when brown, served over a pool of caramel.



It was a great ending to the weekend. Hope that your week has started right as rain (no pun intended for those in the path of Katrina).