December's Long Night ~ Full Moon

To everyone a very happy Winter Solstice ... this is a photograph from my front porch very early this morning. I missed the lunar eclipse but this moon was still in the sky went I got up this morning.

So, a lunar eclipse on the winter solstice has not happened in almost 400 years and will not happen again until 2094. I am somehow sorry that I missed it ... but I couldn't do it, not in the middle of the night!

The full moon in December is know by a number of names ... the Long Night's Moon, the Cold Moon and even the Moon before Yule. All the names make sense to me but have different backgrounds ranging from Algonquin to Colonial to Pagan.

I truly believe that this is a beautiful time of the year but slowing down to really enjoy is another matter ... I wish you all a quiet, beautiful season filled with whatever is beautiful to you.

Very best wishes, Barbara

New Fibre Work

I am thinking to myself ... what have I been doing, and then I remember that Christmas is almost upon us. The handknits to finish, the packages to post and the unwrapping of those decorations that have been around forever but come back every year as old friends. There are stories to read, cards and cookies to make ... it never all gets done as one might envision but that is perfectly fine by me. I find it is the small things that make it special ~ the walks at night, the music and more time by the fireplace ... I think those are the things I cherish the most.

And of course, starting a new piece (which has no name or final goal yet) but will eventually have layers of sheers, some vintage fabric and perhaps the addition of watercolours. I am looking forward just working on this in which ever direction it might take me.

I wish you time to linger!

best wishes to Island Sweet

Tiny Ballerina, Holly in the Snow, and Pink Sand

Holly in the Snow (detail)

Pink Sand (detail)

I wanted to send out my very best wishes to an artist I have met in person and through her blog ... it is Shawn O'Hagan of Island Sweet, she is an exhibitor at the One of A kind Show here in Toronto and will be here in a couple of weeks. Here are some photograghs of my knitting with her work and I am knitting up my very last skein (Tiny Ballerina) of her handspun wool. So, Shawn I will see you at OoAK ...

Everywhere I go that I am either wearing her work or knitting with her wool ... I get tons of compliments and many inquiries. I have gifted scarves that I see my friends wearing all the time.

So, I wish you all the best at One of A Kind in a few weeks ... you can find Shawn on my blogroll! I love her work and can't wait to see her booth in a few weeks!

to gift

I have been away ~ with friends and family and enjoying myself immensely. I do find this time of year incredibly satisfying as we come together more often ... to make warm meals and sit together talking further into the night.

One of my other passions is knitting ... and again I come to it more often in the fall, with a fireplace and warm light. This past weekend, I had the pleasure of teaching a young person to knit and she took to it famously ... off to knit her first scarf. Truthfully, mostly what I do is scarves ... and then give them away to dear friends or a stranger who might need one.

These are gifts for some very dear people in my life and my introduction to knitting lace ~ very beautiful to knit and I think I may do more ...