family life – Daily Fiber

Return from unplanned hiatus

Posted on November 1, 2025 by Laura Kate

Dear friends,

While I have been silent for over two months, I have not been idle. So much has taken place in my real life that I found it hard to keep up on my blog. You will detect from my opening photograph that Knitting is the one fibery activity that I kept going in the interim. And there is one Finished Object and one Nearly Finished Object.

Having given away my fingerless mitts last spring, I used stash yarn to make a replacement. The pattern is Croft Mitts, designed by Kirsten Kapur. It appears that I downloaded the pattern from Interweave, although I can’t remember when. Three yarns are used – all from Knitpicks. The pale and dark blues are Gloss in fingering weight – a lovely wool and silk blend. The variegated pink is Hawthorn fingering.

I’ve already posted about Kate Davies Paperdolls project. It is nearly finished.

All that remains is to pick up and knit an I-cord strip along the lower edge. Once I have blocked it, I’ll get another photo to post. Purple is the Ultra Alpaca. The pink is Swish in worsted weight.

And there is an extra fancy project on my needles. I’ll do a more complete post of it later. It is a second version of a project I knit about three years ago.

Now, some photos and words about three events that have filled my life in the last two months.

A trip with friends Fritz and Melissa to the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica in early September. A few highlights:

Very soon after our return, my sweet mother passed away soon after suffering a fall in her room. We traveled to Ohio for the funeral in early October. I took no photographs at that event. Here are some photos from happier days

Goodbye, Mom. You will long be well remembered by hundreds of people whose lives you touched.

In late October, a landscaper reshaped the steep side yard of our new house.

Before:

After:

Bill and I have also been active around our new home town, attending events and making friends. We love it here.

If you are still reading, thanks. I’d love to hear what you are working on these days. I invite you to leave a comment below, or drop a line to my email.

Reunited

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Laura Kate

Earlier this month, the Oklahoma sock was reunited with the Wisconsin sock in a rustic cabin at Shell Lake, WI. There was jubilation from the affected parties.

That was a few weeks ago. Life has been out of the ordinary for most of the month. The passing of my dad on August 10th brought about an eight-day visited to Ohio, where I spent time with my mom, siblings and assorted relatives while celebrating Dad’s life. Upon returning home, we were immersed into rental house repairs, as we continue selling off our Oklahoma real estate. Our plan is to leave Oklahoma for the more temperate climes of the upper Midwest. The presence of grandchildren is a powerful motivator.

Getting back to the socks, pictured above. Readers may recall that the pattern is Mary Delany by Kate Davies, and the yarns are Hawthorne by Knitpicks and Ultimate Sock by Malibrigo. The red is a leftover pulled from my stash along with the other two yarns.

I’m so pleased with the look and the fit. Next week is the county fair. This project will be entered, along with the little knitted new-born jacket and the Japanese knot bag.

My only entry in the quilting category this year is the Migration World wall hanging.

Thanks for stopping by. As I get back into a normal routine, I will have more objects to write about. (Hint: I expect that there will be a resumption of watercolor painting.)

Living Life Well

Christmas To-Dos: TA DONE

Posted on December 31, 2023December 31, 2023 by Laura Kate

My collaborators for the holiday festivities:

As we approached the end of Christmas week, it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to complete every joyous job. The weather was a bit of an obstacle, and we also ran out of time. Some in our group felt that we needed to recognize stuff we did that wasn’t on the list.

So we did.

**Extra Stuff is Written in Black Sharpie.**

Don’t forget to bring your black sharpie to Christmas week to write in your choices,

drawing

Sketching Sunday: Two drawings

Posted on January 15, 2023 by Laura Kate

I have been spending time with pencils this week. The first sketch is a study for a watercolor landscape that I am planning.

This next drawing, still unfinished, is based on a sketch I made of Henry last month.

I transferred lines from my preliminary sketch onto toned pastel paper, then built up layers of graphite. A little chalk pencils brightens up the flames.

quilting

Finally Finished Friday

Posted on June 24, 2022 by Laura Kate

Starting back in January with some musings over passed-along weaving samples, today I celebrate the finish of a fiber object unlike anything I have done before.

Margaret Howard wove her samples on a small loom that she kept at the family’s summer house in northwestern Wisconsin. When I first saw them, I felt that these pieces could be compiled into a cohesive fiber object. As I began working with them, my mind traveled to the little cottage on the edge of the lake with the big stone fireplace. What might it have been like for Margaret, to do this work, at that place?

Before long, my own experience while visiting that same cottage began to overlay the story of Margaret in my imagination.

The resulting quilt is a consolidation of her history, my experience and skills, fabric from assorted cast-off shirts, fabric from my mother’s stash, and prompts from the 2022 Stay-at-home round robin quilt challenge.

The little cottage is represented by the center block.

It holds the heart of the Shell Lake story.

Each corner block on the quilt represents some aspect of the experience a trip to the lake house may bring. Let’s go there now.

To reach the cottage, one travels through a piney wood along paths lined with ferns.

Crossing an ancient and overgrown tennis court, the visitor encounters the path to the lake. Turn right and follow the dazzling rays of sunshine to get there.

As the day turns to dusk, all camp visitors are again drawn to the lakeshore, where the sun is saluted before it disappears over the horizon. Sunsets at the lake are relaxed, and sometimes, if you are lucky, meditative.

When the air becomes chilly, a fire will warm the body. While fires on the beach are jolly, often the stone fireplace is brought to life, usually in the cool morning hours.

Here is a final look, showing the fabric chosen as the backing.

This little flower print has no special association with the Shell Lake story. I simply thought that the colors just looked nice.

I truly enjoyed making this quilt, and am a little sorry that the work is done.

And so ends the tale of a weaver, a fiber artist, and the quilt that grew from their intersection. Where will this object end up? I am not sure, but at some point soon, it will be released into the world. Fifty years from now, perhaps another artist will have something to add to its story,