Finally, Winter!

Cold weather and snow have finally arrived here in the Mid-Atlantic, and even as a self-proclaimed hater of cold temperatures, I’ve got to admit – I’m loving it!

Iris Jan 2016
Iris blooming for New Year’s – Jan 2016

With temperatures generally being in the upper 60’s since October, I was starting to worry that winter had taken the year off, and that the arrival of spring was going to be the most anti-climatic season change to date.  Both the potted dianthus on my front porch and the iris in my garden were blooming on New Year’s Day, for crying out loud.

 

Now, a scant two weeks later, here we have found ourselves -finally! – in winter.  Except what we’re having today is not just winter, but a full on blizzard.  I’m hoping our neighborhood is an example, in miniature, of the whole, and that everyone in the area has similarly found shelter inside and is staying off the roads.

Blizzard Jan 2016
VIew out the front door – Jan 2016

The pantry is stocked, extra water and batteries and candles at the ready, and we are seriously hunkered down.  The heat is turned up (thank you, thank you, blessed heat!), and I’ve dragged every piece of fleece-lined clothing I could find out of the closets (note to self: create a fleece lined skirt).  I’m currently curled up on the couch, with the dog over my feet, working on my third cup of hot cocoa, and watching it snow sideways out the window.  Speaking of hot cocoa, did you know that the word “whiskey” is a long ago Anglicized version of the Irish Gaelic word for the same, “uisce beatha”?  (pronounced “ish-key ba-ha”)

To go with my front row seat, I have several projects within easy reach, of course (so I don’t have to disturb the dog – he’s so cozy!).  Today’s picks are a shawlette, two spindle spinning projects, and #1 on the project list – a sweater.  After ripping back an entire sweater sleeve last weekend because Himself decided (after the whole thing was done, of course) that the cuff was too tight, I’m having trouble getting started up again.  But, at least I’ve cast on.
This is the Avast sweater, with some mods on sizing, as well as design, for my no frills boy-O.  It’s a bit of a noteworthy event on my knitter’s timeline: completely without any hints or suggestions on my part, he actually asked me to make him a sweater.  So, I made him choose both the pattern (I set him loose on Ravelry!), and the yarn (we went shopping at the LYS).  And as if that weren’t enough, he bought his own yarn!  Even the shop gals looked a little starry-eyed at that.
A few notes on techniques, for those interested – for this sweater, I’m trying something a friend suggested, scooping the knits (continental style) and flipping the purls (Portuguese style).  So far, I think the fabric is coming out quite nicely.  I also tried a new turning edge for the hem; on the WS: p1, sl1, *k1, sl1* to end, p1; continue in stockinette.  I think it looks neater, less frill-y, and more masculine, than the regular old turning purl row.
Avast hem - turning row
Avast hem – turning row
In other news on the project-finishing front, I’ve taken photos of the spin-a-long yarn I finished and set last Friday, and expect to finish another spin tonight: the last of the Corgi Hill Farm braid I was gifted for Christmas, on the keepsake spindle it came with.  Truly, Ed Jenkins makes such beautiful spinning tools.
Jenkins Spalted Apple
Jenkins Spalted Apple Egret – Birthday, Dec 2015

This one was a birthday gift from two of my best friends.   They have heard me clamoring about this particular wood since the first time I spotted it, about four years ago, and they probably decided it was time to shut me up!  I’m kidding; I probably won’t ever stop talking about this amazing wood.  😉  I believe the Jenkins’ got it from one of their neighbor’s storm-toppled apple trees.    You just never know where you’re going to find the most beautiful, useful things.

'Sea Flowers', handspun yarn - Jan 2016
‘Sea Flowers’, 300 yards, handspun yarn BFL/silk – Jan 2016

On a whorl

IMG_7410
CHF Anemone Fiber plied on Akerworks bobbins

Some folks get “on a roll” – right now, I’m on a whorl.  (I know – bad pun!)  A couple bobbins worth, at least!

I’m participating in a spin-a-long (this was not a new purchase! the fiber was already in my stash from last Fall).  It’s a short-run, custom dyed BFL/silk lot by the wonderful Anna Marie of Corgi Hill Farms.  This is what I’m talking about when I say I have “join-itis”; I saw these colors, on this particular fiber, added in the spin-a-long aspect, the convenience of PayPal, and whoosh!, I’m on board.

xmas wheel
Fiber prep at Christmas, 2015

I’m spinning this beautiful fluff on my newly re-finished Norwegian double table wheel.  I saved this particular fiber, special, until I had enough time, and the winter weather on my side, to apply several finishing coats of oil to this very parched wheel, and for said oil to dry (three entire days on the front porch), so that this could be my first spin on this wheel.  It’s been more than worth the wait!

anemone bobbin
Spinning – Jan 2016

This wheel and I met for the first time in October, though we go way back to at least July, when I first saw her on Craigslist.  I wrestled with myself for months over whether or not to put my hat in the ring – time vs. money and practicality.  Like a lot of people, I treasure “one of a kind”; in my case, I’m more drawn to useful, more practical items, especially things created by “one of a kind” artisans, and especially all of the above made of unique wood.  Essentially, I was a goner from the start, but I spent several sleepless nights arguing with myself over this wheel anyway!  In the end, I answered the call.  I booked the hotel for two nights, threw the dog into the back of the car with an overnight bag, and made the three day, 1,330 mile round-trip journey to bring this wheel home.  When I arrived at the auto-mechanic shop to pick her up (yes, really), it turned out that one employee there had family in the town I grew up in, and another was from the tiny, barely more than a postal code town where I work.  Go figure!

Here she is!   my Norwegian Rose:

IMG_3922
Double table, antique Norwegian spinning wheel

Even I thought I was crazy for making this trek, and for going by myself (except for the dog, of course).  Traveling a great distance to meet people you don’t know – even fiber people – is a little scary.  But then, when I got there, I found all these home-grown connections with the folks that were re-selling this wheel.  And at the hotel on the way back, I ran into a young couple with a cardigan corgi puppy that they had just picked up and were taking home (what are the chances??).  So really, I drove 1,300+ miles to meet my own people, and bring home a wheel that was somehow already mine.

Misha Beach SCAnother great thing about this trip was that Misha got to visit the beach for the first time (gulf stream Atlantic Ocean, for the record), and that was pretty spectacular.  We spent a fun afternoon exploring the shore at low tide.  I wish I had photos of the endless circles of pawprints that he ran in the sand!

 

By way of parting, I’ll leave you with this thought – that the right tools find us at the right times, and take us on the journeys we need, when we need them.  My two cents is, when you feel you need that journey – make it happen!

Road Trippin SC
Road Trippin, SC

The Project Countdown

The turning of the year is a great time to take stock of where you are: in yourself, in the world, in life – and, if you’re the creative type, in making.  When I first learned to knit, about four years ago, I set myself a rule: one project on the needles, one project in the wings.  For the first two years of my knitting life, I stuck to that – and it worked, really well.  During those first couple years, I also began working on knitted gifts about four to six months before they were “due”.   Think Christmas in July.  That also worked really well.

Then I learned how to spin.

TdF 2015 Start
Start of Tour de Fleece, July 2015 – an abbreviated snapshot of two years worth of spinning accumulation

Within the space of a year, I had more projects going at once than I could hold at one time or could fit into one bag.  I also had a wide, and varied, stash of yarn and fiber and tools – all acquired towards the purpose of bringing into being the full queue of projects that had lined themselves up in my mind.  I didn’t quite realize the scale of this mountain of projects until last month.

Just before Christmas, in full pursuit of my head down, hellbent rush towards Fiber Arts Master, some call of the universe made me pause, for just a moment.   Right there in the middle of our back office, I just stopped and held still for a second.  Suddenly, I could see all the yarn I’d created and hadn’t yet used; all the projects I’d started and then put down to knit other things with more pressing deadlines.  I realized that I had no idea what was there anymore.  I went rooting through bags and baskets, under tables and in corners of rooms, and I wrote down all the half-started items I came across, in one big list.  Then I looked at the list (it was  L o n g !), and did some math.  I mapped projects to specific months in the coming year. When I was done, I had more than half the list left over – alright, way more than half the list left over.  So, I took a deep breath, and did some prioritizing and a lot more math.  What it added up to is this: The Plan.

The Plan is that in the coming year, I will be working towards the completion of the following:

  • 16 spinning projects
  • 17 knitting projects, and
  • 1 hooked rug.
  • and a warped and started weaving project on a rigid heddle loom “in my spare time”

There are loads of other projects, actual and theoretical, that I have floating around – these are just the ones I’ve decided to tackle this year.  How did I prioritize?  This year’s projects are those that are literally in progress.  They are physically on needles, stitch holders, bobbins, spindles, looms, and, in the case of the rug, backing.  According to the current version of the schedule, there will be about two and a half projects going every month.  I’ve even planned for starting next year’s Christmas gifts in July!

Keeping at something is usually harder than starting it; so I’ve decided if I’m very good at following through on this plan through January and February, I may give myself a tiny bit of leave to work on a colorwork project that I cannot get out of my head.  It would be a worthy challenge and even appropriately themed as my project for the Iknitarod during the first week of March – and, since I’m itching to knit some kind of colorwork right now (but I’m not, because of The Plan), it would be a great treat.  I have also promised myself that I will not add spinning the yarn for it, to my to do list.  See?  The Plan is already working.

Here we go, 2016!  This is going to be the year of finishing a whole lot of works in progress.  Ready – go!