spinning – Flowers on Tuesday

Here we go, Again!

~ another 1,000 mile dog race – another late week-night music concert

Yarn pile — Pile of handspun yarn for colorwork hats

The Yukon Quest sled dog race, which happened a couple weeks back, was a huge distraction from life as usual. I followed the race, I posted about the race, I spun up some yarn for a special project and daydreamed about knitting that special project while following the race – and in the middle of the race, musicians showed up at my house and a Live Recording took place, and I got distracted from my distraction.

tuner — Tuner – among the fun oddities brought by musician friends

Now, believe it or not, every bit of that is happening all over again. The Iditarod, which is taking place right now, is another 1,000 mile sled dog race which is held in Alaska over the course of 8-15 days. In the midst of that race, musicians are once again about to descend upon my (very uncleaned, somewhat cluttered, very old kinda-falling-apart) house – this time, for a concert. I would be extremely alarmed about the latter, if I wasn’t so distracted by the former!

I know – sled dog racing is a very, very small niche in the world; but, this is the end of it’s prime season, so bear with me for a moment! This year’s Iditarod race is being covered in more ways than ever before, and in more ways than any other sled dog race. In part, this extensive coverage has to do with the invention and acquisition of amazing technology; mainly, video cameras that are able to shoot HD images in minus-zero degree temperatures, then broadcast those images to the world from the middle of an un-networked wilderness, via satellite uplink. I find these technological advances fascinating – but that’s a story for another time. The fact is, that when you take place as vast as Alaska, and zero in on a very small part of it, most of the time: nothing happens. But when you’re watching that small part of it and something does happen, it’s really, really exciting!!

Whatever the reason you’re drawn to the Iditarod, the fact is that more and more of the fan base lives outside of the race’s home state of Alaska. What the extensive media coverage really means is a whole lot of screen time for race fans. The official race site offers videos, fan forums, and frequent race updates; there are also many forums on unofficial fan sites, multiple pages on Facebook to follow, as well as regional and international news coverage of the event. I also treat myself to the “Iditarod Insider” package deal (my birthday gift to me, and also a way to help support the race). As an “Insider”, I get access to Live GPS race tracking, special video interviews, and Insider race coverage. Also this year, for the first time ever, there is Live coverage at all the checkpoints along the race course. Again, keep in mind the sub-zero temperatures and remote locations. The official GPS tracker for the race automatically updates every 4 minutes. This gizmo basically gives you an at-the-moment rundown of the race standings, and shows you when something exciting might be about to happen at a checkpoint. Combine that with the Live coverage at a checkpoint, which shows you the exciting things that are happening right now!, and add in all the other updates out there on the www (all open simultaneously in separate tabs, of course), and you’ve got a sure-fire way to keep yourself glued to a chair in front of your computer for a very, very long time!

Iknitahat2016 — Snow dog hat #1 – casting on

Here’s where having a really good reason to tear your eyes away from the computer screen, is essential. For my Iknitarod project during this year’s race, I spun up a pile of yarn, enough for two colorwork hats. If I finish these during the race, they’ll be my first ever colorwork items. I’m well on my way on hat #1, but as fast as the teams are traveling down the trail this year, it looks like I’m going to have to up the ante to get these done before the last team crosses the finish line. That is another unknown; since any team can scratch from the race, or be officially withdrawn at any time, the deadline for my projects (the end of the race) is an undefined and ever-moving target. The truly ambitious and fleet-fingered members of my Iknitarod group are knitting sweaters, afghans, and skirts. I am trying just to get through a hat or two! Combined with the hosting of house guests, assisting with late-night concerts, and – oh yes – St. Patrick’s Day is next week: I’m hoping for the best, but I know I’m not going to have a whole lot of extra time for fiber play. But, in case you couldn’t tell: I’m having a ton of fun with it, anyway!

Remember the dog fur from the freezer? Here it is, in all its newly blended glory:

BlendedCorgino — Cardigan Corgi fur and fine Australian merino = “Corgino”! Spinning batt.

“Do you know there’s dog fur in your freezer?”

~ and other examples of living with a fiber addict

This was the question asked by a concerned house guest last week.

Freezing Fiber — Cold storage – Ice cubes, Ice cream, spinning fiber

By now, My Guy is more than accustomed to my strange ways with wool. Yarn hanging from the shower curtain or draped over radiators? A metal mixing bowl filled with fleece and suds sitting on the floor of the bathtub? Bits of fleece scattered on the rocker on the front porch, plastic wrapped roving in the top rack of the dish washer with the cups and bowls? He doesn’t even blink anymore; and, more importantly, he knows not to move anything resembling wool unless it’s cold.

Last week, while our musician friends were visiting, and in between rehearsals for our live recording, I managed to get a good amount of work done on some fiber projects. Part of what I did was go through my stash – and I found several ziplock bags of saved Chien fiber (i.e. dog hair) that I wanted to spin during the Iditarod coming up in a couple weeks. We’ve never remotely had any bug issues (knock on wood); but it’s dog fur, and I’m squitchy about anything potentially crawly in my yarn – even just stink bugs (ew). So even though I’d already washed it, dried it, and sealed it in plastic over a year ago: into the freezer it went, for good measure. Later this week, our cuddly fur-baby’s shed coat will be scoured again, dried, and blended with wool. All of this, I was more than happy to explain to our house guests when they found baggies of dog fur next to the ice cubes. They took it pretty well, really, all the while looking like they expected me to get to a punchline at any minute.

To those not part of the fiber world, spinning is probably strange enough. While dog hair yarn is becoming more and more commonplace inside the spinning circle – and is now even available to knitters in small commercially produced batches, although I can’t remember the name of the vendor I found at Rhinebeck – I doubt Chiengora clothing is going to hit the mainstream anytime soon. Still, I’m happy for the chance to get people wondering about what their clothes are made from, and where that material comes from. Even if I am cutting a record with those people, and they’re staying in my fiber festooned house. Even if they do stop using the frosted beer mugs from the freezer.

Any reason to make it

Yukon Quest musher, Yukon Quest 2016 © Julien Schroeder – future colorway, or shawl?

It’s time! The Yukon Quest starts today, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned from Ravelry, it’s that sporting events make for good project planning. Here’s the general idea: 1. Sport event that you’re going to be watching/ following, regardless of just about everything else that’s going on in life, 2. Project that you’ve been working on/ that’s been languishing/ that you’ve been meaning to start, 3. Time (a lot of it) during which you’re going to be staring at some sort of screen. All of these add up to one thing – the end of your procrastination.

Snow Dogs Planning — Project Planning – thought of it at the pub, swiped a cocktail napkin

Here’s how it works. First, you choose a project. Then you make the project during the duration of the sporting event, using the start and end dates as your deadlines. (If you’ve never needed a start deadline, then I envy you your ability not to plan!) The whole thing is more fun if other artists are following the same event, and crafting along with you. And it’s even more fun if it’s a racing event, and the exact timing of the deadlines is a bit unknown. For example, in the Yukon Quest sled dog race, weather is a major factor, and not every team that starts the race may cross the finish line. How much can you get done before your team completes the next leg, before the race is halfway over, before the first team crosses the finish line, before the last team comes in?

Naturally, this set-up can also be applied to more mundane tasks, like laundry, paying your bills, doing the dishes, or preparing your taxes, for example. We’re not fooling anybody though – we all know we’re going to save the To Do List for the commercial breaks. Besides, you can pay your bills any old day of the week. What you want to do here, is give yourself a reason to pick up that project you were going to do “eventually” – and run with it! If, like a lot of the crafting world, you need your hands to be busy while the majority of your attention is focused elsewhere, and if you also happen to have a project list a mile long – well then, your opportunity has arrived!

For this year’s knitting during the Yukon Quest project, I decided to use my handspun yarn from the Corgi Hill Farms SAL/KAL I joined to make this Baa-ble Hat colorwork pattern, an item that seemingly absolutely everyone has been knitting. There are already 4,200+ projects listed for this pattern on Ravelry! (Thank you Shetland Week, for a great free pattern!)

Sheep and Snow — Stash diving for “Sheep” and “Snow”

Of course, a colorwork pattern requires more that just one type of yarn. The cute parade of sheep mired in falling snow suggested all kinds of possibilities for creative play, and this, is where my sticking-to-The-Plan resolve crumbled. I decided I absolutely needed, needed!, to make the entire hat with handspun yarn. This meant spinning an additional good amount of yarn – which, of course, wasn’t in The Plan for this year. It also meant spinning it rather quickly – which in turn meant temporarily setting aside other ongoing projects (see the trap there?). In the interest of completing the KAL portion of the challenge I joined, I decided to do it anyway. Where my sticking-to-The-Plan resolve held, was using existing fiber from my stash to spin more yarn. Thankfully, my gifts-of-fiber-past cooperated, and my stash coughed up 15.5 micron white merino, snowy Australian corriedale, white Mulberry silk, and (halleluah!) plain old sparkly white Angelica. (I did go out and get some really nice 100% silk thread for the boucle core and binder, but we’re not going to dwell on that.)

I love working on projects that let me learn something specific in the making, and this project has loads. I’m spinning for the first time: boucle yarn, self-wrapped yarn with a commercial thread binder, and a sheep breed I’ve never tried before, Black Welsh Mountain. The problem is, my starting date has arrived i.e. the race has begun, and I’m still spinning the yarn. So my actual cast on has been somewhat delayed by my hands being occupied with flyaway silk and tangling threads and singles.

Sheep Boucle — Boucle yarn to make fluffy sheep

However, if there’s one thing this modern age and the internet in particular is good for, it’s giving you access to a lot of information and photos while you’re doing other things. While I’m spinning towards a cast on, I’ll be checking in on an event that’s happening several thousands miles, and a good 4 time zones, away. If you’re interested in what the Yukon Quest is, or if you like to look at beautiful photos of the northern lights!, I recommend checking out their Facebook page, here. And if you’d like to take advantage of the sporting event /project planning phenomenon, I’d suggest the Iditarod, Tour de France, and Olympics as starting points. Like-minded crafter groups for all of these events can be found on the now ubiquitous fiber arts crafting site Ravelry.com.

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 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

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!

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:

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 SC Another 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!

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