In His Steps

So I haven't had any crafts to show because nothing is finished. I have four knitting projects on the needles (edit: three now, finished one enough that it's off the needles but needs some sewing and then blocking before fully complete). It's kind of driving me insane to have so many partially completed projects--I am not a process knitter, so not getting my finished project fix is maddening, and there's still the dreaded startitis I must face. I have a baby vest for my brother-and-sister-in-law's first child, and have yarn for several more new projects for this new arrival. However, I need to sew a cover on the interior to hide the loose strands of the colorwork that I didn't 'catch' as well as I had hoped I would, and then it will be blocking time. I have a pair of colorwork socks half-completed, meaning I finished one of them and haven't begun the second, but I don't count this as the dreaded 'second sock syndrome.' I put it down b...

When you do handmade gifts... it's never too early. I started making these in August and finished before September. These will be sent to family with their Christmas cards and gifts. I used the Holly Berry yarn I spun first. A nice, sizeable stack going, with one in progress. Laying the completed ones at this stage out with the silver bamboo yarn I spun now being used. I didn't have any handspun yarn left that fit the holiday theme of the star ornaments, but I did have some remnants of sparkly red yarn, so I used that to round out the amount I felt I needed. This is the complete set, though if I need more I can easily knit up another one in an hour or so. I made this stocking because Leia stole the one I made for my Mom a couple years ago, so this one should be uninteresting to my Mom's cat, and should replace the one she lost. She's also getting one of the stars, of course. ^_^

A few days ago I received a text from Kit saying she'd found a $75 antique spinning wheel in a shop--they clearly didn't know it was functional or anything about it's true worth. She asked me if I wanted it. I did. Ohhhh I did. But I was good and waited until Spousal Unit came home. I told him about it and the next thing he said was "So, we're buying a spinning wheel." Haha. So now, here's my beauty. She has no maker's marks, is in a Nova Scotian style, and seems to be about 200 years old. I have her bobbin taken in with a friend to hopefully make more bobbins, since only having one is absolutely ridiculous for working on her. I'll be shining her up and making her gleam soon, I hope, before I get to learn how she works. I'm going to take good care of her.

Kit decided it was high time I learned to spin with a wheel and not just a hand spindle, so she let me borrow one of her spinning wheels. Here is the lovely darling and my spinning space, with the overflowing pile of roving to the right side of the ottoman and the chair on the left holding the roving I'm actively spinning. Here are some of the results of my experimenting. A pigtail from Greenwood Fiberworks in American Diner plied in on itself. Another pigtail in Orchid. Next to another single in Leaf, same shop. And I couldn't resist plying them together to create this! I call it Joker. And a bamboo silk in silver that I am currently working on.

So Spousal Unit and I decided to accompany Douglas up to Idaho to see his children for a long weekend. We surprised them and had a wonderful few days. Ostensibly, I was also there to attend the Nampa Fiber Fair, which we brought Douglas and his kids to as well. This is Claire, looking absolutely adorable. "Hmm..." "Are we supposed to touch those, Dad?" "Is it safe?" "I'll... try it." And Spousal Unit and I sniping each other, heh. Claire found some chalk marks and we taught her how to play hopskotch. There was a sheep whose fleece had been rainbow dyed and it was sheered and auctioned off later in the day. Sheered llamas just look ridiculous. Just sayin'. And look who we found! Kit was working the Greenwood Fiberworks booth and was a delight as always. I may or may not have left with $90 of roving... >.>

Originally posted on: 1/28/14 I mentioned these in my last post. This is the Holly Berry Roving, unwound from it's braid. I started with this, pulled it apart for ease of drafting and began to spin. I ended up with five very full spindles (the pictured amount is about half full), which became five small skeins of single ply yarn. There's one of them. I prefer the look of single ply yarns, so I didn't want to ply it. I don't have any in progress shots, but here's a good look at the finished product! I made a lot of them. At least ten.

Originally posted on: 1/21/14 Given my medieval hobbies, it was only a matter of time before I began to spin my own yarn. I spin using a hand spindle, and this white wool was my first attempt. I had an awful lot of it, you see. This was an experiment. Camilla had made a roving out of threads and thrums, and I spun it, then plied it together with some of my white wool. Another experiment, Camilla made pink roving from thrums and I added a small batch of rainbow roving I'd already spun, plying them together. I spun this, still early on in attempting to spin. I decided to take my spinning a little more seriously and bought a couple pigtails to practice with. The pink one began to show some uniformity in weight. The aqua one was much better. Both were practice for this one, the Holly Berry. I used it to knit tiny little Christmas stockings for family. You also get to see my tool of choice, my hand spindle! It's a very nice...