I Might Just Be Addicted...

I cannot remember when I first wanted to have my own sheep and angora rabbits and to spin my own wool.  It was always part of my plan.  Chalk it up to those feisty, independent pioneer genes, maybe but whatever it is, I have wanted to do this since I was a child.

It will be 5 years now since I have had my Icelandic sheep and 4 years since I have had my angora rabbits.  I've learned a lot about them both and harvested a lot of fibre.  And I've hired someone to spin it for me.  Actually spinning sounded like it would take patience and a lot of time to learn to do. But it was still there on my list of things I want to learn.  Its actually a long list.

Last spring, my angora rabbit mentor, Sue of Daisy Hill, gave me a drop spindle and some roving and showed me how to do it when I went down to her Washington farm to get some new angoras.  After I got home, I faithfully spun all the roving.  And my dreaming got a little more close to the surface, a little more urgent.  Occasionally I would watch YouTube videos about how to spin angora and about different spinning wheels.  I contacted the Spinners and Weavers Guild about how to join and learn how to take my raw sheep fleeces from raw to yarn.  I talked to my spinning friend.  I percolated. And I was inspired by Amanda Soule on SouleMama who got some Shetland sheep (very similar to Icelandic) last year and learned how to spin and then made herself a shawl.  Look she was doing it!  I wanted to do it!

Then, I came across this video, suggested to me by YouTube because of other videos I had saved to my playlists.  Its one of a 4 part series by Knitpicks.  I watched them all.  I couldn't help myself.  I ordered that drop spindle from knitpicks.  It arrived today.

Then I found this video and then I just couldn't stop myself.  I grabbed a paper bag of wool.  It happened to be Blackberry's - my black tort Satin Angora buck's first (and only so far) harvest.  I made rolags and listened to all the spinning videos over and over again.

Can you see the rolags there on the bed?  My first pile of rolags!

And then... I did it!  I hooked up the fibre from those rolags and I started to spin with that turkish spindle.  And it worked!
I went very slow.  I took my time.  I pinched, I spun to the right, I parked, I let the twist up, I wound and I did it over and over again.

I cannot describe with words the joy, the deep happiness and excitement and sense of serenity that came over me as I did this thing that I have wanted to do since I knew that one could do such a thing - since I was younger than Rhiannon.

Here is my Turkish spindle and my growing cop of yarn.  Its all I can do to tell you about it here and force myself to go to bed and not stay up all night doing more of it...

In my mind while I was doing it, I just kept thinking... "Oh my God!  I am doing it!  I'm doing it!"  Why yes, I am!

Changes

So, I haven't been blogging much - not that I have ever been especially consistent... its not in my nature. Its all been part of what I have been considering - about being true to myself, about what I have to offer and what I am doing right now. Fall is a good time for these kinds of thoughts - season changes are good for clearing things out and the Equinox is good to remind me about balance in my life.

Anyways, lots of thinking and lots of journal writing. I've been feeling particularly productive. I have been thinking a lot about why I blog, too, but that's not what this post is about. I came to one conclusion. I am letting go of selling hats. I mean if anyone wants to buy any of the hats I have already made, I am happy to sell them. And I am sure my pile will gradually dissipate the more visits I get from my family, at the very least. I just decided it wasn't the best use of my time. It came out of a time and feeling of desperation and I don't really want to act from there. I think I have other things to offer that are more important. Important in terms of content and also important in terms of me and my development.

I came to this conclusion this last weekend when I was scheduled to do the outside Farmers' Market in Kelowna - supposed to be very good one for selling hats. The forecast was for -7 that morning. I realized how unprepared I was to do such a thing in cold weather. And then I realized that I really didn't want to do what I had to do to be prepared. It was kind of a half-assed kind of thing and I did not really want to put all my effort and energy into it. There are other things I DO want to put all my energy and effort into and I'm going to focus on that. Stay tuned on further developments I've been working on.

Sometime if I have nothing better to do, I may indeed go to a farmer's market or some similar thing to sell what I have already made but I am not going to work at making new hats unless I want to wear one or make one for someone in my family or as gifts or at the request of dear friends. There are other things I want to knit. And truthfully, scurrily (that is not a word but I just made it up - you get the meaning, right?) knitting hat after hat, is hard on my wrists and I end up with 'tennis' elbow if I am not careful. I'm ready for a new challenge and I have it all picked out. I'm going to attempt to knit Andrew a sweater for Christmas. I already picked out the pattern and I already have the yarn which I bought on sale in the summer...

Long, Sweet Grass

Look what Freya did with the grass in our pasture? She turned it into this. Isn't this just the most amazing yarn you have ever seen? I just got this today from my spinning friend who cleaned and spun the wool I had shorn in the fall. This here is Freya's. I am in awe. What is not to love about sheep, I ask you!? Especially Icelandic sheep that give you the most amazing yarn! Now... what to make, what to make?!

Happiness 5

It is true that I knit and crochet a fair amount. However, I almost never make anything for myself. Of all the hats I have made, only one is for me. (although all my children have several). So, I set about to correct that. After all my practise making wee socks, (most of my wee nieces and nephews and baby friends have a pair) I thought I would make myself a pair. I bought some Noro sock yarn and was about to start when.... I saw this post on Soule Mama. How convenient! I already had all the supplies! Socks slipped by the wayside and I made myself this simple shawl FOR MYSELF!! What's not to be happy about that?

Christmas Crafting

As the rosy light of the dawn spreads across the sky this Boxing Day morning and the rest of my family still sleeps, I finally have time to read all the blogs I like to read. I am finally well-rested after late nights spent crafting and my marathon on Christmas Eve. Yesterday I had a 3 hour nap and then still went to bed at 11 and woke up 8 hours later. Ahhhhh, I needed that!

I am sitting here sipping delicious tea that a certain Pea sent me for Christmas (spicy orange mandarin... yum!) and I have time to show you what I made over Christmas.

This was my first completed gift. The pattern is from Son of Stitch and Bitch. I had to rip it 4 times. The first time I had completed up to the mouths of the skulls and realized that it was big enough to be the beginning of a sweater... and the other times, I just won't go into. Suffice it to say that once I started for the last time, it took me more than 20 hours to complete. It is the hardest thing I have ever knitted and by the time I was done, I had a puncture wound in my thumb! And I will complain about the pattern. There are several errors in it that contributed to my ripping. Luckily Kaetlyn loves it! Whew!

After I completed Kaetlyn's hat, I went crazy making things for my brother's children. I drew my 16-years-younger brother, Evan, for gifts this year. He sent me a ridiculous list of expensive store bought things. So I got him a store-bought gift but I couldn't resist making things for all his kids. I wish I had taken a picture of the sweet wee hat I made for his baby daughter or the little pouch I made to put it in from this how-to here. Or the elf hat I made his son from a pattern in "One Skein Wonders: 101 yarn store favourites". I adjusted the pattern to include some of my own designed fair-isle knitting... (thanks Elizabeth Zimmerman for the inspiration) And I sent his oldest daughter a little lip balm made from a recipe in "Dining on a Dime Recipe Book" And his wife I sent some hand cream from a recipe in "Organic At Home". And of course, a large portion of home made peanut brittle. It seemed like I couldn't stop making things for them all... I finally shipped it off on the bus on Dec 23... I also made hand cream, moisture bars (also from Organic at Home) and lip balm for stocking stuffers and gifts for several of my friends. After the first batch, I started experimenting with different essential oils. I made Dean an "orange and cinnamon" scented hand cream (he loves it) and my mil a lavender and bergamot scented one. Erin got 'citrus blossom' which was sweet orange, lemon, pink grapefruit and linden blossom... and many other combinations for others - too many to mention here.

After I finished all that, this was my next completed project... the night of the 23rd. I had started her several days before - I would work on her in the morning before Rhiannon got up for an hour or two. This is made from a Wee Wonderfuls Make-A-Long pattern for "Olive". However, her name is Melissa! And she was from Santa to Rhiannon who was so thrilled to receive her! She tells me that she can't thank me enough! Sweet! What every crafting Santa loves to hear!






Then on the morning of the 24th after only a few hours sleep, I started this. It is an Amy Butler pattern from her book "In Stitches" (it is one of the ones I showed you in the summer, Amy). It is an "Oversized Laundry Bag". Some might say a boring gift but luckily Erin loves it. I love the details that Amy Butler puts in her patterns. It might just be a laundry bag but it looks fantastic! You might remember that it matches what I made her last year. Between the outer layer and the lining, there is a layer of canvas and some very stiff interfacing in the bottom. It is beautiful and very sturdy. I even made the drawstring myself and I didn't need to purchase anything at all to make it. I had everything already in my stores! Once I finished that about about 10pm Christmas Eve (I worked on it between completing a season's worth of baking with Kaetlyn, cleaning the kitchen, living room and bathroom and decorating the Christmas Tree), it was time to start on Rhiannon's gift!


This gift idea comes from "Creative Family" by Amanda Blake Soule. It is a pencil roll made of pink wool felt. Rhiannon loves these super thick and very vibrant wooden colour pencils (that put Laurentian to shame - if you don't know them, get down to an artists store and get youself some!) You can see them here. They are Ferby Coloured Pencils by Lyra. We have been accumulating them from Opus in Kelowna. She had 40 of them but I managed to find 5 more colours she didn't have. We had worked together on a roll that fits 30 of them earlier in the fall. So here you see the 10 that don't fit in the first one and the 5 more I got her for Christmas along with space for 5 more. On the other side of the top it has her name in machine embroidery.

I must say that I love my old Bernina for this feature. I had the amazing good fortune when I was 21 and setting out to buy my own machine to get one out of the "Buy and Sell" in Vancouver. An old but top of the line Bernina that was exactly the same as my mother's (she had bought hers 20 years earlier). The woman I bought it from had used it only once to sew a button on. It is a wonderful old, mechanical machine with no plastic in it. I have never had it serviced. The tension is always perfect. And when I use the embroidery stitches like I did here, it is like having my mother sitting beside me... I remember the things she made for me and my siblings with the same stitches on them.

I finished Rhiannon's pencil roll at exactly 2:18am... I guess that was Christmas morning...And that completes my Christmas crafting. Don't worry, I didn't neglect the men in my life. For Dean we all went together and put money on a guitar (the V shaped one) he has been dreaming about and for Drew we all went together and bought him a digital camera (canon) for his creative expression - he takes amazing landscape/scenery photos - takes after his Auntie Laura.

And now my tea is cool and almost gone and the rosiness has faded to daylight and there are chickens and sheep who will be very excited to see me...

What Cool Rainy Days Are Good For

Well, nothing shuts down a conversation like a political rant, right? Oh well, I hope that at least it made some of the few people who read my blog think for a bit. Not that you all don't already think. But maybe it will urge us toward more action.

But what cool rainy days are good for is finishing those socks I started in April on our bus trip to Vancouver. These are the first pair of socks that I have ever knit and it wasn't so bad! I did decide to knit them for Rhiannon who has the smallest feet in our family and I told her that I wasn't promising to finish them until October. So look! I'm early! And no, before you non-knitters or novice knitters ooh and ahh over all those colour changes I did, it is really no big deal. It is self striping yarn. I didn't do anything but knit and try really hard to knit it with the same tension on the second sock. I did have to pull that one out a couple of times and loosen up so that the pattern would match. They were done all except the kitchener stitch to join the toe of the second sock by May. Yesterday afternoon with the help of knitty.com, I finished and Rhiannon couldn't wait to put them on...

And I have some pale blue bamboo for the next pair... what can I say? It was on sale... hush, Mary Sue about the size of my stash... I won't even tell you about the other wool I bought that was also on sale... But how could I resist mohair at $2.99 a ball? And that lovely Briggs and Little in that cool greeny brown? Or that dark blue all for $2.99 a skein...

And as Rhiannon rides off with her friend, I call after her, "be careful with those socks"...