Sunday, 13 July 2014

Startitis

The prodigal cat is home :) The rain today drove her indoors, and she got caught and shipped back. She's happy to be back though- couldn't decide what she wanted to do or check out first, so she shuttled between rooms and food and water and milk and treats for a while, snuggled on the couch with me for purrs and belly rubs, and is now sleeping and content on her favorite chair.

And I've got startitis. Got two stripes done on the green and gold shawl, thought maybe a pair of mittens would be better to get done this week for the sale, swatched and started a pair in DK wool, then changed my mind again and decided that a pair of mittens in handspun might be nicer, so dug out some white and indigo-dyed alpaca handspun and started those. Motifs semi-inspired from some Sami ones I've seen.

I've been weighing the yarn as I go, though, and I think I'll have just enough...fingers crossed...if the first mitten shows I'm screwed, then at least I can always fall back on one of my other startitis projects!

Saturday, 12 July 2014

Comfort Fibre

It is Saturday, and I'm so glad. It hasn't been one of my best weeks at work, and finished with a major screw-up Friday afternoon, and a migraine triggered by sun and stress. Suffice it to say I went to get changed out of my work gear when I came home, and unconsciously started getting PJs out rather than pants - apparently my brain just wanted the day to be over already.

So I snuggled on the couch with a movie, had chips and only chips for supper, wound wool, and started a shawl. Serious fibre therapy needed this weekend, especially since the cat is still at the parents' - she was potentially supposed to get returned today, but looks like she's been avoiding capture again. So I figure I will see her next weekend - going down to the parents' and bringing stuff to sell at the local Corn Festival's craft sale.

The socks I was working on are done and blocking, so the shawl is my new knitting project. Onion and indigo-dyed lace weight wool, planning a triangle with gold accent stripes on a green body, and a lace edge.


I have the grey Jacob skeins finished from my Tour de Fleece spinning, and washed them along with 10 other skeins of handspun, last night.

During the week, though, I only got a little tiny bit more spinning done, of the Rideau Arcott from my cousins.

And I should be working on that, but I really want a wee break from the undyed stuff. So I broke out a braid of cochineal and onion merino roving dyed a while back -

And got about a quarter of it spun and navaho-plied this morning. Man, the spinning goes so much faster when you don't have to stop and pick out bits of hay and nupps all the time!

Saturday, 5 July 2014

While The Cat's Away...

Last Sunday, about to leave the parents', and we found the cat had disappeared while we were having supper. Didn't come when called, couldn't be found in any of the places we could search in a reasonable amount of time. (There's 60 acres of space for her to hunt in, and most of it's bush filled with mosquitos. Not practical to turn every stone searching.) And I had to go, in order to get a reasonable amount of sleep before work the next day. So Julia is having her summer vacation, and apparently enjoying herself - report says she comes in for two bites of food a couple times a day, and spends the rest of the time outside.

Until she comes back here, I get a bit of a vacation too. It's awfully quiet, but on the other hand, I have a little extra free time. And the Tour de France/Tour de Fleece starts today.

I'm not playing officially this year, really. I know I won't have time to spin every day, and I didn't sign up for any teams. But I've got some stuff I want to finish, and this is a good excuse. So I took a picture of my start stash, like everyone does.


The dark grey and grey-black are Jacob fleece, which I'm spinning on my old wheel. The light grey and white of the same fleece are done (see the skeins in the picture), so I'm looking forward to having it all spun. Not a huge quantity, 30 or 40 grams of each, or about a skein, but a nice soft texture. The bag of carded fleece is a bunch of my cousins' fine stuff, probably a Rideau Arcott or cross, about 4 skeins' worth, that I picked and carded last weekend. Because summer and dyeing season are upon us, and I want some stuff ready to dye soon!

The only other thing I've got on the go right now is the second pair of scrap socks for Caroline. First one is done, and the second one started - knitting during travel time really adds up! I like the way they're coming out - may use the same notion of shaded triangles again with some of the scraps I have from Johanne's stuff.