Late summer thoughts

I have two sweaters on the needles which is sure indication that my hard-wired thinking about fall has kicked in as a result of several cooler nights. I'm grateful for the coolness because it is more pleasant to knit wool or mohair when I'm not suffocating in the heat and humidity. I've already mentioned the lama/mohair jacket which is coming along nicely. Thursday I began the 'Rhinebeck' sweater from A Fine Fleece in a superwash/bamboo blend, in a deep red-bronze colour. Yummy yarn and an easy pattern to knit. Pictures to follow as soon as there is a bit of sunlight. Which reminds me I need to set up a photo shoot place indoors soon for woolie projects and other things.

I'm having a lazy morning after several challenging and sleepless nights. Not sure what had me awake but I resolved many of the world's problems in the course of these hours, if only I could remember what I came up with. The entire week had a rotten smell to it, waking and attempting to sleep. Need some tweaking in my meds no doubt and I have a plan, perhaps even a 'cunning plan'.

Another cunning plan is underway to make not quite enough lama/mohair into a finished sweater. I searched the stash and found fleece that is dark and has a longish staple. I will spin that into a singles and then ply it with the last of the lama so I have enough yarn for sleeves. I think that will look okay. I'm loving the texture of the knitting for this piece, but it is most definitely a fall jacket. In fact I suspect it will be warm enough for winter camping in the high Arctic, but happily won't be required for that as I have no current plans to take me to the frozen north.

Since we're discussing my list of cunning plans I have one as well for a 50 year old sweater I own. It was made for me by my Oma van Veen when I was twelve and doesn't quite fit anymore. So here's the plan. I'm going to unravel the sleeves and use the yarn to knit panels between the front and back to attempt to convert this to a vest. I've always loved the colour of this sweater and refused to throw it away simply because it no longer fits all that nicely. The yarn is still beautiful after all these years. I think I now have sufficient knitting skill to pull this idea off; if not I'll unravel the whole thing and do something else with the yarn. Wish me luck.

I seem to have sweaters on the brain at the end of August (it happens every year). It isn't cool enough for sweaters and probably won't be for a month or more if we're lucky and have a nice autumn on the East Coast.

Yesterday was a sad day for CBC radio 2 fans when we heard the last of our favourite programs and program hosts. Disc Drive has been the sound track of my life for 23 years and Jurgen Gothe has entertained me with his witty rants and quips for all that time. Whatever CBC comes up with, they won't be able to match JG for content or audience loyalty, I'd bet on that. The Last Show yesterday was a lovely nostalgia piece that made it a tear-jerker finale for me. Those of us for whom CBC is the sound track of our studio/working lives take these things very hard. I wish I could believe CBC programming knew what it was doing, alienating such a loyal following of listeners in a misguided attempt to attract newer ones. I doubt it will give them joy and then there will be new calls to dismantle the Corp. Great work and vision guys, I'm impressed (not!).

Of All Things...

It is my son's birthday today. Thirty eight years ago he came into the world, ass-backwards and has pretty much, to my great delight, lived up to his entry potential. He has a wicked wit, lighting fast comebacks and is so creative and such a fine writer I'm envious and proud at the same time.

Happy Birthday G. Mommy is proud of you, always! I'm drinking a margarita in your honour today, hope to share a pitcher with you soon and be impressed by your cookery skills: I'm so looking forward to that.

The process

This is what I like.  I have an idea for a project, in this case, a sweater.  I have a fibre stash so I go stash diving to find something likely to make a sweater.  I start spinning a lama/mohair blend, do a swatch (yes, occasionally I do have some kind of fit and actually swatch).  I settle on a gauge and go back to the wheel and spin masses more yarn, ply it and knit.  In a month or six weeks I will have a sweater, made absolutely from scratch (well maybe not, I have this fibre as roving, not raw fleece); but for the sake of my argument I'll say from scratch.  It takes a while to spin enough yarn for a good size sweater but I'm making excellent progress.  Have the back knit and the yarn spun for the front so far; a couple more bobbins and I should have the yarn for the sleeves spun up.

No, it is not cheaper and certainly not faster.  But it is great fun and immensely satisfying to someone endlessly fascinated by what she can do with fibre. And I never stop dreaming of the next thing and the one after that...gotta try that; wonder what that will do; can I make that work at this grist or that gauge. 

Next project: excavate the stash and find the Border Leicester fleece I bought last summer to see what I need to do to it in preparation for the natural dyefest planned for next month.  I need a good think about what I want to make with this fibre as it is very yummy to spin; what I decide to make may influence the colour I'd like to dye it or not.  I now have half of what I need to do basic alum mordanting; tomorrow I need to find cream of tartar somewhere, hopefully at the grocery store.

Some nights I can't sleep for all the projects dancing in my head.  Go figure....

We may have a problem...not!

This morning I got a copy of A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd.  I have now had a quick flip through this beautiful book and I want to make everything in it.  Not only that, but I want to start right this minute, allocating fibre stash to projects and deciding what will be dyed with natural materials and what will get the Magic Carpet Dye for colour.  Then I want to spend the next three months spinning that up and getting going.  I want to do this without the least bit of personal restraint or consideration of things like meals and showers.  I want to dive in and play and play and play until I have everything knit up and wearable. Oh for heavens sake, how am I going to do that?

It isn't as though I don't have a rather extensive WIP (work in progress) knitting queue mounded on the end of my sofa already and in several baskets besides. I wonder how many socks I have on the go? Six? Eight? More?  Shawls? Only 5, not to worry. Nor am I lax in terms of spinning queue--I'm currently working on a dark lama/mohair blend for a sweater which I've begun to knit; laceweight mohair for shawl(s); qiviut laceweight for a scarf or small shawl; sock yarn; and Gotland for my first gansey.

Okay I see the problem.  I need several more lives and need to be able to live them concurrently. What? that's not possible? Why-ever not? Somebody should get on that--and hurry will you.

Just because I stopped weaving (oh, so many years ago) doesn't mean I've in anyway lost my passion for fibre. And weaving, you're on my list for when I, umm, retire.

I can't possibly wear, or use all of this stuff I'm making myself so being on my friends list may prove quite beneficial.  You can start a wish list in the comments, but I can't promise anything by a specific date--I'm much too fickle a spinner and knitter for any such thing. You've figured that out by now I suppose?

Three months and counting

Oh the joy of paid unemployment! I'm having the best summer in five years, even though the weather has been too humid for me to get outdoors much, or move more than my knitting needles some days. Summer is a great time to knit socks, preferably with an oscillating fan nearby slowly moving air across my person. I don't even have to be upright to knit socks--bonus!

There is a bit of work being done of course. Not enough, but some. We'll ramp that up in the next few weeks and get the book draft done. I also have a web site draft and a couple of workshops in draft.  Stay tuned for that!

Wednesday I had an energy audit done on the house by a guy from Sustainable Housing. I knew I had a lovely wind tunnel effect going and that air leakage was so pronounced I did wonder if there were actual walls behind the wallpaper in winter.  Now I have proof!  Apparently I have all the energy efficiency of a tarpaper shack with paper windows.

So this perhaps explains why I spin wool and knit sweaters, shawls and socks at the rate I do--I need them to keep something approaching warm for at least 8 months of the year.  That said, I'd not be happy in a warmer climate as I do enjoy wearing wool sweaters and socks.  My biggest complaint about the air leakage and lack of any insulation is that it costs so much money to pretend to be heating the house.  I don't mind the thermostat set at 16C, but I'd prefer not to pay (or require help to pay) a king's ransom for heating oil to achieve that stupendous amount of warmth.  And the costs are rising at phenomenal rates: in 2000 I paid 54¢ a litre for heating oil; now it is in the $1.10 range (I'm afraid to call and ask for the official cost, and the tank is near empty).

Now I do have a wood stove, a very pretty and efficient blue Pacific Energy, and without it I'd be really cold.  This heating source works best when I'm home during the day so I can keep it going and I sit in the room where the stove is located.

My mind is on winter heating as a result of the energy audit, but today we've got a pleasant summer day, big fluffy clouds, a bit of a breeze and about 25C.  Too bad there was no way to store up summer heat for winter use.  

And just in case you thought that cobwebs had no earthly use (except for spiders of course) I can report that they do show air movement rather well as pointed out by the energy audit guy. That made me chuckle.  Good thing he wasn't looking at dust bunny drift, that might have been embarrassing.