With all else that has been going on, I nearly forgot to check how long I’ve been at this blogging thing. I knew it was early October last year when I took the plunge. Good thing I looked, today is my Blogiversary! A whole year. Who’d a thunk it. This kind of thing would be the last activity that I would expect to enjoy. I don’t enjoy writing. I’d rather write in code than in English. But something about blogging scratched an itch that I never knew I had. Through it I’ve become part of a large and wonderful community. I’ve made new and wonderful friends. I’ve also been pushed to expand my crafting horizons. Before blogging, I’d never done cables, never touched beads and honestly, never strayed from a pattern. I thank you all for that. Not surprisingly, my first post was a mix of the twins (they’d just celebrated their first birthday) and the crafting hobbies. For the curious, you can read it here.
Thanks to everyone for their comments to yesterday’s blog. I’ve relayed your happy birthday wishes to the short people. I’m trying to enjoy their lives and each stage they go through. As I mentioned in an email to Elaine, it all goes so slowly and altogether too fast. A confusing dichotomy to be sure, but really how I feel.
Believe it or not, I spun last night. Actually that makes two nights in a row. I finished the butterscotch lincoln cross that I bought at Cummington on Sunday. It took me almost two hours to ply it last night. I haven’t wound it off the bobbin yet. I took this picture last night at 10pm and didn’t want to chance it taking two hours to skein up! I’m trying to overlook how very long it took me to spin 8 ounces of wool. I think this is telling me that my collection of spinning wheels are seriously neglected. I do know that 2 hours of plying on a single treadle where you can’t swap feet is downright exhausting. My left calf is looking very buff right now and laughing at the flabby old right leg. I’m pretty sure I’ll have enough here for the Flower Basket Shawl that this yarn is earmarked for. I’ll have to add Barneswallow Farms to my list of booths for Saturday at Rhinebeck. Not sure if I should start up anything else, considering how soon that fest is and how I usually come home with something that I "MUST SPIN RIGHT NOW". I should probably anticipate that feeling and play with something that is already on a wheel. I could always knit…
Okay, show of hands, how many really believed my "this is my SLW contest entry" declaration last week? If you’ve read more than oh say 2 posts, you know I flit from project to project, changing my mind repeatedly on the "rightness" of a project. Witness what happened in the evolution of Rogue -> Eris -> Samus -> Twist. So what am I working on instead? I decided that I wasn’t really in love with that stole, that working on it was just a compromise between yarn and time. There were several other cobweb items that I’d rather make. So the stole is out. Gloves, or more precisely handwarmers are in now. They won’t be your average handwarmer, like these (which I’ve made in handspun merino) or even these beautiful ones. For the last couple of days, I’ve cast on any number of swatches and started handwarmers in various yarns and stitch patterns. I initially tried the Cherry Tree Hill Possum laceweight that I bought on the yarn crawl with Elaine. The color changes really distracted from the lace and the eyes just didn’t see anything but the color. I went to a sockweight but the fabric was too solid for what I really wanted after seeing this image. I switched back to the cobweb on a size 0 needle. After much futzing with yarn and which stitch pattern to use, I’ve finally settled down and really started knitting. There isn’t much progress as yet since I’ve frogged so much. But here’s some nice lace porn for you.
I’m still working in the J&S Cobweb that I really wanted to use. I’m designing. I’m using beloved double pointed needles in tiny sizes. What else could a girl want? Dental floss on toothpicks. I love knitting!
Craft on.
