We all talk about new year's resolutions, so I've got a few. First on my list was to destash and only keep yarn that I would actually want to cast on and knit with. I already accomplished this task two days before 2008. Since becoming a handspinner in 2000, I have only wanted to knit or weave with natural fibers. I managed to go through my entire stash and pull out all of the acrylic, rayon, novelties, and other yarns I bought eons ago. The good news is that almost all of these orphaned yarns have found a good home. My friend, Marion, took many balls and skeins to share with her Wednesday knitting group at the San Juan Senior Center where some of the knitters are of limited means. I am so happy to know that they will enjoy using these yarns. And my other friend, Dale, came by and departed with three big bags. Yee!Haa!
My other resolution is to scale down and get organized. Just before Christmas I got into a whirlwind of purging and cleaning, wanting to start the new year afresh. I spent days shredding up old files, checks, receipts and actually destroyed my shredder in the process and had to go and buy a new one. Sheesh!! But . . . I have only made a dent in the pounds of paper that we have accumulated over the past 20 years. Why oh why do we need this stuff anymore? So this will be an ongoing process during 2008, but now that I have started, I am on a mission.
My final resolution for 2008 is to spin all of the fiber I have purchased at Rhinebeck and Black Sheep over the past couple of years BEFORE I go to Black Sheep again this June. I've actually made a dent in this one as I have been spinning every day. This, of course, is the best of resolutions. Spinning is so relaxing and therapeutic and I love it . Here's some of what I have been up to -- This is about 1,100 yards of white cormo wool/tussah silk that I spun and plied with 100% angora rabbit. The cormo blend is from Barbara Parry of Foxfire Fibers of Massachusetts. She has lovely cormo wool rovings and blended rovings from her own cormo sheep. The fiber on the mini niddy noddy is some merino/cashmere dyed by Lynne Vogel and spun by me.
Here are the other skeins I spun from Lynne's handpainted merino/cashmere rovings. I started spinning these on my trip to the Sierras in late September and just finished the final skeins yesterday. There were about five different colorways which I plied on each other. I plan to use all of these in one project -- maybe a vest.
The skeins below, I started about a month or so ago and have been working on them ever since. I wanted to spin an array of colors that would go together in one project. These are all spun from my handpainted rovings. The two gray/light yellow/lilac are superfine merino in "Etoile". Then, to the right is a skein I spun plying "Etoile" and "Johnny JumpUps". On the bottom is a skein of purple baby camel/silk plied with merino/silk in "Gentian" colorway. In the middle is a skein of merino/silk/angora in "Violets Marl" and then the gold skein is merino/cashmere in my "Goldenrod" colorway.
Below are some random skeins I have been working on for the past few months. The blues on the left are baby camel/silk and kid mohair/merino in "Sargasso Sea". The ones in the middle are merino/bombyx silk and plied with baby camel/silk. The skein on the right is merino/cashmere.
On the knitting front, I started another (my third) Lady Eleanor entrelac stole. I just love knitting these. I am trying to work my way through my large stash of Silk Garden and some natural silk/merino yarn that I hand-dyed. These two yarns are the perfect combination for the Lady Eleanor. I'm loving these colors.
And during all of this cleaning of the nest, I managed to experiment with dyeing a new superwash merino sock yarn. And I am now knitting a test pair of socks to see if I like the yarn. So far, I like what I'm seeing and I like knitting with this yarn, too. These socks are on US2 needles and it's just my basic ribbed sock pattern.
And during all of this cleaning of the nest, I managed to experiment with dyeing a new superwash merino sock yarn. And I am now knitting a test pair of socks to see if I like the yarn. So far, I like what I'm seeing and I like knitting with this yarn, too. These socks are on US2 needles and it's just my basic ribbed sock pattern.
Oh, yeah, there's that resolution about trying to blog regularly. Yeah, okay. . . so I hope everyone is having a great new year. Happy spinning and knitting 2008 and let's resolve to keep our little spinning and knitting groups going throughout the year -- let's not lose touch with our fiber friends.
2 comments:
Oh my goodness that would take me like a YEAR to finish all that stuff. Well done! I'm a beginner to all though so I won't feel too bad.
Lori, I'm also on my third Lady Eleanor stole! Mine are all three in Rowan's Tapestry, which I love. I have lots of your yarns which I got in Torrance and at LPK; they are on my list to knit up this year! Your spinning is beautiful, I love your colors!
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