awayuq

minimal exertion

It's better than I imagined. Knitting or reading on a balcony looking out towards the ocean. Swimming in warm salty water. Napping. I love it. I needed this.

if you don't hear from me...

it is because I am vacating. Reveling in cyber isolation. It's possible that I'll do some spindle spinning. It's possible that I'll do some lace knitting. It's equally possible that I won't. It's been ages since I read a book with unbroken concentration and I may simply read and sleep and breathe. (Authors currently being considered: Lawrence Durrell, Tolstoy, Wallace Stegner, Isabel Allende, M M Kaye, Richard Russo...) Next probable update, June 3rd or so. Check back then.

five-button pants

Well, ten really. Or maybe even a dozen, depending on the size of the buttons. It takes almost exactly two hours to sew up the back button vent Burda pants to the point of hemming, buttonholes, and tacking down waist facing. (I know this because Prairie Home Companion came on just as I was starting, and I kept sewing until it was over.) These pants now need some fastenings for the back legs, and the mother of pearl buttons don't thrill me in this situation. I'll need to find some buttons closer in shade to the fabric. Maybe even self-covered buttons. Although if I could find some mop's in my stash that are nicely carved, or whimsical, I might relent.

full basket

Here's the alpaca, finally done and washed. It is pretty, but I think I'll send it off to my Mom. I have so much yarn around anyway, and it's really not my color.

A while ago we did have some warm weather, which made me think of linen, one of my very favorite fibers. On a recent rummaging expedition I found these balls of home-dyed linen roving. At least, I think it's linen. Could be hemp, but the colors are clear enough that I'm pretty sure it was bleached linen. I've been spinning a robust singles, pondering the potential of an energized singles spaced in a cloth of very very fine balanced linen. Would the singles create some texture?

For traveling, I'm thinking of taking some tussah silk and a Bosworth featherweight spindle. Luxury.

oblique.

Knitting, sewing, and spinning all happened this weekend, with great enjoyment and in some cases tangible results. More about that later. To be perfectly honest, what's on my mind right now is that in just a couple of days I am going on VACATION. A real vacation during which I will not be attending a conference, freezing on top of a mountain somewhere, visiting family, or struggling to stay on top of a horse that is scrambling up stone rock faces and down waterfalls. I am going someplace warm. Saturday I went downtown and got a wide-brimmed hat. I also got the pictured items, which may or may not qualify in your view as "garments". I am somewhat shocked myself (and with great delicacy I spare you the picture of me actually inside them). I am looking forward to wearing them and feeling some warmth on my skin. Oh the freedom of going someplace where you are totally unknown! Yesterday I went through long-unopened drawers and found summer clothes I had forgotten existed. Little wisps of things in linen and lawn. A sundress with irises and a full skirt. A little silk blouse with ruffles.

And to top it all off-- my mother called last night and offered to buy me a massage while I'm away. I told her to please have them schedule it near the beginning of the trip. :)

empty basket

I finished spinning the last two strips of alpaca roving while listening to the baseball game in spanish. Wow! Experienced spinners, give me a moment to be very proud of myself for actually spinning an entire pound of one thing. Now all I have to do is ply two small bobbins, not even a quarter full, and skein and wash the yarn.

What do I get to spin next?? Maybe some linen... maybe some hemp... maybe silk caps? I love deciding on new things to try! Another scenic excursion through the closet and bins is in order. Ahhh.

And thanks for all the encouragement about my lace fanatacism. I am in a mood to indulge.

peach sleeves

Remember that big chunky cotton sweater I started a while ago? I finished the front and back and collar a couple days ago and am embarking on the sleeves. They should go fairly quickly. I put the frontback contraption over my head like a tabard and pinched the side seams together; it will be a snug sweater, but cotton sags so I think it will end up being just right. Remind me to make the sleeves shorter than I think they should be. And while we're on the subject, does anyone have a formula for how much smaller to make cotton sweaters so that when you wear them you don't look like you are swimming in a boyfriend sweater, where the boyfriend is a 6'11" giant who does body building?

My Knitter's Magazine came yesterday. I am underwhelmed with everything except for the lily-of-the-valley shawl. No surprise--if I got it correctly in the glance I gave the text while oohing over the delicate sprays of flowers, it is designed by the same Galina who wrote the Orenburg lace books. I've knit the palatine shawl and the medallion shawl is this year's year long project. I don't think I have any yarn on hand for the lilies right now-- although she mentions cashmere as an alternative; I wonder if fine baby alpaca would work? -- but it will go on my shawls-to-be list.

All of which brings me around to something that's been niggling at me lately as I wander around my rooms and see sad half-done sweater backs languishing in baskets and bins: I don't think I like to knit sweaters. I love to wear sweaters. I love to look at sweater patterns, and fantasize about wearing them. I love to design sweaters. I love to dream about having a wardrobe of gorgeous unique handknits I can choose from for every occasion. But the reality, at least right now, is that I'd rather be knitting lace. Huge expansive shawl-scope type lace with tiny needles and very fine yarn. The odd thing is that my lace shawls are kept carefully in drawers, while I do actually wear the few sweaters I've completed. So I don't know what this is all about, I'm simply observing. Is it heresy for a knitter to *not like* making sweaters? Would it be a terrible thing if I just knit lace and bought sweaters when needed? I guess not. Knitting should be fun, not a chore.

HOORAY!

Three cheers for successful completion of a great project! Here's the mother-to-be admiring the baby blanket. She said it is the best baby gift she's received. The infant is due in less than two weeks. Best wishes for a safe and speedy delivery, and many blessings on the new baby boy! We hope this blanket will be loved to pieces. Thanks everyone for all you did to make this gift a reality.

an arm's length away

Last fall, after taking an inspiring class with Kathryn Alexander, I set myself the task of spinning an entire package of something in my stash. A the time I reasoned that a) if I spin a whole pound of something, I'll have enough to make a wearable item with the resulting yarn b) I need a lot of practice in every aspect of spinning, and this sort of goal will make that practice get done c) if I have to spin a whole lot of one thing, psychologically I'll be inspired to work on speed, because I'll want to get done with it and move on to another interesting fiber. For this experiment I chose some alpaca roving that had been sitting around in my stash for several years. It's in a purple/forest green/black/white blend called somethingorother frost.

Here are the first two skeins of yarn, 2-ply, finished sometime before christmas:

Speed measured in elapsed time didn't work out so well. It's now May. But I am proud to relate that I can see the bottom of the basket! There are only two more arm's lengths of roving to go. And lately, as I've been spinning the singles, I find that I go through the roving faster and faster. I filled two bobbins and so switched to plying for a change of pace. Here's the yarn nestling up against those bobbins, partly plied already. I can't say that this is really great yarn. The thickness is inconsistent, it's not perfectly balanced. But I think it is useable, and soon I'll have a whole bunch of it!

The only thing is, shortly after buying this roving I eliminated all purple from my wardrobe. I don't want a garment for me out of this color, pretty as it is. I was thinking of giving the finished yarn to my Mom, who is a knitter too. She has a birthday in July. What do you think? Is that a nice happy-birthday-mom gift?

hey bambino!

It's done! I finished sewing the border on Saturday night and the rest of the group finished sewing in the ends today at lunch. Tomorrow is the big presentation day (it's rumored that we may even have cake...) I hope the mother likes it. How could she not? It turned out really well! I'm so impressed with this group, it was a great pleasure to be a part of this project. Isn't it a darling blanket?