Whoosh
That sound you hear is the sound of the last two weeks rushing past me in a whirl of swatches, carding, spinning, knitting, and twenty thousand cups of coffee. I’m looking forward to some quiet time next week just so I can breathe a bit!
I’m planning some exciting new stuff for the shop, including but not limited to new spindles, a whole batch of batts, and even some handspun yarn. I think I’m most excited about the batts:
I spun one the other day and I’m not sure I ever want to spin from a combed prep again! Carded fiber produces such a fluffy, lovely yarn, and I’m really pleased with the ones I’ve been turning out. Smooth, soft, and a lovely heathery blend of colors.
Work also continues on the test knitting, although it’s not going terribly fast—
the cabling is a bit intense! But I’m almost done with the right front and I can’t believe I’m saying this but it’s actually kind of nice to be able to slow down a bit and enjoy the pattern and yarn a bit longer. Sometimes those short-lived ultra fast projects just, well, whoosh on by too fast for me to appreciate them.
Kitty Carlisle could not possibly be more enthused.
Busy
So busy I don’t have a spare moment to write up a decent blog post about all that I’ve been up to. But here’s a sleeve:
(there’s two of them now)
And for all of you who might be interested, an anonymous (and fantastic) donor has offered to match all of my sales (pattern, spindle, and fiber) until Valentine’s day in a donation to MSF/DWB. I will also be donating 75% of proceeds from pattern sales for the remainder of the month.
Now if you’ll pardon me, I have to go card more batts and re-stock the store!
Gone Batty
Hey, did you guys know that there’s this machine you can buy and you put, like, wool and stuff in it and turn the handle and it blends stuff together and makes really awesome rolls of super fluffy fiber?
I’m pretty sure you didn’t know this. I’m pretty sure I invented it. Because it’s the greatest thing ever. And I need to get back to it.
If you don’t hear from me for a while it’s because I’ve been eaten alive by my fiber stash. Don’t send help.
All I Want for Christmas
Is lots of tiny, sharp, metal teeth!
I’ve had this carder on layaway since, um, July? And I finally got to pay it off with my Christmas money.
It has already gotten acquainted with the cats (they were not happy to have competition on the fiber nomming front), as well as my knuckles (hey, did you know that drum carders are sharp?), and I’ve managed to produce something that looks vaguely spinnable from it, even:
(33g merino, tencel, alpaca, silk, and baby camel)
I will, of course, have to go spin this batt. For educational purposes. Yes. Don’t look at me like that!!
Jeshknits 