I swear I am not going to do this to myself next year. So behind on the Christmas gifts that the hats I intended to make have been abbreviated into headbands. I had such good intentions. What happened?
Those sock you were going to get? Yeah they are just toe covers at this point.
That bag I was going to make? It is only a small pouch.
Afghans? Ha! Don't make me laugh.
I will not stress over this. I will not stress over this. Nobody is going to die if I don't get these done. No children will starve, no dogs will be harmed. It is all going to be ok.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
Thanks For The Memories
It is a sweet yet sad moment when you finally finish a project that has spanned a large portion of your life. I began this shawl over two years ago. I had a large amount of shetland and decided I would create a shetland lace shawl with it from scratch, and I mean SCRATCH. I scoured Ravelry for a reproduction of a shetland hap shawl and decided this would be a appropriate pattern for some shetland wool.
It didn't look like much of a shawl when it was a bunch of raw wool soaking in the bath tub.
It didn't look like much of a shawl when it was fresh out of the tub either.
It looked a little more like a shawl after it was spun into lace weight yarn (much of it on a spindle) and the center began to take shape on my needles.
This hanky sized bit of lace went into my knitting bag and traveled with me everywhere. I would pull it out anytime I had a spare moment. It went to work with me and to relatives during holidays. I knit on it at church every sunday. I knit on it while waiting on a table or waiting for my food at restaurants. It even kept me company waiting for test results at the hospital a couple of times, though the IV would make difficult to make real progress (and the drugs made it MORE difficult to follow the pattern).
When I finished the center part of the pattern I had received the spring share from Fancy Fibers CSA farm with some beautiful grey/brown shetland from a sheep named venora. This would become the border of this shawl.... more spinning... more knitting... this thing was starting to look less like a hanky and more like a real shawl. I couldn't really see it very well though as it was all scrunched up on the circular needles. It looked like more of a lace bag than a shawl.
It continued to travel with me and was starting to fill the knitting bag completely. Everyone at church and everyone in the after church lunch bunch were beginning to wonder if it would ever become a completed item. Some of them marveled that I could create a square item on circular needles which I found very funny.
I continued on........ Finally to the border which was knit kind of like a really really really long narrow scarf and would be grafted on when completed.
I hit a HUGE snag when I was about a foot from completing the border piece and I ran out of Venora's wool! OMG! Nooooooooooooooooo I called my friend Mary and luckily she still had some roving left from that season's shearing! I took a trip out to her farm with shawl in tow and we matched up the color. Whew! A few weeks later it was shearing time at the farm and I got to help shear Venora (along with the rest of the flock and a goodly number of mohair goats!) Venora is the brown sheep with the HELP ME I AM NAKED look on her face.
Finally the day had come. The border was done and grafted on. The shawl got a hot bath and was stretched out on my bed to block and dry.
I thought back on all we had been through together as she lay there looking all lacy shawlie on my bed. My project, my companion, my friend the shetland hap shawl. We had been through so much. Now that stage of our relationship was over. I kind of missed it already. It would feel strange not to have her to go to when I needed something to fill my hands and my head. Who would watch movies with me? Who would go to church and out to eat with me... I miss you as my project already! It felt kind of like a betrayal. I when I wove in that last bit of stray end I had killed her as a project just as surely as if I had driven a set to shearing scissors into her heart.
Then I realized that she could still go with me. Instead of being in my knitting bag she would rest comfortably on my shoulders. She would wrap me in warmth and comforting memories of all we had been through together. She could keep me cozy while I work on my next project! I wouldn't have to miss her at all! She would still be my companion. We had just moved into a different stage in our relationship, my lovely shawl of memories.
It didn't look like much of a shawl when it was a bunch of raw wool soaking in the bath tub.
It didn't look like much of a shawl when it was fresh out of the tub either.
It looked a little more like a shawl after it was spun into lace weight yarn (much of it on a spindle) and the center began to take shape on my needles.
This hanky sized bit of lace went into my knitting bag and traveled with me everywhere. I would pull it out anytime I had a spare moment. It went to work with me and to relatives during holidays. I knit on it at church every sunday. I knit on it while waiting on a table or waiting for my food at restaurants. It even kept me company waiting for test results at the hospital a couple of times, though the IV would make difficult to make real progress (and the drugs made it MORE difficult to follow the pattern).
When I finished the center part of the pattern I had received the spring share from Fancy Fibers CSA farm with some beautiful grey/brown shetland from a sheep named venora. This would become the border of this shawl.... more spinning... more knitting... this thing was starting to look less like a hanky and more like a real shawl. I couldn't really see it very well though as it was all scrunched up on the circular needles. It looked like more of a lace bag than a shawl.
It continued to travel with me and was starting to fill the knitting bag completely. Everyone at church and everyone in the after church lunch bunch were beginning to wonder if it would ever become a completed item. Some of them marveled that I could create a square item on circular needles which I found very funny.
I continued on........ Finally to the border which was knit kind of like a really really really long narrow scarf and would be grafted on when completed.
I hit a HUGE snag when I was about a foot from completing the border piece and I ran out of Venora's wool! OMG! Nooooooooooooooooo I called my friend Mary and luckily she still had some roving left from that season's shearing! I took a trip out to her farm with shawl in tow and we matched up the color. Whew! A few weeks later it was shearing time at the farm and I got to help shear Venora (along with the rest of the flock and a goodly number of mohair goats!) Venora is the brown sheep with the HELP ME I AM NAKED look on her face.
Finally the day had come. The border was done and grafted on. The shawl got a hot bath and was stretched out on my bed to block and dry.
I thought back on all we had been through together as she lay there looking all lacy shawlie on my bed. My project, my companion, my friend the shetland hap shawl. We had been through so much. Now that stage of our relationship was over. I kind of missed it already. It would feel strange not to have her to go to when I needed something to fill my hands and my head. Who would watch movies with me? Who would go to church and out to eat with me... I miss you as my project already! It felt kind of like a betrayal. I when I wove in that last bit of stray end I had killed her as a project just as surely as if I had driven a set to shearing scissors into her heart.
Then I realized that she could still go with me. Instead of being in my knitting bag she would rest comfortably on my shoulders. She would wrap me in warmth and comforting memories of all we had been through together. She could keep me cozy while I work on my next project! I wouldn't have to miss her at all! She would still be my companion. We had just moved into a different stage in our relationship, my lovely shawl of memories.
Thursday, April 18, 2013
A New Adventure
Starting a new adventure tomorrow, heading out of town for my first experience as a vendor at a fiber festival. I really should be packing right now.
I have spent the last 4 or 5 months creating shawl pins and decorating knitting needles and crochet hooks. I stumbled across a really good deal on raw border leischer, washed and fluffed it to sell by the ounce.
For the last several days I have tried to fall asleep every night only to jump out of bed to add something to the show boxes that I had just thought of. Oh I will need the kitchen scale! If I don't get it into the box I just know I will forget, so up I go.
I really should crash for the night. It is one in the morning, but I just realized that I have been concentrating on the items for the booth so hard that I haven't packed myself any clothes!! What am I going to do, wear the same shirt and pants for five days? OMG !!
Ok, throw some clothes in a bag and THEN I can sleep..... maybe.
Here are some of the things I made.
I have spent the last 4 or 5 months creating shawl pins and decorating knitting needles and crochet hooks. I stumbled across a really good deal on raw border leischer, washed and fluffed it to sell by the ounce.
For the last several days I have tried to fall asleep every night only to jump out of bed to add something to the show boxes that I had just thought of. Oh I will need the kitchen scale! If I don't get it into the box I just know I will forget, so up I go.
I really should crash for the night. It is one in the morning, but I just realized that I have been concentrating on the items for the booth so hard that I haven't packed myself any clothes!! What am I going to do, wear the same shirt and pants for five days? OMG !!
Ok, throw some clothes in a bag and THEN I can sleep..... maybe.
Here are some of the things I made.
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