musindigo

I invested in a new camera.

The one I was using did the job but it’s five years old and a little shaky and flaky at times.

So, as luck would have it (but these days, it’s not terribly hard to find some suitable deal, I find), a company I like to deal with had a deal on the camera brand I like (Fujifilm) when I started looking for a new one.  I’ve had it for a little while and really appreciate some of the features like the anti-shake and fairly decent video capabilities, as well as its ability to to function in lower light situations than my old camera which did its best work in natural light.

I first bought my previous digital to capture still life shots, mostly of florals, and because we were expecting the little guy.  I used to do watercolours back then, and coloured pencil work, but I haven’t really done any at all since the birth of Sam.  However, he is going to be in school full time this fall so I’m hoping I can put my typical knitting startitis aside every once in a while and maybe sit still long enough to produce a few watercolours or other paintings now and again.  Having the new camera  has also woken up a little spark in me sort of aiming in such a direction as well.

So while I haven’t taken gardening shots, really, for years (it’s hard to think about photography when you have your eyeballs thinking about different colourways of hand-dyed yarn every waking minute), today and recently I’ve captured a few shots from the garden which some day might become some sort of floral still-life paintings.

But even if they don’t, I’m sure I will quite enjoy the photos on their own.  I haven’t really done photography seriously since university when my old Pentax ME was still working.  I like how the shots come out nicely clear and detailed and I really like the brilliant colour.

And, I’m pretty impressed with my garden this year, and what I’ve managed, considering I’m not always feeling like gardening but it really has come together nicely enough.   Sometimes I think gardening is more about have time to really think about it than anything.  And with this year being a little on the tough side at times, the little crisp spots of colour go a long way.

I’m happy to report some knitting has made it off the needles.

A little lacey shoulder shawl I’m pleased to have knitted out of one skein of the Asherah alpaca-merino lace.  I’m working on a beaded version and a pattern will be available soon.

Back to gardening…

The roses are nearly finished.  They took a beating the other day when we had downpours, but a few are still showing off nice punchy colour:

I didn’t count the blossoms but I’m betting on around a hundred or so.

And, the Silver Lace is going absolutely nuts this year:

I know vines are not everyone’s cup of tea but I really appreciate the extra shade this one allows.

And, my prized white hydrangea.  A few weeks back, it looked like this:

Today it looks like this, slightly mangled.  Yesterday it was sprawled all over the steps to the right due to heavy rain.  :(  It’s now held in place by a little netting at the bottom and I hope it’s enough to help it stay upright.

Unfortunately, there were a few broken stems.  Several blossoms have come into the house with me where I can enjoy them.

This one resides in a anniversary glass gifted in honour of my parents’ silver anniversary.  I thought it was a pretty combination.

And, no, it’s not my anniversary (that was last month).  But, it’s June.  It’s bound to be someone’s anniversary.  Happy Anniversary.

Tags: finished, gallery, knitting, lace, life, patterns

It is.  In May.

And I know other folks in different parts of the continent are guffawing about SNOW in May.  (Bad word, snow).  So I’m trying very hard to enjoy our heatwave here even though it slogs me out and makes me feel about as energetic as a snail.

However.  It has been too long since I’ve last typed so despite the heat I am typing.  And I also dyed today because it’s about time I do some of that too.  Especially since it’s nummy new limited edition mill-spun alpaca-merino laceweight I just retrieved very recently from a local mill.  They did a fabulous job and I can’t wait to get it up in the shop.  50/50 alpaca merino.

It’s gorgeous to knit with (I’m working on a pattern in it) and wonderfully soft.  Great for next-to the skin wear.  And it will be very pretty for lace knitting.

As of late it’s sort of been touch and go.  Physically, things are a little better due to new meds.  The trick is finding balance between meds and activity.  Sometimes the meds are the culprit keeping me from moving about and sometimes I overdo it and the meds don’t do as good of a job.  I’m getting there!  Just being able to get into the dyeroom is thrilling.  And I am quite happy to not have to deal with negative temps (again, my sympathies to those of you who are still stuck with frost and other bad words).

Otherwise, I’ve kept myself busy with my usual round of weekly startitis projects (see flyby photos below).  I did manage to finish a few things (or halves of pairs of socks, that sort of thing).  And one shawl is finished.

I don’t have pretty pretty pics of it yet - but here are a few pics:

Specs:  Daybreak by Stephen West.  Medium size, yarn is Oceanwind Knits Merino in various shades.  I think I used 3.75mm needles.  It’s gotten a lot of wear already.

Other bits of recent fibre-y activity (in no apparent order - just pretty fibre pictures :)):

hand-spun merino (Lakehouse Loft) - Wanida sock (Cookie A)

Sylvi

hand-spun corriedale (Lakehouse Loft)

wensleydale roving - potential spinning

wensleydale roving (more) - spinning in progress

Traveling Woman (in hand-spun corriedale from above)

And, due to aforementioned heatwave, plants are coming alive and blooming and just generally growing like mad.

I totally love poppies, don’t you?  This is a shot of the first one to open.

This last photo is Sam’s magic bean plant, which grew from ‘just popped out of the seed pod’ to about 4 inches, as you see, overnight.  Magic, indeed.  :)

So, there we are.  A sort of fly-by update but a blog post, nonetheless.

Hoping to post the new yarn by the end of this week.  :)

Tags: Canada, dyeing, finished, knitting, life, millspun, oceanwind knits, projects, roving, snow, wip, wool, work in progress, yarn

Any of you who have read this blog for a while know that I tend to have a lot of ideas and only two hands.  I’m betting you roll your eyes with some regularity when I announce a new project, especially ones involving the knitting of sweaters.  Never mind how you must chuckle when I announce I am spinning the wool for said sweater.

So, I am delighted to show you this:

I’m betting you thought it was languishing in the UFO pile.  In actuality, I’ve been wearing it since last October.  My tardiness in posting any FO photos was the result of not having the photos taken until a few days ago.  I happened to be wearing it when a friend came to visit, the weather was perfect, and hubby had a few moments to take the camera.

No, I’ve not completed a hand-spun sweater just yet.  But, I will.  Someday.

For now, I have this one to enjoy.  :)

Pattern:  The infamous Tangled Yoke Cardigan, Eunny Jang.  Yarn: Celestial millspun alpaca/wool/silk by Wooly Wonka Fibres.

So, there you have it.  A finished sweater, knit by myself.  :)  Total love.

99 (or so) to go.  ;)

Tags: finished, knits, knitting, millspun, projects, sweater, wool

This past Monday I had a biopsy performed on the back of my left hand, between the first and second knuckle.  I’ve developed what I’m told is a painful type of eczema on nearly every finger as well as the palms and over the knuckles on both hands.  Given the stress-level recently, I’m not really surprised.  But, just to be sure, a biopsy was called for.

I cried when they put the freezing in.  Not because of the presented pain but because of what had lead up to it.  The last six weeks have been rather painfully challenging on many different levels.  And all I could think was, while the freezing was being injected, now I won’t even be able to KNIT.  It was sort of a final blow.  The poor women performing the biopsy didn’t quite know what to think watching this over-40 woman fall to pieces over a small little procedure.

I am back to knitting, even though it is painful.  I just cannot imagine getting through a day without it.  So, I guess I am hardcore.  What can I say.  The location of the biopsy means I have pain shooting down the fingers and up across the back of the hand, and sometimes up toward the elbow.  But, it’s lessening on a daily basis and the hope is once the stitches are removed, it will be more comfortable.

The good thing is, I made it into the dyeroom for the first time in a long time before this past Monday.  So there are a few new goodies in the shop.

And before that, I’d spent a good chunk of the last month or so petting some new fleece wool I’d ordered from a wonderful little farm in MA, Cranberry Moon.  Lisa’s farm is also a member of Local Harvest where you can oogle all sorts of goodies, from produce to hand-made items to wooly goodness, from various farms around North America.

Before my hands got really sore, I’d developed a new affinity for hand-carding.  Previously, before I’d started having mobility issues forcing me to slow down and smell roses a little more than I’d been known to do, I’d not had much patience for hand-carding and combing.  Everything flew through the drum-carder.  But I ordered this fibre with hand-combing in mind.

Gray Romney, Black Cotswold and some White Leicester Longwool, gently washed but still in their glorious locks.  Yummy.  I have ideas to use it all in combination with other fibres here to make several sweaters.  I will likely dye the Longwool before combing.  I know it’s going to be a long-term project (or should I say ’several’ long-term projects), especially now that I’ve been slowed down somewhat by this issue with my hands.  But I’m healing so hopefully it won’t be too long before I can start playing around with the combs and carders once again.

I also fell in love with some cheerfully dyed BFL locks from Tumble Creek farm, discovered through the Oregon Wool site.

I did get a portion of these carded and spun - single-spun in a sort of gradating sequence, in February.  The rest will be carded in with something at some point, to make a sort of multi-coloured flecky (for lack of a better word) sweater yarn I have designed in my head.

I haven’t decided just yet if I’m going to use it just on its own - the locks were incredibly crimpy and springy.  I have ideas to possibly ply it with something earthy like a gray merino.  I’m betting it would knit wonderful socks or maybe a nifty cowl.  Or mitts or maybe a beret.

Anyways, always good to have a little wool insurance for the future.  :)

As well, I managed to finish up half a pair of socks:

One Rattlesnake Creek Sock knitted in Wooly Wonka Fiber’s yummy Aerten Yarn.  I cast it on a few hours after hearing of my father’s death.  Amazing what such a small project can do to help you make it through.

And this is not all of it, the therapy.   I am still working on the hand-spun Kelmscott as well as spinning up batts for a Fylingdales cardigan.  But I will save some things to show you in another post.

ETA:  I nearly forgot this - Cleopatra.  For Anne’s Shakespeare in Lace 2010 Club.  All finished up, too, as of last week.

There is one line in particular running through my head from the hymns sung at Dad’s funeral.  This is not surprising, given I am sort of a hymn junkie.  I often have hymns running through my head.  But this one sums it all up quite tidily:

strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.

Wool therapy, doing its job.

Tags: knitting, life, oceanwind knits, ravelry, socks, spinning, wip, wool, work in progress, yarn

Sometimes, when you have an internet business and are not dealing with folks face to face and you’re faced with notes of frustration and or questions about things in your inbox, it’s easy to sit here and think ‘if only they knew what was going on at my end, whatever they’re dealing with wouldn’t be quite so important.’  Or, they would realize I can’t just drop what I have going on here to dye up a few skeins of yarn in short order.  And then, I remind myself, I don’t have a clue what’s going on at their end, either, so maybe whatever has frustrated them is really just the icing on the cake.  So, deep breath, smile at the monitor and type as positively as possible, hoping to alleviate.

We all have our days and nights which get the best of us.  And, those of us with online businesses sometimes do not have the same luxury of outpourings about personal frustrations and happenings as folks who just hang out online.  Or, at least, I don’t feel like I should be sharing every detail about my personal life with clients and customers.  Maybe that’s just how I am.

However, this last week has been one of extremes.  So rather than sit here thinking, ‘If only they knew…’, I’m going to share, so you do know.

Just over a week ago, my father passed away in the wee hours on February 4th.  Aside from getting the news in that sleepy, just-awoken state at 3 am, it was also an extra shock to my system because he was intended to be coming home on or about the 6th.  He was recovering from heart surgery which had gone well.  All systems were pointing to success.  I was very much looking forward to him being home because my own health issues had kept me from being with him in the hospital.  But, for whatever reason, reasons even the surgeon couldn’t define or figure out, his heart stopped abruptly, never to beat again, even after intervention and trying additional pacemakers.  Medically, it’s a mystery.

But, as I’ve mentioned several times over to people attending his visitation and funeral, and to steady my own deep sadness and anger and frustration, we do not get to choose the moment when we go.  I tell myself and others, it was his time.

My father and I were close.  We were also neighbours who lived across the street from each other.  We saw eye to eye on nearly everything (politics aside) and just generally enjoyed each other’s company.  We helped each other with projects and talked each other through frustrations and worked out problems together.

The day after my father’s death, I developed some sort of staph infection (source unknown) in my right hand and arm, adding more physical pain to my already broken emotional self.

It’s going to take a long time to heal.  I am working my way through grieving and helping my boys through it, as well.  The infection is healing, too.  I am thankful it didn’t become systemic.

Life for those of us left behind does go on, as best as possible.

I also have the advantage of having gone through the grieving process before when my mom passed away ten years ago, so I know what to expect and hopefully how to ride it through.  My husband has been the rock through everything and his support and take-hold approach have been incredible.  I also have the support of many family members and friends.  I will manage.

And I have my knitting.  I am ever thankful during times like these I am a knitter.

At the other end of the scale, I am being favoured with what has become known as ‘the Harlot effect’.  Stephanie chose to knit one of my sock patterns and blogged about how much she enjoyed it.  It has been an eye-opening experience.  Knowing those socks are going to grace thousands of feet on the planet just blows me away.

Watching all the orders flowing through my inbox through tears has been ever surreal.

But, I do want to say thank you.  And I hope folks enjoy knitting them as much as I did.

And, being opportunistic, I decided to take advantage of the few extra dollars floating about and purchased a new LCD TV for my family.  We are sports fans in this house and a new TV will make the experience more enjoyable.

I also think it’s going to be rather therapeutic.

Especially, since the 2010 Winter Olympics are nearly here.

You know who I will be cheering on.

Tags: Canada, knitting, life, oceanwind knits, socks

I know.  That’s what I thought, too, when I first started making these little nests for carding.

It’s really a nice soft yummy rich brown alpaca.

It’s part of my latest spinning project, which is, again, to spin enough for a sweater.  The red mix from the last posting is working out very well -

(That’s a shot of the unblocked right front of Kelmscott).  I’ve knitted both fronts, actually.  Back next, then sleeves.

Anyways, digressing.

The alpaca above, plus this -

-DT Crafts kid mohair locks, which I’m hand-carding in the evenings (quite therapeutic, actually), and

from left to right around the clock:  green cotswold, light gray shetland (I find it’s just dandy with just about anything to add a little earthiness to a yarn), the brown alpaca and blue corriedale.  I’ve divided up all the fibre into its requesite amounts, into twelve sections, to make 24 batts.

So far, it looks like this (the mohair hasn’t been added, yet) -

All told, it should work out to about 24 oz.  Which should be more than enough for a sweater in worsted in my size.  I’m aiming to spin a 3ply worsted weight-this time.

It’s good timing, too.  I need a distraction.  My dad is lined up for open-heart surgery later this week or early next.

And, I’ve got about 6 weeks to kill before a CNS appointment at a neuromuscular clinic (but I’m thrilled to have that appointment booked).

In other news (good news) - Oceanwind Knits is finally on Facebook.  I feel like I’m a little late to the party.  But, I’m happy to finally have time to enjoy the fun interactions on Facebook.  I’ve really not taken time to participate in before now.  I’ll be posting updates as new things are added to the shop (a few new yarns went up the other day, by the way).

So, pop by, if you’re on Facebook, and say hello.  :)

Tags: life, oceanwind knits, projects, spinning, sweater, wip, wool, yarn

Why, quite a bit, actually.  Spinning has gone very well lately; quite a few FOs coming off the bobbins.

Like this - Freckleface ‘Gypsy’, 80/20 merino/silk roving

spun into

this 3-ply light fingering weight, 104g / 415 yards (I also wound up with 69 yds of 2-ply laceweight).  Isn’t it interesting sometimes how the yarn really isn’t at all like the original roving?  I did deliberately attempt to break up the colour runs in this, however, splitting each third of roving into quarters before spinning.  I am quite tickled with it, actually.  The plan is to knit a simple lace scarf (like the Raha Scarf by Nancy Bush) which would leave me enough left for a cowl or some fingerless mittens.

And then, I decided to spin up a little batt leftover from a show in the fall.  It had a mixture of fibres, alpaca, merino and silk.  I typically forgot to take a photo pre-spinning since it was one of those sort of impulsive projects started on a whim one evening.  I plied it with a single of gorgeous Wooly Wonka  Silverback Roving - alpaca, bamboo + angelina (just absolutely divine stuff - too nice to spin, almost).

It turned out quite sweet, if I say so myself:

I spun it so it would transition from a rich seaglass blue to a gray blue to golden (72g / 283 yds), light fingering laceweight, plied looser than normal for lots of drape.  Currently it’s being knit into a lacey cowl.  I had the project in mind while spinning and it’s proving to be a perfect match.

And, most recently,   this -

-showing 3 of 8 skeins spun over the holidays (finished on Jan.3rd).  This is an ultimate achievement for me.  I’ve always wanted to spin enough yarn for a sweater.  This is the first time I’ve managed to do so.  It’s quite a mix:  about 50% red fibre (alpaca, border leicester and tunis) + 40% shetland + 10% green, blue, rust and black corridale which I carded together.  I spun it sportweight, softly with a deliberately drapey yet stretchy hand.  I’ve got about 520gs and close to 1400 yds.

Because I want to knit

Kelmscott, which I’ve been totally enamoured by since it first showed up on my screen in the Winter’09 Twist Collective.  I’m not sure I will knit the collar since it’s quite formal that way.  But, we’ll see.  Currently, what you see above is total progress on the sweater (2″ of one front).

The red roving project, as it came to be known, was quite an undertaking but a nice quiet focus amidst the crazy holiday activity, which was a good thing, given the need for deliberate focus has become imperative as of late.  It is nice to be able to find the time to focus on such large-scale projects  because in recent years I’ve been far too busy to really allow for such things.  (And, of course, I’m a fickle knitter and spinner, prone to startitis to begin with).  But, not these days.

Late 2009 brought some changes (as every year does for most of us) which are going to carry on into 2010.  In a recent post I mentioned about seeking medical advice for some unexplainable oddities.  Hence the required focus and balance.

For a while, I thought it was related to the stress of having a busy schedule and not quite enough downtime.  I expected, given some time, things would just sort of clear up and I would wake up one morning feeling just fine (has not yet happened).  I thought a weekend away would work wonders (it didn’t).  It became loud and clear over a period of short months I would need to change my expectations of what I generally was used to business-wise and how I conducted daily activities.  Time to face facts.  I’m told it’s likely fibromyalgia + something.  Or it could just be something. The ’something’ is proving to be difficult to nail down and receiving specialist treatment is proving to be a time-consuming process (that is, getting to see a specialist is taking long).

Because all of this is happening behind the scenes, so to speak, and because I’ve received requests, I just wanted to let folks know I will not be offering clubs this year (as far as I know); I have also elected to not reserve booth space at any shows.  This is quite disappointing since I very much enjoy meeting folks, never mind it’s fun seeing other vendors who I’ve become friendly with (and never mind the enjoyment of adding goodies to my stash - but perhaps I will be able attend some shows and just enjoy the shopping side for once).

I will, however, be continuing to dye in small batches, fill small wholesale orders and I will also continue to publish designs.  Although some things will take longer to put together than they have in the past, other things may come together more quickly with the schedule being less jam-packed.

It has all been rather eye-opening.  I am quite used to walking miles with the dog and working 10-14 hours in a day if required, filling gaps with personal activities.  This, at the moment, is a thing of the past.  A balanced schedule is a requirement.  No more willy nilly.

I am grateful to family and friends who have stepped in to help me to continue working.  I am grateful I’ve been working from home for years which has enabled me to jiggle things a bit, rather than forcing an abrupt career malfunction.

And, the major upside is more time to spin and knit since I’m being forced to slow things down (ironic, isn’t it?  getting more by slowing down?).  This is something I’ve wanted (what fibre addict wouldn’t?).  So, I’m taking it.  I’ve always believed in being opportunistic.  And, IMO, the therapeutic value is priceless.  :)

And, I am expecting with some time, some sort of treatment may become available.  All of this could, at some point, become a non-issue.

So, in a nutshell, this is how 2010 begins.  C’est la vie, as they say.  Onwards and upwards.  Knit (spin, dye) on.

Happy New Year to you and yours.  I’m looking forward to the Olympics.  Are you?

Tags: finished, knitting, life, oceanwind knits, projects, spinning, wip, work in progress

I’m sure you agree.

Too bad my youngest has some sort of aversion to them and refuses to wear them for more than a few seconds.   We’re working on him (bribing with doughnuts and other goodies).  He might come around.  Otherwise, they are cute all on their own, even if they’re not attached to a pair of five-year-old footsies.

And, I have a new hat for the holidays:

Knit in the aforementioned Kandinsky hand-spun.  It is a little wild.  But, I love it.  And the hat looks pretty good on, too (considering I’m not really a hat person, this is quite a compliment to myself ;)).

Pattern is a variation of the It All Comes Together beret.  Photos are pre-blocking.  It has smoothed out with blocking and the colours really seem to pop.

Wishing everyone a merry holiday!  Be safe and warm.

Tags: finished, knits, knitting, projects, spinning, wool, yarn

Yes.  This is how it came out:

I like it.  Nice bursts of colour.

Specs:  2-ply, spun worsted at 12.5:1; plied at 14:1; wheel:  Ladybug.  98g / 267 yds.

I’m planning to knit it up into a Woodland Trails Cowl. (It’s a little thin but if it doesn’t work for this pattern, it will work for another cowl, I’m sure).  Right after I knit up some of these.  (Go see, they are too cute for words).

By the way - new yarn available at Oceanwind Knits:  Superwash Bluefaced Leicester sockweight (among other things).  :)  It is super super soft, with a litte nylon for extra durability.

If you’re like me, you’re stuck in the middle of endless snow squalls.  Great knitting/spinning weather.  (It has to be good for something).  Drive safely!

Tags: finished, oceanwind knits, spinning, wool, yarn

… things happen.

Such was the case last evening when I found myself in a position to do ‘whatever’, with the youngest more or less asleep, and hubby & eldest out.  It was a stormy evening, with localized squalls (the first major snow of the season around here) and the 100th Anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens was on CBC.

This all combined well with a quiet evening of spinning.  And, so, this is what happened.

The last Oceanwind Fibre Club offering was a batt based on Kandinsky.  As mentioned previously, I’ve decided to become a member of the club myself, this time around, to push my personal spinning boundaries a little.

My apologies.  I realized partway into the first batt I’d (typcially) forgotten to take a photo during daylight so it could be a little better.

The batts are based on this piece (but also on Kandinsky’s work, in general), entitled Farbstudie Quadrate, 1913:

There are 12 colours in the batt, blended in such a way to emphasize gradations but also hiding little surprise ‘bursts’ throughout.  Fibres include corriedale, alpaca, silk and merino.

I have to admit, although I love making batts, I am still quite a novice when it comes to spinning them.

With this batt in particular, Anne has gone before me which boosted my confidence.  So part of my determination and approach was based on her beautifully spun example.  However, being a little bit of a chicken, I wasn’t sure I was quite ready to go the whole hog and spin a completely transitional yarn.  I debated about doing singles for a transitional shawl or something along those lines, but, in the end, I decided to leave that idea for another time.  So I modified her approach somewhat.

I split each batt into quarters (widthwise, across the grain).  Each quarter is then split into thirds lengthwise (with the grain).  I am spinning each quarter in particular order so I have two gradations from ‘reds to yellows’ and two from ‘yellows to reds’ (each repeated) in each batt, reversing the order for the second batt, planning a 2-ply light fingering yarn.

Here’s the first bobbin (first batt):

I’m hoping for gradual, subtle transitions throughout the yarn.  I’m hoping to spin quite a lot today - NHL hockey starts at 1:30.  ;)

We will see how it comes out, if my approach works (I hope I am not muddying up the colours too much).

One of the joys of spinning - there is usually a surprise included.  :)

Tags: Canada, hockey, roving, snow, spinning, wool, work in progress