Osborn Fiber Studio

You know, one day, I will finish something and post it on here, and it won’t have a super-long back story. Today is not that day.

When I started spinning again, in January of 2017, I got sucked deep into the world of Instagram. Instagram is a world of marketing, and I was particularly sucked into all the beautiful fiber clubs being produced and consumed. Not swimming in cash, I couldn’t really sign up for any, and shipping to where I live is always an issue. But I couldn’t resist the work of Nicole Frost. I reached out to her when she offered her “Nebula Club” in 2017, and she kindly sent me all three pieces of the club at once. The first two parts of the club became the corespun Nebula Medallion Vest fairly quickly. The third part became a plan, but that plan took much longer to execute.

The club fiber: a black batt covered with a rainbow of silky textured mix-ins.

The Plan Part 1: Acquire 1 lb of plain black corriedale. Accomplished May 18 2017.

The Plan Part 2: Spin a thorough sample.

Accomplished in February 2019, as 51 Yarns sample 2.

The Plan Part 3: Spin batt and black fiber to separate bobbins. Make a 3-ply with 2 plies black and 1 ply rainbow batt, and plain black with leftovers.

Accomplished: November, 2021.

The Plan Part 4: Knit the above yarn into the Solaris cardigan – maximizing the yardage to get as much of a sweater as possible.

Personal knitting time ebbs and flows with the seasons of life. And crafting fits differently into your life depending on abstract factors like time and work, and literal factors like space and tools. I’m a pretty fast knitter, but it’s taken me until this year to really grok how much longer knitting takes than spinning. At least, right at this moment, I feel like I’ve got a really good flow to my making, and it involves about 30 minutes of spinning a day, and 2-4 hours of knitting.

I don’t know why I’m talking about this. Let’s talk about Solaris,.

You will notice that this is a vest, not a cardigan. Back when I bought this fiber, I thought “surely 1 lb 4 oz is enough to make me a sweater.” A lot has changed since then – I have increased in size in my person, and I wear my clothes much looser. Additional factor: this sweater has a lot of overlap at the fronts. Another additional factor: I spun this yarn worsted, making a denser, sturdier yarn, but making less of it.

I didn’t even measure the quantity when I finished it. I just guessed it was around a thousand yards. I hatched a plan to knit as much as I could, and whenever I ran out, that’s the sweater it would be.

The strategy started by changing the order the pieces were knit. I knit the fronts and neck first, massaging the numbers as my realistic gauge made itself known in the full piece. I thought I would have enough of the rainbow yarn to have a little left over at the end, but nope. I had to break into the black for the last row and bind off.

I then knit the back in black. Stitch definition highlighted here by dog hair… and me hair.

Admittedly, this is not the most stress-free way to knit a garment. There was a little bit of consternation, and a lot of yarn chicken. I had a backup plan to rip out the neck and redo it with short rows if I needed a little extra yardage. However, I felt super-pro when I impulsively decided to start the armholes on the back about an inch early, and finished with a wad of yarn left about the size of a small egg.

For wearing, I’m pairing it with this big boxy top that I love and wear every week. It looks pretty good in a shapeless way when I just throw it on. I’m not fussing with the collar too much.

If I feel fancy, I’ll throw my ubiquitous belt over it.

I just have to remember to pull it down in the back.

I was trying to remember the other day where I got this belt, and I honestly could not place it. I think it was in the neighborhood of 2014, but I could not tell you if I got it at a thrift store or a target or what. Unlike my top and jeans, which both came from the local thrift store. This time of year, I put jeans over yoga pants every day, and nothing looks like it fits right on my bottom half. Just so you have a realistic look into how my brain works: daily “styling” has to have a very low bar of effort required.

As usual, it’ll be interesting to see how much wear this gets. I’ve never knit myself a vest before. I really only have this one top I want to wear it with. I thought I would end up wearing this with clericals, but I’m not wearing clericals that often these days. I’m sure that will change, and the vest isn’t going to go bad.

It has a lot going for it. It’s cheerful without being overwhelming. It’s easy to throw on, it sits nicely on my shoulders, and adds a pleasant amount of warmth. I learned to wear pullovers; why not vests, and other layering pieces?

I’m pleased with the results, and I’m very glad to have this fiber and yarn fully out of my stash, living its fulfilled live. Deep stash, you are getting used up!

Have a glorious February day, y’all.