Osborn Fiber Studio

We’ve been planning this sabbatical for a while now. So it seems pretty incredible that we’re actually getting on a plane on Tuesday, and that we won’t be back in the saddle of full-time, in-person ministry for four months. Right now it’s hard to look back, because we’ve been doing so much looking forward. But you know what? That probably means a little looking back would be good for me. So let’s give it a go.

Sewing

I started out March solid in my new year good habits. I wasn’t exercising all the time, but I was still trying. I got in my fifteen minutes a day spinning, and I’d even added some mending to the mix. There’s no catching up to all the holes in the girls’ leggings, but I did extend the life of a few pairs with a patch. I also rescued Dooner’s favourite pants with some massive patches:

and reinforced some ornery buttonholes:

That mending trend lasted about a week. But then just last week, I sprang holes in the last two pairs of jeans that kinda fit me. When I was sick, still poorly enough to stay in bed but not so poorly as to be completely motionless, I took several hours to repair them.

One of my first errands when we get some time will be to get some new jeans from a shop (gasp!), but this will get me that far.

In other sewing news, this is how far I got on MiniMighty’s Star Wars ™ quilt top:

These are the “Lifesavers” that will cover the quilt. I have black fabric from which I will cut 10.5″ squares, then topstitch/applique these on. I had hoped to finish this quilt top, but the black fabric didn’t arrive in time. Oh well! This is a tidy stopping point.

Knitting (and Crochet)

As you know, I finished Puffin in March.

I am just digging these relaxed-fit pullover sweaters. It’s a good formula for me, and this slightly cropped length is cute. That’s what I’m aiming for with this one, which I started during the one time we got out to the cabin this spring, during the first week in April:

This is a top-down conversion of “Port Charlotte” from Inspired by Islay by Kate Davies. I have a slightly finer gauge, and she only did six rounds of dots in her yoke, while I wanted to use up most of my colour wheel. So there was a bit of math, but we got there.

A quick block when I ran out of colour, and yes, this is long enough! I added short rows, then divided for the sleeves, and am cruising down the body. I’ve half a mind to bring it on the trip for my designated Mindless Knitting, but will it be too bulky? More on this below.

Do the dots remind me of our easter eggs, maybe?

Easter was at the end of March, which had turned into a harder month when Jared left town for a week. That was tough. We are a house full of loud, demanding, messy women who constantly have to be reminded to stop talking over the one quiet man who serves us and holds everything together. But take out our rock, and we all fall apart a little bit. My higher brain function hasn’t entirely come back after that. So, I spent about a week making little hats out of Year of Colour sample sets:

And I crocheted a hoodie for Dooner.

This was the outfit she wore for traditional clothing day at school… she was supposed to wear an amautinnguaq made by her late namesake, but she wanted to wear the hoodie instead. I let her, because at least she’s wearing kamiks. Don’t judge me too harshly. This hoodie was a heck of a rabbit hole. I’ve actually crocheted most of a second one for MiniMighty, but I stalled out on the sleeves. I don’t… know… if I’ll ever finish it…

Spinning

Spinning fifteen to thirty minutes a day got me through this beautiful, precious fiber that has been sitting in my stash for quite a long time.

Inspiration struck when I decided to sample this fiber for the Wool Circle episode on spinning over the fold. That episode captures, in real time, my discovery that this fiber is so happy to be spun long draw, over the fold, off the tip.

It was still a long spin, but spinning with the right technique for the fiber made it an enjoyable long spin.

I had already decided before sampling that the way to handle the colours would be to split it into two colourways, like I did with the even-more-precious superfine merino I did a while back. The result was these two coordinating skeins. Having used some bobbin leftovers to make mud that crossed the colour wheel, I can confirm that I am happy with this decision.

I haven’t measured these skeins (or even finished them), but I think there’s around 800 yards altogether. They will go into stash for now.

Partying

As you may remember, April is our big birthday month. Excepting Stringbean, who was born in February, the rest of us have April b-days.

The littles made their cakes fairly easy for me. MiniMighty had gotten edible ink pens for Christmas, so she just wanted a plain fondant-covered cake that she could draw on. Granted, she wanted cream cheese buttercream and a chocolate and red velvet checkerboard inside of her cake (cue eyeroll), but the outside was relatively low stress.

Dooner’s theme, two weeks later, was Squishmallows. I drew the pictures and she coloured them in.

My birthday is the day after MiniMighty’s, and it was quiet. Jared made me lots of vegetables, and got some low-calorie popsicles so he could stick a candle in one to sing happy birthday to me. It was exactly right! Jared’s birthday was low-key as well. He asked for a fudge bottom pie:

His birthday was overshadowed by Diana getting very sick last week. She’s better, but I came down with it afterwards, and my gut is still not fully recovered. I will say this for getting sick: it’s good for a dose of perspective. I am way less anxious about getting ready for vacation now.

Preparing

One thing they don’t tell you about preparing for a long trip is that it takes over the month or two right beforehand. You feel like kind of a jerk because all you can talk about is your trip. But it takes up all your brain space, right? You just hope you remember to ask people about themselves.

What’s the trip about? I don’t know if I’ve properly written about it here. Jared and I have served in this diocese for nine years now, and we applied and received approval and funding to take a sabbatical. We’re hoping this is a season for rest and reflection, to enjoy each other’s company while we happen to be in some different places. If you’re curious, here’s our rough schedule:

• May: Maryland, spending time with our parents and siblings
  • May 3: I’ll be at Yarncentric in Frederick MD, demoing spinning.
  • May 4-5: I’ll be at Maryland Sheep n’ Wool festival – look for me at the fleece sale Saturday morning, and the spin in Saturday night! And we’re having a Wool n’ Spinning meetup in the grassy area Saturday lunchtime. Sunday I’ll be there with Jared and the kids.
• First half of June: Switzerland, hanging out with family who lives there
• Second half of June: West of Scotland, exploring the beautiful land there and I’ll be doing some work stuff
• July: Northern Ireland, staying with friends. We’ll be going to a Christian conference as a family, and Jared will be getting some mentoring and doing a pilgrimage.
• August: Making our way back to the Arctic via Rhode Island (family reunion) and Winnipeg (friends).
  • I’ll be popping back down to Calgary for Knit City (August 16-18).

Officially Jared will be back to work after Labour Day. I’m not technically taking off – I’ll still be doing the podcast, and anything needful for my admin jobs which are already remote.

Sisko – seen here enjoying this weekend’s blizzard – will be staying here with our house sitter. Diamond gets a trip down to Winnipeg to spend the summer with a friend.

I will miss my furballs. I’m glad they will be well cared for!

SO.

Do you want to know what I’m bringing? Because it has been a craft all on its own to decide what is coming with me on this trip!

On the one hand, you might say, Rebecca, you are going to the biggest fiber festival in North America the weekend after you arrive. Why do you need to bring anything?! Well, friend, I love the stuff I already have! And I do not want to buy a lot, even though I am going to be at awesome fibery places. So I’m bringing enough to keep me crafting the whole time I am gone, hopefully to keep me in enough perspective that I keep my purchases to a minimum.

I’m dedicating all my spinning time this vacation to the Qiviut Blending Project. I spent a good chunk of April carding up ten new blends. There’s five breeds of wool: Rambouillet, Targhee, Romney, Cheviot, and Tunis, and I’ve blended them each at 75% and 50% with qiviut. That’s a lot of batts.

Most of those batts I then turned into punis on my blending board.

I’m bringing a selection of supported spindles with me for spinning these rolags. I will have some time with my Canadian Production Wheel at my mom’s house, so I hope to spin the longer wool blends (especially Romney) on that. If I spin one rolag a day, I will finish these ten skeins with time to spare. Of course, we’ll see what reality has to say about this plan. But one thing you can say for sure: it IS a plan!

As far as knitting goes, I hemmed and hawed a lot. But Kate Davies made it easier when she announced her Mystery Knit-Along this summer, which involves reading a lot of actual mystery novels which I’ve never read before! I joined right away, and surfed my ample stash of Book Project leftovers to select my colourway.

The other big knit I’m bringing is one I bought the book for on my last trip. This is Wervel by Maaike van Geijn, using yarn from Sweet Georgia.

I agonized for AGES about how to arrange these yarns, and in the end I can’t decide between these two yoke designs:

I’m thinking to maybe make two fingerless mitts to try them out?

That is plenty of knitting to keep me afloat, I think, especially as I can knit up the Qiviut Blending Project yarn as I make it. However, I will not be juggling ten balls of colours on a plane, and the first MKAL clue won’t be out when we leave. So I need one more thing – an easy travel project. And I can’t quite decide what to take. Should I …

• Bring the Port Charlotte sweater and knit the body and sleeves?
• Ball up a quick skein of sock yarn?
• Make more Year of Colour hats so I can drop them to nieces and nephews like the Knitting Fairy Auntie?
• Bring another skein or two of already-spun Qiviut Blending Project yarn to knit a couple squares to tide me over?

If you’ve made it this far in this monsterpost, tell me which you would bring. I have seriously considered each of these and I’m not sure which I like best.

We’ve planned this trip for so long, and it is bittersweet leaving at least. The girls have had an amazing school year. Each of their three teachers has gone above and beyond with compassion and affection for our unique kids, and they’re a little wrenched to leave school early. We hope our congregation knows we love them, and that we’re leaving for so long so we can serve them better in the long term.

I’m thankful that we had our RV trip a couple summers ago to teach me how to lower my expectations to the basement when it comes to “doing” vacations. We’re not going to “do” Europe. All I hope to do is connect with some of the people we love, enjoy my children, and just take in being in a different place. Everything past that is gravy. It’ll take all the grace we have to juggle getting to all these different places, still feed and clothe and sleep our people, and deal with All The Feelings. So I’m not expecting it to be a time of luxury and pampering. It’ll be an adventure, and an experience, and we’re open to whatever God wants to share with us along the way. We’re incredibly privileged to embark on this journey, and we intend to make the best of it we are able, and to come back ready for a new season.