Osborn Fiber Studio

As expected and as usual, April was an absolute whirlwind. I’ll give you a wee taster.

We celebrated four birthdays. Minimighty’s (massive Hogwarts-themed spread!):

Mine (lemon cake for church):

Dooner’s (Barbie themed party and cake she largely made herself):

and Jared’s (angel food cake):

There was much cake.

As the weather warms up mid-April, the sense of excitement ramps up in the town as well. For example, April is when a section of the lake in the middle of town gets Zamboni-ed for anytime skating.

The week before Easter was spring break, and we took the opportunity to get out to the cabin for a few days. We have the birthday miracle of two working skidoos, so we all got comfortable rides.

Easter itself was a lovely celebration with a potluck at church. The day before Easter, there’s a big Easter candy hunt on the lake.

Then last week, we had Rankin Inlet’s annual week-long spring festival, Pakallak Time. There’s skidoo races, other sportsing tournaments, indoor and outdoor games, and feasting. Our first couple of years here it was canceled due to Covid, then we sort of zoned out, and this is our first year really participating. We made it to outdoor games for kids:

A big feast with delicious country food:

And Stringbean and I won the puzzle competition.

The beginning of the month sees us losing sleep as the days get longer, but by the end of the month we’ve adjusted, feeling energized, making plans for the summer.

Of course there has been making. I finished a couple pairs of Panda socks.

I was getting sick of socks, so I made a Hogwarts Express cowl. (Designed by Tanis Grey, from Knitting Magic: More Patterns From Hogwarts & Beyond, which I got for my birthday.) I think I’m going to reward myself with more little knits in between socks. As of this writing I have 3.5 pairs done, and 9.5 pairs to go in the current batch.

Spinning has been sock-related as well. I finished another skein of the Breed Blend and Colour study, a Hawser yarn made into two gradient skeins that should make matching gradient socks.

And I hackled together my own Breed Blend and Colour study from fleece I happened to have lying around. This made a quite different spinning experience, and a smooth three-ply yarn.

I also did a bunch of dyeing, transforming the fleeces into my stash into three blended future-projects:

And my hackle will be hard at work during the second half of may turning the Wensleydale into this glorious heathered peacock blue.

I finished a woven thing for the first time in a few years:

And wove a few samples – in addition to knitting a bunch more – for teaching content.

And I upcycled some abandoned squares for a fun quilt square swap.

And I made an i-cord tool out of clay and knitting machine needles sent up by my mom!

Most of this was chronicled on episodes of The Wool Circle in depth, which I encourage you to go watch if you’re subscribed! If you’re not subscribed, I stepped in to do one of the public live stream episodes for Rachel this month. So if you’re interested, anyone can check that out here: Wool n’ Spinning Episode 312.

On the flip side, there have been a lot of stressors this month. The news is a daily gong show that has us constantly balancing staying informed with our mental health. School for the kids has had its ups and downs in a big way; everyone’s just getting a little burned out with school. We voted in our first Canadian federal election, an exciting moment within a larger, distressing moment. There are the normal ups and downs of attempting to be a compassionate parent. Plus getting ready to travel. Overall I’d say we’re handling the stress pretty well, all things considered, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.

Above and below: projects packed for travel.

Tomorrow we get on a plane, and will spend the first two weeks of May in Edmonton. The first week will be vacation, and the second week will be a big church meeting. If you are a praying person, please pray for the Diocese of the Arctic as we elect bishops on May 9. We want God to select the right leaders for the next season of our organization, that it might be doing the work of the kingdom.

April is ending with a blizzard that had the kids sent home at 11 am. So I need to wrap this post up, engage with my lovelies, and then finish packing. I glanced past a lot of projects super-fast here, so if there are any you’d like to hear more about, let me know. But for now, thanks for reading. I hope you’re enjoying the last day of April, because tomorrow it’s gonna be May!