Hi everyone! Every now and again I open my blog app to find a notification that lots of people are still reading this site, and I feel a little bad because I haven’t posted anything new in a couple of months! I’m very much alive, busy as you might expect, and quite behind on posting. Rather than catch up on the backlog of posts I want to make, here’s an informal little catch up on what I’ve been up to…
Textured Yarn on the Wool Circle
Over at Wool n’ Spinning, Rachel and I are deep into the final module of our journey through The Spinner’s Book of Yarn Designs by Sarah Anderson. I’m really enjoying this final chapter. I’ve set the goal of challenging myself with at least one really weird out of the box yarn from each chapter, in addition to teaching the basics of each construction. For core yarns, that started with a basic soft core yarn:
And ended with an insane supercoil with three handspun singles and beaded pigtails.
This month has begun a journey into boucle. After a long search, I finally found some Gotland/Romney cross that turned into this gorgeous traditional boucle:
I have no less than four other fibres set aside to become boucle, so we’ll see how weird they get. There will be beads.
To amp up the fun, I’ve thrown a plain sock yarn warp onto my loom, and I’ve started experimenting with highlighting some of my textured yarns in different weave structures. I’m just going where my whimsey takes me, with the plan of making several pieces of 20″x12″ pieces of fabric that can be turned into lined bags. Here’s one piece, with this yarn –
Used as every fourth pick in a tightly-packed tabby weave.
At the moment, this is what’s entertaining me most in my making. Oh, and as an aside, this meant that I finally got this project off the loom first:
This piece has since been felted and will become a bag someday. All I weave for is bags now.
Travel, People, Travel!
At the beginning of September, my parents came to visit!
This was my dad’s first time to visit us in Nunavut, which was a Big Deal. It was my mom’s fourth visit, second in Rankin, but first time to see Rankin in warmer weather. Dad was unfortunately sick for the first half of the trip, but recovered enough for some sightseeing and a cabin overnight by the end of the week.
At the end of September, I took Stringbean down to Vancouver to visit Rachel & Fam and go to Knit City Vancouver. My video montage from this trip can be viewed on the latest Wool Circle, and if you’d like to hear a (free to listen) audio breakdown of the festival, including a run down of what I purchased, listen to the radio ep!
Me and Rachel in our handspun Jethro cardigans.
Visiting Pedro and Greta at their tea shop, O5 Tea.
Stringbean and I had a lovely time. My girlie needed to get out of town. We did lots of sightseeing, listening to our favourite podcast together, and shopping. Even though she’s not a fiber person so much, she does like to shop. And she had a great time with Rachel’s kiddos.
Never Not Fiber Prepping
So, even before going to Knit City, I had a lot of fiber prep on my plate. I finished this gorgeous Wensleydale sweater quantity (where are my pictures of the finished yarn? I don’t know. It’s like 1300 yards of 3-ply and I love it).
That was from one of the half-fleeces that I bought in 2024 and dyed for heathered mixing. I have two more half fleeces to deal with, and I’ve started popping locks on the first:
This blinding fuscia will be one aspect of a heathered purple that will become something for my bishop-husband. But this project is on hold, because I came back from Knit City with LOTS of fleece, some of it dirty. And I don’t like storing dirty fleece.
First, I washed the Romney/Gotland that became the boucle you see above. The other dirty business was a Corriedale fleece from All Wound Up (a farm in Alberta), which I’ve been slowly washing ever since. I’ve managed to come up with a technique that does a good chunk at once, gets it good and clean with my cheap dishsoap, and doesn’t wreck my tub drain.
The lanolin is out, but it’s still got a lot of dirt and VM that will come out in the rest of the prep process.
I’m also almost finished the fiber prep part of the Qiviut Blending Project. Just two more blends to card, and I’ll just be in spinning mode. Is it insane that like 12 skeins – almost a kilo of spinning – doesn’t seem like that much anymore?
The Book
I’ve decided that The Book will come out during Advent. I’ve carved out a few days in October to really knock it out, and I’ve got proofs for the digital versions of the patterns sitting on my desk. I’m not 100% sure that there will be a print version released at the same time, but here’s hoping. I’ll release them as sort of a free club thing, using my blog as a newsletter to release announcements, essays, poems, etc. throughout the Advent season. So if you’re interested, do make sure you’re subscribed to this blog, so you get email announcements and things!
The Fam
The kids are well into the school year now. They are in grades 7, 5, and 2. That’s one kid in each school, which is easier than it sounds. Overall they are thriving.
Dooner with her setup to make traditional Matcha. I got us the last few tools to make this process easy, so she can do it more often.
MiniMighty and I came up with an elaborate plan for me to make them beautiful Bento boxes every day. We came up with a meal plan for each month – five menus for five days, but the week is repeated for the month. This allows me to prep desserts myself and freeze things to save money. This is working really well so far. It’s time consuming, but I do love having a tidy kitchen table and setting up their boxes next to their kindles – knowing they have a bit of quiet comfort to come home to in the middle of a hectic day.
Our theme for this year is a peaceful home. That’s my priority – there’s just no reason that everyone in this family can’t have their basic emotional and physical needs met, inasmuch as it’s home’s job to provide that. It makes it a lot to juggle, but it helps me prioritize.
I’ve been using the Peloton consistently, prioritizing exercise a little higher than healthy food, letting the family menu be more about comfort and joy than about maximum health. So far so good.
That feels like enough for now. What have you been up to?
Osborn Fiber Studio 