Osborn Fiber Studio

After the summation of yesterday’s post, I like to give myself a fresh start of plans and dreams. So yesterday I did a great big stash toss, moved a few things around, and set some priorities for 2026. At the end of the year I’ll look back at this post and laugh. I sure did at my 2025 plans post! But that’s OK! It’s fun to dream, and to see the differences between what I expected and what happened. I put no expectations or anxieties on lists like these, only gentle intentions. Do you have any aspirations for the new year? Do you like to set intentions like this? I’d love to know in the comments.

I’ve decided to order these groupings by operation, from fluff to stuff. I made grids because they amuse me.

Fiber Prep: Raw Fluff to Spinning Fluff

I’m keeping this list short, because the items on it are large! And because I want fiber prep to take a bit more of a back seat to other crafts, as I don’t plan on acquiring any fiber this year. (Stop laughing.)

1. Corriedale fleece from All Wound Up. Clean. This is about 2 kilos after washing. I plan to lock pop and hackle about 1 kilo of it, then fluff and card the rest.
2. Fawn merino fleece from Coniagas Textiles. Cleaned by Mellyknits. This is absolutely gorgeous stuff and I have 2 lbs of it. It just needs to be fluffed and carded, though I may very well want to add some silk and/or qiviut to it. Not like it needs more luxury, but because I can.
3. Tunis and Clun Forest half-fleeces, dyed by me. I’ve sampled these blends all to heck, now I need to make a decision and blend them up. This is #2 on my priority list really.

Reality check: this is 8-9 lbs of fiber! Come giggle with me.

Spinning: Fluff to Yarn

Spinning is my life these days. I spin for the pod and I spin for my soul. This year, on the Wool Circle, we’re taking a step back from some of the more organized lesson plans we’ve had for the last few years, and we’re going to go where the wind takes us. I’m hoping to review some beginner-friendly topics that will fit into whatever I’m spinning. And I’m really hungering to dig into some of the longer, meatier spins I’ve had stashed for a while.

1. Merino solids into some textured halos, a Christmas Lights skein for next year (but it’s top of my list to spin for the pod!)
2. SpinDecember, “Christmas Dust Bunnies” colourway I carded from lots of scraps. I’m about halfway through this. I’m going to use this for a Migraineur-along; watch this space!
3. Neons and Neutrals combo spin! Thick-and-thin spiral yarn for the Goddess Pullover. This is going to be my zero-to-hero for the spring.
4. The rest of the Qiviut Blending Project. I’M GOING TO FINISH THE SPINNING THIS YEAR.
5. Valais Blacknose, to become a marled sweater quantity.
6. Scotland Combo Spin, lots of lovelies from Crafty Jaks. I’m thinking the Tetris pullover.
7. Clun Forest blend, dyed and prepped by me. To spin into a nice vest quantity for my episcopal spouse.
8. Textured batts made by me, from Wensleydale carding waste with lots of extra goodies thrown in. Perhaps for a second Migraineur-SPAKAL in the fall??
9. A girl can dream – I’d like to spin half of this Corriedale, if I get it prepped.

Reality check: Not including the Corriedale, this is almost 9 lbs of fiber! HAHAHAHA ok I’m really serious about spinning though. I spin 15-60 minutes a day, which adds up quick. I wonder what will happen!

Knitting: Yarn into Things

I don’t knit as much as I used to, but I usually do knit for an hour or two in the evenings. I’m hoping to do more knitting-while-reading this year, and less scrolling during my bits of downtime. Here’s the stash I’d like to become stuff this year:

1. Finish the Big Easy Gansey by Beth Brown-Reinsel. I haven’t talked about this on here yet, but I’ve been quietly noodling away at it since mid-November. This is with some gorgeous Aran weight in one of my favourite colours, from my visit to Donegal yarns.
2. When the Christmas Dust Bunnies yarn is done, this will be for the Migraineur-Along!
3. This Neons and Neutrals spin I want for my zero-to-hero this year. It’s a thick yarn knit on a big gauge; I think it’s reasonable.
4. My Wensleydale shall become something Draper-cardigan adjacent.
5. I hope to turn my epic collection of Milarrochy Tweed into some fabulous things. My new Inkle loom has inspired me to open Kate Davies’ book Inkling, from which I’ve selected these colours to be a “Land o’ Cakes.”
6. Should I want more of the same, I’ll find a way to turn the rest of these into a “Coofle.”
7. This pile has been long destined to become another Shakerag top. I like my first one and get a lot of mileage out of it in the summers.
8. This pile of DK-weight treasures I’ve been saving to knit through Buachaille.
9. This is a bundle of colour wheel experiments from the Year of Colour (2023), and some farm yarn singles that I felted and unspun. I don’t know what they’ll be, but don’t you think they deserve to be something?

Reality check: this is something like 8,000 yards of yarn. Um… we’ll just take it one project at a time, shall we? For comparison, I estimate that I knit around 7,000 yards of yarn in 2025, so this isn’t impossible. But if some design work jumps into the mix, or even a really compelling community KAL, all bets are off.

Weaving: Yarn into Fabric

With my loom on the wall, I’m hoping to keep it warped up most of the time this year. I want do do 15 minutes of weaving a day, but really just 15 minutes. I don’t want it to take over my life. I just don’t want to stop doing it!

1. Inkling! How many belts/straps/patterns do you think I can get out of these five cones? This is one area in which I might break down and acquire some stash.
2. I have just a few more of these textured yarn experiments that might need to be woven into a nice slab for a bag. (Notice how nicely the colours go with #1!)
3. This is an old warp, made from Kidsilk Haze, that would be an easy win.
4. These handspun and other leftovers are for a dream of a tapestry that I’ve had since I moved to Rankin; I can just do it, man. Anything leftover would be great for some ribweave. For… bags.
5. This is my very first handspun! I’ve started dreaming of weaving it.
6. These are old warps and cotton weft that I’ve been planning for ages to make towels or washcloths out of. I’m kinda UGH about it, but they’d make such practical gifts.
7. Two handspun skeins that I decided long ago need to go together. I tried knitting them together and they were not happy, but wouldn’t they be dreamy as warp and weft? Who even cares what it makes?

Sewing: Fabric into Stuff

Sewing has always been my weakest link. Last year was an off-year for sewing, and that’s just the nature of multi-craftualism, but this is a harder horse for me to jump back on. I’m so motivated by these beautiful bits of weaving that I’ve made, though.

1. Pile of handweaving! I have a pattern in my head for a super-simple spindle pouch I can crank out in volume, I just have to logic it out and make liners. (And inkle weave straps???)
2. A bag of treasures sent to me from around the world which are to become a wall hanging. I might just give in and hand-sew this if I can’t get a machine working; I want it to happen soon.
3. Erm, I’ve had this pattern for a few years. I still want the thing though. I even cut a muslin I think?
4. I really like cutting fabric better than I like sewing it. I think there’s a few quilt tops worth of pieces in this bag. I put it here just to remember it exists.

Reality check: … no, I don’t want a reality check here. Let me have my silly dreams.

Designing: Dreams into Stuff

This is the most aspirational category. No pictures here. Just a statement, a prayer of what might come. The real kicker is, this might involve acquiring (and/or spinning) and knitting beyond the goals set above. If that happens, so be it man! I’m ready to roll with the punches and seize the day and whatever other cliche you’d like to apply to an aspiring creative. Here are some specific directions I’m planning to take, if you’d like to know:

1. Circle around to the Knitting through the Liturgical Year collection. I’d like to bring those patterns up to the standard I set for Migraineur. This won’t be loads of fun, but I think they deserve it.
2. I’d love to do another design or two with Knitty, to keep myself fresh and practiced in the skills required for designing.
3. There are other collaborations in the very early stages of brewing. I’m putting a placemarker here just for myself, because… exciting!

Time into Life

When it comes down to it, my making is only one aspect of my life. It’s an aspect I’m constantly fitting in at the edges, an aspect that feeds me and that I very much feel called to. But at this very multi-faceted stage of life, there’s a hierarchy of needs that I’m constantly figuring out, so I can stay sane in the juggle. In the end, this is my life. My life is made of minutes and hours, and I have to be choosy. My real priorities are as follows:

1. Time reading Scripture and other books (rather than being on my phone)
2. Time exercising (including outside!)
3. Time cleaning my home (so we can have peace in it)
4. Time writing blog posts (monthly at least) and making podcasts
5. Time writing sermons, leading church, discipling kids
6. Time at my Other Job, working towards the future of Anglican leadership in the north
7. Time with friends (in person and on zoom)
8. Time making healthy food
9. Time playing games with my kids

Making is woven in and around all of these things. These things are the plain-woven ground, and making is the supplemental weft that makes the fabric of my life delightful. But these are the real priorities, to care for my mind and body and the minds and bodies of those I have a duty of care for. After all, you can’t take anything with you except the souls of those you have loved.

I like to plan and dream. But I am a grown-up, and life throws curve balls every year. So fly away, little dreams, and become what the Lord wills! And I shall go do the dishes.

Happy New Year, friends!