Today’s finished object starts with SpinDecember, a Wool n’ Spinning spin-along hosted by our own Dionne. Dionne began a practice of saving little bits of her spins throughout the year, and making them into a combo spin in December as a way of reflecting on her year. Well, I didn’t have a collection of intentionally saved bits, but I had a lot of bits and bobs from spins that I didn’t have a use for. I had the last dregs of the massive collection of felting wool which I had mostly used up during the Year of Colour (2023), including some grey rovings I couldn’t really use. I had some Fifo cotton left over originally from the 51 Yarns spin-along (2020-21), also used for the Qiviut Blending Project (2021- ).
I took about half of these fibers, all of the greys and warms and earthy colours, turned them into rolags on the blending board, and spun these delightfully textured singles. I named the resulting colourway “Christmas Dust Bunnies” due to the green and red highlights and overall dirty grey.
I paired these singles with three colours of Milarrochy Tweed, and cast on Waves, one of my own patterns from Migraineur – unintentionally matching the cover of the book!
The resulting knit was quite enjoyable. The alternating sections with stripes on one side or the other of the shawl quite effectively chunks an otherwise repetitive pattern into satisfying portions. It had been over four years since I knit the first sample, so you can imagine how pleased I was that after all this time, I still liked knitting my own pattern.
During much of the knitting process, I was deeply unsure about my colour choices. I second guessed using multiple contrast colours, suspecting that using just one would have been more effective than using several. Most disheartening was the huge difference in contrast levels – the mid-green of Gaskin blends into the background so well that you probably wouldn’t know there are green stripes in the inner half of the shawl if you didn’t know to look for them. I ran out of Gaskin and swapped in Stockiemuir for the second half of the shawl, but that wasn’t too much better. With green faded out, what remained were the McDonalds-coloured pops of red and yellow that I did not like.
But these doubts were just that – self doubts. Doubts about risky choices, emphasized by the risk inherant with my work being so public now. I had to remind myself that every choice that I wasn’t sure I liked, someone out there would love. I’d learned this fact from years of working in yarn shops.
And how is an object of knitwear to be judged out of context? I put off photographing this shawl for the longest time, partly because I’d already shared about it on the Wool Circle and scratched that creative sharing itch, partly because it’s increasingly difficult to have pictures taken of myself! But yesterday I bit the bullet, and realized that my spring parka is perfect for styling with this piece. Plain forest green with purple-brown accents, with its own shabby-sheik vibe from multiple repairs. Up against the background of my faded olive green house, I think this piece fits right in.
When I stop to think about it, this piece ties together a lot of these redemptive themes for me. It was made from handspun, an aspiration I have for future design work. That handspun was made from upcycled leftovers. It was made in celebration of my book being released, together with my Wool n’ Spinning community. And, in the end, it’s a welcome embrace of those aesthetics that sometimes feel wrong, like they need to be fixed, but are really just fine in the broader picture of my life. I turned 40 a few weeks ago, and this feels like a good moment to plant my flag in the ethos of loving my life, the people in it, and myself, the way we are.
I may still gift this shawl to someone who will love it more, but I have found a way to appreciate it for what it is. Thanks for WaViNg along with me.
Osborn Fiber Studio 