This next yarn doesn’t look like handspun, but I promise you, it is. I started with this fiber, which I dyed using black beans. I spun it into some beautiful subtle color mixes, but then I made a mistake in finishing, and what little color there was disappeared. I ended up with an solid off-white … More Socks on the Road: Bubblegum Painted Skeins
Our second full day camping at Elk Island was the one day we went out on some excursions in Edmonton. (It’s also the day we began by shearing the awning off the RV, but that’s another story, which I don’t intend to relive ever again.) We visited my friend Kelly, met her husband and held … More RV’22.11: Qiviut Inc.
Driving east, away from the Rockies, our next stop was Elk Island National Park just outside of Edmonton. We did not see any elk at Elk Island. But we did see lots of bison. Elk Island NP is home to one of the most successful bison herds still in North America. There are both wood … More RV’22.10 Elk Island
Begun while we were in Jasper, these were the perfect maple-leaf-colored socks to be knitting during our citizenship ceremony. They began as this braid from Sweet Georgia Yarns, purchased in March 2020 during my Vancouver trip. The colorway is called “phoenix rising,” and it’s on superwash BFL. These were my first sock spin this year, … More Socks on the Road: Phoenix Rising
As you saw in yesterday’s post, we had lots of little outings in Jasper. But that took up a relatively small amount of our time in the biggest park of the Canadian Rockies. Most of our time in Jasper was about spending time doing ordinary things against an extraordinary backdrop. Going to the playground with … More RV’22.9 Jasper with Nature
By the time we got to Jasper, we were ready for a change of pace. We received it in the form of getting together for the long weekend with some friends. Rachel, Mike, and their kids J and N made the 12-hour drive from their home to meet us in Jasper. When we met for … More RV’22.8: Jasper with Friends
The next socks I’d like to share with you are the only pair that are not from yarn spun this year. I spun this lovely merino-silk braid into two yarns, back as part of the 51 yarns project I did from 2019-2020. I split it in half, and did one half as my “Default Yarn.” … More Socks on the Road: Hobbledehoy Merino-Silk
On our last full day in Banff National Park, we tried one last time to climb a mountain. After our frustrations on Sulphur Mountain, we reassessed and dialed way back. This is Tunnel Mountain, the lowest feature in the Rockies to be called a mountain. We didn’t even start at the bottom, but parked at … More RV’22.7 Banff and the Icefields
On our second day in Banff, we toured our first National Historic Site. National Historic Sites are also administrated by Parks Canada, but as the name implies, they are about preserving history rather than conserving nature. It just so happened that our first NHS was the birthplace of National Parks in Canada: the Cave and … More RV’22.6: Banff, History, and Surroundings
You might remember that back in January and February, I did a sort of wool trade. Part of the fruits of that exercise were these two gorgeous braids of superwash BFL. I separated the two braids into the blue-shifted parts and the purple-shifted parts, attempting to make two analogous colorways. You can read about spinning … More Socks on the Road: Blue Geode 3-Ply
Osborn Fiber Studio 