January

It seems the year is already flying by. Much of my time is taken in preparing for class or actually going to it, but there are still a few minutes from time to time where I am getting other work done. (I am actually doing quite well with Statistics for those that are curious. I find some of it very interesting and the rest obscure enough to be annoying, but I'm doing my best to learn it all anyway.)

I do have some lovely things from the end of December and January finished. This is another turned-point-twill scarf. It is exactly the same draft as the scarf for my dad last year, and the same base of yarn, but this is woven with a lovely blue-grey warp and aquamarine weft. I beaded the fringe, rather than cutting it short. What it yields is a lovely, feminine scarf, instead of the very manly version I gave for Christmas. This was made in trade for Laura of Textiles A Mano here in town. She's the dyer of this fantastic yarn and a wonderful resource here in town.

This is "Nebula", a Falkland batt from Into the Whirled. Cris is also a fantastic dyer and I worked with her in collaboration on the Solar Flare shawlette. This batt is one of her amazing offerings. With such lovely colors, I didn't want to loose them to too much blending of the fibers. I rolled this batt perpendicular to the lay of the fibers and then carefully pulled it into one long length of roving that changed from orange at one end into light blue at the other. It is spun up as a relatively low-twist single and should knit up into some amazing lace, once I figure out an appropriate pattern for it!

Here is some more amazing Textiles A Mano offerings. I received some lovely blended batts from my son for Christmas (Daddy outdid himself taking the kids shopping!). I plied it with two ounces of dyed tussah silk that I purchased from Laura earlier this year. The outcome is some gloriously subtle yarn that is going in to my "jacket weaving" bag for later use. I'm really excited about that project and need to figure out some weft year very soon.

This is two ounces if impulse purchase. It is probably Jacob wool. I spun it up lofty using long-draw. Since the wool was actually roving instead of top, this worked great! (Combed top is often called roving, since both come in the same long rope of fiber, but they are not the same beast. Combed top is very aligned fibers because they have been, well, combed. Roving may look very similar, but it's a long strip of carded fibers and far more suited to long-draw spinning. Combed top is better spun worsted and yields a smooth, strong yarn. Woolen spinning yields a fluffy, soft, hairy yarn that is less durable than worsted yarn, but much warmer.)

Last, but not least, are the Greta towels (another lovely Christmas gift, this one from my husband). These are made from cotton-linen blend yarn and feel wonderful! I already have them in my kitchen to be used. My daughter made the amusing comment that she didn't want to use them and get them dirty! I had to convince her they are made to be used. After all, I can always make more in the future! I'd hate to run out of reason to weave!

That sure seems like a lot of work! But really, each project went quite quickly. And since the house is clean, homework is done, tests are being passed in flying colors and kids are all up to date on their craft and homework, clearly we're doing something right around here!