Knitting with Icicles

Hah! Got your attention, didn't I? No, I am not knitting with the icicles, they are just having their pictures taken together. This is my first bit of Christmas knitting. I am so trying not to get carried away this year. I envision myself knitting away, snug in my little nest....after the stress of NaKniSweMo, the projects will be small and few for the month, and my focus will be not on crafting at all...but the Quest to fit the Vest. I can only focus on one extra thing at a time, folks. If I can focus at all.

Here's my first Christmas object. A lovely "warshrag" in Knitpicks CotLin. The linen makes this red glow from within, and that is just right for the season at hand.

NaSpiKniVeMo---FO pictures

Berchtesgaden-inspired vest, based on a sweater from Knitting in the Old Way, made with handspun from naturally colored lambswool; collar trimmed with handspun merino-silk, dyed on my dye day.

The wind blew. The pictures blurred. Top photo, more accurate colors. Bottom photo, closer up. Enough so you can see that I really did finish! No time to write now, but I love the vest. However, although it goes on, it doesn't fit in a way that I agree to model it. I am hanging it up where I can see it every day and going on a Quest to fit the Vest. We'll see if I'm ready to model on Groundhog Day. Call me on it!

Enjoy your weekend, dear friends and neighbors!

NaKniSweMo----Concise

I remember, when I was in college, getting a paper back from a professor. "This is a very good paper," he wrote. "It would be an A paper if you had used more than the minimum number of words." He gave me a C.

So, it seems fitting in a way, that here I am, severely short on stitches. I will complete my project, the Lord willing. (I never turned in a paper late.) But I ran short on fiber, so there will be no sleeves; my novel has turned into a short story, my sweater into a vest. And I have learned. I have learned that a pound of wool does not a sweater make. I am reminded of what a novice I am at this craft of spinning, where there is so much to learn.

Yes, November, I dub thee "NaSpiKniVeMo" and go to fix a pot of tea. I will need the caffeine, because turning in a project late simply will not do. And perhaps, tomorrow, when you see my finished object, you will say to yourself, "That would be such a nice sweater, if only it were not a vest." If you say that, I will have done well.

Dye Day

This Spunky Eclectic fiber is called Harvest Haze. I am spinning it up for rug yarn, and needed more to make a rug of any useful size, so I pulled out my dye pot, and had a dyeing session. I had a wonderful time, and the results were satisfying....here is dyed Lincoln.... looking out the window.....

Autumn Rain


Harvest Sunshine



Autumn Deepens




Lichen Log



Lichen Log Wensleydale

the Wensleydale took to the dye like a duck to water...I am starting to understand why Wensleydale seems to have such a loyal following. I do not know what I will make with this....yet. Some lovely, drapey scarf or shawl, most likely.



And Kid Mohair. That's what fairytales are made of.

Colorway Inspiration for the Weekend

According to Deb Menz in her wonderfully understandable book on color theory, Colorworks,

"A white background tends to make all colors a little darker, duller, and cooler."

Interesting, since I think our instinct tells us that high contrast automatically intensifies color. But instinct can be wrong.

Perhaps, in the case of snow, the contrast simply makes us notice what we normally do not see at all. I never saw these fruits before on my daily walk. They are exactly the sort of rich color I love, a deep purple red that is almost black....the stems are a brighter version of the same color. Go ahead.....click on the picture for a closer look.

Firewood.....or ice?

NaKniSweMo: Plowing On

A freshly plowed field, ready for planting..... the sweater tricks me, brings back memories of cool May mornings on the mountain top, working next to grandmother and grandfather, planting strawberries on the tops of the ridges, century old stone wall holding back trees and horses on one side, glorious morning sky on the other....
The time has come for the parting of the stitches.

The back stitches will take one road;

On the fronts, the neckline will begin to take shape.

One of my fingerless mitts, almost complete.

Thanksgiving day will be with friends this year.....a salad and dessert are what I am to bring. And so I will still have time for a little fiber in these next days, I hope.

To you I wish a Happy Thanksgiving!

Colorway Inspiration for the Weekend

Everywhere I go. I see colorways. How can I imitate my Father? How can I copy what He does?
Fiber and yarn are my crayons for drawing. Crude as my copies are, they bring a certain joy.

Not just color, but texture. What fiber can echo in its texture

the fuzziness of November snow....

the glitter of water,

the shine of ice,

the blurriness of mist?