FO: We Own It

"We Own It"
4oz yak/silk/merino blend roving purchased at SAFF 2015, Z-spun and S-plied into a 2-ply, approximately fingering weight. Two balls, 97yds, 1.98oz and 101 yds, 2.01oz.

Year in Review

 This year has been wild ride and I'm really rather pleased with the amount of making that's happened in a mere 365 days.

I got some big projects done from start to finish. The Sheep of Unknown Provenance was one of my biggest spinning projects to date and I learned a lot about how to process fleece, dye wool, and spin with color.

 Some projects were abandoned entirely and I'm not a hundred percent sure why. It could be that they were too fiddly or that I was distracted by something shiny or that it just wasn't what I wanted to be doing.

 Simple, but well-made seems to make me happy. I loved the challenge of learning new things like matching plaids and incorporating that knowledge into something I could share.

I knit or crocheted over 7,600 yards this year, which is the most I've done since I started keeping track. I couldn't tell you how much I've spun, but I'd wager it's more than I've spun in the past. I feel productive... and warm.

My baby has gone from a toddler...

...to a little girl. (Cue sentimental Mama sobbing).

And my big one...

A beautiful young woman. (Cue more sentimental Mama sobbing).

I've learned a lot, made a lot, been lots of places, worked hard, hung out with friends, and generally have had a lovely time of it. Parts of this year were difficult, but I'm surrounded by a lot of love. 

I've changed my mind and moved toward more compassion and more love. Just when you think there couldn't possibly be more room for that, more room is just there. 

Thank you for making me better.  

In 2016, I look forward to more challenges, more beauty, more making, more love, more focus. I look forward to the new shape of Project Make and to learning more about what I can do and what I can be: Faster, higher, more betterer. 

It's gonna be great. See you in 2016.

P.S. The Etsy shop is open now, if you want to take a look. 

P.P.S. Just a reminder that January will be the Month of Mending for the new and improved Project Make: a year long -along of -alongs.

This week in pictures

It's been a busy week 

As you can see

But I did start some socks

And I got some mending done

I even got to see the show after helping out backstage.

They were pretty great

We lit some candles (and had some chocolate)

We spent a little time together at the holiday party

And we got to see Santa 

It's been a good week.

SAFF Sweater and an Unexpected Dog

 So, in the car on the way to SAFF, I finished my sweater just as we got to Asheville. I immediately put it on and wore it about the delightfully Southern/hippie/artist town. I felt very much at home. We stopped at the awesome Tupelo Honey Cafe when we got there and afterward I got to toodle around town in my new, though unblocked digs. Here it is in it's washed and blocked glory.

I love the saddle shoulders and though it's a bit shortish, I think I will keep it that way. This is the Seamless Saddle Shoulder Pullover by the legendary EZ. I used Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash in the Garnet Heather color, about 754yds.

The first batch of Delphi & Delos is done and I love how it turned out. The picture doesn't really do it justice. There's a richness to how the two colorways blend together that I can't quite capture. 

In other news, we have a new family member. This is Rufus, a sweet, chill, little pug. His former owner, Randy, was the person who introduced me to John. Randy passed away this week and this little snerfledog needed to go to a family who would love him and be his forever home.
It's a big adjustment for me, but the kids fell instantly in love and he seems to be settling in pretty well.

We also had a Nutcracker Tea this week. Bu dressed up for the occasion.

And so did Iris. (The lady to the right of Iris with the fascinator on is Bu's dance teacher.)

A good time was had by all. There were nutcracker-appropriate snacks and an abbreviated version of the ballet for the little dancers to watch. Iris did such a great job and Bu was totally into it once the dancing started.

And now, for a little dancing

My hair is askew, but I don't care. (that's a lie. I care a little). So, the besties and I went to SAFF this weekend and it was awesome. So. Much. Yarn. & Fiber. I came home with quite a bit, most of which will add to my spinning queue. I tended to focus mainly on fiber over yarn, but I brought home a little bit of yarn, too.

Mom kept Bu for the weekend and all reports are that they both had a fantastic time. The big one went to a friend's so that they could have too much candy and stay up too late. Poor Dear Husband was working, but other than that, most of us ended up doing the thing that made us the most happy and the weekend was a rousing success all around.

That's the majority of what I picked up, including the red/orange that was so dubbed "Flaming Bison" by me and approved by the gentleman at the booth. I loved the Brickless I finished back in June, I think, or else late May, one of those, and it had been done in a lovely blue bison yarn. The red/orange is of the same type, but a much more "call the police and the fireman" color.
Not pictured are two bumps of Huacaya alpaca, one in white and one in cream that are going to look awesome plied together in a subtle-paca sort of way.

My current active project is 8oz of Elizabeth (mixed light and dark BFL) by Rain's Obsessive Stitchery, four ounces in Delphi and four in Delos to be plied together. I am so compelled by the colors that they went to the front of the queue as soon as I got them.
They share some colors and were dyed as "siblings" meant to be together, but would be gorgeous on their own, too. Delphi and Delos are sacred to Artemis and Apollo and I wanted to make some yarn that represented their relationship.

Part of me gets the feeling that the reason Artemis never married is because she was the midwife to her brother and she was so awed by the beauty of him (which, if you've ever been in a delivery room - that feeling. You know that feeling) that no man, mortal or immortal, would ever be someone she could love that much.

So, yeah, yarn.



And these lovelies, another braid from Rain in her Edward base in the Cardiff colorway, are going to be knit up into Crackerjack for the 2016 Chicago Cubs season. I have some silk (white), some merino/yak/silk (grey), and some cashmere (red) that shall accompany it.
Next year looks good.

I'd be showing you a sweater, but I have to block it. My mother* told me to.

*And by "my mother," I mean the lady in the art store who saw it mere minutes after it was finished.

Now for a little dancing:

I don't care if I ever get back...

Those of you who follow me on Instagram will have noticed a lot of blue yarn singles getting spun up in the last couple weeks and babbling about the Cubs. Well, the season is over for the Cubs as of last night and I have some great yarn with which to knit Crackerjack by Stacey Simpson Duke for next year. I just need a white and a grey to go along with it and I have some red in stash, for sure. This BFL/Silk from Rain's Obsessive Stitchery in the Cardiff colorway is going to be beautifully tonal and a delight to wear. 

I've joined the sleeves on the sweater now and though it kind of looks like a lump, it's more of a sweater-shaped lump than two sleeve-shaped lumps and a tube. With a little work, it could conceivably be done by the end of the month.

The carrot dye test is underway now and sitting on my deck just hanging out for a little while, absorbing dye. Chemistry tells me that carotenes should be pretty stable as dyes go, but it's looking more toward the pale yellow end than the muted orange end - and that's fine. It's a test, right? I want to see if I can get any color at all. 

No new kid pics today, so here are a couple from about this time last year. 

There's a lot more going on in my world, of course, and I had one of those days that I wanted to do so many things that not very much got done. Eventually, I settled down and made a list and hopefully soon, some of those things that I've started or wanted to start will get underway and chugging along. Sewing, embroidery, and quilting all need attention, but at least dyeing, gardening, cooking, and spinning have seen some progress.

Now to make applesauce unless I get distracted again.

Woo!

I have or had a cold. I'm not sure where we are with that right now, because some of what I'm feeling is a bit "frazzled mom syndrome" and some of it might actually be some rhinovirus shenanigans happening in my face. I spent much of yesterday trying to both take it easy and wrangle a certain little monkey. It was an exercise in patience.

As you can see, I've been doodling and sketching, though nothing spectacular. I'd love to brush up on my more basic drawing skills, but really what I need is to just draw more. I can, I just need to practice. 

 I finished the hexagons, though. Here they are blocking. I do still need to get a good FO pic of these, but I do rather like it and I think it'll be nice on our holiday table.

That's about 200 yards of deep stash handspun from approximately 2009 and 2011-ish. I can tell I'm a better spinner now than I was then.

And speaking of spinning, I finished the silk singles. They just need to be plied and washed and they're done, but I kind of want to finish the singles for the merino that's next in the queue, so I can ply it all at once. 

I'm strongly considering investing in a bobbin winder.

 And here's the merino. It's a gradient that fades from black to blue to orange and it's got some sparkle in there, too. I did a good chunk of the blue while I listened to the Cubs play the Pirates in extra innings last night.

You may be able to see some of it there at the top that was spun a little more tightly. It was a bit of a nailbiter of a game, but they did end up winning. Hooray!

The playoffs are a real possibility this season, so I may randomly say things like "...games behind" and "Wild Card standings" and "GO BLUE GUYS!" Just go "Woo!" when I seem happy and pray to your deity or deities of choice (if any) that I'm not back to normal about baseball until November.




I also finished a wee little bear sweater because Ballet Bear needed something to wear when it's not time for his dance class. I'm already working on bear sweater #2, which is a long sleeved fall sweater with an intarsia butterfly on the back. I figure a teeny bear sweater is a good opportunity to practice technique and I'm already contemplating a steeked fair isle cardi.

This one is about 30 yards of Plymouth Yarn Fantasy Naturale Multi in a pattern of my own devising, which is conveniently spelled out on the project page, should I or anyone else so desire to make another wee aran weight bear sweater. The second one is basically the same, but in worsted weight acrylic with about ten or so more stitches at the cast on. I'll tell you more about the second sweater later.

I tried to get a better picture of Iris, but this is the best I could do this week. She's been doing very well en pointe and I'm super proud of her. Bu, on the other hand, could do well, but she's got some work to do on listening skills first. 

Only a Half Dozen Different Things

First, an arctiid moth, because they're cool.

Second, an FO. This is Meditations on the Holy Mother, Leto by Diana Rozenshteyn. I used size 3's and lace weight, so it ended up being more scarf-sized than stole-sized, but it drapes beautifully. The brown is Misti Alpaca Lace in NT-304 and the green is Knit Picks Shadow in Lost Lake. The Shadow was deep stash from 2009 and the Misti Alpaca was from 2013. That's 819 yards out of stash, bringing my annual totals up to 6,287 yards in 14 projects. The sizing and yarn choices were the only modifications, but if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't have done the provisional cast-on since the ends of the scarf/stole aren't particularly directional.

 Third, a cake! The eldest wanted a Steven Universe-themed birthday party, so of course I made an appropriately themed cake. This is a show that I would recommend to just about anyone. It's goofy and silly in a lot of places, but there's also a complexity to the characterization that's slowly revealed over the course of the show. You can watch this one with littles, but some of the more emotional parts might even make the grownups cry (ONLY A LITTLE! ::sobsobsob::).

Fourth, some crochet. This is from the Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Needlework and if you clicky that link, you'll find that there's a familiar photo under this particular pattern. Turns out that one wasn't in Ravelry's database yet.

This is going to be something for the holiday table and I'm using some ancient and venerable handspun stash that was too skritchy for pretty much anything else.

I also finished the drawing of Princess Luna I'd been working on. The app has been updated since I finished, which I hope means more versatility. I'm still learning how to get the most out of it and I hope to be drawing more-- not just fan art, but just more in general. 

Lastly, something for Mom. She's pretending to crochet here and wrapping the yarn around the hook several times, but she kind of has the idea.