Posts from — November 2009

Something hit our house hard last week. My son brought it home from high school, then my youngest son (who had just gotten over something else) got it, then my husband succumbed. Just as they were all starting to feel better I got it, and it knocked me off my feet for two and a half days. Yesterday was the first day that I have felt even remotely stable on my feet. Hubs and I haven’t had coffee in over a week and now that the withdrawal is most certainly over, we’re thinking of not starting again. In fact, we had herbal tea this morning.

Now that we’re all better and the house is disinfected, I’m back to work. I already have the dyepots steaming and I’m printing invoices from Thursday’s update. It feels great to get back to normal!

One good thing about being knocked on your butt by a germ is that you get plenty of guilt-free fiber play time. I had just received my copy of Abby Franquemont’s new spinning DVD, and I spent a leisurely afternoon watching and learning how to do supported long-draw, a spinning technique that has intimidated me to this point.

I finally had to learn because this year I’ve decided to make my husband a handspun Cobblestone. I ordered 32 ounces of beautiful dark brown merino cross lamb roving from natchwoolie on etsy, and the way the fiber is processed really necessitates a woolen method. So, being unable to do much else, I finally decided that it was time to learn.

As it turns out, the technique feels pretty natural to me now that I’ve gotten the hang of it, and I was able to spin two full bobbins in not much time at all. The first skein is drying now, and it looks like it’s going to be a very, very warm and cozy yarn. I can’t wait to make my test swatch!

I also managed to finish my Multnomah shawl but not without a small amount of drama. I got to the middle of the last repeat when I ran out of yarn.  It makes a lot of sense because I had 400 yds of yarn to start but apparently I didn’t pay close enough attention to the yarn requirements. Bad knitter! I had to rifle through my personal stash and managed to come up with some merino/nylon sock in the same colorway. I was worried that it would be painfully obvious that the end of the shawl was done in a different base, but it’s upstairs blocking and I can hardly tell. Whew!

Photos of both coming soon!

I know, I’ve been quiet. But I’ve got a good reason. Remember that big pile of yarn I was digging out of? Well, I’ve been busy building another.

Here’s what Fiberphile Central looked like around 3pm today:

And then around 7pm:

And then at 7:15:

That last photo is the new Super Squish Worsted base, and those two batches are just the beginning. I’m loving this stuff and I’m trying to talk myself out of keeping a few skeins for a sweater of my own.

I’m planning an update for early next week, so stay tuned!