I’ve just realised next week marks the end of the 3rd Quarter of our Year in Projects year! My list was clearly way too ambitious, but I’ll just carry some things over to next year and no need to panic. I do keep switching between ideas of what to make and with the generosity of some designers on Ravelry I have added some new patterns to my library.
Felting
I haven’t done any felting this week and our felting group is closed for the foreseeable future, we’d already decided to pop it on hold due to the current global situation but the community centres are also now closed. Instead we have created a WhatsApp group and will stay connected that way.
The place that was going to take my lampshades has closed for the foreseeable too.
Knitting
My knitting mojo is a no show. I started a dishcloth, but it isn’t finished. I have been tweaking my Ravelry queue in the hope that something grabs me. I did find a useful web page about counting rows on your knitting, I’ve linked to it on a separate post.
Sewing
I have decided to make a bag for my weaving bits and bobs. It will need to have internal pockets and I’ve no clue how to do those. Does anyone know of any great ‘how to sew’ blogs or YouTube channels?
Spinning
Well my spinning mojo is definitely back. Helped by the fact our North facing Sunroom, where my wheel is kept, is now getting the sun through the side window in the afternoons. I finished one full bobbin of the baby camel and tussah silk, I chain plied it, gave it a soak and snap and then hung it outside!!! Ok so it didn’t actually get fully dry, but it’s the first thing I’ve hung outside this year…hello Spring! It’s ended up about 12 wraps per inch, so sport weight. Still plenty of the fibre left to spin up.
When it is all done I’m going to knit it up into Reyna by Noora Backlund.
I then had a go at spinning the orange blended batts, I was much looser about thickness and drafting method, aiming for a thick and thin single. The 2 batts that had other colours blended in them are now spun on one bobbin and my plan is to spin the pure orange batt thinner so that I have enough to ply with the thicker yarn and it should increase the orangeness! Not that I particularly like orange as a colour.
Weaving
So last Sunday was our Krokbragd weaving course which I enjoyed. The rug yarn I’d bought especially for it was too thick for the size Sett/reed I had, so luckily one of the other members had some finer wool I was able to use. I’m not sure what I’ll do with the rug yarn now.
I was so confused over the process for the first half of the day, but in the afternoon it twigged and now I’m loving it. Gee whiz though I have way too long a warp on the loom to do it all in Krokbragd. The way you smish down all the wefts means you weave for a long time and end up with an inch. A wider sett (which I don’t own) and chunkier wool would really speed up the process. I’ve done the 3 pattern examples our tutor gave us and she told us how to design our own patterns. I’m now using lace weight yarn! It would take 40 years to continue, so I’m just going to use the warp to play around with different techniques, as a sampler.
As I have a rigid heddle loom I used 2 heddle rods with strings, which enables you to achieve what a 4 shaft loom can.
Other News
Well we are super grateful that we got to go away for our anniversary, as we’ve had to cancel our holiday to the Isle of Lewis that was due to start next Saturday. We nearly didn’t go away for our anniversary as it seemed a bit close to our other trip, but glad we went ahead.
I’ve set up a Facebook and WhatsApp group for our local spinning group, so that no-one is isolated. We have a WhatsApp group for our felting group. I’ve been watching the extra podcasts some people are doing and have enough yarn and fibre to open a shop, so I’m sorted to keep myself busy and keep in touch.
It seemed to be bake a banana bread week, a lot of fellow bloggers and a friend all made it this week…comfort food! If you’d like to know how else I am keeping busy, I did another separate post earlier this week.
Our nurses, doctors, shop workers, emergency service workers, bin men etc are all carrying on and I’m so grateful for them. In the UK they’ve now closed all bars, restaurants, gyms, cinemas, pubs and other places people come together and socialise in.
I’m trying to cope with my anxiety about some of my friends (in their 70s and 80s) who are still going out and the teenagers playing football on the small patch of grass opposite our house, but it’s a challenge. Yesterday on our dog walk where we’d usually pass maybe 2 or 3 people, we past about 20, most not with dogs. There are swarms of cars and camper-vans heading to the Highlands because we’ve had so few cases, people from the cities are heading here! But with campsites closed where are these people going to be washing, we don’t have the food supply or hospitals to cope if they bring more cases here. There’s one main hospital in the Highlands, in Inverness. Many of the islands don’t have hospitals at all. This may be the time I finally get around to trying meditation, I need to quieten my inner voice.
Stay safe everyone and stay home! xxx
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This is a Year of Projects update. If you would like to find out more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry, or you’d like to join in, please follow the link for details. To read what the other members of the YOP Group have been getting up to please click on the latest weekly folder and follow the links to their blog posts. This is a friendly group with a wide mix of skills and crafting interests.
HighlandHeffalump 
I’m looking at this as a sort of crafting retreat where I’ll also have the opportunity to have a clean house and a stupendous garden. Keeping in touch with other crafters is really important, too, so I’m glad you are doing that.
We were to be up in Sutherland at the end of April, but not anymore. I’ve been reading about thoughtless people travelling up north. They will discover there is nowhere for them to stay and they will be forced to go home. Perhaps the police should close the snow gates on the A9 temporarily?!
I’ve had two of those cards through the door — the “hello, I’m so-and-so, and I’ll help you here’s my phone number” sort of things. Heartwarming and a bit sobering, too, as I’m not quite (quite!) old enough, and in my head I’m still only 30.
Keep well yourself. Meditation has much to recommend it. As does just being in your garden.
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There’s lots of appeals to the government both Scottish and UK to close the A9 at the snow gates or further south. I find we are usually 2 or 3 weeks behind what they are doing on Gardeners’ World, but I did think I could give the greenhouse and my pots a good clean to prepare for planting. Stay safe x
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Your spinning is fab.
Meditation sounds the best course of action right now. I seem to be constantly worried about food right now. My rational head says we will be fine but then I think I should have stockpiled!
Keep safe!
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I didn’t buy any puddings or desserts or Easter Eggs…this staying home may get me to lose some weight, every cloud…
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I always think that you should focus on the projects that inspire you in the moment and I am sure that your knitting mojo will come back soon.
I really like the Gery/purple/bluish yarn that you spun!
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Thanks, it’s very subtle the colours but I like the way it’s probably going to go with everything I own.
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Your spinning looks so nice. I love the pattern you have picked out to use for the baby camel/silk fiber. I love the idea you have for the two oranges. Orange is one of my favorite colors but unfortunately if I wear it I look a bit jaundice. I hope the folks traveling to the Highlands are not bringing any virus with them. That is a scary thought. Meditation is a lovely way to rid your mind of worry and frets. Stay well, Liz.
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Thanks Marsha xxx
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Wow, I just love your weaving!! My loom is just sitting abandoned in a closet these days… now I want to get it warped up and busy making something. I have pulled out the spinning wheel and brought in a fleece to card, but that is as far as I’ve gotten with the fiber crafts this year. Your work is really inspiring!!
My knitting mojo always is the strongest in the fall and then wanes in the spring. Maybe yours is just waiting for a snap of nasty weather to come back, not that I’m hoping for any of that to come your way!
These are scary times! I’m sorry to hear that you have travelers coming your way. People coming to ski in Colorado brought us the virus and then it traveled to more places in the state. The number of cases is increasing pretty quickly and I am bracing for the coming quarantine order; maybe I will start spinning then. 🙂 Last night I began sewing cloth face masks…
Stay safe!!
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I’m glad I’ve inspired you. Our local member of parliament has been inundated with complaints and tomorrow in government they are going to try to pass a bill that will force campgrounds, holiday lets and hotels etc to close except if they are for critical bookings such as extra nurses or doctors in areas we are short etc. Fingers crossed they get that passed. There are tons of people arrived on Skye, well the nearest hospital if you are staying in the north of the island is 135 miles away and the Highlands has only 11 critical beds for a population of 500,000 over a massive area. Fingers and toes crossed they get this bill passed.
I’m glad my weaving has inspired you. The yarn worker school online is offering their weaving 101 course free at the moment and it’s got some useful tips in it I’ve not been doing. Xx
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We had that problem in the mountain ski areas… there just aren’t that many hospitals up there and the number of ICU beds are limited. Also, it just spreads the virus as people come into the area and then leave again. Our governor finally closed all of the ski resorts in our state, but the damage is done. I anticipate that we are just a few days away from a lockdown.
I have a ton of handspun yarn that is just hanging out waiting to have something done with it. I am wondering if I can make a cool wall handing. My problem is that I took a 4 shaft class and just loved it; the teacher convinced me to buy an 8 shaft loom. Now I’m kind of intimidated by the loom and not using it as much as I should. I just need to get over that, huh! I have made some killer dish towels and table linens.
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You reminded me I have two skeins to wash and snap and yes I think I can hang it outside too. Quite lovely weather here this past week. Your weaving looks amazing. I am sure your knitting mojo will return. I keep looking at my queue for inspiration too, I think for now crochet seems to have grabbed my attention.
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Your spinning and weaving are lovely! The orange is so bright and pretty – even though it’s not your favorite color, maybe it will be a nice accent color somewhere? Your weaving is so interesting and so beautifully done! Stay safe and stay well 🙂
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Aw I’m sorry you won’t be able to sell your lampshades where you expected. Hopefully it’s just temporary.
Banana bread is definitely the best comfort food – I made some yesterday.
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