Acquisitions
My moth paranoia is always quite high and now sweater weather is back I wanted to sort knitwear storage. After a bunch of YouTube videos and looking online I found some bags designed for woollens. I also bought silica gel sachets for when I store skeins, fibre and accessories in plastic to help avoid moisture. Really happy with this new storage and makes me realise ‘where’s the rush to knit more jumpers?’
Felting
The shop is almost out of my stock now and Christmas isn’t too far away so I am slowly making a return to felting.
I felted fabric for one lampshade and then made a small piece of felted autumnal colours to cut out some leaf shapes for a project. (Once cut out they will be felted a little more to heal the edges.)
Knitting
Well after lots more knitting and getting down to the waist of my Winding Down jumper, I still wasn’t happy so I ripped it all the way back to the collar (where the change for size M2 and L starts)!
The designer, Heidi Kirrmaier, suggested I could still knit the large and just omit the back increases below the yoke but now I’ve started on the smaller size I will see how it goes.
The good news is I have no shortage of other woolly jumpers and cardigans to keep me warm in the meantime, so I’m not going to rush this project. Why am I constantly rushing with projects? I will take my time and rip back again if needed, hopefully the yarn will cope.
Spinning
It seems like it has been months since I did any spinning. I don’t know where my spinning mojo went but I have made a start on spinning baby camel and silk fibre from Coastal Colours. This is my 4th lot from them and it’s a gorgeous purple and turquoise. It’s my favourite fibre to spin so seems a good fibre to help get my mojo back.
Other News
I think I’ve had a bit of post holiday blues, it’s been a week of unpacking, laundry, kitchen finalising, cleaning and ripping back my jumper project and some rainy days. Also holiday weight gain + eating junk this week means I’m feeling heavy and sluggish.
Whilst we were on holiday the caterpillars decimated my broccoli plants so not sure we will have any in spring, and we are down to eating some self seeded potatoes growing in my sweet pea container and a few last beetroot. I can’t remember the last time we had to buy veg from the supermarket but will do next week.
What has been good is that sweater weather has arrived! I’ve been wearing my latest Quick Sand cardigan and from Wednesday it was cold enough for me to be wearing a hat, cowl, my new mitts and my cardigan with a body warmer and rain coat. Woohoo!
Purple day 
Burgundy day
(I Googled body warmer to see if that’s what American’s call it as well and found this interesting blog. https://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com/2007/08/jumpers-sweaters-and-like.html)
I went to see the new James Bond film at the cinema!! My first time inside a cinema since seeing Parasite in February 2020. This is probably the longest period I’ve gone without a cinema visit in 30 years! If you like Bond films go see it ASAP.
I decorated the house with the 3 autumn garlands my host mom* from Michigan sent me years ago and they are cheery and also bring her to mind 🥰
*30 years ago (!!!) I was an au pair to her 3 children and we are still in touch.
This is a Year of Projects post. Officially the Group is in its 11th year, but this is my 4th year participating. If you would like to find more about the Year of Projects Group on Ravelry.
HighlandHeffalump 
So many things going! Love your new storage system and your new spinning and felting projects!
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Hooray for wooly knits! I’m glad you’re getting your spinning mojo back. I’m sorry to hear you’ve got the blues, though. You’re so right about rushing through projects. Why do we do that?
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Yay for sweater weather, it’s nearly here down here! Your new storage looks just the ticket and your spinning is beautiful.
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Hooray for sweater weather! We are also entering our sweater weather, which means I can wear a sweater for a few hours in the morning, lol. Your spinning is beautiful! I pulled my wheel out for the first time in a year yesterday. I’m looking forward to getting back to it.
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Excellent suggestions for bags and silicone gels for storing woolens. I have been using vacuum bags where you use a pump to suck all the air out to store my seasonal clothing. Takes up much less space. Your autumn felting looks beautiful!! Thoroughly enjoyed your link on jumper/sweater. Had no idea jumper only referred to pullovers unlike the American use of sweater which is very broad. Wow the whole vest thing is confusing! Sorry to hear you weren’t satisfied with way Winding Down was fitting. Hope the new size will be more satisfying. Wow. That’s amazing that you are able to grow so many vegetables that you don’t need to buy them. It’s still warm where I’m at, 26C. Supposed to stay above average this whole fall. Hence my move to making elbow length, fingering weight jumpers.
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Isn’t it amazing that we all speak the same language but use different terms for items. The first time I saw the term ‘jumper’ I immediately thought of what you would call a pinafore or pinny. YOP has allowed me to learn quite a bit about my neighbors across the pond. Your felting for fall leaves is so pretty. It screams fall. Glad to hear your spinning mojo is back. The fiber you are working with is such a lovely color too. Sorry to hear about your jumper being ripped back. Hopefully you will be happy with the constructions this time. I am assuming a body warmer is what we would call a vest? Have a great week.
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It is sleeveless but more padded or thick and zips up the front. What you call a vest we would call a tank top! What we call a vest you would call an under shirt I think. Its definitely not the same language when you follow trails like these words lol
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That’s a great storage set up you have there. This is the kind of thing I think I’ll do but I never actually get past the researching with a cup of tea and piece of cake phase. The yarn you are spinning looks beautiful, I really love those colours and camel is such a fabulous fibre to spin. It sounds as though you’ve had a good year in the garden. I’m making my plans for next year at the moment but I could really do with some dry weekends to get the remnants of this year cleared up.
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That’s great news about your felted pieces! I love the color palette you’ve got on the newest sample you shared. It’s perfect for fall. I’m sharing your headspace right now. Why DO we rush projects? I don’t know why but I’m guilty of it too and felt the need to just craft for the beauty and fun of it this week. I also hadn’t spun in a while but hauled out the wheel and did some spinning too. Maybe it’s the season…..
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Such a lovely post and I really like your sweater storage … great idea and tip. I’m having caterpillar problems too, they seem to love my cilantro and they ate all of my zucchini.
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How satisfying it must be to look at those storage backs with their pretty knitted garments and know you made them all. Sigh. 🙂 And to think you make all kinds of other wonderful stuff too!
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Absolutely LOVE your spinning yarn. Such beautiful colors together. On the sweater sizing, I have gone from Medium which always turns out giant, to small ALWAYS. I just use the length for medium. Even for Baby sweaters (jumpers) I add length. Patterns never seem to accommodate round baby bellies or matronly chests lol. There is never enough length and alway a bit too wide (even when I swatch). So you’re probably best to stick with one size down. Good luck.
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Oh, no. You did rip back the sweater after all. I love the design that you’ve shown off so far and I hope that the smaller size (without the short row shaping) will work for you. It is an absolutely perfect color (color envy here…) and I hope to see the new version soon.
So… I had to go to Google to figure out what a body warmer is. A vest? Body warmer kind of makes more sense. I’m still getting my mind wrapped around jumper (pullover) and the like. I’m so glad that blogging exposes me to other people’s terminology; it’s fun! We had a short stretch of cooler weather (and a little rain!) last week so I was able to wear the new Rock It Tee over a tee shirt for a couple of days as a little body warmer but we are back to warmish weather again. Sigh. Someday I will get to sweater weather too. I love your burgundy and purple assembles.
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So sorry about your sweater but happy you found so many!!! LOL! I put cedar blocks in with my wool but I also have a pest control service so I don’t see many bugs in my house. I love your felted wool and your spinning yarn. I wish it was cooler here. It’s still fairly warm. So sad about your broccoli. I’m not going to garden anymore down here. If I move north then I might try it again…we’ll see.
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Better to rip it back and do it so you are happy then to continue on and have it languish in a closet. I love the determined look on your face as you head out for your walk (around iceland?) I don’t know what a body-warmer is, but I did find the article you posted very interesting. I remember being in London and referring to the elevator and being told by a very snooty gentlemen that it is called a lift!
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