I'm busy finishing up things here in the Northwest so I can head down and join DH in the desert in a little over a week. I got a bit distracted this morning by the Great Blue Heron who stood motionless on our beach for a long time waiting for a chance to catch his breakfast. I had to photograph him from inside the house so as not to open a slider and scare him, but I did the best I could. He was big and beautiful. (Heron's gender is chosen arbitrarily as I don't really know that it was a male!)
I think he was unsuccessful in his fishing here and majestically flew away after spending at least a half hour here. His wingspan was very impressive as was his graceful flight over the water.
In crafting news, I've been working on a big sweater called Warm Wishes. It's going to be big and cozy and a gift, so I won't say more about that. I'm using Madelinetosh Pashmina Worsted in the Thunderstorm colorway. This yarn is amazing and I've already been stalking destashes on Ravelry in the quest to get more. I don't remember where I got this yarn but I'm glad to actually be using something from my stash. The problem will be if I find more to replace it right away. Don't need it, don't need it, don't need it.....
Anyway, this sweater has the most interesting construction I've every done. You do a provisional cast on (I used an extra KnitPicks circular needle and left the stitches on the cable, which worked great) and then knit bottom up from the armpits to the collar. Then you turn around and, using the held stitches, knit down toward the bottom. After a few inches, you make the fronts of the pockets. I thought these were going to be way too high but they turned out not to be. You knit across the back, then the other pocket section. Very amazing but easy if the (very specific) directions are followed carefully. It's going more quickly than sweaters usually do for me and I think it's because it's so interesting.
Lastly, I did some spinning. My wheel has been very lonely since Tour de Fleece, but I got busy and spun a nice braid of Squoosh Fiber Arts Merino/Silk. I spun it worsted and tried to make it a bit thicker than my usual, so it's probably between DK and worsted weight. I think it's soft and pretty.
A cool thing that I accomplished a couple of months ago was taking apart my Woolee Winder and cleaning it. I have two Lendrum double treadle wheels and a Woolee Winder for each. Both winders were in the desert, and I was having trouble with one. So I brought it home for the summer, intending to have DH help me take it apart and see what was wrong. Well, I decided to do it myself one day. I had the specific cleaning directions that came with it and I carefully followed them and successfully got it apart, washed, and back together. Success! It works now, too.
I think he was unsuccessful in his fishing here and majestically flew away after spending at least a half hour here. His wingspan was very impressive as was his graceful flight over the water.
In crafting news, I've been working on a big sweater called Warm Wishes. It's going to be big and cozy and a gift, so I won't say more about that. I'm using Madelinetosh Pashmina Worsted in the Thunderstorm colorway. This yarn is amazing and I've already been stalking destashes on Ravelry in the quest to get more. I don't remember where I got this yarn but I'm glad to actually be using something from my stash. The problem will be if I find more to replace it right away. Don't need it, don't need it, don't need it.....
Anyway, this sweater has the most interesting construction I've every done. You do a provisional cast on (I used an extra KnitPicks circular needle and left the stitches on the cable, which worked great) and then knit bottom up from the armpits to the collar. Then you turn around and, using the held stitches, knit down toward the bottom. After a few inches, you make the fronts of the pockets. I thought these were going to be way too high but they turned out not to be. You knit across the back, then the other pocket section. Very amazing but easy if the (very specific) directions are followed carefully. It's going more quickly than sweaters usually do for me and I think it's because it's so interesting.
Lastly, I did some spinning. My wheel has been very lonely since Tour de Fleece, but I got busy and spun a nice braid of Squoosh Fiber Arts Merino/Silk. I spun it worsted and tried to make it a bit thicker than my usual, so it's probably between DK and worsted weight. I think it's soft and pretty.
A cool thing that I accomplished a couple of months ago was taking apart my Woolee Winder and cleaning it. I have two Lendrum double treadle wheels and a Woolee Winder for each. Both winders were in the desert, and I was having trouble with one. So I brought it home for the summer, intending to have DH help me take it apart and see what was wrong. Well, I decided to do it myself one day. I had the specific cleaning directions that came with it and I carefully followed them and successfully got it apart, washed, and back together. Success! It works now, too.
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