Trenchwork

I’ve been playing catch-up again, and I just realized I haven’t updated the blog.  Since I’m about to go offline for the coming month, I also realized I’d better do that sooner rather than later.

On a work front, I’m trying to meet deadlines and get things settled for 10 course sites which will go online in a couple of weeks.  I’ve done what I need to do for 4 of them, and have my own and 5 support sites left to settle.  And I have until Monday.

On Tuesday, DH and I have a vacation, and we’ll be stateside to see family and friends and play tourist for  little while.  In other words, I need to get those sites settled before we leave.

And in other other words, don’t fret if the blog goes quiet for the next four weeks.  I have work that needs to be done on the last couple of days of the month, but I’m otherwise planning on shutting down the machine and staying mostly offline for the break.

On a fibery front, the last few weeks have been mostly focused on work, but there’s been a little fibery progress.

First, the Gotland/Karakul/Rambouillet cross is finished, and is about to become travel knitting.  I’m rather pleased with it.  There are roughly 900 yards of a fingering weight 2-ply, and I decided I wanted it in a nuanced olive green.

The yarn has a lovely silky handle, and a subtle shine, and it’s going to make a terrific lace shawl.  Which one, you ask?  Oh, please!  As if I know!  But I’d better figure it out in the next 48 hours so I can at least be sure to pack the right needles!

And we’re making progress on Matteus.  Remember the Shetland lamb?

It is starting to look like this:

The color is warmer than the photo shows, so rather than grey it’s a lovely oatmeal.  I’m spinning it at a very soft, low-twist, DK o light worsted weight with the intent to do a Sleeves in your Pi, but I may have to reduce the grist in order to get the yardage I want.  Or I can just spin it and make something warm and cozy and do a Sleeves in your Pi with the next one.

There’s a standing joke in the spinning community which seems to be true for me these days.  Someone asks a spinner what she’s doing.  ”
Spinning,” she replies.
“What are you going to make?” asks the uninitiated observer.
“Yarn,” she says, and grins.
“No, I mean, what are you going to make?  You know, with the yarn?”
“Make something?  I have to make something?  I’m making yarn.  What more do I want?” she asks, with  wide-eyed innocence.

And never ask a spinner what that particular fiber is for when she buys it.  Or, if you do ask, be prepared for the frequent response, “I have absolutely no idea.”  And when we tell you that?  Don’t get annoyed with us, because the reality is that we genuinely have no idea.  Sometimes we go into a fiber knowing precisely what it’s going to be when it grows up.  For instance, given the lock structure and the shine and the smaller amount, this fiber simply had to be lace.  Very very often, however, we’re spinning for the joy of spinning, for the learning, for the therapy, for the art, for the relaxation, for the craft, for the process, for the creativity, for the spiritual renewal, and for the end result.  Do we actually have to do anything after that?

When we do—if we do—well, that’s just gravy.

Say hello to the latest arrival:

Polwarth.  From Wendy Dennis of Tarndwarncoort. I’ve been wanting to compare American bred lines of some of the breeds I like with Australian lines of those fleeces, and this is the start to that.  Interestingly, even though the crimp count is the same as the Am-bred Polwarth I’ve tried, this fleece feels softer and has a definitely more silky feel.

The fleece measures in at about 23-24 microns with a lovely handle, and Wendy was a pleasure to deal with—and I’ll cheerfully go back to her next year.

I haven’t fully unpacked the fleece yet—I don’t dare until I’m ready to work with it or I’ll never finish what I need to do before Tuesday—but what I see is very clean.  The locks are about 5.5″, with 9 crimps to the inch, and I can’t touch it for the next four weeks.  The good news, of course, is that fiber doesn’t expire.  It’ll be here waiting when I get back.

Hello, my name is Rhonna and I’m a fiberholic.  Are there cookies at these meetings?