A little bit slow

A quick catch up. The living room construction was far more disruptive than I imagined it would be. I'm still catching up. The skirting boards have been purchased and I've spent this week figuring out how to stain them, now that it cannot be done out-of-doors. I tried putting a space heater in the basement to get the temp to round 60F but it's way too insufficient. That has made me dream about getting another wood stove for the basement... ooh, the expense. There is another chimney with access in the basement, so it would be most doable. I'll keep my eyes open. I think the space is about 24' x 36', entirely open, and soon to be completely empty because it's too damp to keep anything down there. But for now I've decided to use the spare room/craft room, upstairs, which can easily be brought up to 60F with a small heater. That room is closed off during the winter to make heating my room and the main rooms easier. But I don't think it gets below 50 in there as a rule, nothing a space heater can't warm. Besides, I only need a few hours of ambient temps to get these boards stained.

I am doing a tiny bit of spinning, next post will have pics. And just a smidge of knitting, pics to come.

Second sock is in the works but has spent most of the past few weeks lounging on the center table in the living room.

My Christmas mushrooms are all painted and finished, so garlands can be made. Visuals in the next post.

I'm dying to open the tin containing the Christmas cake to have a whiff, but I'll wait. Won't be long now.

The soap I made in late summer has cured to being useable. I love it. Dare I say it's my new favorite recipe?

It's that time of year again... the wood stove is lit. Oh so cozy.

 11 p.m. I just went out to get some wood for the stove. The frosty air splashes the face, smelling salts pale. Deep breath in. The tall wheat-colored and brown grasses and skeletons of Goldenrod glisten, jeweled with frost. The stars twinkle. The cold clears the air. It's very quiet. Last night I heard a Barred Owl across the road when I went to fetch the mail after dark. I wonder if it's nearby this evening. Sometimes I think I should put a wood box in the house and fill it during the day so I don't have to go out at 11 pm for more wood. But I'd lose this beautiful experience. I probably will get one, but not let it stop me from going out to drink deeply of this world's beauty.

Knitting chaos

Chaos socks are what I'm knitting. The idea came to me via Etienne's channel on YouTube, Etienne . He's been knitting up a pair of socks by using up yarn leftovers in random stranded patterns.

Picking colors blindly from a box full of yarns--2 for each pattern, and picking the pattern by tossing a die.

I've got a box of yarn bits and bobs and I pick two for each 5-row band. I don't have a die to generate a random number so I'm using an online random number generator (which randomness is always iffy, but the site I'm using advertises itself as truly random--random.org. I'm dubious because of the first 10 numbers I drew, 5 of them are in the 40s! Hm.)

Random bits of left over yarns

 

I am selecting the fair isle patterns for my socks from a book in my library called, "Traditional Fair Isle Knitting" (c) 1981 by Sheila McGregor. The book is an encyclopedia of patterns. I'm sticking to the 3-row patterns with a solid line above and below, making a total of 5 rows per pattern.

Most of the yarns I'm choosing from are around DK weight, some a little heavier, some a little lighter. This first sock--experimental, to see if it fits--has 48 stitches cast on and I'm knitting in size 4 needles. I think it's looking pretty good so far, fit wise. Only time will tell.

 A fun knit.

 

On Top of the Game

I'm so on top of the game this year, I surprise myself!

Today, I made the Christmas cake and the filling for the tourtiere. The house smelled so good! The cake will get triple wrapped and put in a tin to age for a few months. The tourtiere filling is already in the freezer.

I made Marion's (from Marion's World YouTube channel) recipe again. It was a great success last year but this year I left it in the oven for an extra half hour to ensure a thorough baking. Can't wait to dig into it, alas, a few months away.

The tourtiere filling is my own take, based heavily on what I grew up with. Allspice is the predominate spice with plenty of black pepper. Here it is simmering down.

An update on the living room wall. The contractor finished his work but I waited a week before painting because the paint store was having a sale that started yesterday. 40% off, and I wanted to take advantage of it because at $93/gallon, that's quite a big savings. This is what it looked like when he left. Just today, I primed the walls. Tomorrow I'll start with the paint.

Due to the house being in such a state, what with wool and wheels moved all over, there hasn't been a lot accomplished on the fiber side of things. A bit of spindle spinning here and there, but that's about it.

Oh! I forgot to mention my new car. This is a stock photo, but it's the exact make and color of mine. A red Hyundai Elantra, 2025 model. I've decided to try leasing seeing how I don't travel as much as I used to.

 

The Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival

The Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival was this weekend. I left bright and early yesterday morning to get there by opening time, 10 am. The drive is about an hour and a quarter from my place. There were already many people queued up when I arrived at 9:30 am.

The half hour passed quickly in the idyllic setting of the Tunbridge fairgrounds, surrounded by the rolling Vermont hills with still some color in the leaves. (We peaked early this year which I imagine is do to the drought. We are still in an extreme drought situation.) In no time we were all passing through the gates in anticipation of all the wool goodies inside the grounds.

I had a short list of items I really wanted to find: A fleece, some wool fabric, maybe some roving, and a distaff. The first booth of importance to me was Green Mountain Hooked Rugs where a good selection of wool fabrics were on offer. Why do I want wool fabric? Because last month I purchased an unfinished, vintage, hooked rug on eBay for practically nothing. Reason for it being so inexpensive was that it had a few holes in the unhooked areas. But I know how to fix that. So I found all the colors I needed at the booth, in order to finish the rug. The yellow isn't quite the match I was hoping for, but Inktense colors can remedy that (I've already tested). This is the rug; I couldn't resist the colors and the charm of it:

The finished rug will be rectangular, 24" x 36". I have managed to find out quite a lot about the pattern, which tickles me. There's an inscription running around the canvas which reads, "An original design inspired by sister Sylvia's flower garden." Although a bit hard to read, I also made out "McGown" in the inscription. One of the several books on rug hooking in my library is titled "You Can Hook Rugs" by Pearl McGown, (c) 1951, and it has lots of pictures. Just on an off chance the design would appear in the book, I thumbed through all the pictures, and there it was, on page 52, a black and white photo! It's called "Flowerette" in the book. The caption reads, "Sister Sylvia used #346 Flowerette (24 x 36) for her first rug -- mainly because all of the flowers were picked from her garden -- and being one of those perfectionists her efforts were most gratifying!" How very cool!

The same booth was offering some hand hooked rugs for sale (some quite stratospherically pricey, as one would expect), but there was one vintage rug that I really liked, and being used, sported an affordable price. I do love these old rugs, and it came home with me.

This Wensleydale fleece was just what I was after. Not the breed specifically, but the size, crimp, and lock length. And the colors! This one will not be dyed. I can't wait to start processing it.

As for a roving, I found this hand dyed one irresistible. A mix of Merino wool and Tussah silk (Tussah comes from wild silk moths). Oh, so pretty. It should make a beautiful yarn.

A distaff was not to be found anywhere on the premises, that I could see. There is a strong likelihood I will attempt to make my own.

A successful trip! I was done shopping within an hour and by that time it was getting crowded, quite so. The weather may have accounted for the turn out, it was supposed to reach 80F! (Same today, tomorrow, and Tuesday as well.) So a visit to the animal shed, a bit of petting, and I was on my way home.

Part of the reason for leaving so early was due to the fact that my living room has been under construction all week and my time with Cielo (my hand raised Lovebird) was quite curtailed. I could tell Saturday evening that he was in need of quality time. So I came home to spend a fair amount of the day with him.

The living room... I had one wall that was covered in dark paneling cut down to wainscoting a few years ago, and I papered the top. Last week I had the same dark paneling removed from the opposite wall. The contractor should be finished by about Wednesday this week, and I will then paint the sheetrock. Here's what it looked like after he had removed the paneling and old insulation. The ceiling will be replaced next spring, hopefully.

A few final photos

 Taken in the garden.

Washed and blocked...

The Cormo (to my knowledge) is all spun up. 200.5 yards.

Playing Yarn Chicken

After I passed the half-way point of knitting the Celtic design on the shawl, I was pretty certain I would not have enough of my handspun yarn to finish it. So certain was I, that I ordered some dyes to start experimenting with to match the color. It looked like was going to have to spin up some white wool--which would not match the mohair/wool/alpaca blend the yarn contains--and dye it, getting as close as possible to the color of the yarn.

But to my great surprise, my handspun lasted up to the last 5 rows! Could not believe it.

I had saved the very first sample I made when trying to figure out how to spin this wool. It would be the right blend of fibers, the exact same colors, but it was 2-ply. (My original idea was to spin the whole thing 2-ply. It was only after some sampling that I decided 3-ply was better.) I cannot remember if this sample was spun long-draw or short-draw, neither of which produced a yarn I was happy with. (I finally went with modified long-draw.) It's not a pretty yarn, and it's thinner, but containing the right fibers and the right colors, I decided to use it to finish off the shawl. Saving my samplings was a good idea!

It saved the day!

The knitting is done! The last 5 rows of the edging in the upper left corner of the shawl contains the 2-ply. Can't tell!! Someone would have to know to look for it and would then need to find it. Made it by the skin of my teeth!

A few loose ends need weaving in and it needs to be washed and blocked. I'll post a photo when it is completely finished.

Yokey-dokey

 

The cardigan is so much more comfortable than when it was a pullover. The yoke is relaxed now and drapes much better. It's comfortable! And I love wearing it!

There is a slight hitch now with the button hole band. The formula I used to make the button holes has caused puckering, which is clearly visible between the bottom 3 buttons. Sigh. I'm probably going to take it out and re-do it using a different recipe for the holes.

The formula I used goes like this:

At the point where the hole begins, bring the yarn to the front.

Slip 1 stitch purlwise.

Bring the yarn to the back.

Slip 1 stitch purlwise and pass the first slipped stitch over. Repeat until 1 less than total stitches for the hole have been bound off.

Slip 1 stitch from right needle to left needle.

Turn work.

Cable cast on the total number of button hole stitches. Before putting last stitch on left needle, bring yarn to the front then place stitch on left needle.

Turn.

Slip 1 stitch knitwise.

Pass last cast on stitch over the slipped stitch.

It's not a priority to fix this because this will be worn mostly at home and possibly music class.

But I'm really happy with the results. It's delightful to wear now, and super warm. It will be perfect for those evenings when the outside temperature drops to zero or below.