Spinning for a cardigan

Was greeted with this carpet yesterday morning when I went out to fill the bird table. Unexpected preview of winter. It was  23 F overnight last night, Thursday is supposed to be 74 F. Boing!

 I have settled upon a kitting project: A cardigan. I've wanted one for some time so I've started spinning for one. The pattern I have chosen is called "Ship Shape Cardigan" by Heidi Kirrmaier. Pattern can be found on Ravelry: Ship Shape Cardigan . I won't be knitting it in stripes, though.

I got inspiration for knitting this pattern from Kate at The Last Homely House YouTube channel. She has recently made a video about her adventure knitting it in a solid color. I love the way it looks on her. 

I need DK weight yarn (11 wraps per inch) and I've been auditioning some mixed wool I bought from Wellington Fibers in Canada years ago. I've spun up a bobbin full and plied it 2-ply to knit my swatch with. I'm getting about 11 wpi but my swatch stitches are just very slightly too big, so I'll have to spin a bit thinner than I originally thought.

It's making nice stitches, though. I won't be using this yarn for the sweater because I don't have enough wool. I've ordered some new wool from the same company in a subdued purplish colorway. It should arrive any day now and I'll be able to settle into spinning.

The yarn will be spun from this colorway:

Album: Our Home

I walked up the trail that starts a few hundred feet from my driveway this afternoon. I am told the trail is the work of someone who once had a cabin way out back, but it has also been used as a logging road. The land, almost 1000 acres, is in conservation and we are free to hike at will.

There is a junction at one point where the trail meets Hog Hill Road, now a defunct thoroughfare. It's because of that I was going to name my place Hog Hill Homestead, but there is a multitude of ferns growing at the edge of the field/forest behind my house so I decided to name the place Fernwood.

It's an absolutely beautiful walk and there is so much texture in autumn's outfit. And so quiet and peaceful. At times, only the sound of the babbling brook is heard; some times only the wind flowing through the baring trees. Highlights of the walk were the milkweed seed heads all burst open, sending their progeny to establish themselves further on, and the brook, of course. Glimpses of it meandering at the bottom of the bank, and at times out of view.

I walked as far as the water fall--about 3/4 of a mile--which is barely a trickle now. But after downpours and in the spring, it's a proper water fall, all gurgling and gorgeous. The solitude, and step away from modern life steers my mind to pondering the Native Americans who at one time roamed these lands. The sense that this is our home, this beautiful planet earth, is vivid in these moments.

 

Crazy

Well the month is flying by! To be honest I'm glad election day will soon be behind us, even if the bedlam isn't over after election night. I never thought I'd see things go so badly in the US, but here we are.

The crazy quilt pillow is finished and I'm well pleased with it. I'm feeling inspired to make a full sized quilt now. It could happen. This was a good practice piece to 'get the hang' of it.

This will go on the bed, solely for decoration. The insert is a $5 pillow from a big box store that I opened up to un-stuff a bit and re-sew it shorter, to fit my cover. Works a charm.

Work on the Christmas runner has progressed well. It will be finished soon, probably this week.

Last Sunday's Harvest Festival in a small, nearby village was great fun. I had my three spinning wheels and took them in rotation, demonstrating from 10 am to 3 pm. I also had a couple of my quilts hanging up as backdrops and they got lots of good comments. It's great to see people taking an interest in how wool is spun. My friend from high school had an antique corn shucker that he was demonstrating just outside the door of the barn in which I was stationed. That was also popular.

I was surprised to see how many artisans were displaying and selling their wares. For such a small town, it puts on a good show. Craftsmen and women from all around. A very good turnout as well. I had a very nice, lengthy conversation with a woman from Virginia! And another from Maine!

I made a batch of soap about 3 weeks ago; something I haven't done in quite some time. It should be ready in early December, just in time for the holidays. I scented it with cedarwood and balsam. A small batch, just 6 molded bars.

Making soap is another one of those deeply satisfying endeavors. There is something about taking raw materials, be it lye and fat, or wool, etc. and making something basically useful from them. It just feels great!

I finally learned how to make decent garlic sauce like one gets at Chinese restaurants and I've been making it often. LOL. For a single meal for one, about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, about 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, about 2 to 3 teaspoons of rice vinegar. Mix those together. Heat a bit of oil in a pan (or wok) and gently saute a couple cloves of crushed garlic and some minced ginger (about a small fingernail amount). Then add the liquids and heat it up. Mix a teaspoon of cornstarch with a teaspoon of water and add that to the sauce and bring it to a boil to thicken. Stop when the consistency is right. I've been steaming a bunch of vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, green pepper, onions, etc.) and sauteing some shrimp, then adding it all to the sauce. The whole thing can be done in a wok as well. Yum yum.

Lots of cello work and piano work last week and I can feel it. Feels good.

New projects

Moving on from the quilt, albeit it needs quilting as does last year's, and they will be started soon. But for smaller projects, there are a handful to work on this autumn before the holidays come around. Three of them are wool appliques and one is crazy quilting.

But first, I've finished the two valances for the dining room and I think the fabric looks good.  These are entirely hand sewn. The second will be hung tomorrow as I had to run to the store this afternoon to purchase a curtain rod.

I made a mistake when designing this one and will need to make an adjustment to it. I forgot to take into account that the rod for the valance juts out a few inches from the wall, hence this one is about an inch or two too narrow. This was not an issue in the living room because I attached the valances to mounting boards and calculated for the depth of the boards. It will be easy enough to add more width to this one, and since the fabric is striped, the seam can be placed at the edge of a stripe and will be practically invisible.

First up, a Christmas table runner from a pattern I've had for a number of years. The pattern is called "Snowman for Hire Table Runner" from Primitive Gatherings. Progress goes quickly on this one.

Second, a Christmas ornament pattern I purchased last year called "Olde Saint Nicholas" from Jerome Thomas Designs. I have cut all the pieces but won't start stitching until the table runner is done.

Thirdly, a pillow pattern I bought probably five years ago. It's called "Gifts of the Season" by Jerome Thomas Designs. These wool pieces are all cut out as well and the project is in queue for after the ornament is finished.

Fourthly, I've decided to take the four unfinished crazy quilt blocks I started a few years ago and finish them, sew them together and make a large pillow from them. There's a bit more embroidery I'd like to do on two of them, but this pillow should be finished this fall as well.

Besides those projects, I'm spinning quite a bit in preparation for a 10am - 3pm demonstration I will be doing next weekend at a nearby town's fête. I'll have my great wheel, my castle wheel, my kick wheel, a few spindles, and my Indian charka for spinning cotton. I've never done a stint like this before; it should be fun.

Finally, I'm working on the pump organ, aiming to get it put back together before the holidays.

Before cleaning the stop works and top of the reed chamber (ugh)...

After cleaning (much better)...

HAPPY AUTUMN!

Making Valances for the Living Room

One of the projects I wanted to get to after the quilt top was done is new valances for the living room windows; three of them. The windows in my house are not standard size, they are squat and wide at 44.5" wide by ~41" tall, measuring from outer edges of trim. There's a bit more than a foot of wall space above the windows, and in the living room there are beams above that, abutting the ceiling. To give the illusion that my windows are taller, I've been meaning to make valances that hang from the bottom of the beams to just below the tops of the windows. Adhered to mounting boards with hook and loop tape, the effect should be clean and effective. The mounting boards can be screwed to the underside of the beams.

Mounting board in place with hook and loop tape stapled to the edge

A few weeks ago I went shopping and found a suitable fabric of good weight, on sale for $5/yard. Four yards gave me enough for the three windows plus a new curtain for the bird room window. Getting all matchy-matchy. I also found some gold fringe on clearance--to add just a bit of bling to the bottoms of the valances. All-in-all, not a big expense.

The mounting boards protrude 3" from the wall so I sewed a 3" border onto each side of the valances. Since I don't have a serger, the seams were done in the French style, except for where the seams fall within the hems; they were simply butterfly pressed open.

The spot where the top and bottom hems meet the French seam were simply clipped almost to the sewing line so they could be pressed open. I sewed double hems for top, bottom, and sides by hand, using chevron stitch.

Then I sewed the fringe to the bottom edge and hook and loop tape to the top edge (before turning the hem) using the 1940s White Rotary machine.

The above picture is the first valance I made, and I sewed the hook and loop tape in the wrong place. It was supposed to be at the very top edge. Next time I'm in the shop I'll get more hook and loop tape and re-do this one, but it's OK for now.

The effect is just what I wanted.

You can see how this one is sitting a little too high because the hook and loop tape is in the wrong place.

I like them so much, and I found an eight yard bolt of fabric at the thrift shop the other day, so now I'm making 2 valances for the dining room as well. $15 for 8 yards of good quality, heavy fabric, what a bargain!

Quilt top is finished

The pattern is "Everything's Blooming" by Erica Kaprow.  It's been a wonderful project and I really enjoyed experimenting with color for each block. 

 Click on images to enlarge.

A few details...

I will now start quilting the top I finished last year. This one will be set aside for a while.

Musings

The sound of split wood clacking as it lands on the wood pile. The sun is now much gentler than at mid summer. The warm fresh air that somehow hints that the end of its turn is nigh and cool will soon follow. The sense that flora and fauna are turning towards a quiet rest after fulfilling summer's obligations. The peace, broken only by the clacking wood pieces and their echoing back from the woods. The thought of cozy evenings inside by the fire. Today was the first day of wood stacking for the season and it feels good.

I ran across this poem recently and wanted to share it . . .

If

by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

     Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

     But make allowance for their doubting too:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

     Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated don't give way to hating,

     And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

     If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

     And treat those two impostors just the same:

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

     Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

     And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

     And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

     And never breathe a word about your loss:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

     To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

     Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

     Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

     If all men count with you, but none too much:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

     With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

     And—which is more—you'll be a Man, my son!

Many years ago, a dear friend back in Greenpoint, Brooklyn gave me the following typed out on a piece of hand crafted paper for my birthday. I think it, too, is worth sharing . . .

from Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino

The inferno of the living is not something

that will be; it is what is already here,

the inferno where we live every day,

that we form by being together.

There are two ways to escape suffering it.

The first is easy for many:

accept the inferno and become such a part

of it that you can no longer see it.

The second is risky and demands constant

vigilance and apprehension:

seek and learn to recognize who and what,

in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno,

then make them endure, give them space.