So much working on the business this week, I didn't accomplish a real lot of knitting or spinning, but at least there are a couple of things to show for another week's passing.
This is "Canyon Sunset," obtained from
Heavenly Fiber. I lost the card with the fiber content info, so am waiting to hear back from the seller. I'm pretty sure there's wool (or maybe alpaca?) and some silk, and a couple of colors of glitzy stuff. I loooooove sparkle, and look at all the PURPLE!!!! 2 ply, 1.9 oz, 172 yards, and I still have another equal-size batt to spin and ply!
ETA -- And the fiber content is...Merino, Blue Faced Leicester, milk fiber, faux cashmere, silk, and carbonized bamboo! Yummmmmm...
On the designing front, I wrote up a pattern for this little scarf yesterday, and now am test-knitting it. One, this will give me pictures of a finished item to use in my pattern leaflet. Two, the knitting of it will reveal, and enable me to correct, any and all mistakes I may have made in the writing. So far, so good. I think I have now caught them all.
The roving came from The Knotty Ewe. It's hand dyed Blue Faced Leicester wool. I spun it into a 2 ply yarn a few months ago, and I have a total of 305 yards to use in this project. I don't know what that will translate into, as far as total length of the scarf goes. However, I'm aiming to market the pattern as a "use up your handspun" project. Use any gauge yarn you like, and whatever needles match up with it, and the fabric you hope to produce, and off you go. Knit 'til you a) run out of your chosen yarn, or b) your scarf reaches the desired total length (bearing in mind, of course, that it will stretch and lengthen after washing).
The yarn is really soft and has a nice halo. This is the first time I have tried to use any of my handspun BFL yarns. Needless to say, I'm in love, and think there will be a lot more of this sort of yarn in my future.
Not much else to report, beyond that I now have a singing gig every other week at a local RC parish. I signed up to cantor Mass at 7:30 AM every other Sunday. Am I mad? Well, no. I'm a morning person, and I enjoy the meditative quality of that early Mass. I have not done any solo singing in public for years, and have only been singing alone in my room when no one is home. So, I'm a bit nervous, but also excited. I just hope I do OK and don't get overcome by last-minute stage fright.
Go figure. I used to perform a LOT, semi-professionally, and I sang in choirs in Providence and Boston with no fear at all. But too much negative input and petty jealousy and the tangled web of group politics left me feeling like there was nothing in the world I could do right, so bit by bit, I gave up the whole business. Something that should have been beautiful and uplifting quickly became exhausting and depressing. Enough was enough.
Part of me thinks I'm out of my mind for even thinking about doing this. But it has, after all, been nearly 10 years since The Great Praise Band Debacle/Crucifixion. I would like to think that the sense of security I've been lulled into is not false this time.
Excited-scared-excited-scared-excited...oh, help!
On the designing front, I wrote up a pattern for this little scarf yesterday, and now am test-knitting it. One, this will give me pictures of a finished item to use in my pattern leaflet. Two, the knitting of it will reveal, and enable me to correct, any and all mistakes I may have made in the writing. So far, so good. I think I have now caught them all.
The roving came from The Knotty Ewe. It's hand dyed Blue Faced Leicester wool. I spun it into a 2 ply yarn a few months ago, and I have a total of 305 yards to use in this project. I don't know what that will translate into, as far as total length of the scarf goes. However, I'm aiming to market the pattern as a "use up your handspun" project. Use any gauge yarn you like, and whatever needles match up with it, and the fabric you hope to produce, and off you go. Knit 'til you a) run out of your chosen yarn, or b) your scarf reaches the desired total length (bearing in mind, of course, that it will stretch and lengthen after washing).
The yarn is really soft and has a nice halo. This is the first time I have tried to use any of my handspun BFL yarns. Needless to say, I'm in love, and think there will be a lot more of this sort of yarn in my future.
Not much else to report, beyond that I now have a singing gig every other week at a local RC parish. I signed up to cantor Mass at 7:30 AM every other Sunday. Am I mad? Well, no. I'm a morning person, and I enjoy the meditative quality of that early Mass. I have not done any solo singing in public for years, and have only been singing alone in my room when no one is home. So, I'm a bit nervous, but also excited. I just hope I do OK and don't get overcome by last-minute stage fright.
