Hats and Cats

Well, OK, one hat and one cat:


This was the pluperfect travel project: easy to knit, 1 x 1 rib for much of it and then stockinette for the rest, both of which would have been boring boring boring without distraction, conversation and...babies!



Well, OK, again: one baby :) (We're going with she will grow into it!).

The hat is a dubbelmossa again, using yarn from Jenna's fiber CSA and some handspun (here), here it is in it's unblocked state showing the ribbing:



I know! It looks very weird (we will not discuss what it looks like.....)! but it folds up nicely and the ribbing helps it to fit closely:



I suppose I should block the thing, but I've just been wearing it as is....

What of all the projects to be finished? Not yet. I've been running yarn bundles:



Bags and bags of them, for sample dyeing. Book One of the Dye Sample Book is back in production, and I head for Wisconsin for a working holiday this week. Plus?



I have been spinning.

Not Surprising

Given that these last few years have been full of travel, away from the studio, one of my first coherent thoughts this New Year morning was not surprising: finish things.

There are projects left unfinished that cause me a certain anxiety and need to be wrapped up. There is also need of clearing out: some things that need to move on to another home, another studio, tools and materials that may find new homes.

What is causing this consternation? First up, I want to finish this, handspun wool rug warp:


This actually has some weaving done, but it was put on hold at the time of the book project almost 3 years ago now. There are yarns spun and dyed, ready for knots:


There is also this:


A spindle bag, with all the yarn also ready, waiting.

The purse I carry everyday is having issues with the strap (falling apart issues) but I have been reluctant to weave another band (it would be its third in 7 years of use) because I have been slowly working on a replacement bag:


The weaving is further along than this photo would indicate, but not, alas, done. Yet.

Other projects call too: Deb and I are dyeing again for Sample Book #1, version 2.0, which we will start mounting this month. All of version 1.0 is sold, so there is some pressure.

Which may be the problem with each of the projects above left undone: they have no external deadline. I have dropped them to get something done that was required by some certain time. There was this bag, for Schacht's 40th Anniversary Celebration:

(photo by Avedan Raggio)

There was a silk shawl for Deb to wear at her daughter's wedding:

which may be a different color by now, as Deb was planning to over-dye it after the wedding, to some color more suitable to her everyday wardrobe.

There was this handspun silk fabric, not yet made into the vest it will come to be:

Some of the silk was wheel-spun, and some was spindle spun.

There was this handspun cashmere, silk, yak and wool fabric:


Then there were these:












All this and more for the Marin Surprise:


Lots got done. There are just these few projects not-yet-done that haunt me. They are not very portable, they need to be done at home, in the studio. Travel is not conducive to this slow technique, but since nomadic weavers all over Central Asia get things done, I can too ((and will!).

Organizing these projects here gives me a certain peace of mind, a focus to the next few months; a promising outlook for the start of a New Year.