Intentions

I have been doing more blog reading so far this year, and one of the most inspiring was this one from Knitfinder. I love the idea of intentions rather than resolutions - and I have a sticky note on my monitor at work with a list:
Exercise - Walk, Yoga, Swim
Counseling, Meditation
Mindful Pursuits - Design, Class Planning
Future -A New Home, Family Budget

So far, January was a bit of a blur - I had two weeks to do a month of day job work so that I could spend two weeks with my friend and mentor, Norman Kennedy. He came to visit for a week and we scanned a new set of slides - these were all warp weight loom pictures. Then we drove down to the John C. Campbell Folk School for a week of spinning class. Norman co-taught the class with Martha Owen, the resident spinner/knitter/dyer at the Folk School. Martha is another one of my favorite people, so I had a lovely, relaxing week and fell in love with a Kromski Polonaise wheel. I hope that someday one will come and live at my house.



Norman & Martha getting the class started.

We had a waulking, which is always great fun, and someone caught me in action!

Here is our whole class.

February, so far, has been some catching up from being away, starting to take regular walks again and a weekend spinning class that I taught locally at the Round Hill Arts Center. There has also been a great flurry of preparation for an exhibit that I have been asked to be a part of. I will tell you more about the exhibit in about a month when it launches, but the first task was to write a Biography and a Philosophy.

I have a brochure for the classes I teach, and that has a short bio but I needed something longer and more detailed. And the Philosophy was more of an artist's statement. I have new respect for anyone who has ever written one of these things. I wrote a draft and then my husband helped me develop and edit the second, third, eighth drafts... it took at least a week, but I'm fairly pleased with the final product.

I apologize for the teaser, but this will all be online on or around March 18th. I promise to post more information and links then!

So - upcoming I have an Acadian Weaving class at the Round Hill Arts Center on Feb. 19 & 20. There is still room in the class, but I am mailing out the warp yarn in the next day or two, so if you are interested, do not hesitate!

There is also still room in my Modular Knitting class at the Campbell Folk School March 6 - 12th. A week of knitting all manner of interesting shapes and playing with colorful yarn!

On the knitting front, I am working on a lace design for Solitude and I have a few small projects on the needles - Handsocks, a Selbu Modern hat and a Springtime in Philadelphia hat. I'm longing to cast on for a sweater, but I'm also kind of grooving on turning back to some unfinished projects. I need to decide if I want to knit any new shapes for the modular knitting class, because that is about 3 weeks away.

I have decided Not to Buy Yarn this year. I even told my husband! I have a seriously prodigious stash and it is likely that we will be moving in the next year or so. I have collected a lot of lovely yarn and most of it is earmarked for interesting projects, so I want to try to cast on some of the patterns from my queue rather than continue to add new projects. So I will try to avoid temptation, and cast on whenever I feel like it, but at the moment I'd like to finish some of the UFOs.

Knitting the Threads of Time

Knitting the Threads of Time by Nora Murphy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This lovely little book was a pleasure to read. In sharp contrast to the many knitlit books on the market today, this is a nonfiction book that follows the author through a winter season while she knits her first sweater and explores the historic and cultural context of knitting. She does not whine, she does not meet any famous knitters and her knitting is eventually successful. Can you tell that I have not enjoyed most of those knitlit books?



I think the main difference is that this is a real story, gently and genuinely told. It reminded to me to think about both the process of a creative project but also about the larger experience of creativity in my life and in the world.



This one is worth sharing.



View all my reviews

Upcoming Fiber Classes!

I will be teaching a variety of classes this fall and winter.


October 10-16, 2010 Acadian Weaving at the John C Campbell Folk School, NC


November 6 & 7, 2010 Acadian Weaving at the Round Hill Arts Center, VA


November 16, 17 & 18, 2010 Tartan Weaving 101 at WEBS in Northampton, MA

February 5 & 6, 2011 Traditional Fiber Preparation, Point Spinning and Color in Spinning for the Blue Ridge Spinners & Weavers Guild in Purcellville VA


March 6 - 12, 2011 Modular Knitting at the John C Campbell Folk School, NC

I'm also teaching a special sweater class for the BRSWG Knitters group this year, but that class is full! We have about 25 participants and it's a lively group.

If you are interested in any of these classes, follow the link to the sponsoring organization, or contact me for more information.

I hope to see you at a class this year!

Tour de Fleece

I have watched the fun of Tour de Fleece for the last year or two from the blur of my very busy job - we typically run 55-75 concerts in ten weeks in the summer.

This year I decided to join in spite of my job. I decided that I would try to spin every day of the Tour and just see how much spinning I could manage.

I spun on my two low wheels at home in the evenings, and I brought a spindle to concerts and sometimes had time to spin a little.


Here is my grand total (roughly from left to right):
Lisa Souza Merino in Beachstone: spun 324 yds, plyed 108 yds (spindle)
Shetland top in grey, spun 132, plyed 66 yards
Shetland top in fawn, spun 174, plyed 87 yards
Lisa Souza BFL in Deep Sea: spun 150, plyed 298 yards
Blue Moon Sheep to Shoe in Bruiser, spun 500, plyed 587 yards
Spirit Trail Polwarth Luxury Blend: spun 424 yards
Merino in blue: spun approx. 200 yds (bobbin)
Grand Total 3,066 yards!

I finished spinning the Polwarth just before midnight on Sunday, July 25th - and then stayed up to wind the singles off on a nostepinne, wind this together with the first bobbin of singles and then I just had to go ahead and ply them so I could see what the yarn would look like! At 1:30 I wound the 2 ply onto the niddy-noddy and found I had 212 yards - a nice worsted weight 4 oz. skein.

I was also inspired to inventory my spinning fiber stash, so I pulled it out of all the cupboards and bins and weighed, photographed and made notes. I still have a little left before it is all done - I'll let you know what the total poundage is! I found spinning projects I had started and abandoned and I am hoping to keep spinning and finish up some of these, along with some new projects.

I also found a Jackie Bland Fleece Study kit - 1 ounce each of more than 40 breeds. I'd really like to dive in and work my was through this. It would make a great Spin-A-Long - would anyone care to join me?

Spinning!

OK, I remain completely jealous of those of you who go to Madrona and Convergence and SOAR and such like, but I recognize that I am very fortunate in my proximity and relationship with the Campbell Folk School. I just spent a week there, being a student (for a change) in a spinning class with Norman Kennedy & Martha Owen.


I am very pleased with my week. I came with 3 specific projects in mind and I worked on two of them and prepared the third, and played with a few other things, too.

I picked,

carded

and spun 3 ounces of fawn Shetland from a fleece I washed a while ago - Shetland from Shetland. I feel like I have finally nailed long draw spinning - the way Norman first taught me in 1980. It's amazing how you can hear the same words over and over and then one day, snap! It falls into place. I am very pleased.

I washed & picked 4 oz. a very fine black Shetland from Shetland that I plan to comb & spin for lace. I finally flick carded & spun some of the Border Leicester fleece I bought from Levin & Raja at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival last year, and also got Martha to show me how to spin from the locks in the grease - I have a nearly full bobbin of that. Norman prefers a "properly prepared" wool and disdains grease spinning, and as I have been his humble student, lo these many years, I have had little or no experience with grease wool spinning.

Martha is a pro.

And Martha showed me how she makes her funky multicolored yarn (that's one of her skeins above), by a technique she learned from Priscilla Blosser-Rainey years ago. She starts with a single of natural colored wool and some carded natural dyed wool and she feeds the single and sorta spins & plies the dyed stuff with the single in one go. Very cool!

This is one of Martha's creations. Don't you love the blending?

One of the students brought several pounds of Masham roving that had been gifted to her and she passed it on to us. I did a little combing demo and spun a small skein worsted, and then dropped it in a dye bath. I also dyed a few ounces of my light grey Border Leicester in each of the dyepots - from left to right: red onion skins/alum, yellow onions skins/alum, cochineal/oxalyic acid & tin, cochineal/alum. The undyed fleece is at the bottom.


Ain't it purty? think of the hours of fun - picking, carding spinning...

We also had a mock waulking

And Norman expanded his skills to teaching border collie pups wheel spinning - a first, I'm sure!

Tartan Class!

I will be teaching a tartan class for the Waterford Weavers Guild on February 20 & 21, 2010.

It will be held at the Old School in Waterford VA, 10am-5pm each day.

There are 3 spaces left in the class, but you need to respond ASAP to have time to choose a tartan pattern for your loom.

This will be a round robin class, each student will weave samples on various looms during class, and then go home to weave 1 or 2 scarves on your own loom, in your own pattern.

$120 for Waterford Weavers Guild members, $150 for non-members.

Contact Cynthia Hull to register: cchull1@me.com

Contact me with any questions by leaving a comment below!

A little stress for the holidays

Well, I've been going full speed on a long cabled cardigan for my step Mom, hoping to finish it for Xmas. She was in the hospital all of last week for tests and my husband & I & one of our daughters took turns staying up in Baltimore & hanging out with her at the hospital. Above is the view from our hotel room - I got to walk around the Inner Harbor one morning, a lovely cold walk. I thought I'd get a lot of knitting done during my 2 days but I ended up ripping back 6" on both fronts and then barely recouping that loss.

The pattern was not very clear about where to place the pockets, so I put them in 6" from the cast on edge rather than 6" from the top of the ribbing...details...Must consult schematic!


So yesterday I finally finished the fronts, weighed them and went to look for the remaining yarn for the sleeves... you've guessed it, there's not enough.

Only three lonely balls, 150 grams, and the two fronts weighed about 300 g. Don't you ordinarily figure the back/both fronts/both sleeves as being roughly equal in size & weight?

So the yarn is long discontinued, I only found one ball on ravelry and haven't heard back from my begging p.m. I always, always buy extra - maybe they only had 15 balls? So I was in deep despair, but on my way to work I realized that this is clearly not my biggest problem at the moment so I should not obsess over it.

Yes, I could have finished it as a long vest, but the recipient is not really a vest wearing person. She prefers a long cardigan with pockets. So it does need sleeves.

I had a massage scheduled after work and my friend worked all the kinks out of my back & shoulders. When she was done, it occurred to me that I could unravel the back down to the ribbing and reknit it as stockinette - do you suppose that would reap enough yarn for plain sleeves? It's this sweater:(ravelry link).


This is the back - I don't really like the design that much, and it's a natural to make the back plain. Maybe a few stitches in seed stitch at the sides for transition?

I have already found something else to give my stepMom for Xmas, so I'm not in a hurry. It's just frustrating, and I'm ready to be done with this particular sweater. And I was hoping to have something really special for her - she's been undergoing a series of tests over the last several months and after last week they have decided she doesn't have hydrocephalus after all, but possibly Parkinson's. Not what she was hoping to hear, although it means she does not have to undergo surgery again. They sent her home with a new medication to try and will follow up in a month or two.

But truly the the hardest part of our lives at the moment is that her husband is dying. He's 89, he's had a good long life, but those of us who love him dearly are very sad to see him slipping away, and I worry so about my stepMom being on her own.

Maybe he will get through the holidays. It would be a wonderful thing to have our family together for one more celebration. The girls will all be home by Xmas eve, and we'll play it by ear. Or by Jack!

Meanwhile we are busy at Bluemont with First Night preparations. We organize and run these wonderful New Year's eve events in Warrenton & Leesburg. I will be singing with the Flaming Shillelaghs - an Irish band - this year. I'm really looking forward to that. I sang with them in August when they needed a singer to fill in for a few concerts and a wedding reception and it was great fun.


OK, take a deep breath, go for a walk, pat the puppy. Count my blessings.