August 16, 2014
Good morning, and happy Saturday but, what month is it? This past week has felt more like mid-September than mid-August. I saw a friend in Connecticut share a picture on Facebook yesterday of a fire in his fireplace. I went out at lunchtime and regretted not wearing a long sleeve shirt. More seasonable weather is returning for the weekend, but the past several nights have been cool, and the angle of the sun has changed so much that even using the solar blanket isn’t enough to keep the water in the pool at a tolerable temperature for use. There hasn’t been a single year we’ve been in this house that we’ve used the pool much at all in the last half of the month f August, and I have never kept it open beyond Labor Day weekend. I had hoped that since summer got off to such a slow start this year that it might hang around a little longer than it usually does. I hope that still happens.
I do know that this year I will not be closing the pool on Labor Day weekend. I’m going to have to decide to do that either next weekend or the weekend after Labor Day, and I’ll likely wait until the weekend after. This year on Labor Day weekend I am attending my first Men’s Fall Knitting Retreat in Seattle, Washington. I am excited beyond words about this opportunity. The Men’s Fall Knitting Retreat is in its fifth or sixth year, I can’t remember which. Prior to now I’ve only been able to attend the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat, which has been running now for seven years, and I’ve been attending every year for the last five years.
Because this retreat involves air travel, I’m not able to bring a spinning wheel with me, but I do plan on bringing a number of spindles and a good amount of fiber, and one of the other attendees and I will be leading a spindle spinning workshop for beginners. The rest of my time I plan to do as much knitting as I can, and maybe take a workshop on some new techniques that I’d like to learn. I’m also going to be spending a considerable amount of time either waiting in airports or sitting on a plane traveling to and from the retreat, so I need to make sure I bring enough knitting with me in my carry-on bag to keep me occupied during that time.
This morning my focus is on finishing up spinning the last bobbin of Aslan on my little Cardarelle wheel. I’m close to being done, and there’s just a little more fiber to be put through the drum carder first. This first skein of yarn that I’m making with this fiber will be a gift to Teri Conroy of Wunsapana Farm who gifted me with his fiber back in May.
There’s a lot more Aslan’s fiber which still needs to be washed, so more will come her way in the future and I’ll still have enough to turn into something special for myself. I’m also going to try blending some of this fiber with wool, and with fiber festival season upon us, my goal will be to find just the right wool (black, of course) to blend it with to get the yarn I’m dreaming of in my head. I want the structure and memory of wool in the yarn, but not so much of it that it detracts from the beauty of Aslan’s fiber. I’m thinking of something fine like Cormo, Polwarth or Merino, so I may have to get some small amounts of several different fibers to make samples first to see which one I like best.
That’s it for this morning. I’m off to spin, and later today we’re heading to the Altamont fair for a day of fair foods, rides, checking out all the animals, as well as fiber demos, and spinning.
Enjoy your weekend and enjoy this weather. I hate to say it, but it won’t last much longer.
Aaron knits...and spins, and weaves. 