Good morning and happy Saturday! It’s been a crazy few weeks here since we returned from our vacation. I can’t get into why, at least not yet, but I will tell you that it’s a good thing and everything is just fine. There’s never a dull moment in this house even when it’s “normal” here, and in the last few weeks have been anything but normal, and I have done little to no spinning, knitting, or weaving done because of how not normal it is. Most of what would usually be out and sitting on the floor in my craft room has been pushed to the side or taken apart and stored away so that we can use some of the space for temporarily storing other things we have nowhere else in the house to put right now.
This morning I am finally sitting down to do some spinning for the first time in probably a couple of months. My Polonaise, because of its size, can’t really be packed up and stored anywhere, and I am using it to spin up a few bobbins of singles to use for a workshop on plying techniques at CeCe’s Wool in Esperance tomorrow afternoon. I have other singles that I have spun and wound onto storage bobbins that I will bring too, and at some point later today I have to dig out the bag of plied samples that I put together the last time I led a similar workshop. Plying is often an afterthought with new spinners who are still primarily focused on spinning consistent singles, and the goal of this workshop is to turn plying one of the things a spinner thinks about first even though it’s one of the last steps in making yarn. There may still be openings so if you’re interested in the workshop please call CeCe’s Wool and ask.
I suspended my daily wheel spinning practice back in the summer with the intention of getting some weaving done instead. During that time I did finish weaving a few items that are now piled up high on the shelf in the closet until I get around to doing the finishing work (fringes, hemming, etc.) The triangular frame loom is also still set up with the second piece of my planned blanket still on it and still unfinished. When things start to settle here into a new normal, I should be able to get back to work on this piece. One thing I am reminded of right now too, is that I also need to find a way to hang this frame loom on the wall for when it’s not in use. That will free up a good amount of floor space.
That’s basically all I have out to work with right now in my tiny little craft room that has been mostly taken over for the next few weeks. My spindles are out and always accessible, and I have the brown Shetland wool project that I started at the Southern Adirondack Fiber Festival still to finish, but if I want fiber for yarn or anything else I need to dig in the closet and pull out a number of things just to have access to my stash. It’s kind of like being on a low fiber diet right now, but it’s a temporary thing. Like I said, as we adjust to what the new normal will be for the next few weeks, I should be able to start doing more. Until then, I have just enough knitting, spinning, and weaving to keep me as busy as I can be with it right now.
The New York State Sheep and Wool Festival is next weekend and as with years past, we will have a house full of friends staying for the weekend and joining me for the fiber frenzy that it is. We will be attending both days, and I am hosting our usual Saturday meet-up and brief info session for the next Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat in May of 2017. As always I have no need for more yarn or fiber, but that doesn’t mean none will come home with me. It always does. Just like past years too, I have a small list of tools and a books that I am on the hunt for, and those will be my primary focus.
That’s it for now. I have a little bit of time left to spin this morning, and then I’m heading out to a long overdue eye exam and new glasses. Have a great weekend everyone!
Aaron knits...and spins, and weaves. 