Does anyone else feel like winter is sweater knitting weather? For some reason, I get itching to knit sweaters every winter and get twitchy if I don't have any on the needles. Since my husband's sweater is done but for the button band (really need to finish that!), it was time to go through the WIPs pile and find a sweater I hadn't finished yet.
I have all these sweaters planned, too, so I had to figure those out, too. Did I want to start a new project or finish one still on the needles? All those new projects are calling me, but the turquoise silk/wool blend sweater really needs to be done. It is just the right weight for spring, and the bright color will help me feel ready for spring. Worse, I only have half a sleeve, a second sleeve, and the finishing to do. *sighs* Time to get to knitting and finish this one up, finish up my husband's sweater, and then I can reward myself with starting the new green sweater project calling my name from the stash.
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I actually learned how to spin yarn just two years after learning how to knit when I was a kid, so I've been a spinner for a very long time. I have two wheels, one wheel I am still working on fixing up to see if it's worth keeping, several drop and supported spindles, and lots of fiber to spin as well as a drum carder for fiber prep. Spinning, though, is one of my crafts that tends to get put on the back burner unless I have a specific project I'm making the yarn for. Last summer, in creating a treatment plan for my FND (Functional Neurological Neuralgia), the two physical therapists I saw recommended spinning as one of the best forms of PT I could do since it requires the use of both hands and one or both legs while paying attention to what the fiber is doing. They, the one at the Cleveland Clinic and the one here locally, both said I needed to spin for 15 minutes a day and try to increase that over time to 30 minutes or so and that it would be one of the best ways to help my brain retrain itself since many of the PT moves they wanted me to do involved making me do two or more things at the same time, so spinning yarn was perfect. I will admit that I haven't been very good at making sure to spin daily, though I have a good bit of local Romney roving I'm going through when I do spin for my 15 minutes or more. I'm thinking it might make a decent sweater in the end since I'm not working on spinning it perfectly or tightly for socks, and I should have plenty of yardage. I was working on a Polwarth/Merino/Silk blend for a lace shawl project, but when my FND is bad, I can't concentrate enough to make it the fine, consistent thread I need, so I switched to the Romney. And then I found the Clun Forest roving on FB Marketplace. Grown and processed in Wisconsin, I couldn't help but be intrigued. I started looking up Clun Forest sheep and what their wool is usually used for, and while they are a more popular breed in the UK, they aren't very numerous here in the US. A truly multipurpose sheep breed, I can't help but think they would be perfect for any homestead. Soft, fine wool (that my fingers are itching to spin now that it's here!), good for meat and milk, healthy sheep that lamb consistently, sturdy even in wetter environments, what's not to love? Honestly, if we could have sheep here, and I really wish we could, I would want a couple of Clun Forest sheep. This roving is absolutely everything I love in a spinning wool. It is soft, has just the right amount of grease for me, is springy, and it practically spins itself. I had the idea the other night of spinning it all up, then spinning up some light brown I have in the stash, and making a fair isle sweater. The colors should work together well, and I've been wanting to make a fair isle yoke sweater for awhile. The last one I made is a bit small and has some alpaca in it, which my body has decided, sadly, it doesn't like very much. I have never made a full sweater from my own handspun before, despite planning various projects only to reject those plans and go with something else, usually a shawl. This could be my next serious project, and now I have to finish up the bobbin of Romney I'm on, ply that up with the other bobbin, and get to work getting to know the Clun Forest and then spinning the brown to a similar grist/weight, and see what I can make happen. So, stay tuned. I'm supposed to spin every day, so this just gives me even more of a reason. The Romney will likely end up becoming a natural dying experiment, and that might get added to the fair isle sweater too, who knows. Either way, I have even more reason to do my needed PT. |
CarinaI go by Bina on Ravelry, have for years, and used to have a knit blog ages ago. With everything going on with Ravelry and elsewhere, I think it's time to bring back the knit blog. Archives
April 2022
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