Summer Slump

For the past couple of years I've found myself slowing down with my fiber habits and this year is no exception.  In the past I've associated it with different things, like a new job, always being on the trail, or just starting up with new hobbies, but I think after a third year of this I think I just don't have mojo in the summer. Work has been crazy and the last two weeks particularly so and while the heat from last week has broken, I've been totally listless in my fiber doings.

The one bright spot, is that I'm making some serious headway on Carla's shawl.  I was hoping to have it done by August 1st, but that's unlikely considering the week I have ahead of me, however I do expect it to be done in the next couple of weeks.

IMG_1087

 

Also, my Dropcloth samplers have arrived, and I've been playing around with embroidery, which has been lots of fun.

Four new samplers

Just starting out

Getting the hang of the stitches

Doodling on my own

 

I've been sorta spinning.  I got a new coffee table (and a television) two weeks ago and I haven't figured out the best spot to spin with the new furniture. But I'm making some headway on spinning Angel.  I want to have it done before our first guild meeting in September so I can show it off to Heather (the shepherd).  I don't think I'm going to make it back to the Rosseau Market this year, so I may have to email her to see if she has fluff for any other of her sheep because they are an AMAZING spin.  Also, there are little bits of VM (vegetable matter, mostly grass) in the fluff which reminds me of where yarn come from and makes me smile.

 

Angel on the wheelI also tried to distract myself with a bit of crochet and for some reason I wanted to make the African Flower hexagons.  They are fun to make but my heart just wasn't in it, so now I have some motifs with nothing to do, I might make a couple more and sew them together and give them to my friend Kristen's two-year old daughter Taylor who can use them for a doll/stuffed animal blanket.

Crocheted Hexagons

I'm hoping to get Carla's shawl/veil done soon because I still need to knit myself a shawl as well as I haven't made a pair of socks in ages.  I've put most of my other knitting on hold to get this shawl done and I have a few things that have been taunting me for ages and stash that is just dying to be knit up.  However, my stash acquisition hasn't been too bad this year (and I've been destashing slowly) so I'm not feeling the relentless push to keep up with my stash this year, which is probably good for my mental health.

CanCon: Yarn Edition

For anyone who has lived in Canada, you are familiar with the concept of CanCon.  For those of you who haven't spent much time in the True North, might not know that all our radio and television stations must play a designated amout of work by a Canadian each day (the percentages are dependent on location and type of stuff the broadcast).

Based on very cursory internet research (and by that I mean Wikipedia) it seems this number can range from 25% up to 40% of content on radio and 60% on television (although news shows count so most primetime is American shows).  On the radio the CanCon is hardly noticeable we have so much great Canadian music, and we send all the annoying ones to the US (you can thank us later for Celine Dion, Nickelback, Avril Lavigne, and Justin Bieber), on TV it can be a bit more painful although recently CBC really has been bringing up the average with Little Mosque on the Prairie, Being Erica and Republic of Doyle (which just got a 4th season pickup, which is awesome).

What does this have to do with yarn?

We have so many amazing Canadian yarn dyers, both indie and artisnal, that going forward (and this has been in place for most of 2012 already) I want my stash to be CanCon-ed.  I want to make sure that I am supporting the amazingly diverse range of dyers and fiber producers here in Canada. Between Handmaiden/Fleece Artist in Nova Scotia to Sweet Georgia in Vancouver and in between Tanis in Montreal, Kim in Haliburton, Emily in Toronto, Lisa in Barrie, Hasmi in Banff, Kirsten and Melissa in Vancouver  and so many more I haven't discovered yet.

However, I couldn't go 100% Canadian, there are too many cool indie dyers in the States that I would miss like bohoknitterchic, Gale's Art, Winemakerssister and Wandering Wool (who I haven't actually ordered from yet, but her stuff is so tempting) and the rest of the Phat Fiber crew who are working in their corners of the earth on amazing yarns and fibers.

And sometime KnitPicks has exactly the yarn you need for a project, and Felici, I do love my Felici.

So I am going to try to buy mostly Canadian yarn, I will tag projects that are either made with Canadian dyed yarn (or a pattern by a Canadian designer) with the tag CanCon. Let's see if I can do better than the local stations and bring my CanCon up above 60%.

Either way I will have help with this,  I am currently signed up for three different yarn clubs, the Tanis Fiber Arts Year in Colour Club (which is still accepting signups and you will get all the previous months in your next shipment), indigodragonfly's Smart Ass Knitters/World Domination 1 Skein Club (there may be 6-mo slots in the fall, if not the next round of signups are in Feb 2013) and the latest one is Sweet Fiber's Super Sweet Summer of Sock, Vancouver Edition (which there are still spots in for the the 3 month club, which ships May, June, July).

Also, I am headed to the Downtown (Toronto) Knit Collective big show, Knitter's Frolic next Saturday (the 28th) so I will get to check out and sample all sorts of new yarns, bases and dyers at the show, and meet some of my other dealers (ie. Kim and Tanis face to face).

Just like the latest CBC shows, CanCon yarn is a great thing and I am excited to keep it a major part of my fiber diet.

FO: Stardust Neckwarmer

This yarn has been burning a hole in my stash since I frogged the Stardust Mittens back in January.  It is so soft, and the color so subtle and blue (a color that I frequently over look in favor of green).

This spring when I started doing trail pass checks twice a week I knew I needed a pattern that was in the round, easily memorized and not too elaborate to work on at the trailhead, and I found the Twisted Rib Neckwarmer.  The pattern seemed designed for the yarn and so I set off.  After two months of working on it, I felt the need to finish it, mostly because as much as I like to think I can have many, many projects on the go at once, I really am a serial monogamist when it comes to projects.  I finished it a while back, but I didn't have the time or inclination to block it, and then I kept forgetting to get pictures.

So here it is, finally, the Stardust Neckwarmer, slightly out of season, but just so very, very soft.

Project Name: Stardust Neckwarmer

Pattern: Twisted Rib Neckwarmer by Michelle Johnston of Lush Yarn

Recipient: Me, me, me

Yarn: Handmaiden Bess in Stardust (80% Superwash Merino, 20% Cashmere)

Modifications:

  • Used a slightly larger needle and didn't gauge swatch so I presume that it is larger than gauge.

New Skills:

Feedback: Nice pattern, nice yarn, however I hated the bind off.  It was tedious and unattractive.  That said, I do want to figure out a way to match cast on and bind off and retain stretchiness.

Re-Knit?: Not likely, it was a nice pattern, but there are many more types of cowls out there in the world.