Twists of Fate

I just got the estimates in on my reserved fleeces from the Romney fleece person I love buying from. The three raw fleeces came in at 30.5 lbs, which is about 25% more than I had anticipated based on last year’s weights. Yowsa.

While I would love to be able to spend the time processing these myself, it just ain’t going to happen based on my load at work right now (and at least through June, if not longer). I still have four fleeces from this seller from last year’s shearing that I haven’t had a chance to touch at all. So I’m sending them to Spinderella’s to be processed this year. I need to make a few decisions about what kind of yarn I want spun from these fleeces. With these weights, I think having at least half of each one spun up into yarn would be a good idea. I might ask that they spin all of the white one into yarn for me, because gods know I’m not going to get around to doing it anytime soon. But what weight/WPI yarn? These Romney fleeces are quite lustrous, and while quite soft for the breed, aren’t nearly as soft as, say, Merino. Then again what is, you know? What isn’t processed into yarn will be done as pin-drafted roving, I think, because I really do enjoy working with this seller’s fiber.

So, if you had approx 20lbs of Romney (this is approx weight after washing) fleece, what kind of yarn would you have it spun into? I think I would like some lace yarn, so I can tackle much of what’s included in Victorian Lace Today, and the white Romney should take dye very well if I go that route. I am not sure how well Romney works for socks, or sweaters. Suggestions anyone?

I’m totally in a knitting slump. I haven’t picked up needles since I finished the mittens, which still need a lot of work to be felted. I really should’ve paid more attention to my yarn selection there, I think. I, for some reason, thought the alpaca/wool blend would felt as soon as someone sneezed on it, but apparently this is not the case. I hope the receipient has better luck than I.

I think I need to unravel the Chicknits Cardi I started for my sister. For some reason one sleeve is about four inches longer than the other, and it’s just not really working out. Time to rip and re-evaluate. I got some Rowansoft 4-ply recently in one of the destash posts, and might swatch some of that as a possibility for this sweater. I think I mostly have Navy though, and I’m fairly certain she will find it a depressing color. However, she also works in coffee, so maybe the darker color would be better anyway. It would be a more workable color when you’re surrounded by grounds that stain things if you’re not careful.

I think a lot of my “meh” is driven by the fact that two of my extended family passed away within a week of each other. Aunt Mary Jane was wonderful, though I barely knew her. Very “momly”, I know all of her kids just adored her. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with her when we were able to do so, and I am confident that her gentle energy is relaxing in a well deserved cosmic spa somewhere. I was a lot closer to my Uncle Bill, and his passing is hitting me harder than I thought it would. He and his wife Jayne (my father’s sister) were just about the only doses of normality that I had growing up. We had some serious differences of opinion, most notably in the arenas of human sexuality and religion (you know, the little things), and my last visit back to see him was not as smooth as I had hoped it would be. Regardless, I will miss him greatly, and hope that he has been reunited with my Aunt and that they’re enjoying new adventures together.

But the wheel turns, and I have to get going on a knitted gift for a friend who is having her first baby in May. I find myself drawing a total blank. I need things that are easy to knit right now. She’s having a boy - a blanket perhaps? A small sweater/bootie set? I don’t know! My experience with small humans is very…well. Small. I’m not much of a baby person, and I find myself nearly paralyzed by all the choices. Suggestions would be wonderful.

Work continues to kick my arse, though a really lovely and pretty woman just came into the office I’m sitting in and randomly said hello. So, hey, bonus there! :D

I ache, and I hurt, but I keep putting one foot in front of the other and hope it’ll get better soon.

I know there’s some sort of mathmatical forumla that will tell me “If I use up X amount of stash in Y number of days, it will take me “ZZZZ or eleventybillion” years to use up what I currently have”. I’m too lazy to actually look this all up, but I do know that I need to move in May. And that I’d like to document the stash and get it up in a gallery. So in the event that I end up not having enough space to put all my stash out? I will know what I have and where I can find it.

This ambitious system implies that

• a) I will be able to pull all the stash together in one spot.

• b) I have enough room in one spot for all the stash.
• c) I have enough battery power in the camera to photograph all the stash.
• d) someone will be brave enough to come over and help me re-pack the stash.

I actually have the last point there covered - a work friend who doesn’t knit but loves organizing will help me next Sunday. I need to find some stickers and a marking pen, and make sure there are new batteries in the camera. I hope to label the bins with a number, document somewhere what is in each numbered bin, and photograph things as they’re “filed” away.

It’s a plan.

However, I picked up both new yarn and new fiber this weekend. I did mention I have poor impulse control, right? I made a journey to Sequim this past weekend with friends, and managed to squish three yarn stores and three..no, four bookstores into the intinerary in something like a 28 hour period. Yay go me.

Photograpic documentation of aforementioned impulse control to follow. Heh.

Of course, all this is really going to tell me is that I have a terminal case of SABLE, especially considering the rate at which I use up stash vs. the rate at which I am acquiring more. Me + math <> mixey things.

I love, and have a number of, mitten books in my collection. Those NATO Latvian mitten galleries? Like porn. But I’ve been sort of scared to try them.

So I started very simply, with a super easy pattern. These will be felted down, possibly tomorrow at the laundrymat when I attempt some wool sweaters on the delicate cycle. I can at least start the process there.

These are a “to scale” shot of the mittens. My coworker has smallish hands, but mine are pretty chunky and hers looked much more delicate.

I think I mentioned last post that I needed some color. Voila! There it is, and I may move on to felted clogs in the same sort of colors to continue the red-orange theme I have going right now. We’ll see. For now, I post.

I had a bit of a tiff with my host over some non-knitting related things. Just checking to see if this works - I got my domains and files back, so I’m posting a test.

Speaking of works, my job has been kicking my patootie. I haven’t hardly had any time to knit, which unfortunately has been channeled into more yarn acquisition (oops). I did finish a pair of mittens in the meantime. I’ve been bouncing from project to project, and needed a bit of color in my life to combat the grey of a typical PNW winter, so the reds and oranges for these mittens really fit the bill. And they were small, and very simple, so that’s probably why they’re done. I hope to post a picture soon.

Hope anyone who might still be reading this is well!