A return to spinning

For the first time since the Napa craft fair, I have actually felt like spinning. My great uncle has a farm and gave me a huge bag of wool last month. They have three sheep and this was the fleece from one. I was so incredibly thrilled to get it, as you can imagine! My grandmother was less than thrilled. It had been sitting in her garage for a few weeks, until I could get down to pick it up. Warebeast and I went down for a friend's wedding and stopped to visit and woolgather. After my grandma fed him as much as she could, Warebeast had to stuff this trash bag full of raw wool into our trunk and we drove 6 hours back home. I've been giving the wool a daily bath, a third at a time. The first third is clean and carded, which is a story in itself. A story involving my non spinning friend fixing my drum carder, which cut the prep time into a fraction of what it was.

I have the whole house to myself this week. Freya, the Boy, and Warebeast all being at BurningMan. I had a pajama day, my own private craft day, and after knitting most of the day, looked back at the bag of batts that had been staring at me for most of the day, and spun two batts. I am loving the way it is spinning up and am glad to have the urge to spin after that intense prep work for the Napa show.

Burning Man, Christmas Knits and Other crafting Chaos

It's been a while since I posted an update. Life has been almost too hectic to bear. The Boy and I are leaving for the annual pilgrimage to Burning Man in 9 days and we're still working franticly to get everything ready to go. theres costuming to be sewn, shopping to be done and gear to be collected, not to mention shelter to be constructed.

Last year our sleeping quarters were a moderate sized dome, sheltered under the shade structure of the Foxy Kokonauts. This year we've gone rogue! We've built the skeleton for a 16' diameter dome and are nearly done with the fitted cover. take a look at the work-in-progress pic. The door is 9'+ tall!



In addition I am sewing some costume pieces(pics to come) including a Bedouin robe and a Turkish tassel-belt, both in warm earth tones. These are as much for the hell of it as they are for Burning Man and I'm really excited to have some nifty, durable costume pieces that aren't Renaissance Faire related.

As if these were not enough, I am still sticking to my Christmas knitting. One scarf down! I am now 4 reps into the Swallowtail Shawl which I mentioned wanting to do before. Dear gods that's a lot of counting! I'm not even 1/4 of the way through and I've muddled my pattern a handful of times. It didn't look too complex and I knew all the stitches it took, but this is certainly not a project for the undetermined or easily frustrated. A while back Riastiltskein tried her hand at it and I know she gave up 6 reps in. I however am determined not to be discouraged by its complexity and not to criticize myself too much for the practically invisible flaws I've knit into the pattern. Its complex enough that it hides my mis-knits pretty well. My grandmother will never notice, right?

My camera is still on haiatus, guys. I'm very sorry. The charger has disappeared but I'll be tearing apart my room before my trip to Burning Man becasue I will decidedly be taking lots of photos this year.