Fiber and Pulp

Some Cold Gray Skies

as you likely know already, November’s flower is the chrysanthemum. Lovely!

Today I had only two tasks on my mental ToDo list - wash laundry and bind my daughter’s quilt.  I am happy to say that I actually managed to do both! Not going to share a photo of my clean clothes (not too interesting:) but here is how the quilt turned out:

Note that the top of her quilt is on the left side in this pic. The fabrics in this quilt are from Barbara Brackman’s Best of Morris collections (to match Eva’s Arts&Crafts style furnishings). 

i managed to go out for a walk around the neighborhood this afternoon. The effective temperature was about 35 degrees F with overcast skies and a cold breeze. Was nice to move around! 

Eva spent some time balling up the two skeins of yarn she hand spun for me - after I finished binding her quilt and cleared off the table. 🙂 Here they are:

This one is lace weight merino wool in a color palette called Moonflower Jellyfish. She bought it in already-dyed fiber bundles:

Yes, all those colors are in the ball! There id 900+ yards of this yarn and I am pondering what pretty shawl pattern I will create with it. 🙂

The second ball she wound off for me is even fancier:

This is called Autumn Crown and is spun with merino and other wools, silk and mulberry fibers. Eva carefully plied the yarn colors to create a colorwash effect. I’m eager to see how this knits up (sock weight). 

I am almost finished with my second mitten. That and sorting through the two Christmas  ornament boxes I brought with me will be tomorrow’s gosls. 

🙂 Linda

On Travel

I think this is a beautiful palette of colors! This is an assortment of hand dyed merino wool fibers spun by my daughter. I am in Madison WI right now, visiting with her and her family (her husband and my two grandsons aged eight and four years). I got here Monday afternoon, after a two-and-a-half day driving trip (iMaps told me it would be a 12 hour trip - twelve hours if driven at the speed limit all the way, making no stops. LOL. 

The weather here is glorious - 40s to 60s during the day with blue skies and sunshine. There was snow on the ground in several states as I drive west but most of it here in town has melted away. 

I brought my rigid heddle loom with me on this trip. I bought it used from a friend years ago but have never used it. Eva has been exploring basic weaving this year and was willing to help me learn. 

Tuesday was my oldest grandson’s 8th birthday and we spent buzz much of the afternoon/evening celebrating. I bought him two Lego sets featuring Minecraft settings (the bee garden and the skeleton lair). He and his Mom (both of whom love building with Legos) had fun constructing the sets over several hours. 

Wednesday was my birthday. This was a ‘speed limit’ year (ending in 5 or 0). I have been thinking about this day all of this year … and I am still in shock that I have gotten this old! Especially now that I weigh what I did when I was only 40, I don’t _feel_ 70 hears old. Shrug. 

To celebrate, Eva and I went out and visited a new-to-me yarn shop - Sunset Yarns - on Speedway Drive (maybe four minutes from Eva’s house). I was looking for some new yarn to weave with:

I chose two colors of Malabrigos worsted weight merino wool in Jewel Blue and Apple Green. If you look really carefully at the yarn balls above, you might notice that the green one had plied twists and the blue does not. I chose the green to be the warp on my loom as the ply structure makes that yarn stronger. 

Eva helped me string the warp (quite an operation!):

I began to weave:

My efforts are clumsy but I’m sure it will improve as I work along to make my scarf. 🙂

I also wanted to buy some double pointed knitting needles. I brought a warm jacket along on this trip but forgot my gloves. It was truly cold as I stopped at rest plazas on my drive west, especially in Ohio. Brr! I thought I should make myself some mittens to wear on the way home. 🙂 As long as I was buying, I decided to get a set of needles sized 1 through 8. 

Linda (the yarn shop owner) had to order needles in for me; they came on Black Friday. I finished my first mitten and started the second one today:

The yarn I chose is a hand dyed merino from a local Wisconsin mill. It feels and looks like velvet. 

When we sent out Wednesday we also visited Blue Bar Quilts on University Avenue in Madison. It’s one of my favorite shops anywhere. I bought an array of 12 fat quarters of fabric to make a gift which I will share here in another day’s post. 

Thanksgiving Day was lively and lovely. The five of us drove across town to my son-in-law’s parents house for our feast. We had the traditional spread (which was delicious!). Afterwards Art (Alan’s father) set up his digital slr camera on its tripod and took a variety of semiformal photos of family. 

Friday and today I went for walks around the neighborhood. Otherwise I’ve been crafting and enjoying the happy noise of my daughter and her family. Not sure how long I will stay but I know I’ll enjoy every minute. 

🙂 Linda