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I began this sweater so long ago, I don’t even remember when it was. In fact not only has the yarn I knit it with been discontinued, the store I bought it at went out of business over five years ago.
I began working on the sweater last fall just as Sandy hit. I knit the sleeves in the dark. Actually, I knit them over an over as I strived to get them right.
This was my first steek experience. I am still not sure I did it right.
But here it is.
Been spinning the Kool-aid dyed yarn and the white which will get plied together with it. I think it is at least looking very colorful.
In publishing there are four major trade shows for the bulk of American publishers. These include the Frankfurt Book Fair, the London Book Fair, Book Expo America and the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. It is the latter which is renowned for being a fantastic experience. A lot of that positive experience comes down to the locale and its amazing food and medieval character. This past week I attended my first Bologna and was lucky enough to take along a notable photographer and fellow reveller.
The schedule was for Jim and I to head out last Friday. We would have the weekend for travel, recovery and play. Sunday night the week kicked off with the annual Random House Cocktail Party. My colleague and co-conspirator, Wayne, would join us Sunday night for the first of many dinners. Monday morning the fair began. We had a packed schedule with appointments running through the day from 9 to 5 most of the three days we would be there.
Bologna is a smallish city with many very old buildings, cobblestone streets. Landing at the airport it was easy to see that Spring was more advanced there than at home. The grass and trees were greening. The air was still quite chilly and the weather would prove to be uniformly grey and rainy throughout the week. Walking the streets of Bologna in the rain, the cobblestones gleamed with moisture and the streetlights and store signs glittered in the wet air. It made for an even more romantic picture of this very old city. The rain was never a downpour so it was perfectly easy to walk around and see the sights. Umbrellas were necessary equipment and because the city was so small, the best way to get anywhere was to walk. All that walking was just as well as the food was unbelievable and it would have been criminal to abstain from the Primi Piatti–and I promise you neither Jim nor I abstained.
Saturday we were pretty wiped. The flight overnight was fairly comfortable but that first day is always rough. We had a three hour layover in Paris.
Fatigued knitter at Charles De Gaulle Airport
Post-knitting nap
An amazing view through the window as we flew over the Pyrenees.
Armed with restaurant recommendations from an experienced colleague, the eating festival began Saturday night with dinner in a unabashedly charming and fabulous restaurant called Da Cesari.
Da Cesare
Stepping into the restaurant from the dark and rainy streets was both a little intimidating and a transformative experience. At this point in the week we had not yet put our feedbags on and we did not try to pace the couples on either side of us. They were both working their way through the five-course meal with paired wines like indomitable pros. We limped through the appetizer and primi piatti and felt that was the worst we could do. It was all delicious and we shared tastes and took our time. The local Sangiovese wine was amazing.
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This weekend’s project is to dye some of the new roving I just bought from a seller on Etsy using Kool-Aid. I’ve posted about this before, but the bright colors of Kool-Aide make it great fun to play with and it requires none of the precautions dyeing with chemical dyes require. It is just plain fun. I bought two balls of roving and the plan is to dye one and leave the other natural white. I will spin both balls and then ply them together to make a bright rainbow-colored two ply yarn. Just a few hurdles and this will be fait accompli. Let’s see–I need to learn to dye better, spin better, ply better–this one’s in the can.
Happily I have every color of Kool-Aid they ever stock at our local Stop&Shop. Mixing the Kool-Aid with vinegar brings back memories of dyeing Easter Eggs. I would say dyeing Easter Eggs with the kids but inevitably after two eggs, they were done and I was alone in the kitchen dyeing eggs by myself. This is similar to the pumpkin carving and tree decorating experiences at the Frost Home.
Next step is a good soaking for the roving. The water should be cold as one goal in all of this is not to cause the roving to begin felting. Wool wants to felt when it is agitated and heat helps the process. After about 30 minutes of soaking, it needs to be gently rung out of excess water.
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I had a blogging hiatus this fall and I also had a little hiatus in spinning. I was so excited back at New York Sheep and Wool to have learned some basic spinning techniques and I was just so set to spin like crazy. Then I think Superstorm Sandy and some other tough year-end events just made December seem like the last mile of a marathon.
But all that is behind me now and I have been having a fantastic time this past weekend and this holiday weekend spinning away. It is completely mesmerizing to hold the fleece in my right hand and pinch the fiber as it is pulled by the action of the wheel onto the bobbin. My left hand is focused on drafting and the right hand is pinching and my feet are pumping back and forth. When everything is working just right it is simply magic.
I love the qualities of the roving I have bought. I bought a variety of qualities so that I would have some to practice on and, with the better quality, a reward to look forward to. I tried to find the most unprocessed roving possible. I have both natural white and brown fleeces. They smell of lanolin and I love the feel of the lanolin on my hands as I spin it. The brown fleece has lots of particles of hay and straw in it and as I draft it with my left hand, the bits fall onto my sweats leaving little piles. It is all clean and not at all gross, it just reminds me of where this fleece came from. I have always loved finding little bits of straw in yarn as I knit.
As my left hand drafts the roving, the individual fibers sort themselves out and the roving which flows to my right hand is a collection of wispy fibers fanned out to twist into the proper weight ply. That is somewhat idealized. The reality isn’t quite that perfect yet, but there are moments when things seem to be working.
This is yet another skill which can only be perfected after much time. I see that very clearly. My yarn is not always even and the twist is not quite balanced, but I think I could spin a powerful lot of fleece into lumpy, semi-usable wool before I ever got to the point that something gorgeous came off my wheel. That said, I am having a complete blast and I do think the yarn I have made, while decidedly rustic, is gorgeous in its own way.
Here are the four skeins I have made to date. The one on the left is the second Skein I made. The first skein is to the right. You can tell that the second is much larger and the balance of light an dark colors is better. The second skein from the right is probably the most troubled. It has some significant twist and balance issues. I am not sure how it will be to knit up. On the extreme right is the fourth skein. While the plies are thicker than I would have liked, the yarn is perfectly balanced with the twist of the plies balancing out the plied singles. It is relaxed and should be great to knit with.
My new goal now that I have learned the rudiments of spinning is to spin, ply, skein and knit a sweater from roving. A complete sweater which would be as self-produced as possible short of raising a sheep, shearing it, washing and carding the wool and then spinning it. Wonder how long it will take to get to that point?
No apologies. Nope I won’t apologize. Why should I feel badly that I haven’t written a blog or visited my blog since Thanksgiving. That would be just short of two months ago. So, no, I am not apologizing. Just wasn’t in the mood. Had lots going on. Didn’t feel like communicating. No apologies.
I feel really badly about this.
Thanksgiving weekend has almost come to a close. It was a quiet holiday, but there was much to be thankful for. After a wild fall of weather, a quiet weekend was both welcome and relaxing. We spoke often of those who were not with us–or we with them. Of course, Alex topped the list. Ferd was right there with him. As I set our dinner table, I thought of Bobbie and used her silver as a way to insure that she and the memories of Thanksgivings past were well represented. It was sweet to reflect on last Thanksgiving and our fun visit to the Kuntz’s and Dawson’s at Lake Geneva. It was equally sweet to think of Frosts from Florida to Michigan, Texas to Georgia and the good times we have enjoyed together in the recent past.
I give thanks for my beloved spouse, for my three amazing children, for Dakota who makes me smile, for my extended family, for my friends both new and old, for my job and the security and sense of accomplishment it brings, for my crafts and the joy they give me, for good health and enough to eat and a roof over my head. I am thankful for my good fortune and mindful of those who have suffered especially this fall with the storms and I hope for the best for them.
Monday will bring the everyday rush and cares. The crazy run up to the Christmas holidays, but for the balance of today, there is time to savor and reflect.
The life of a substitute teacher can be surprising. Calls may come through for upcoming dates allowing for orderly planning and a clear expectation of responsibility. Calls can also come through at the last moment and they can carry surprises.
Substitute teachers may well be accredited for a particular subject area, but that doesn’t always mean that’s what they end up teaching. Just last week Jim had been hired well in advance to cover for the high school science teacher. Since Jim is a bit of a Renaissance man, he was quite happy to be teaching his pet subject. For the first time ever, he was free to expound on all things scientific and get paid for it. He had a lot of fun and I just bet those kids were pretty surprised that they had a substitute who was knowledgable, engaged, eloquent and quite interesting. Did I also mention loquacious?
It can, however, go the other way as well. Take Monday for instance. The phone rang around 6:30 a.m. and suddenly Mr. Chips was The White Shadow. Our favorite English teacher was called to take over for the girls high school phys ed teacher! Okay, so that isn’t quite the plot of the tv series, but I can take liberties.
He dashed around the house assembling his wardrobe and in the end he looked just like a gym teacher! He even found his whistle!
Of course, just because you look the part, it doesn’t mean you get the role. No sooner did Jim arrive at school looking the very image of the puissant phys ed instructor, he was reassigned. Reassigned to teach Italian! All he could really say was, “Do I get to keep the whistle?”
Ellie
Jenny
