This week is my company’s annual trek to worship snow and fun. Unfortunately, Squaw Village did not provide much in the way of snow. Instead of snowshoeing, my friend Sara and I ended up just taking a walk around the meadow in mixed snow and grass.
The socks were what I managed to make on the bus ride up to Tahoe and back, and some knitting while catching up with friends (between the dinner and party). These are my own handspun merino yarn. The wool is from Spunky Eclectic, in Moonflower colorway. The yarn is a 2-ply, coming in at approximately 12 wpi. I knit the socks on US 0 (2.0 mm) needles at 7 stitches per inch. It’s got great hand. I think I’ll wear it today.
What’s with the pens on the socks? New hobby. Last night was night 1 of 2 for my pen turning class. The skinny pen on the right was my first attempt in maple. Just a plain old tube. This started out as 2 pieces of wood, approximately 0.5″ x 0.75″ x 2.75″, which I turned down to these little sticks. The entire time I’m doing this, the scene from an old Chip and Dale cartoon runs through my head — the one where their tree home was cut down and taken to the mill and turned into a little toothpick.
The second one is poplar. I played with shaping a bit more. The bulbous shape helps conform to my hands a little better. I will be turning one or two more pens tonight, one in aromatic cedar and one in plum, based on what the instructor had set aside on his workbench. I will play with the shaping a bit more to find the ideal shaping. I doubt that I will have time to play with anything really fancy, but more variations on the same theme.
Small world moment: there are only 2 of us in the class. The other person in the class is the husband of a member in my weaving guild. How freaky is that?
Eva
The pens are beautiful! What a fun new hobby you’ve taken up. Will you bring them to Black Sheep? I can hardly wait to smell the cedar.
Eva