Now that Thanksgiving dinner is done, and most of the leftover turkey have been eaten (small turkey this year), it’s time to start with the Christmas presents in earnest.
I started a scarf for Ian with some fawn colored alpaca yarn I had in my stash on Thanksgiving evening. I’m 70% finished with that already.
Sandy’s table mats are basically finished. I just need to finish twisting and tying up the fringe. I’m not looking forward to that. The first bit was pretty hard on my fingers. I know, I can spend $12 and buy a gizmo that makes the twists in the fringe, but $12 for 2 alligator clips on 2 pieces of wood? No thanks. I’ll continue to give my thumb and index fingers a workout.
Martin came along with me yesterday to the yarn store to pick out the yarn for Brian’s vest. Hopefully, it won’t take too long. I made a similar one for Martin’s birthday in about 1 week. Even with the shortened Christmas shopping/present making time, I should be okay.
Unfortunately, I remembered today that I’m supposed to have a present for the guild gift exchange in 10 days. Sigh. I think I build a little treasure bag. I got the idea from The Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook (I love that book!). I’ve got some purple tussah silk leftover from a previous spinning project. I just need to spin it and knit it up.
Yeah, right, Ann. Just when are you going to do all that?
But if I make a really small treasure bag, it won’t take that much yarn …
Dream on.
We’ll see how it goes.
I also promised myself that I would spin a bobbinful of the blue rovings that I’ve been working on (I have a whole pound to work through!) before I spin anything else. This way, I’ll slowly get through that stuff. So, I finished up the bobbin that was on there and plied up 3 bobbins of 2-ply. Whew. Now I can play with something else.
I washed the (partial) fleece that I got from Deborah. It’s my first fleece that I’ve processed. I did not enjoy it. During the final vinegar rinse, I decided that I was going to put part of it directly into a dye bath. That way, I won’t have to soak the fleece twice. (I’m lazy that way).
I dyed it in a fall color mix of burgundy, orange and gold — aiming for the fall color mix. I know, I should be thinking red and green by now, but I’m running late. Nothing unusal about that.
Now, I just have to wait for it to dry … then card it … then spin it …
You know, this just seems like a lot of work to get to the spinning part. I think I will just stick to pre-processed rovings from now on. Why do the steps that I don’t enjoy?
Maybe I’ll feel differently when I get to the finished product. Sort of like selective amnesia.
I know I’m whining and it sounds like I don’t like this fiber stuff. I really do. I just get bored really easily. Sometimes, I don’t think I have the attention span to finish projects. This is why I like socks. Short and sweet.
I wonder if I really have the attention span to dye, spin and knit socks as described in the Twisted Sisters Sock Workbook? Worth a try! Stay tuned.
Finished Object
A pair of anklets in green, yellow and white for Martin (leftover yarn from his duck socks).