An adventure in spinning and knitting

Well, more in spinning really, the knitting was not very adventurous.
But still, I knit a sweater for my husband with my own hand-spun! Whoo-hoo!

I guess that, in a way, I did it all wrong: did not decide on a pattern, or on a type of yarn, did not look for a specific fiber or used a dedicated spinning technique, did not compare samples, certainly did not take notes. Probably did not even make a swatch (gasp!).

What I did do was to let my eyes linger a little too long on some prepared top in beautiful shade of gray blue that I knew would complement my husband's eyes perfectly; I lingered long enough for the helpful owner of Brimstone Hollow Farm booth to help me out of my misery by selling me more than enough fiber for whole project.



I spun the fiber in my very little and very interspersed spare time. A bobbin here, a bobbin there, the only way I know how to spin, i.e. just as it comes. Every two bobbins, I plied the singles, for lack of extra bobbins. In September 2009, I had more time, and finally finished the spinning. By then I had read the book by Amy King, and my spinning technique had somewhat improved.

At that point, I took out a bunch of knitting books and magazine, sifted through them, offered my thoughts to my husband about various possibilities. His choice was either Field of Dreams from The Natural Knitter or Corduroy from A Fine Fleece. Even without making a swatch, I knew I would have to make some serious adjustments to the pattern to knit Corduroy, while Field of Dreams looked reasonable.


So off I went with the knitting, trying to mix and match skeins at random, to spread out the considerable unevenness of the yarn, without much success. Some parts are soft and bouncy, some are like rope. Some are denser, some are thinner.



But hey, when looked at in its entirety (and from a little distance...), the sweater is just fine, really. And the color is just perfect for my husband!




Just trust me on that.

I know, I know

It's been over a year, and I have a long list of excuses, or better, good reasons for not blogging, but hey, I thought that I really should try again, I feel reconnecting to the knitting blogging world would only bring me fun and joy.

I won't even try to recap, there has been too much. The barest minimum of an update goes like this:

July 2008-May2009, clinics, clinics, clinics, nights, weekend, on call, dogs, cats, horses, alpacas, raptors, turtles, seals, guinea pigs, fish, sharks etc.

Graduated from Vet School in May 2009. Whoohoo!! That really was a looong haul.

Moved to NH in June 2009.

Very stressful summer in Italy dealing with a multitude of issues regarding my mother's house and estate. Some still unresolved business, some very good outcomes, some really awful outcomes. Difficult for me to talk about it and make sense of it all, as yet.

Currently trying to find my feet in NH, and also find a job.

















Well, that is not me, and treating koala bears is not on the horizon right ow, but you never know, right?!

Ok, now, knitting-wise I have some real news. I just about can't believe it myself, but I did it, I finished China Clouds!! That was even a longer haul that Vet School, let me tell you. Can't even remember when I started it, before the blog, before vet school, eons ago.







What you say? You saw that already? Yeah, but look at this now!






Yes, I am actually wearing it, and I made it reversible, somewhat.




More details on Ravelry. China Clouds, by Kaffee Fassett, Rowan Magazine No. 28

Happy Birthday!

Today is my birthday, one of my favorite days in the whole year.

And so far, I am having a good one: work in the Large Animal Surgery rotation is pretty slow, my horse patient is behaving and loves cuddles, the cafeteria had lobster rolls for lunch, many people paid me great compliments by not believing how old I turn today (which is the goodly number of 44) and I expect presents and a dinner out from children and husband tonight.

Oh, and the weather is beautiful! Perfect for the beach, which is what I love (I am firmly ignoring the lack of beach and beach-time for now).

I love celebrating birthdays, mine or other people's!

My parents always made a big deal and threw big parties for us, with lots of friends and lots of presents, and we were always made feel very special on our birthday.

So here is my wish: that you too will enjoy your birthday and feel special, no matter how old you might turn or whatever else might be going on in your life!

Happy Birthday!

Father and daughter

You never know when you are going to be surprised: two days ago, on behalf of my daughter trying to complete her homework assignment, I asked my father what his first job was. He promptly answered: navy officer, which of course I knew. I also knew he had gone to the Naval Academy straight from high school, as it was his only shot at getting a university degree in Engineering, given his family circumstances.

But for some reason I felt probing a little bit deeper (despite being in the car, at a busy junction, with two rowdy kids in the back, on a squeaky transatlantic connection): Yeah, I know that, Papa, but did you ever worked/helped out in a store, or a farm or whatever before the navy?

Mmmm.., yes, oh yes, I helped fixing bicycles in the bicycle repair shop in the country village I was displaced to during the war, I was interested about bicycles, and the guy fixed my bicycle for free, and in exchange I taught him to read! [pause] Oh, the things you make me remember...

The emotion in his voice was palpable, a rare thing with my father, as rare and precious as a true gem.

La Befana vien di notte..

La Befana vien di notte
con le scarpe tutte rotte...

Yet another excuse for an extra celebration, (Italians are very good at finding reasons to celebrate), Befana brought us today a whole pile of candies!
Apparently she got lost a long time ago, while following the three kings in search of baby Jesus, and she is still wandering about depositing sweets and gifts for every child.

An old Italian tradition that I am happy to keep alive, while so many things of my heritage are long gone.

Also, this is the 12th day of Christmas, and that means that the season is really over, all sparkling decorations and lights must come down and we'd better get back to business. I usually do not mind, but this year I have very mixed feelings. Some domestic issues marred the season for us, and being here on our own was strange. So in a way I am happy that is it over, but I also feel short-changed. I hope the candy will help.

School, of course, has already restarted at full throttle, this are the last 8 weeks in class, then we enter clinics. Very scary/exciting!

Knitting is proving still a very useful and productive activity, but taking photos of my knitting eludes me, not sure why*. My new camera has been languishing. Right now I am making "Gathered" from the last IK, for my sister. I love the way it looks so far on me, hopefully she'll like it too (or should I hope she does not like it, so I can have it all for myself?). Anyway, no photos of it as of yet. And I am making no promises, because I hate breaking a promise, even to myself.

But I never showed you what happened to the last sweater I blogged about, Notre Dame de Grace. Well, have a look






So, Zeno was disproved, the cone was depleted before the second sleeve was finished, and I had to frog part of the back to finish the sleeve, then make a top-down wide border using another yarn. Still, it is a great pattern, I wear Notre Dame a lot, and get compliments every time! A happy ending!




*Actually, part of the reason is that my knitting photos with the new camera are mostly awful, as you can see, but I have not had the time to figure out the new toy yet, so I kinda abandoned it.

black scarf

black scarf, originally uploaded by sarnob.

A black scarf custom made for a soldier destined to Afghanistan, as per my friend Stephanie's kind request (scroll down a couple of posts).
3 balls of Valley Yarn Sugarloaf (merino/microfiber) from Webs, in a modified brioche stitch.

Stephanie will collect all scarves here:

Stephanie c/o
MCCS
P.O. Box 1770
Manomet, MA 02345

If you have some spare knitting time, please consider making one!
The soldiers will be grateful and warm. A war is a horrible enough endevour, which I personally do not condone at all, but with so many knitters clicking their busy needles, soldiers can at least be a bit warmer. Thank you!

Thank you, Emma!

My virtual friend Emma deserves endless thanks from me, and it is about time I give her proper credit.

Without Emma, and her amazingly generous enabling, I probably would not:

a) own a spinning wheel
b) be able to play with it
c) own sock yarn
d) own rosewood dpns needles
e) knit socks

and possibly I would not even have a blog (Melanie also deserves a lot of credit for launching me in blogland).

While knitting and spinning paraphernalia are the tangible gifts Emma has given me, what I praise in Emma are her warmth, support, generosity, friendship and courage in life.

The socks above were knitted using some Opal yarn she sent me along with rosewood needles, a few years back. I thought a lot about Emma, while I was knitting them, and about some of the difficulties she faces everyday. She certainly deserves a big public THANK YOU, and a lot of support from her friends for all she does.