Victory Will be Mine!

I told you a few posts back that I wanted to come back soon to show off my latest knitting FO.  It's been ages since I've had a proper yarny finished object, which always seems just a bit funny given that way back in 2006 my blog started out as a place specifically to share my knitting projects.

Anyway, I'm really quite excited to be sharing this with you as if feels like the ultimate in knitting projects.  Not only did I knit the project, but I spun the yarn too, which is where the ultimate part comes in.  The only thing I suppose that would make it even better is if it was from sheep I raised and sheared myself.  However, realistically speaking, I have no hot clue how to properly raise sheep nor am I anywhere physically strong enough to learn how to shear a sheep.  That is serious business my friends.  I'm always amazed at how a sheep shearer can make it look so simple!

So I do the next best thing! I spin yarn from fibre that other people have sheared from flocks raised by those that know what they're doing.  The closest I'll get to being shepherdess in my lifetime is picking T's little stuffed "Lamby" up off the floor and putting it back on his bed.

Both of the fibres I used were purchased at the Manitoba Fibre Festival in 2018 from two of my favourite Manitoba fibre artists.  The grey-ish brown is Shetland from my "down the road" neighbour, Barb of Prairie's Edge Wool Farm.  If you are local to Manitoba you need to get your hands on fibre from Barb.  It's beautiful, so lovely to spin especially for a beginner like me.  I always make sure to get a good sized batt from her booth at the Fibre Festival.

The pink/yellow/brown is from another favourite Manjusha Fibre Arts.  I always make Tammy's booth a stop on my tour of the market at the Fibre Festival too.  (I should mention that the boys always love to pick up a souvenir yarn from the festival to give to Grandma.  I give them free reign to choose whatever they would like and they always, always browse for a bit and then make a bee line straight back for the Manjusha booth.  So it's kid approved as well! LOL)

I spun this yarn before Christmas of 2018 and I made a hat for my husband out of the Shetland, but didn't know what I wanted to do with the rest of it and I had no idea what to make with the other yarn - I always worry I'll "waste" my handspun by doing a poor pattern selection.  While I had a good amount of the Shetland I didn't have that much of the pink, so that was a concern too.  I'd been eyeing up the Victory Wrap on Ravelry for quite some time and kept thinking it might be the perfect project for my precious handspun, but since my desire to knit had all but vanished and I wasn't even sure if it was THE pattern I put it off for an entire year.  Finally I decided enough was enough and just before New Years I decided it was high time to cast on something fun that might keep my needles going.

It took me almost a month. I still obviously didn't have my knitting mojo back and it was still a bit of a struggle to pick up my needles, sometimes feeling forced instead of intuitive even though I was wanting to knit it and was loving the wool.  In the end I used up almost every bit of the pink yarn.  I had mere inches left to go when I cast off the last stitch.  (Yarn Chicken score one for Sarah!)

It took me just about another month to get around to blocking it, which was silly.  I finally dug out my blocking pins a few weekends ago and set my wrap in the sink for a bath.

Exactly one month after I cast off my wrap, it had been blocked and was finally dry. I took the pins out and proudly put it on and wore it to work that morning.  It's snuggly and soft, and squishy and cozy and best of all what started out as fluffy bits of fibre became a wrap all by my own hands.

Since I still had a nice sized ball of the Shetland yarn left I decided last week that I should knit a pair of fingerless gloves for spring.  I queued up the Lambing Mitts pattern from Tolt Yarn and Wool in Ravelry last year I think.  Maybe longer ago than that even? I've no idea. Anyway, I thought they'd be a nice quick knit and handy to have as we head into spring.  They definitely are quick.  I knit the first mitt in about three hours, which felt like a victory in it's own right!  I haven't had the chance to finish the other glove yet though because I've been busy with another project.

I've just finished my other little project on the needles now and I think I can safely say my will to knit is BACK!!!!  I just finished up the Mystery Gnome KAL from Imagined Landscapes and it's become really exciting to be picking up my needles and not wanting to put them down!  Here's the little guy who's made me really want to knit again.  Isn't he cute?  He even has his very own little sweater! (also note he is standing in front of my apparently confused about the seasons Christmas Cactus that, after having only bloomed once about two and a half years ago when I bought it, is now in full glorious bloom right now in March! A gnome, the return of my knitting mojo and flowers. So many things to be happy about all in one photo!)

Gnomes are apparently magical for mojo.  You might see some more consistent knitting content here on Prairie Girl Knits yet!

Killing Two Birds with One Spinning Wheel

When the sewing mojo was failing me (or more aptly sewing success was alluding me), I gave the sewing machine a bit of a break and took out my basket of fibre and sat down at the spinning wheel instead.  After spinning some Doodles In String Merino that I'd bought from Ram Wools Co-op when I took my drop spindle class last spring over the Christmas holidays I hadn't done much of anything at all really with my wheel.

It felt great to get back to my spinning that I'd been ignoring for awhile.  It wasn't being ignored for anything beyond a lack of time and energy, but I was worried that so many weeks away and I'd be back to square one with my very beginner abilities.  In the beginning of January I had started working on a batt from Tog and Thel that I'd bought at the Manitoba Fibre Festival last fall so I figured it would be thick and thin spun anyways with it's four beautiful ounces of Jacob, Icelandic, Merino, Merino Tencel and Mohair blended together.  

It was such a pleasure to spin.  I enjoyed seeing the different fibres and colours as they twisted together.  And while it is thick and thin in spots I'm getting more consistent with how I spin, so it's not as noticeable.   A lot of the thick and thin came from big blobby bits of fluff that didn't get attenuated as much as other bits sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident, but I am pleased with the end result.  It's fluffy and cozy and while I have no idea what I'll make with it, I am very pleased to have it in my yarn stash!

Another bonus to all the spinning was that I realized early into resuming work with my Tog and Thel batt that the motion of treaddling was exactly the same motion as the very boring, but very necessary exercises that my doctor prescribed for my foot injury.  Killing two birds with one spinning wheel. Doing something I love while getting something I loathe out of the way!  Talk about a win-win situation.  

So as soon as I finished plying up the Tog and Thel I took out another squishy gorgeous bit of fibre I'd bought at the fibre festival.  This one was from Manjusha Farms located in southeast Manitoba.  It's a deliciously soft merino/bamboo blend and I spun the four ounce braid up in record short time - it only took a week from start to finish.  Getting up and spinning before work.  Spinning while supper cooked.  Spinning before bed.

I'm beyond thrilled with how the merino/bamboo turned out.  It almost felt like cheating it was so very easy to spin.  Again, it's not perfect - there are some thick and thin bits, but it's the most consistent I've done yet, and the final result makes me so happy!

It still amazes me that I can take a bit of fluff and turn it into yarn that, when I finally decide what to use it for, I'll be able to actually make something with it.  I do have a slight obsession with spinning local fibres.  I find it even more exciting to know exactly where the fibre came from and as a result find myself counting down the months until the fibre festival again (I've got a few to go given it's not until the fall...) Not too mention dreaming of some day owning sheep or mohair goats of my own.  Or maybe an alpaca.  Of course I know absolutely NOTHING about raising sheep, goats or alpaca, but a spinner can dream, right?

In the meantime I think I'll be calling on my neighbour up the way at Prairie's Edge Wool Farm to see if I can go visit her and her sheep and the very adorable Max the Goat.  (If you're at all interested in the Manitoba Fibre Festival you'll no doubt know exactly who Max is.  If you're not up to speed he's the incredibly personable, incredibly sweet angora goat that won all our hearts last year and continues to enjoy fame as he grows up)  Her shetland, and shetland/alpaca blend fibres were some of the first I ever spun and it was glorious. I have a wee bit left from last fall in my spinning basket and I definitely want more!  I have daily exercising to be doing after all!