a package and Piper

I've probably mentioned how much I enjoy finding packages in my letterbox. Well, this was my lucky day!

A package arrived from faraway I-really-want-to-visit Shetland, sent by the lovely Louise Scollay of KnitBritish. Remember WIPCrackAway? I got so caught up in the fun of the knitalong, I genuinely forgot there would be a giveaway drawing at the end. It was quite a surprise when I recently got a message on ravelry saying I was one of the winners.

A winner!

Of yarn!

And here it is!

This is Navia Uno, from the Faroe Islands - in case Shetland wasn't exotically remote enough for a New Englander - and contains two wools I haven't knit with (Faroese and Shetland) and in a new-to-me color!

Even the construction of the yarn is interesting; I don't know if you can tell by emiggening the pictures, but there's a core of wooliness wrapped in a thinner spiral of fiber.

It's pretty exciting to suddenly find myself the possessor of two skeins of yarn quite different from my "usual"...what to make, what to make?

Fun!

Piper also loves packages,

and she likes to give packages a little taste-test.

But she doesn't touch yarn.

See?

Piper put her head right next to the open package,

then stood perfectly still.

I didn't say a word, because I know

Piper has amazing self-control.

Also, she is easily distr- 

SQUIRREL!

It really was a squirrel.

So Piper didn't even notice that, in addition to yarn,

Louise had very kindly answered my recipe request for "tablet"

(which she had mentioned on twitter recently,

and which looked like some kind of excellent fudge,

so naturally I asked for a recipe).

Well, not only do I now have an authentic tablet recipe...

I have a charming booklet of all sorts of recipes!

Well, one sort, really.

The best sort.

Sweets!

Thank you so much, Louise!

Your package really made my day  :)

~~~

And then, I made Piper's day.

Because a dog who wants very much to taste yarn

and does not...

deserves a run in the woods.

Don't you agree?

~~~

And I just dozed off in the middle of loading images.

It's not even 8 PM.

Looks like a very early night!
~~~~~

now with links

"Thank you!" to Dani for reporting on the ravelry access question yesterday! After a little research, I'm trying something new: adding a specific "shared by invitation" link to each rav-listed project I blog about. In theory, clicking a link will take guests to the related project page, whether or not one is a member of ravelry.

Let's take this for a spin, shall we? Here, in order of completion, are the five projects retrieved from obscurity for the WIPCrackAway KAL. I hope you are not getting sick of seeing these pictures! There are more images on the project pages. There may even be a goat or two.

Those (experimental) Socks

Orange Leaves

portuguese gypsy neckwarmer

Wisp

Hay Hauler Helmet

Okay, readers...I'm counting on you to test these links and let me know if they work for you!

Just a heads-up: my project notes are sometimes quite detailed (because I have a memory like a sieve) and they are usually in reverse-chronological order - that is, they read from the bottom, up.

Good luck. Have fun. Ask questions!

~~~~~

WIPCrackAway Recap

When I joined in on the WIPCrackAway KAL, I thought there was only one UFO sadly hibernating in my knitting basket. But as the 8 weeks of the knitalong progressed, I discovered that one now-finished object simply made way for another. Rummaging in the depths of the knitting basket began to remind me of scrabbling carefully in a hill of compost and soil, searching out the first new potatoes. Oooh! Found another!

One by one, the FUFOs (I have coined my very first fiber-related acronym! It stands for FORMERLY UnFinishedObject) began to add up to an amazing total of FIVE when the knitalong ended last week. And here they are, all in one place. First, the Hay Hauler Helmet:

Does this hat look vaguely familiar? It was a fun experiment last February, teaching me much about the structure of a tam. Which this clearly is not, because when I realized how much more yarn would be needed for an actual tam, I cast this one off as a cap, and put it aside for another think.

When I pulled it out this month - only 9 months later - I remembered how much fun it had been to tinker with. I decided to carry on making it up as I went along, adding features that might make it a useful barn hat. I picked up stitches on the cast off edge and knitted earflap shapes and a panel long enough to cover the back of my neck and - hopefully - stay tucked well inside my barn coat even when I'm leaning into feed barrels and tossing flakes of hay. I use a "skipping stones" motion for tossing hay flakes over a fence and into a paddock, but on a more vigorous, full-body-involvement scale. It's a perfect opportunity for snow to go down the back of my neck. I would very much like to prevent this. Stay tuned.

I think you've already seen these other four FUFOs as they came along on the needles: two pair of socks, one wisp of a scarf, and one buttoned neckwarmer. I'll just put this picture here to have them all recorded in one place.

Here's a ravelry link to my WIPCrackAway project page, for anyone raveler interested in the specific yarns or other details of these items. Project links for everyone, raveler or not, are now here! If the link doesn't work for you - I am still not clear about whether non-rav folks can see the pages, does anyone know? Could someone not on ravelry please click the link and let me know? - just ask me in a comment and I'll happily share any info of interest. UPDATE: thanks very much, Dani, for letting me know the link on this page doesn't work for you! I'm sure rav has already worked out a way to do this, so I will research and see what needs to be done :)

And ANOTHER update: the links posted on the next page should now work for everyone, raveler or not. If there  is still an access problem, please let me know and I will start adding detailed project pages here on the blog. Thanks!  :)

~~~

This screenshot explains why it seems like a good day to post about knitting:

Note the bitter irony of the huge emphasis on "warmer."

(And it certainly never reached 30F here yesterday! What a fib.)

After a series of days like this,

spending at least a little time each day

knitting up warm things

using pleasant yarn

seems very, very sensible.

Something constructive to do

while thawing from chores.

And thinking, and waiting.

 Waiting to hear back from possible porch carpenters.

Waiting to hear back about Tsuga's possible beau.

Thinking about the amazing fact that in a single afternoon

without even leaving the house

I spent two thousand dollars.

(Not crazed extravagance: propane and auto repair.

Still, somewhat alarming. Deep breath taken.)

So...on a happy, productive, cozy note...

I'd like to share my arrangement for knitting these days.

You may wish to try something similar!

Key components:

1. Fire burning merrily.
2. Piper on hearthrug, just like a dog in a novel.
3. Laptop on table, three windows open in screen:

Click image to embiggen.

To the left: the goatcam.

To the right: Finished Object Radar.

(This rav feature displays FOs in realtime, as they are posted on ravelers Project Pages. I can't watch video while knitting - some folks can - but just glancing at the screen now and then to see a wild variety of fiber project images as they appear is good fun.)

On the far right, almost off this screenshot, is an audiobook.

For me, audiobooks and knitting go together like...

goats and hay.

Time to bundle up for another round of chores.

I hope you enjoy a lovely Saturday, whatever the weather!

~~~~~

firsts

First fire of the season.

It's been in the low 30s (F) all day today, but more than that, it's been blowing up a gale since last night and I'm hoping very much that no trees come down in a difficult place. Seemed like a good day for a fire in the woodstove. Piper agreed. She is almost asleep standing up in this picture.

~~~

My big task for this weekend:

a total clearing-out of the screenporch.

Made big progress on Friday, but dropped the ball yesterday

when it was raining and raw all day.

And today, well.

This nice fire can't watch itself burning, now can it?

Erm, maybe I'll get out there in a little while.

~~~

But not yet, because I have another "first" to share!

Years ago, an online yarn order arrived with a "bonus" hank of what I think falls under the heading of "art yarn." It's got alternating sections of tightly-spun single ply and completely unspun fiber. Like this:

Aren't the colors lovely?

I saved it for a planned venture into needle felting.

Someday.

At the Vermont fiber festival, one little gift I bought myself was a set of three felting needles. These are little L-shaped needles with a roughness that helps "felt" the fibers together. Do you know about felting? It's what happens when friction or temperature (or both) causes the scales on animal hairs to  grab onto each other and pull the fibers tightly together. Forever. Have you ever accidentally shrunk a woolen sweater? That's felting. (Some would argue that shrinking a woolen fabric is more accurately called "fulling," and I would not disagree, because life is short.)

The other day I decided to break out the new needles and try making a felt button.

I cut some of the unspun sections and gently pulled them apart a bit more:

And then I shaped them into a soft lump of wool, put the lump on a thick piece of packing material, and started stabbity-stabbing away. And soon it began to look like a button:

I've made four buttons now, trying different things each time:

different size, shape, thickness, blend of colors.

Here's the most recent, with the needle:

I've already managed to break one of the needles!

Good thing there were three in the set.

After years of thinking about it, the incentive to try needle felting right now is that one of my WIPCrackAway projects, a neckwarmer, requires two buttons. None in my button tin seemed right. And I have not found any for sale that were 1) right for the project, 2) of reasonable price, and 3) made in Not China.

I thought of trying to make buttons with wood (of course), but there has been so much rain lately, the branches in the brush pile are soaked through. So I'm playing around with making felt buttons instead.

All the time I thought about needle felting, I never planned to make a utilitarian object. I imagined little figures of animals or plants, or landscapes "painted" with fiber. And maybe that will come. But for now, I'm having a lot of fun making simple fuzzy buttons.

And if I make one that seems "just right" for the neckwarmer, then I will try to make another for a set.

No hurry, though...

It's really good fun.

~~~~~

rainy or not

Autumn continues!

Between recent days of rain and strong wind, there has been the welcome gift of dazzling sun. Clever Piper does not waste an opportunity to bask in the doorway of the screenporch, at a comfortable distance above the saturated ground:

On such sunny days, the few remaining garden plants can be pulled up, and either added to one of next year's garden beds or shared out amongst the goats and hens.

Rainy Day Projects have been getting more attention. Some are routine indoor tasks, like housework (seriously necessary at this point, I'm embarrassed to admit), and, more happily, a little more WIPCrackAway knitting:

But some Rainy Day Projects can be tackled in the sheds or barn. Which is nice, because I can't even see the housework from there.

Months ago, I found the tangled pieces of a garden cart at the dump. My plan was simply to salvage the wheels and axle, then take the remaining odds and ends back to the dump. But once home, I realized many of the metal frame pieces were semi-attached. Maybe...I could rebuild an entire cart?

All summer, I've been using a sadly rusted-out wheelbarrow (lined with plastic feedbags, which actually turned out to be fabulous carriers for loose materials going to the VRB!) and postponing the garden cart project, which had all the earmarks of an endeavor that would require multiple unplanned trips to a hardware store and possibly a lumberyard.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to admit that the tangle of parts was a bit intimidating, and rather than waste a lot of time trying (and ultimately failing) to reconstruct something, I should simply bite the bullet and buy a new, heavyduty wheelbarrow.

I wish I had taken this step sooner!

Because...

well, have you bought a wheelbarrow lately?

I looked at a few ordinary wheelbarrows. Nothing special.

The prices averaged two hundred dollars.

For a wheelbarrow.

I didn't even get as far as looking to see if they were made in Not China, which is usually my first step in shopping.

The very next rainy day, I completely dismantled the tangle of garden cart pieces, and started the process of trying to cobble together something useful. I may not succeed, but there is now a pretty strong incentive to try. Here in Goat World, $200 = 40 bales of hay.

Wish me luck!

~~~~~

Saturday Sock Story

These socks - or as they later became known, Those Socks, or even Those Strangely Cursed and Wretched Socks - have been haunting me since 2010.

These socks - which were already the third version of an experiment - were my Portable Project during a much-anticipated long weekend of enjoyable and interesting research (on a boat, on the ocean: previously, two of my favorite places to be). Unfortunately, the weekend turned out to be not very enjoyable and not even very interesting - and that is really saying something, because I am quite good at being interested in all sorts of things.

The experience was a grim sort of personal watershed for me. When I was (finally, exhaustedly, gratefully) back on shore, I had to admit: my standards for a minimum level of physical comfort had shifted. In fact, I'm not sure I really had such standards earlier in my life. Previously, physically challenging was Good, rustic was Good, tough was Good. And I still don't need luxury or frills. But I do need to be able to move freely, to stretch fully, to rest quietly in a mostly painless position.

Quite a few nebulous lifelong dreams of future work opportunities, distant travel, and physical adventure died that weekend.

Ah, well. These things happen.

Back to the socks!

At some point on the boat, trying to focus my mind by knitting - which can be quite a useful meditative tool, am I right, knitters? - the stitch count was suddenly off by one.

No problem, just pull out the error and carry on, yes?

No. The lace stitches were tricky to get back on the needles. Row after row was lost. The project bag was finally stashed away, safe from the rain dripping through the deck and onto my bunk via a dangling light bulb, to await later repair.

Do your clothes become imbued with associations? Whether the socks had become permanently tainted by the weekend, or whether they had simply been cursed by a passing troll, I don't know, but they resisted all subsequent efforts to get them back on track. And the part that had been properly knitted looked quite nice! So I also couldn't bring myself to rip them out and repurpose the yarn.

Stuck.

Enter the WIPCrackAway KAL!

One week ago, bolstered by the completion of my first WIPCrackAway project...

The Forgotten Orange Leaves of 2012...DONE!

...I tackled these damned wretched red socks again.

And 7 days later, after one final and incomprehensible kitchenering glitch that meant ripping out and redoing both toes (?!), I cast off and declared these socks DONE.
I have never felt more relieved to be finished with a knitting project. Whew.

And onward!

~~~~~

festival, fiber, and goats

Thanks for all your good wishes for Sunday - the weather was perfect! The Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival was worth the long/short trip: lots of cashmere goats, lots of friendly folk, lots of yarn and clever fiber-y creations. A perfect opportunity to prepare an entire portfolio of images for you, my readers, right?

A hank of handspun in apricot and muted greens caught my eye right away, and I asked the vendor if she minded photographs. Not at all! she said. I turned on my camera, focused, pressed the shutter release, and nothing happened.

Because the memory chip was still in my laptop. At home.

So, I'm very sorry I can't do a fiber fair picture post. I feel like such a dunce...I finally went somewhere interesting, and I can't bring you along!

Tell me about it! Not only did I miss a fair
where I could have shown those crazy Border Collies
a thing or two...but today I had a BATH!

Since I couldn't take any pictures at the fair, I decided I'd better bring that hank of handspun home, and photograph it here:

It's cormo/merino and only 49 yards, so it may become an element of a larger piece of knitting: a brim on a plain hat, or cuffs on solid mittens, or an accent of some kind.

Or it may continue to function beautifully as a display:

Purty, no?

And just like that, as smoothly as

a pebble falling into water,

my Yarn Buying Moratorium has ended.

And I'm okay with that, because the knitting? It's back.

Remember the orange half-a-sock?

The first long-neglected project reactivated for the WIPCrackAway KAL?

Tada!

I'm already on to the next WIP.

~~~

And now, instead of pictures of the goats at the show,

how about a couple of familiar goat faces?

Yesterday afternoon, I dragged my chaise to a sunny spot on the Upper West Side, to spend a little time snapping pictures of my gang browsing on a newly-fallen leaves.

An odd thump on the back of the chaise told me Campion was up to something, so I just leaned forward, held the camera over my head, pointed it backward, and clicked:

Don't mind me!

Campion is standing on his hind legs, front feet on the back of the chaise, mouthing the top.

Maybe this is why people think "goats can eat anything" and "goats eat tin cans." They don't. In fact, goats have specific dietary needs and can be extremely picky about their food. But they will explore just about everything with their mouths. And I do keep things out of reach that could be dangerous to ingest, like scraps of paper or plastic feed sacks, or bits of wire, just as you would for any animal.

In fact, despite considerable caution on my part,

Piper has found and ingested more noxious items

than all of my goats put together.

That's still no reason for a BATH. You overreacted!
And besides, I didn't "ingest" anything this time,
I just rolled in it!

~~~

Remember Dara?

When he saw me sitting in the chaise, he trotted right over.

So did the other three kids.

I told the kids that they must not jump up on the chair.

Three quickly returned to browsing, but Dara waited.

He was very quietly disappointed.

He didn't jump, but he waited, politely.

I relented, and said, "Okay, Dara, you can't jump up here, but I'll try to lift you. I don't know if I can, and I don't know if you'll fit on the chair. And if you do, you'll have to be perfectly still or get right down."

I don't know what I was thinking.

Dara is a big boy now.

And even though he was a very unusual baby,

it's been a long time since he could climb into my arms

and completely relax, chewing his cud and dozing.

Like this:

Dara, 6 July 2014

Well.

Dara, 6 October 2014

He sat perfectly still.

(Believe me: this is not something you'd have seen at the fair, even if I'd been able to take pictures of every goat there.)

Time passed, leaves fell. The sun went down. I don't know how long we would have been there if I hadn't eventually had to get up and start evening chores.

All my goats are individual characters, some easier than others to get along with. And at this point, I think all four of the 2014 babies are developing what I hope will be pleasant, sensible temperaments.

But Dara is...unique.

~~~~~

AKC: actual knitting content

The History of Socks: an ongoing scarf made with leftover bits of sock yarn.

I didn't realize until I started writing this post, how many acronyms have become part of my fiber language. Since I don't know how many readers are knitters, I'll translate. These are not my own inventions - they are widely used in writing, though not necessarily in conversation.

After a long knitting hiatus, I've dusted off a few needles this week, and searched out a UFO (unfinished object) buried in the neglected yarn basket. Actually, I was expecting one UFO; this pair of socks that seemed oddly doomed, even back in 2010:

But I soon discovered this lone sock,

which I didn't even recall casting on:

Checked my project notes: sock cast on in 2012.

And...there's more.

So it's a really good thing that I've joined a special kind of KAL (knit-a-long) organized by two inspiring bloggers and podcasters - yarnsfromtheplain (link goes to Nic's podcast website) and Louise of KnitBritish, who I met in a knitting-related conversation on twitter a while ago. Coincidentally, it turns out Louise is from Lerwick, home of the Up Helly Aa festival!
Small world, this fiber world.

Specifically, this is a KAL for finishing up WIPs (work in progress) before casting on something new. The timing is important, as the unmistakable hints of Winter Coming send those of us in the northern hemisphere down the rabbit hole of pattern searches on Ravelry...

Winter! Coming!

Must cast on Hats! Mittens! Sweaters! Socks!

So clever Louise came up with a 2-month KAL, and called it:

#WIPCrackAway: a KAL to help you finish those WIPs!

And I am IN.

I decided to start with that single orange sock,

and over the past three days, there's been some progress.

Today the sock came along on Piper's very long walk.

I stopped for a while, and sat against a tree, knitting,

while Piper ran and ran and ran.

This was my view:

It took a while,

but Piper eventually decided to rest.

Briefly.

And by then, I was ready to walk again.

Sitting is not a longterm option for me.

Not for me, either!

So the now-bigger sock

went back in the bag.

But not for long!

~~~

Do you join KALs or other a-longs?

(This is my first one.)

Is it fun?

Does it help you stay on track with a project?

Please share your tips!

~~~~~