Oh wait! Photos of the stash-busting blankets. Must remember to do that. Even better, finish the handspun blanket. Jeebus, I can’t believe I’ve crocheted an entire blanket in HANDSPUN FIBRE! It’s been a wonderful winter project though. Maybe just a few more rows to use up those last balls… mind you, it hasn’t made a huge dent in my fibre stash. I foresee a whole lot of overdyeing being done in Spring/Summer. There’s no way I want to wear natural mid-tan alpaca (two fleeces), but it’ll look amazing as a base for orange, red, blue, green. Then there’s that milky-tea show fleece (omg, such a fine micron) which I’m going to have to consult with fibre pals at length about. The horror if I ruin it!

Then there’s a fine Gotland fleece in for washing and carding at the moment. I’m going to experiment with that. I foresee something utilizing the natural shine of that fibre, but in DK weight, loosely knitted so the garment has some drape. There will be much to discuss at KAN… and beyond!

*sigh*

So what have I been doing. I’ve been taking the most extraordinarily long time to piece a crochet blanket together (done with mitred squares), and do the other half of the Chevron Blanket. While that happened, I somehow put down the sweater I was knitting and forgot to pick it up again, and the spinning is all but a memory – except for when I’ll have to spin up some more light contrast yarn for the Mitred Square Blanket.

However, I have been practising and playing my guitar pretty much every day. Unfortunately, due to poor posture and lack of attention to same, I wound up with a damaged rotator cuff. That kinda curbed the music and fibre pursuits for a bit, and I’ve discovered I’m rather ambidextrous with a mouse. The shoulder’s still giving me trouble, but it’ll heal with time, and I sure as hell haven’t stopped playing guitar. After all, there is a Martin with my name on it, patiently waiting for me come December.

I’ve also been scrutinizing my blog, feeling the drag factor of those early posts from (cripes!) 6 years ago. I’m of two minds as to whether to delete those old posts, a bunch of music posts where I voiced nothing but a brief opinion and a tracklist, or whether to just sit with it a bit longer. After all, this is my diary of events and sometimes it’s quite useful to go back. What do other bloggers do, I wonder – keep or cull?

Anyhoo…

Last weekend was spent washing a lovely, fine Romney fleece that I got over a year ago. It’s been sitting nice and greasy in a bag, minding its own business while I periodically fretted over whether or not to wash it myself or send it off to the pros. All for fear that I’d felt it by just showing it hot water. In a fit of STOP PROCRASTINATING FFS!!!, I got out my brand new laundry bags (also purchased over a year ago for just this purpose) and filled them with greasy, finely crimped locks. It only took 3 hot soaks in Martha Gardener Wool Mix and 2 cold rinses, and I had me a squeaky clean fleece.

Next challenge was using my drum carder for the first time. I’d never actually used a drum carder before, so after I rolled some really nasty batts, I figured I was doing something wrong. YouTube to the rescue. Turns out that the small roller was turning in the same direction as the large roller, presumably because the pulley cord is a fibre cord and has insufficient grip. It was put on by the previous owner and was clearly a No.8 wire job. I’ve since ordered a replacement pulley band. In the interim I’ve helped things along by manually providing the necessary traction to turn the small roller in the opposite direction.

That was one hurdle, but I was still getting lumpy batts. Back to YouTube for another look at those clips. Solution: put the batt through again (and again if necessary) to get a well-combed batt. I am SO looking forward to spinning this floofy loveliness!

While those freshly washed locks were out in the sunshine drying, I tackled some polymer clay. These are just fun experiments with leftover clay to get me enthused… I have a larger plan in mind.

In between cooking clay and my first foray into prepping raw fleece to spin, I’ve been destashing my beautiful collection of hand-painted fibre, mostly from Southern Cross Fibre (David’s stuff is so good he’s always sold out, so you need to join his fibre club, or sign up for shop updates – and be a speedyfinger!). As there’s only so many scarves, hats, etc that I want to make, what better way to preserve these beautiful fibres than in a snuggly blankie? Once blocked, it’ll be wide enough to cover my queen-size bed.

Let’s look at that fibre a little closer (and there’s still heaps more to be spun and included).

I’ve also been learning new songs on the guitar, experimenting with minor chords (ye gods, a song may actually get written!), and stepping perilously close to COUNTRY MUSIC! Gah! Ok, so I’m drawing the line there and going as close as alt-country/blues, but I thoroughly enjoyed going to see Ryan Adams on Thursday, opened for by the equally talented Jason Isbell, whose latest album (Here We Rest) I have since purchased. I may love-love-love hard rock and heavy metal, but it doesn’t mean I completely exclude other genres. Being musically well-rounded is a good thing, although that can dent my credit card pretty deeply sometimes – there’s just so much great music out there!

My Epiphone is feeling a little neglected, but it’s not being completely ignored. Have I said lately how much I’m loving learning guitar? Well, I am. It’s also causing a general reinvigoration of my musical education, such as it is, insofar as I’ve been contemplating getting another piano – acoustic, not digital though. But NO! There is no. more. room. I must be sensible. Yes.