and then....

Okay, where was I?

The indigo:

became two-ply light worsted yarn, and is being stranded into my Stilwell sweater with KnitPicks City Tweed in sage green.

It's much further along than that, but I like this photo and wanted the excuse to post it.

The pretty little singles from my spindle became the ply in this yarn, called Sinfonia:

Which reminds me, I don't think I've posted this anywhere else yet....I'm so behind!

This was a pleasure spin, all on spindles - some of my favorite fibers are in there: lime green mohair, purply almost-black merino, white silk, lilac merino/viscose....

The Yarnwench natural-dyed batt from heaven became a pile of fun yarn, 

a rugged singles with fabric add-ins.  This was at least as fun as Sinfonia - I hated for the batt to end.

And then there's the Noise:

still in progress, and showing the spindle on which most of these yarns were spun: Bosworth Maxi, possibly my favorite - certainly my favorite for moderate-sized art yarns.

How's that for some yarn?  The spinning over here has been fast and frenetic.  There's even more where that came from, lest you think my wheel has been idle...

some spinning

A few yarns in progress, in no particular order - 

Indigo!

This beautiful stuff was dyed by Laura Mayotte (aka indigonightowl,) and I've now finished spinning and plying a two-ply light worsted weight yarn to strand with commercial sage green in my Stilwell sweater.  Love every moment of proximity to indigo.

Came home to a gift (from myself) of more Yarnwench goodness - a mix of fibers, dyed with various natural dyes.  Such a treat.  Spinning it rough, adding in some fabric knots and bursts. 

This has been going on for a little while.  A nice singles of Studioloo merino/viscose, seen here in India. It is being plied, right now, with a bulkier, more expressive singles called Sinfonia.

And some mostly-neutral battlets.  I'm going to spin Noise.

I'll gladly show you what happens to all these, but only if I get some comments - ha!

two moments

I was barely out and about in India this time, but here are a couple moments, from Bombay

and Igatpuri

Leaves

While in Sri Lanka, I started photographing fallen leaves.

Particularly the ubiquitous, symbolic bodhi leaves, but also just leaves.

When I got back home, I was spinning leaves - the Leaves of Grass colorway by Yarnwench

I'm spinning the second half on my Turkish spindle.

 

Apron à la Amy

Just finished this fashion apron from the Amy Butler 

Barcelona skirts pattern 

(two separate links - the first one is pure candy.)

It's really just an excuse to see all these great fabrics close together.

From the top down: Anna Maria Horner (that will be the A-line skirt underneath the apron - yet to be sewn); Kaffe Fassett; Amy Butler (love this Japanese meisen-inspired stuff!); Kaffe Fasset; Amy Butler.  A delicious fabric salad, that sat in my cupboard for way too long, until the other day I suddenly started cutting,

then sewing,

with growing excitement until the final topstitching.

It's a very clear and well-written pattern, easy yet thorough.

Here's the reverse side:

It was a bit windy when I was trying to model this on the roof, but it shows both sides at once.

Two reasons to be happy about knitting

Reason 1, the selfish:

I knit a fitted set-in sleeve, without a pattern or even premeditation, which properly fits not only the armhole of the sweater, but my own body.

Some background:  this particular sweater has been on the needles for nearly a year, and projects that linger tend to acquire weight - as in, unwelcome burden sort of weight.  Something that seemed delightful and fun in the beginning becomes questionable: is this really going to work?  Is it going to look as good or be as comfy as I thought?  This sweater was in the throes of such doubt, purely as a result of too much time languishing in a basket and being passed up for fresher projects.  So the success of this sleeve, the utter surprise of nailing it, redeems both this sweater and my confidence in my knitting.
Now I just have to do it again.

Reason 2, the global:
These children in Gaza.
A few of them are wearing hats I made.
(bring your tissues)

Stitching

Now that there's a lively discussion going on*, and people may be peeking over here to see actual work of mine (she said hopefully), I'd better get some more recent photos up.

I've been stitching.

The act of "putting in stitches," as Willia Ette Graham used to say, has been calming and comforting.

The stitches form a language, recalling past rhythms and moments,

but also asserting the present,

keeping me quietly here.

Those little marks?  Little dashes skipping and meandering through the uniform structure of the woven cloths?  They make me so happy.

*If that link is no good, use this one instead.