On the garden front, I’m updating my garden spreadsheet and planning seed starting dates
Weather has been pretty mild lately, so I’ve also been moving around some compost, and tidying up in the hoophouse.
On the Expo front, I’m getting tools (wheels, combs, carders, etc) and materials (wool! lots of wool!) together for my two classes “Basics of Wool Processing”, and “Yarn from Scratch: Handspinning on a Wheel”. Will be the first time 3 years that the event is held in-person, and in a new Stanwood High School building to boot! Should be fun 🙂
I’m not quite done weaving, but realized a few days ago that I had some discrepancies in tension across my warp, so thought I’d take the bit off that I’d already woven and tie it up again to finish up the last yard or so. I think it mostly had to do with using a variety of different yarns in the warp. Some are a bit stretchier than others. Here is a sampling of the different sections of my woven cloth, pre-washing-
I think my favorite bits are with the blue and natural black weft. I’m washing and drying it up now. Got about 6.5 feet in length I think, about 17 inches wide. The edges are a bit wonky, but I love it so. Feels amazing.
I always consider it a good new years day if I can spend some of it outside doing garden stuff.
Earlier this week we got our garden seed order from Baker Creek, and it’s gotten me really motivated!
Super excited about some of the things we’ve going to try this year- here’s the list
Still have squash, peas, beans and many other things from last year, so focused on getting some new interesting varieties of tomatoes, melons, peppers, etc.
And today if was not freezing, and not raining, so seemed like a perfect opportunity to get the rest of the garden bed extension dug and amended!
Also planted a couple of little rhody offshoots that have been hanging out in pots for the last year or so.
Hopefully they will get established and eventually start to fill the gap in the rhody wall that was left when that purple variety gave up the ghost. These guys are white, so will bring a different look to their space in the rhody forest.
And,,, in woolly news, weaving is coming along- been working in a chevron type twill pattern. I just love to watch the play of the colors against each other.
And, I’ve worked up a couple pairs of fingerless gloves. This was driven by a special request from someone at the Alger holiday market a few weeks back. I had some fingerless mitts available that day, but they were interested in something that had separation of the fingers.
I generally don’t make that type, just because they are more fiddly (working small diameter rounds on DPNs, lots of yarn ends, etc.) I kept thinking that there must be a better way to approach it. And I’m pleased to report that I finally figured it out. Don’t want to dive into the weeds on this post, but it you can check out the details on Ravelry if you’re interested.
Worked at a fairly firm gauge they are cozy and practical Workin’ Mitts.
Have a great week everyone 🙂
Oh hey- almost forgot to mention, I finally figured out how to set up a “subscribe via email” function for the blog. So if you’re interested in having posts sent straight to your inbox, you can find the sign-up form at the bottom of the Contact page
