The Weekend I Needed

When you work full time and have a family, sometimes you find that no matter how much you want to spend your weekends relaxing, you tend to cram all the things you have to do into them and they're over much too quickly. That's what most weekends are like for us -- there's the errands to run, cleaning and laundry to do, social engagements, religious school, and all the other stuff. So it's extra rejuvenating to get a weekend without all the usual to-do, as rare as it is.

Rainbow has an extra-long weekend this weekend, with school closed Friday and Monday for teacher in-service days. I decided to take a day off from work to stay home with her Friday, so I got to sleep in, have a second cup of coffee, and just generally lounge around. We left the house only once, to make a quick trip to the market to get ingredients for dinner (we had some family over), but for the most part, she did her thing and I did mine. Yesterday we went out for about an hour in the morning to help unload some Girl Scout cookies for her troop and then went out for a nice dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day a bit belatedly. Today we had a couple of errands to run, but for the most part, we're staying put. There have of course been the usual chores around the house, but I've been able to sleep in, read for pleasure, knit, and spin to my heart's content the past several days. It's something I wish I could do every weekend.

I started a new spinning project this past week, on Tuesday afternoon after getting my braces on and before it was time to pick Rainbow up from school. Among the many braids I received from my friend Colleen last year when she was downsizing was a beautifully shiny braid of merino/bamboo/silk from Yarn Hollow. On a whim, I decided to spin it up into a three-ply fingering, and I finished up the first bobbin yesterday afternoon.

The fiber is a mix of blue and two shades of purple, one tending more toward blue and one tending more toward red. I didn't manage the colors at all when I split the braid, so it will be interesting to see how they blend in the plied yarn.

Meanwhile, I decided to pull out my Zoom Loom and weave up a little square with some of the mini skeins I finished recently. It's been a while since I last used it, so I had to review the instructions pretty carefully, but it really didn't take much time at all to get back into the swing of it.

I've only finished this one square so far (using the Karakul mini skein), but I'm pretty happy with how it worked up. It's very scratch and rough, but it should work well as a coaster. I'm going to attempt to felt the squares to make them a little thicker and fuzzier, though I honestly don't know if these breeds will felt. At least I feel rather virtuous for using up some stash, however small.

We're Not Done Yet

It seems that winter is back. For a brief period of time, it seemed like we were getting an early spring, but I guess we're not through with the cold weather and snow just yet, so the handknits have been getting a lot of wear. And somehow I feel better about having multiple projects on the needles when knitting seems seasonally appropriate.

Still on the needles are my Cape Cod Socks (the first sock is done, the second sock is almost to the heel), my Quill sweater (which has had maybe a dozen rows added to it), and the charity Sockhead Slouch Hat. This last project has seen a good amount of attention the past couple of nights as I've put Rainbow to sleep, and I'm nearly to three inches on the ribbing. I think it'll go much faster once I get to the stockinette, as I won't constantly have to stop and check -- in the dark, by the light of my iPad -- if I've got the ribbing right. I'm glad that I decided to use this yarn for this project, as it definitely isn't my colors.

In all the excitement of finishing up Rainbow's sweater last week, I completely forgot to talk about my weaving class of the weekend prior. I did enjoy the actual weaving part of it, but I did not care as much for winding off the warp and warping the loom -- it's a lot of work, and it takes a while. In comparison to knitting, weaving is faster, but you can't just sit down and weave like you can sit down and knit. There's a lot of setup and planning that has to happen before you actually get to the weaving part.

The class ended up being a private lesson, as I was the only person who'd signed up, so we were able to get through the material pretty quickly, and at the end of the first day, I'd made a little scarf with part of an old skein of Cascade 220.

I wove until I ran out of warp on the loop (though there was still yarn left for weft) and ended up with a scarf that's only long enough to drape over the neck and perhaps pin in place for an adult -- but the perfect length for a certain small person, who promptly claimed it without any suggestion from me.

On the second day, I wound off warp that was much longer than what I'd done the first day (about four yards or so) so that I could get a full adult-sized scarf. I had dug through my stash and found a gallon-sized bag full of skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed that I think I bought on closeout at WEBS many years ago. I'm not sure what possessed me to buy so much at the time (other than perhaps the price); I made a sweater out of one color several years back but still had maybe eight skeins left. I ended up using two skeins of the blue for warp and about two skeins of the gray for weft, and the finished scarf is approximately 78 inches long (excluding fringe) and 6 inches wide after blocking.

It's a little more blue in real life

I'm pleased with the finished scarf, for all its wonky selvedges, but I'm feeling pretty confident in saying that I'm not going to be taking up weaving. Perhaps someday I'll feel differently, but for now, I'm pretty satisfied with knitting and spinning. There's always the option of buying a day pass or monthly pass to the fiber collective and using their looms if I feel the urge to weave (for instance, if I need a bunch of gifts in a hurry), and I still have my little Zoom Loom at home if I'm in the mood for a quick little project.

The Balancing Act

I will never understand (but always admire) the people who can work on only one project at a time, as at the moment I am struggling to juggle several and would like to start more. First, there's Rainbow's Dancing Leaves Cardigan, which is getting really close to being done (probably half a sleeve is left) thanks to the knitting time it's been getting during my lunch breaks.

I still need to sort out buttons for this sweater, and I might have to resort to ordering some online as I don't think I have enough -- I need 15 -- of the same ones in the right size in my giant bag of assorted buttons and my usual source, my former LYS, is no longer an option. The buttons I need are relatively small (the sweater is knit in fingering weight), and I'm pretty sure I want something with a shank. I can probably try another LYS, but the number I need is likely to be the complicating factor. If anyone knows a good source for buttons, please share!

I'm also working on my Quill sweater, though to be honest it hasn't seen much action this week. When I put it down last night before bed, I had about 3/4 of an inch of garter stitch to go before I could start the fun part, so I may get there this evening.

As if those two projects weren't enough, I cast on for a new pair of socks on Tuesday evening because I had two doctor's appointments (just annual checkups, not to worry!) yesterday morning and knew I'd have some time sitting in the waiting room. As luck would have it, I discovered that my friend Sara was hosting a knitalong for the sock pattern she's recently released, the Cape Cod Socks, which I'd also happened to have bought when I first saw it. I bought that hot pink yarn at IKS last weekend specifically to knit them, and so far, they're coming along quite well. The pattern is very intuitive, so I haven't really had to refer to the instructions after I got several rounds in and probably won't until I get to the heel.

Looking ahead to the weekend, it's going to be a busy one. As a birthday gift to myself (the big day is in a week), I bought myself an intensive learn to weave class at the Steel City Fiber Collective. It's a total of 10 hours over two days, so I have a feeling there won't be a lot of knitting or spinning this weekend, but it'll be worth it. I know I've said many times that I don't really need another fiber hobby, but I keep getting interested in weaving and I figured that by taking the class I'd know whether or not it was an interest worth pursuing. So we'll see what happens -- if I've learned anything from my initial interest in spinning, I've learned never to say never.

Hope you have some wonderful fibery things planned for your weekend!