Concentration Lacking

I know I promised a longer post but this isn't it. I realised that one of the reasons that I have had trouble creating more detailed posts is that my mind has been as scattered as the projects I've been working on. Thoughts are drifting around in my head too much to pin them down. I keep waiting for some definite results to focus on. Somehow it just isn't happening yet.

 

However I do have a very small Finished Object to show. This month's Spectrum meeting ended up just being two of us. My dear friend Kirsten shared with me a piece of her fish skin leather that she bought as a souvenir from a trip to Iceland. She had both salmon and wolffish. (Ugly beast, isn't it?) She worked with the salmon and I chose the thicker wolffish leather and we made scissors cases. Here's mine:

 

 

 

The button is deer antler and has been in my stash forever. The edges of the flap are the natural edges of the skin but I sadly had to trim off the too-long point. I also glued a patch of leather in the toe of the case to protect it from scissors poking through before stitching the sides with strong thread. Then I waxed the finished case with neutral shoe polish to protect it and bring out the grain. The results are kind of funky rather than elegant but I like the rustic look. And at least now my super-sharp scissors won't puncture me or my knitting bag!   According to the Atlantic Leather company's website, they are utilizing skins from the food fishery that would otherwise be wasted and their processes use renewable energy. Sounds good, eh? Icelanders used to make footwear out of the wolffish skins back in the day so they are really continuing a tradition. Today fish skins can be dyed in bright colours and used for products like wallets, handbags, interior design items, clothing and jewelry as well as more fashionable shoes. Very cool.

 

In other crafty news I'm well into the fifth tea towel and the end of the warp is in view. One more to go! The Still Dark Tunic has about 6" of a sleeve left to knit. The Mahogany Falklands wool has one more skein to spin and some plying. And the Arcott/baby Romney blend wool is proceeding. I have about half of the Romney left to card before I can weigh it all out and blend equal (or almost equal) parts. All projects moving along but it feels like they're doing so at glacial speed.

 

Otherwise I'm still plotting out big cross-continental trip. We need to start making some reservations very soon even though there's still nearly three months before we leave. Have I mentioned how much fun the research is? Really. It's like I'm already travelling in my head. I'm going to be very well prepared this time, I'll tell you! It seems the more prep I do ahead of time the smoother the experience. Especially when driving something like 15,000 kilometres! This likely will be the last opportunity to do something this extensive so we want to make the most of it while simultaneously knowing that we can't go everywhere or see everything anyway. Just looking forward to a fun time.

 

 

Off to get a few things accomplished today before the fambly tide rolls in. Apparently it's another one of those Hallmark Holidays? Any excuse for a barbecue I say!