Plans and Projects

Been awhile, hasn't it? I haven't solved my blogging app issues yet and the workaround is somewhat awkward so I think it's slowing me down. Plus all I've been doing is same old same-old: carding wool, knitting on endless sweaters, picking garden produce and weeds, and plotting our next big cross-country trek. I did manage to finish the carding finally thanks to some Grandbeastie power on the drum carder. So pretty, all stripped down and wound into nests:

 

That's just shy of 800g (equal parts Arcott and baby Romney) and it's a dream to spin. Totally worth all the work prepping the fleece myself! I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with the spinning and plying next.

 

The Falklands Flare sweater is coming along. It's down past the armholes now after some fast fudging to get the numbers correct. That will teach me to avoid knitting dark colours in the evening in front of the TV. (Series ending of "Selfridge" didn't help, did it?) Anyway it's going fine now:

 

Carrying on. I'm developing a crazy amount of patience for long sweaters in fine yarn. I don't care if they take ages to knit. This one is such a perfect shape for me that I don't need any adjustments to fit me, except for a couple of inches in length. The garter stitch neckline is quite clever to knit and a flattering shape. No wonder it's my second Veera Välimäki sweater in a row! I love so many of her designs. After this third one of hers (I've already made "Plain and Simple" as well as "Still Light" and now "Flare") there are plenty more that interest me. The designs are unfussy and very wearable but with a twist that takes them out of the ordinary.

 

One good thing about knitting from the stash is the fact that I have to spin the yarn first before I can knit any more sweaters. Otherwise I would have far too many of them! Kind of like how I have too many shawls and hats and fingerless mitts. I have lots of lace-weight yarns and sock yarn leftovers to knit them with. It might slow me down a little if I had to spin for them. If my rate of productivity keeps up I might actually have to give some away. Or frog them and make something else. Surprisingly one can have too many accessories. Who knew?

 

While all that has been going on my sewing mojo has up and taken a vacation. At least now that I've cleared the wool fleece off my studio table I might be able to find it again. I hope. I have two bags and an iPad cover to make. Plus we've decided to make window screens for the Westie so we can sleep with the windows open in the heat. We bought more noseeum netting and a gazillion rare earth magnets and I plan to repair the doorway net with them as well. It's lovely to have a relatively bug-free space but also with air circulation. We discovered that it's problematic to leave the sliding door open at night even with the net though after we had a visit from what we suspect was a raccoon. Scared heck out of us! And also not a good idea in bear country either. However with only two small screened windows open in 90F weather it can feel like a sauna in the van. Being able to leave the bigger driver and passenger side windows open will be nice.

  

The Trek is only two months away from its beginning and there's a whole list of projects to finish before then. We have our Newfoundland ferry reservations so we are feeling like it's really going to happen! I have our route well-plotted, including campgrounds and grocery stops. I am not the just-winging-it kind of traveler. I'm basically a complete homebody so when I travel I like to know as exactly as possible where I'm going. We leave a little wiggle room for serendipity to happen but not much. And really truly this is going to be a loooonnnng drive! Preparation is key to our enjoyment. Otherwise it just becomes a marathon slog and that's not what anyone wants, is it? This is likely our last chance to go this far. We plan to make the most of it but also not worry about anything we miss. You can't do everything or be everywhere anyhow. It'll be fun. Can't wait!