🌎 Mother Earth ~ version 2

 It might seem that all I have been doing lately is spinning but it's more a case of tidying up and getting projects wrapped and done.    To clear my desk off !  😁🧶

A few years ago now I bought some lovely spinning top from an Etsy shop called Beesybee  and loved the fibre blend of merino and mulberry silk and the vibrant blue / green shades in the top.    I ordered a second batch and then found I had to keep the two batches separate as there was a real colour variation between them.    Disappointing but taught me that I need to order what I want versus going 'economical'   😉

So Mother Earth version 2 gave me, between the 4 skeins,  a total of 324 grams or 11.4 ounces of 2 ply yarn. There is  644.5 metres or 709 yards total.   I have never been a knitter and so unfamiliar with the various knitting weights but I would call this a heavy lace weight.    

Then again, I could be all wrong! 

Okay.... all my spinning is caught up and I promise the next posts will be weaving related.   I have four scarves waiting for their time in front of a camera and a debut here.   📸 

Barn Owl ~ Nightstalker 2

Another spinning project completed but this time it was a commission job.   It will be mailed out after this weekend  to a customer in Victoria, BC. 

Night Stalker is based on a barn owl's colouring and so features the red of eri silk, sooty grey of peduncle silk,  beige of baby camel,  pale gold of muga silk and a creamy white superfine merino.    I bought the rolags from  Fellview Fibers in the UK.    Always a quality product and a joy to spin up!  

My customer bought one of my earlier Night Stalker spins and asked me to spin up more for him.   I slowly worked away all over winter and early spring. 

Freshly washed and dried and skein into satisfying braids.

close up view

Its buttery soft and light as a feather.

Weights in grams and ounces

I put them through the yardage counter as I wound into cakes. Totals for all four are: 980.5 metres or 1078.5 yards. 388 grams or 13.6 ounces.   I'm kinda sad its all done now!

But as you can see, I have moved on already.....

In Between

 A friend sent me this today and I started my day with a good chuckle, as I lifted my first coffee.   It's the mid point time between the winter Solstice and the spring Equinox, and every day going forward will see an increase in daylight.    Even if you are somewhere covered in snow right now, it will be brighter!

So I have three scarves completed and waiting on the camera for their glamour shots. Our house is full of windows and during this time of year it's still dark and dreary..... but not for too much longer if the furry guy is right.

So yes, there had been weaving and much planning.   But also my back decided to act up again and so time was lost getting a muscle spasm to relax.  I was able to spin while recuperating which is a bonus as my Hansen has been collecting dust. 

This is an exotic blend of superfine merino, baby camel, eri silk and pendunkle silk called Night Stalker from Fellview Fibres (UK). It mimics the colourings of a barn owl.   Lovely floof!  I have 300 grams more to go in lace weight.

I did manage to get a gradient warp beamed before the back got cranky..... it features 4 shades of tencel...

.... and colour 5 makes it sing!    Obviously more on this to come....

On the more personal side.... we have been very lucky to escape much of the winter cold snap and only had 1 inch of snow so far (touch wood).   On December 16th, we had a brand new Mitsubishi heat pump and back up auxiliary  unit installed and it's been working like a charm.   It's good to -15 degrees Celsius  and so covers our region nicely and if it goes colder, the back up unit kicks in.      A year ago we had no heat for 5 or 6 weeks when some parts on our old unit failed and we tried to get parts.    The space heaters and gas fireplace kept us warm but we spent a lot of money on electricity and gas.... and furnace parts, only to find it was a stop gap measure.     The install took 10 hours total of removal of the old parts, and install and set up of the new.  It went well and cleanly done and the only painful part was paying for it  😳💰       Here's the outside unit and there's a large refrigerator sized 'box' in the crawl space.

There was a break in medical appointments over Christmas and we both said how nice it was to not be so focused on medical stuff for a time.   But January saw them resume again as further diagnostic tests resumed to learn more about my hubby's leukeumia.     His pancreas decided now was a good time to act up too so we have been struggling to get his blood glucose numbers back into line as well.   He wears a continuous glucose monitor, 4 insulin shots a day and every bite is subject to scrutiny by me mainly and him most of the time.  Sure takes the fun out of a meal!

I wasn't too sure about sales of my hand wovens this past Christmas with people watching their funds and trying to buy Canadian goods after all the tariffs were slapped onto Canada.   I had to sadly shut off American buyers from my Etsy store due to all the paperwork and extra costs.   I found that Canadians supported other Canadian sellers at Etsy by looking for the tag "Canadian Made" and had a number of sales on line and in person.   From not having high expectations to 11 sales I sold: 2 shawls, 5 towels (and gifted 3 more) 2 table runners and 4 scarves all went out and under someone's Christmas tree!    A big thank you !   🇨🇦

So we'll navigate Hubby through his care,  watch for signs of spring, enjoy the increase in daylight, plan to photograph the finished scarves 'soon' as a sunny day appears.... and slowly ease back into weaving again.

How goes your winter?     Stay healthy and stay warm.....

Busy Bee 🐝 Mother Earth

To close out October (where did the month go? 😳 )  .... some spinning show and tell for you.  This pretty fibre came from  "Beesybee Fibers" on Etsy. They have some gorgeous colour ways and quick shipping.

 

It was a lovely spin up with very high quality fibre.  This has a fine micron wool blended with silk.  Some other colours may have fallen into the shopping cart too.   Oops... 😁

All washed up and some were made into cakes for convenience.... and a skein as it's a classic. 

Now that I'm back weaving, I'm spinning less but enjoy the time on the Hansen very much. No regrets buying this e-spinner one bit. 

Autumn Pumpkin 🧶 🍂

 I thought I would share some of my hand spun efforts. It was all I could do for 7 months so there will be a few more posts to come as well.

A fine merino with a dash of silk.... from Aurelia Fibers, which I believe is now closed.

🎃

Total yardage is 399 meters or 439 yards.  Total weight is 192 grams or 6.7 ounces. It was a lovely spin up and I quite enjoyed it.

I wound them into cakes using my nifty new ball winder.... I love it! 

Today is the Fall Equinox and the official start of Autumn, pumpkin season and all things to do with spinning, weaving, knitting....     🧶

Abstract Amethyst

 The colour purple.... just the colour, not the movie ..... is one that seems near and dear to many.  So I fell hard for this exotic melding of many shades called "Abstract Amethyst" by Fellview Fibres (UK).  Its glorious! 

I quote:  used 7 shades of violet, lilac and purple merino (21 micron), and added lashings of gold tussah silk. When these were not sparkly enough for me, I added gold Angelina into the mix in the second batch.

It does not disappoint!

If you haven't already, you should really visit the shop and enjoy the yummy goods on display.

So, not as romantic as the web site pictures, but here's the rolags on my tacky desk. It was a lovely spin up!

Plied,  time on the niddy noddy and then a gentle bath.  Hung to completely dry. Some wound into cakes (with yardage taken at the same time) and one left as a skein to show the colour changes.

I spin for relaxation and not technical about it in the least, but with my spinning being a daily effort in the past 5-6 months, my skills have improved and some of my latest efforts (not show here as yet) are looking like something to be proud of. 

🌷🌷🌷

It's been a busy time here at the house!   I found new drapes for the house, on sale and no delivery charge!  A lovely ivory shade and so bought enough to do five windows. I just couldn't take a chance they would run out if I only bought a trial set.   So there was a LOT of time spent at the ironing board and getting them hung. I took 2-3 days to get the job done and I must say they look fabulous and change the whole feel of the home.  It looks and feels more open. More light.  We changed the more private areas such as bedroom and den to a medium blue this past late winter / early spring.

Our gardener Kari has been working away at the flower beds and over hauling them.  a large tree stump was dug out (Hawthorn and must have weighed 70 pounds!) and flowers now bloom where it once stood.

We are now on the hunt for some interesting yard ornaments / statuary as we have a shady spot under two trees where we have hostas  and other shade plants, and  something unique would look nice there.   A bird bath was suggested, but they require daily cleaning, filling, and can be a great mosquito 'hot tub' and I'd rather not have them that close to where we like to sit.    There is a large pond behind the yard where the birds can get water, and the local fish and dragonfly larvae can eat the mossies!   The pond is also full of frogs.

I'm feeling much better in myself lately but the back is still an issue by mid afternoon.  I can now see a day coming when I'll be weaving again. Just more physiotherapy to do yet.....

🌷🌷🌷

some pictures to share.... the hawthorn tree stump and pond behind the house.

Then a sampling of some of our gardens flowers

Night Stalker 🦉

This is a Barn Owl     They are silent on the wing and all you might hear is a slight swoosh of air through the tips of their flight feathers.  How do I know this?   It was some years ago and we lived near the dyke in Richmond, BC. We went for an evening stroll along the dyke to Steveston  (an old fishing village and home base for fishing boats.)   We walked back home in the darkening evening light and paused by a notice board and post to watch the sunset. Suddenly, I had something fly close to my head and I felt the breeze of something against my hair and looked up to see a barn owl settling in on the top of the post.   I never heard a thing!    It was absolutely gorgeous  and showed no signs of leaving so we watched it and then moved on up the dyke to home.    That experience has never left me. 

So when I saw the "Nightstalker" rolags at Fellview Fibres (UK) with all the colours based on the markings of a barn owl, I ordered some.   Spinning it up was like working with a cloud !   Its a blend of superfine merino, baby camel, muga silk, eri silk and penduncle silk.

All done and spun up, wound up! I would order this again in a heart beat and perhaps ply it with creamy bombyx 20/2 silk?

At home we are busy with irrigation system tune up including replacing the manifold, the programmer and many of the old spray heads. We will be on strict watering orders this year and we want to get the best use of the watering system.  No one wants to be that person watering the sidewalk.   😥

Since we had issues with leaky skylights this past winter, we are getting some minor roof / vent issues dealt with and a natural spray treatment for moss on the shingles done. That was awful this past Dec / Jan with roof issues!    The contractor said our roof is basically in great shape but it seems who ever did the replacement back in 2010 took some shortcuts and those are showing up now.  We bought in 2016.... and no one went up to check it over. It was only 6 years old then, and 13 years old now. 

I started my first physio appointment !  Just small 'seated' exercises designed to increase my range of motion in my lower back.  My lower back is pretty rigid and it's going to take some coaxing, with resulting increase in aches and pain as we pry it loose.    Baby steps for now.    I will be getting an MRI sometime in July according to the diagnostic booking nurse.

I also saw an orthotist and we discussed my poor feet and I had plaster casts made of my feet.  They looked like little ballerina shoes when all done.   I was born with flat feet and so this is more about supporting the bones into a better position and more like cradling my feet.  It will be  3-4 weeks before I get them and then we'll see how they fit and feel and make adjustments as needed.

I'm being good and getting all my adult stuff lined up and ticked off: had a mammogram done, booked eye exam appointments and seen my opthalmologist too.    Care and maintainance of this older model human is extensive ( and expensive 💰), but the pedicure and time spent at the hairdresser was pleasant. 

Long weekend here; Victoria Day and the semi official start to summer.  I've made potato salad and Hub is busy cleaning the BBQ.     🍹 ⛱️

Just William

 

So when you buy a batch of rolags from Fellview Fibers, Carol slips in a complimentary rolag to tempt and tease you!    She added one of these beauties and what could I do?     I ordered some more!  😁  I was a total push over as I fell for the jewel colours. 

I don't know the story behind the name "Not Just William".... I'm sure its a good story.

I got busy and soon had three skeins of plied yarn. Here's a skein to show the colours and two have been wound into cakes. 

There's a variety of blues and turquoise, a dash of green and some black.   I'm very pleased with it and would order again.  But after I've tried some others of course. 🤩

On the personal front:  I'm waiting for a MRI  for my lumbar spine (which will take months to get) but in the meantime I have a physio appointment scheduled and also to see someone to talk about orthotics.   According to the orthopaedic surgeon "your feet and ankles are a mess.... and sadly there is not much that can be done".

So.... I will be making some changes in the studio and so have started making a list of what is going to find new homes and owners  down the road.    I knew this day would come sometime, I just thought it would take longer!