You guys! What is going on with the number analytics for this site?!? Every week it seems to be gaining readers! So, if you’re new here, WELCOME! And if you’re back for more, THANK YOU! I’ve put together a calendar to help me with what to post and when. I’m shooting for two or three posts a week. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I struggle with decision paralysis, where I have ideas about what to post, but I have so many that I don’t know what to do, so I then put it off, which then frustrates me because I LOVE posting and sharing what I have going on. I blogged regularly for quite a few years and, if I’m being honest, I really miss reading blogs regularly. Not to say that I don’t love the shift to platforms like YouTube, I have a number of channels I subscribe to and watch regularly, but there’s something about the pace of reading through a blog post, taking it in a bit more slowly, and the smaller scale interaction of it. For me blogging is intentional and relaxing, and often I find some insights to what I’m working on just through writing about it, as opposed to talking about it. With writing I can revisit my words in a way that I lose in spoken conversation.
Back when I was first given this spinning wheel I was also given some really lovely natural fiber to spin, but I quickly wanted to switch to some I had on hand, as I would like for the beautiful, natural fiber (rambouillet) to be something I use when I have the hang of things. I think it would be really nice to be able to make a “forever” thing from it, so want my skill level to be something that can create a more consistent yarn. After I had learned to use a drop spindle I bought some fiber and I had most of the braid left, so I put an empty bobbin on the wheel and started to spin. I spun up enough to fill about half of the bobbin, and I was noticing that my plies were becoming more consistent and I was really happy with it. I took that bobbin off and didn’t think much about using that unplied fiber because, well, it wasn’t great, so I started a spin with another braid that I finished and posted about earlier. But as I thought about it, I wanted to spin a second bobbin of the first fiber so that I could ply it with the first one and have my first attempt, even if it wasn’t going to be knit in anything. So. above you can see the result. One ply was my first ever try, then the second was after I had been practicing for a while. I’ve since soaked, thwacked and hung it to dry.
I also have an update on the hat pattern I am writing. I ordered some yarn from Farmer’s Daughter Fibers and it’s just beautiful. They are both bulky weight. I’ve made more progress than the photo above, but am also scouring my pattern notes and typing up everything as I go, so it’s taking time. I’ll have more details on the yarn and pattern soon. I’m finishing up a tech edit for another designer this week and will have more time to dedicate after Wednesday.
Lastly, it’s soup season!!! I spent time recently making chicken stock (my friend and coworker saves her Costco rotisserie chicken carcasses for me, so once I have 4 saved up I make a batch of stock) that I keep in my freezer to use as needed. For the first photo above I had 8 carcasses, so I made 2 batches. I usually get anywhere from 3-4 quarts of stock per batch. With this batch I also used some to make a bit of split pea soup, so you can see those in the second photo. These are the leftovers that I also froze so that we have soup for busier winter evenings. I just love a good soup, especially one that cooks for a few hours in the cold winter afternoons.
