Accomplishments of the Week - June 3, 2018

by Debbie Sullivan June 03, 2018 1 Comment

Accomplishments of the Week - June 3, 2018

Elizabeth started off this blog series with her accomplishments the past few weeks, but this week it's my turn to share some of the things I've been working on. 

Accomplishment #1

Both the festivals we've attended this spring (the Knitter's Frolic in Toronto and the PEC Fibrefest last weekend in Picton) have been great - a chance to get our yarns and patterns out in the world, and to connect with friends both new and old. But preparing for them keeps me incredibly busy, and I was missing out on getting to spend time gardening, which is one of my favourite things to do at this time of year. After we got home and unpacked this week I managed to get myself outdoors and get a few little jobs done: planting out my rosemary bush (which had overwintered indoors), re-potting a tomato plant that was getting too big for its container, and training my peas to grow up my balcony rails. 

Accomplishment #2

My other accomplishments this week are more fibre-related, and have a bit of a theme: preparation. Sometimes there's just one little thing holding a project back, and it doesn't seem like much but getting through it can kick-start the rest of the work that needs to be done. I've had three projects with little hurdles that I was able to work through this week. One was picking up the stitches for the neckline of my Ebony sweater. I'm so close to finishing this, but had been missing the couple minutes of quiet concentration I needed to get this step done before I could continue on. 

Neckline of black tunic sweater.

Accomplishment #3

I also have another sweater project on the go, which is my own design. I've had this idea percolating in my head for over a year, and was able to cast on for it last month. The only hold-up was that I seemed to have lost or misplaced the needle I needed... So I started the ribbed hem (since I was using a smaller size for it) but then had to put it on hold until I acquired the right needles. I finally had a chance to pick one up on Friday, and can't wait to get back to this project now that I have the right tools!

4mm circular needle in packaging next to brown ribbing

Accomplishment #4

My last in this little trio of preparation-related accomplishments was to prepare my latest spinning project for plying. I've been working on this yarn since January, just spinning a little bit at a time when I had a few moments for it. I'd finally finished off the bag of fibre I was using a few weeks ago, but hadn't made it to the plying step yet. I only have one bobbin for my wheel at the moment, so my big accomplishment was to take the last of the singles off the bobbin, and wind all of it into cakes to ply from. I'm not sure this is the most efficient way of preparing for plying, if anyone has any better ideas for dealing with a lack of bobbins please let me know!

three cakes of grey single-ply handspun yarn





Debbie Sullivan
Debbie Sullivan

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1 Response

Jennifer
Jennifer

June 11, 2018

I love this new series – life gets so busy it is often hard to get those little things done, and celebrating them is a great idea!

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