Begin as you mean to go on

I imagine that this is the point where I say that I intend to make 2015 the year I blog regularly! Of course that's what I intend to do but in all honesty - I might or I might not. You see, the one thing I can say about 2015 is that I intend to spend less time fretting about what I should be doing and more time getting on with it. Blogging will happen...or not as things unfold.

I can say that 2014 wasn't my most favourite of years. Not the worst but definitely a difficult one. January brought us news of my mother in law's sudden death and we raced to Quebec for the funeral. The winter was (as Katy from the Stitch Sisters podcast points out) "Game of Thrones bad". Our son was diagnosed with Lupus in April and work, while still wonderful, has at times been..."Game of Thrones challenging".

On the upside - I had a great time at Madrona in February and then a magical time at Rhinebeck. I got a new car, we saw Fleetwood Mac live in concert and renovated the kitchen.

I also wove a shawl for the competition - inspired by the colours in an Aurora Borealis.

Through it all, my fibre pursuits kept me grounded and gave me joy. I made a custom fit cardigan but my measurements were off so it wasn't a success. I'm now making Tucci - also an Amy Herzog design and also a Custom Fit pattern. I'm using Indigodragonfly Polwarth Silk in "Is that a bird in your hand or are you just happy to see me?" (Club colourway) and "You Punched the Highlights out of her Hair" as the contrast. I love knitting with it so much I had to make the front panels twice. Long story but they are currently blocking and I should have an FO soon.

I got a new spinning wheel - that does deserve its own post and I adore it. The wheel was made by Andrew Watson and is a Kirsten Wheel crafted from Black Walnut and Hollywood accents. Spins. Like. A .Dream. I spun some Polwarth Silk to christen the Kirsten. Then I made the Botanical Shawl by Alana Dakos...and gave myself Tennis Elbow getting it done for the Five Counties competition.

Oh yeah, and we competed in The Royal Winter Fair Sheep to Shawl competition. Our team name...Agents of Sheep. Aren't we bad ass? We actually got re-tweeted by Clark Gregg! We came in 5th out of 9 teams. We done good.

As I contemplate which project to tackle in 2015 - I find myself coming full circle. Several years ago, I bought some Bugga to make the Swedish Heartwarmer shawl. My buddy Steph made one that is so dangerously gorgeous it's show-stopping. This year at Rhinebeck, we struck a deal...she would finish the plain stockinette I was stalled on and I would get on with it. And so- I am now working on the first pattern repeat and I'm even knitting and stranding backwards (check out Steph's how-to video here). The shawl's design depicts the long dark winter (plain stockinette) emerging into the sun's return, followed by blue skies, roses and summer. It seems fitting that I come back to this project now. Years that end in "5" tend to be good ones so knitting myself into the sun is exactly how I mean to go on.

 

 

 

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