The past few weeks were absorbed with the kids being sick, getting things set for the dishwasher to be installed and playing with fiber in a variety of ways.

Spinning Projects

I decided that I wanted to get some purple roving (Peruvian Highland Wool) to make Grammy (Susan) a shawl for hopefully Christmas (may not be done in time). I started to spin it and it is gorgeous and roughly fingering weight yarn. I am super excited about it and it is so fun to spin. I finished spinning about 4 ounces of that and got about 320 yards of yarn out of it and it took me so much time (I didn’t actually time it, at least a week). I finished it along with more of the rainbow colors. Then I started more purple and promptly decided I needed to spin something else for a minute when I finished that bit of the next 4 ounces.

I had some merino superwash and nylon mix that I wanted to try and a new technique called chain plying that I wanted to try. So I did. Chain plying is a method of plying the yarn as you spin, which has the benefit of keeping colors together as you go. Instead of having to hope they match when you ply either back on itself or plying two together from bobbins. And it turned out beautifully! I really couldn’t be happier with it. It still need to be finished but that (fingers-crossed) shouldn’t change it too much.

Last update for the spinning stuff is that the flyer for the spinning wheel finally made it to the mail and should have arrived at Bobbin Boy. Meaning that they can start to make the missing pieces for the spinning wheel which I am so excited to have made progress on.

Knitting Practice

As I mentioned last post I have started to play with knitting and practicing knitting. I finished the sampler scarf and even blocked it! And then decided to start a hat for Gwen, my oldest daughter. I got some circular knitting needles from Amazon for like $10 I didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg only to decide I didn’t like to knit and all of the circular needles that were in the house were very brittle. Turns out I got ones that were too big (wah, wah). So I dug out some double pointed needles, not my first choice because they seemed really complex. But I watched a few videos and made it work.

I had the double pointed needle thing down and was going along happily. Then I get some ribbing on and go this looks rather small. So I pull the needles out and see if it would have fit, not even close. Do some research and realize that I was looking at a pattern for bulky yarn NOT worsted weight like I was using (smack head). I should know better from years of working crochet patterns but NOPE. So I start to cast on again and get part way through and think maybe this will fit on the circulars. Spoiler alert: it was still too small for them. So I cast on to the double pointed needles for the second-ish time (3rd time for the project total). And am now knitting merrily away, still not through the ribbing though. Hopefully it fits now…

Sewing

I also did a teeny tiny bit of sewing for a Christmas present for my nephew. I wanted to make him a toy that my girls loved. A tissue box. So basically a stiff cube with a hole on the top and a bottom that can be opened for easy refilling. I used canvas, cotton fabric, and heavyweight interfacing. I sewed the interfacing and cotton as one layer into a cube. Then sewed the canvas into a cube and made essentially a bag lining so that it could be reversible. I made some fleece “tissues” because fleece is soft and doesn’t fray. The bottom I left two sides open and then put a snap on the open corner as a fastener.

Ear Infections

Ellie, my youngest daughter had a fever and her eyes started to look a little pink. So, we took her to the doctor and they found a double ear and eye infection. This resulted in eye drops and penicillin. We started the penicillin and then found some hives. The hives came without fail about an hour after each of the three doses we gave Ellie. And so, we took another trip to the doctor who agreed that it seemed like an allergy. We came home with a different medicine to try and instructions to come back in after it finished to make sure the infection was gone. And after the third trip to the doctors office her ears were FINALLY infection free.

Other Fun

I had some of the Berlin Woolwork dry cleaned and it is now ready for me to measure them so that I can go get some velvet backing and piping to make some pillows.

The other exciting event that happened was with the closet. Ben and I heard a big crash one night and got up and looked around and couldn’t find anything. I went to get dressed the next day. I opened the closet and my side of the walk-in was on the floor (of course). So I picked up the stuff on the floor and did a bit of reorganizing. My only guess for why one side fell is that my side has a small section of radiator underneath of it which may possibly have caused the plastic to wear out faster?

That is all for the past few weeks. The next few weeks is a little bit of cooking for the holiday, more spinning (mostly purple), working on the hat, and probably cleaning rooms that have already been cleaned. I might be able to gather some family stories during the holiday to type up and share as well.

Thanks for joining the adventure,

Lots of Love,

The McMullin Family