Yarn makes most things better...making it, using it, or buying it!

Can you believe how beautiful this spring is? Brilliant sunshine, loads of rain, cool days, and the normal riot of blooms in this part of the world. Maybe I'm really noticing it because of the circumstances around me, but I am so, so thankful for God's majesty shown through the wonder of creation.

I've been pretty swamped with teaching stuff the last week, and the beginning of this week is shaping up to be similar. The problem with online teaching is that you are available *all the time*--blessing and a curse! And your students are sort of available all the time...if they check their emails and messages. Since Texas schools won't reopen this school year, there are a few more weeks of this stretch experience left. The nice parts? Bathroom breaks whenever! More flexibility. Getting to talk to my cat all day. Eating lunch in peace and quiet. Yet, I can't wait for life to go back to 'normal.'

My hand is slowly improving, and I was able to indulge in a lot more handwork this week than I have for the last month. One thing that has been giving me a great deal of pleasure is spinning. I love the rhythm of spinning—the hands and feet working together, the sound of the wheel, and the magic of watching your bobbin fill up. I had started spinning another chunk of this Easter colored pencil roving when Beth was visiting, and after some thought decided to Navajo ply it. I gave it quite a bit of twist, and I think it might be the best yarn I’ve made yet. At the very least, I think it’s the one that will knit up most like a commercial yarn. I plied it on my wheel, which I haven’t tried for quite some time, and was very pleasantly surprised by how it went. Maybe I’m just a better spinner!

Once I got that project finished, I returned to the big purple spin. A lovely friend gave me two bags of wool for my birthday last year, and I'm going to divide each bag into fourths, spin them up, and then ply one of each together. I love how this fiber spins, and I love that I'm getting better at this! I can't wait to see what the finished yarn looks like, and how much I end up with. No special plans for this yet, but it's sure fun to work on.

While I ave restarted my brioche cowl, I’m not quite ready to dive back into that just yet—the pain of FROGing (though needed) hasn’t quite faded enough yet.

I’ve been working on some gift socks that I had high hopes of finishing for Christmas (but didn't--Mother's Dayish?), and a new summer top, Vanora. I’m using Lion Brand Coboo—the same yarn I made my tank out of last year, but I’m going bold with the bright magenta colorway. This is essentially two rectangles seamed together, but I’m going to do mine in the round from the underarms down, and I’m planning on putting in just a little waist shaping while I’m at it. It’s a simple pattern, but I think I’ll really enjoy wearing it once it’s done. Plus, having more warm weather knits means I can enjoy my handiwork year round!

The other thing I worked on this week, was finishing up this brilliant little purse. I used some leftover Nomadic Yarn’s in the Ginny Weasley colorway, and was quite pleased with how it turned out. I love little bits of everyday wizardry like that—so clever! This is an excellent use of leftover sock yarn as it only took 9 grams, and it was fun to watch the magic take shape. I lined mine with some grosgrain ribbon I happened to have on hand, and have plans for at least one more.

Other than that, quarantine life continues on. I'm still walking almost every morning in the gardens near my house, making a weekly pilgrimage to Wal-Mart, and getting some good reading in. I'm enjoying delicious Silver Grizzly coffee in the afternoons, and the luxury of not having to worry about whether my pants and shirt match. Little things, always important, are even more so these days! Oh--I have added these delightful yarns to my stash. The red is a beautiful merino-silk blend from Expression Fiber Arts--a Christmas gift card cashed in finally. And the purple is the April Knitcrate yarn. I think I'm going to order some more so I can make a layering cardigan--I use them all the time!

Parting shot: My 'co-worker' is hard at work napping; he has had a bit of a struggle to get it all in with me being home, but he does his best.

Well...this was not how I envisioned my spring...

It’s now my fourth week of online teaching, and things are falling into a bit more of a pattern. These last four weeks have been made harder by a family loss that we don’t know when we’ll be able to be together for and a right hand/arm injury that I’m pretty sure is tendinitis. I’ve had to be very, very careful how and how much I use my hand, so I haven’t been able to knit much these last few weeks. However, my hand is slowly healing, the weather is improving, and I’m finding ways to keep myself hopeful and remembering how much I do have more than how much I miss. So, here’s a look at what I’ve been doing, mostly over the last two weeks.

Before my hand got bad and before the end of my ‘real’ spring break, I decided to cast on the brioche cowl I had bought a particularly beautiful skein of Chicken Coop Dyeworks yarn for at the East Texas Fiber Fest last fall. I learned a few things about fixing mistakes in brioche (it’s a PAIN), was able to knit sometimes only two rounds a day on it through the pain, and was getting close to completion when I tried it on-

And then I came to the awful conclusion that the cowl was going to be too big. Now, this was 100% my fault as I had added to it because of my gauge, but I had forgotten to take into account how very stretchy brioche is. So, after putting the project in time out for a few days I ripped the whole thing back, cast on fewer stitches, and I’m trying again. This time the yearn is pooling which it didn’t before—I’ll be interested to see how it behaves once I get to the flat part.

Easter was a bit odd this year, as I suspect it was for you too. One of the things I learned from my time overseas is how powerful traditions are. They are a way to help you look beyond where you are at that moment, and a way to connect you with loved ones far away. They are a way to hope, to remember, and to get outside yourself. So, I dyed a few eggs on Good Friday,

made hot crossed buns,

and knit some covers for blown eggs. The knit egg covers isn’t traditional, but making something—particularly something small and fiddly—for holidays is traditional for me.

I also made myself a nice dinner and ate off my inherited china. Because if this isn’t an occasion to use the good china, I don’t know what is!

I also did a bit of sewing Easter Monday. I’ve been doing some research into mask making, and this is my first one-

I made a few modifications to the original tutorial which can be found HERE such as pipecleaner in the bridge of the nose portion, ties out of random lavender bias tape that a younger me bought for some unknown project, and did a bit of top stitching. I’m pretty happy with it, and pleased that I had enough scraps of both fabric and interfacing.

I've also been spinning a bit. There was about 55g of a brightly colored pencil roving that I got from my mom that has been a very cheerful thing to have in my sore hand and on my wheel. I'm plying it up right now, but here is the single on the wheel-

Lastly, as something to look forward to every weekend, I've been driving out to visit the many historic cemeteries near where I live. I've been to four so far; at least two more to go. Once I've hit the ones labeled on the main road, I'll look up some more. There sure are a lot around here, but seeing as I live in the oldest town in Texas it's perhaps not too surprising. It's so nice to get out into the beautiful spring weather, wander around safely, and I quite like reading the names and dates and piecing together tantalizing bits of the stories left behind. It's also nice to have an 'outing' to look forward to; a safe way to go DO something. As always, even in times of worldwide crisis, it's the little things in life that make so much difference.

Thoughts after visiting local Graveyards

I don't think the dead mind the living's visits;
That which made them themselves is long gone
And only that which is least them is left.
Nothing sinester lurks on this patch of ground
Set aside to recieve our cherished ones
And mark that they once lived and loved.

Though I never met these people gone long before
Or knew their habits or saw their souls,
When I read their names, in that moment they are remembered.
A name on a stone is dead--just a fact preserved;
But spoken by my living mind and pondered over
That thread in the tapestry of human life shines bright again.