I know, I’m late. Apologies. This isn’t Friday, it’s Monday – but that just means less time until the next update right?
The past week has been a week of squeezing in simple pleasures. Those little events that give a momentary frisson of great joy.
First of all was picking up a project (my Honeymeade shawl), that has laid dormant for nearly 12 months and making a little bit of progress. Only 4 repeats of one of the charts, but given each chart repeat takes just under 30 minutes, that’s not bad going. During that process I rediscovered just how much I adore the yarn that finally agreed to be this wrapper (after 3 disasterous other, aborted, attempts) – the fyberspates 4ply is just gorgeous and the colouring is working up beautifully – I’ll try and take photos this week for you. Making any progress at all on any project is a minor win after being so unable to do anything for so long – but for some reason this one felt like a particular achievement. There’s still a long way to go on this project, but I just know that it’s going to stunning when it’s finished.
As you (probably) remember I had to frog the front of my Jan sweater completely to get the rib section the same length as the back. Over the weekend I finally caught up with where I had got to previously, the small victory of finally working with virgin, non crinkley, yarn warming the little cockles of my heart (and signifying the section where I have to concentrate on the armhole shaping, but the end of the front is in sight!). With a tail wind I might even have a back and a front of a sweater by the end of the week! Then of course there is the sleeves and the making up to do, but that’s not the end of the world.
I love teaching, and there is little that is as exciting as a completely new course or workshop. However, doing all the prep is not my favourite activity. Finally completing all 26 swatches (yes, I have an entire alphabet of swatches) for the Crochet Shaping workshop in April was a moment for a little happy dance. All the little samples are finished, labelled, blocked and pristine – ready for handling and pouring over by curious students.
Finally I felt like doing something I haven’t done in years, and the Hairpin Lace tunic in Crochet So Fine has been looking at me for about 2 years. Along with the ribbon yarn that I got for free just as I got back into crafting seriously. I had been waiting for an opportunity to use my Ed Jenkin’s hairpin loom (that I also picked up about 2 years ago), and picking up a skill that I haven’t touched for many years (and it coming back to smoothly and easily) gave a lovely glow of satisfaction to my Sunday evening. Again photo’s to follow. The loom is just gorgeous, and the art-silk ribbon so soft that it’s another project that you know from the outset is going to turn out better than you hoped.
Finally I saw a fabulous poster on Saturday that I wanted to share with you…