Crafts heading into the summer

Working at Digital Extremes has been very busy. We've been staying late most nights and because we drive home to stratford every night, we don't get home until fairly late. As a result, my frequency of finished objects has suffered, but that's ok, slow but steady wins the race right?

Uncharacteristic of me as well, I have multiple things in the works. Usually i like to give all of my attention to whatever I might be sewing, spinning, crocheting, weaving, knitting, stitching or cutting and work until i finish the craft. However, because of the limited time i have, and the combination of the summer and the stuffiness of my craft room, I've deviated from my usual habits and have a whole bunch of fun craftiness goin' on! :)



First on the list is this handspun i'm working on... I dyed this fibre at a dye workshop a couple of years ago, and never got to it unil now. It has a mix of bamboo throughout it, and since bamboo resists dye more than protein fibre, it sort of sparkles white after the fibre is dyed. I love it! I was spinning a whole lot of art yarn for a while, and it's nice to go back to laceweight. Most likely i'll be plying this with itself. I might try a 3ply navajo technique, or maybe just plain ol' two ply. We'll see what i feel like later on. It's been a nice spin so far though even though I haven't bought my dream wheel yet, my little trusty ashford traveler is doing a bang up job as per usual.



Secondly, after all the years i've been knitting, i have yet to make any socks. I avoid them mostly because i hate making two of something. Which doesn't make complete sense as i love making mittens, but hey.. everyone has their weird nonsensical reasons for something right? Anyway, I bought a toe up sock book, as toe ups really appeal to me, some super amazing and smooth addi turbos so i could use the magic loop technique. I hate double pointed needles because when i take my knitting somewhere, eventually the stitches work their way off, and i'm stuck trying to save them all from dropping. I chose the Norwegian sock pattern because i LOVE LOVE LOVE stranded colour work. I love it because of the effect of fair isle, but also because i knit continental, and somehow, having one yarn for each hand, makes the whole knitting experience more comfortable. In any case, i love it, and i love this pattern. The socks are turning out great, and i just turned the first heel. The one great thing about toe up, is you can gauge how much yarn you have left alot easier, so you just end the first sock when you're done half your yarn, and you KNOW the second will be the same length! so awesome.

I've also been workin' away at the quilt a bit. Oh man it's gonna be a long haul. It's SO stuffy upstairs in my craft room. But since after the piecing that i'll be doing, i'll be getting it long arm quilted by someone, i know it won't take a thousand years due to my slow, slow handquilting techniques.

It's also gardening, jamming and pickling season. This year being without my garden that I worked so hard for at my previous house, I'm really sad. However, I've put my efforts into some very creative container solutions and have a whole bunch of things growing. Missing are only my perennial things like comfrey, peppermint, lovage, thyme, lavender, rosemary, strawberries, raspberries, lemon balm, chard, etc etc, and some of the things that would've needed fall plantings like garlic and some onions. Also missing in action are large thigns like zuchhini. However, I have managed to have growing my favourte-est of edible plants.. lettuce, along with cucumbers, tomatos, peppers, lots of herbs and some green onions. I miss growing successive radish and carrots. I miss having a constant supply of anything i wanted just from my backyard. However, if this is only for this year, i guess i'm fine with that. Tonight I'll be making some rhubarb strawberry jam.... and hopefully soon some yummy dill pickles. I tried some chutneys last year which i'll be making more of in the coming month too. :)