Another Update

 And I'll have to come back later and put in pictures.

I'm feeling scattered.  I seem to have a lot of stuff going on.  Possibly because I have a lot of stuff going on, to wit:

My new couch cover.  This I actually got done.  I kept seeing ads on FaceBook for a linen couch throw - and with my obsession (fetish?) with linen I would just look at the picture and feel my blood pressure go lower.  I wasn't too enamored of the $400 price tag, especially without being able to see/feel it first.  So, for about a third of that, I ordered 10 yards of natural linen.  It was a bit awkward to cut it in half crosswise an then sew it together lengthwise and them hem the whole thing - but I did.  To most people it's just a big piece of beige cloth - but I love it, and linen soothes me.

Here's the comparison - the old green polyester stretch one, and the new linen one.

                               

At least that got done.  Works in progress:  A scarf/shawl from a yak/silk yarn that I spun in the hospital.  For some reason, although I used to knit compulsively, I haven't knit much at all since I came back.  This yarn (Greenwoods Fiberworks, color Apple Cider) is of greens and pinks.  I just spun and plied it, without worrying about the color, and honestly, it's a little muddy.  And I don't seem to have the dexterity that I used to in knitting lace, possibly because I'm out of practice.  It's now at the "each row takes forever" stage.

I'm knitting three samples.  I got some autumn colored silk and have spun some of it.  I'm trying to decide if I want to ply it with itself - probably not, because I don't have that much of it, and I don't want to muddy it up like the apple cider.  So I've done a sample with gold eri silk, fawn yak, and now am working on one with dark brown alpaca.

I started a year or so ago using a gotland/silk blend for my "spin while walking".  That will go on until I run out of the Gotland.  I did get some more carded and blended today.

Doing a project I hadn't planned.  My friend Christy from the feed store put out a call wanting fleece - some for a friend to use for house insulation, some for friends to insulate beehives.  That gave me a good chance to pass on some of my "guilt" fleeces - fleece that isn't bad, but still not good enough to warrant the time needed to process it.  While I was digging through the stash, I found some black alpaca that a friend had given me awhile ago - like 2008.  I knew I had "some" nice black alpaca - I hadn't remembered that there are at least 3 pounds of it.  And gasp! horrors!  Some of it had moth casings!  It didn't look like an active infestation (no moths) and there weren't many, but enough that I felt compelled to pick, fluff, and rewash it all.  That took a few hours.

Over years of spinning here and there, I had accrued about a pound of various cotton yarns (which is a lot).  My original thought was to put on a mixed color warp and then spin a consistent weft - but a lot of the yarns weren't strong enough for that.  I like vertical stripes in clothing, but not horizontal.  I thumbed through pinterest, and saw several saori inspired garments made of narrow strips used on the bias.  So I put on a 9-yard warp, 4 inches wide, and I will weave in random patterns (plain weave, twill, pick and pick, clasped weft, basketweave, whatever else comes to mind).  I got it on the loom a couple of weeks ago but haven't woven much on it yet.

I loved the linen pirate shirt so much that I wanted another one  When I ordered the fabric for the couch cover, I had the choice of paying the pretty heavy shipping fee, or buying enough cloth so that shipping was free.  Well, duh.  So two more yards of handkerchief linen in a color somewhere between pink and gray.  Just a shirt like that last one isn't enough, though.  I decided that instead of just gathering the sleeves in that I would lattice smock them.  That's going to add only a few hours of handsewing to the project.  The problem is marking the 1/4" grid.  Trying to draw lines with a washable marker went wonky (and my marker is about empty).  Trying to do 150 dots a quarter inch from each other is crazy making.  What I ended up was machine basting the grid - the distance from the needle to the edge of the presser foot is 1/4 inch so that gave me a guideline.  Of course, if/when I ever get the smocking done I'll have to go pick out the basting lines (or not - I made them with thread to match the fabric)

So, if I count on my fingers:

Couch cover - done (with arm and back covers to protect from the cats)

Rewash black alpaca - done as of this afternoon

Spinning autumn silk - in progress

Knitting samples with silk - in progress

Lace shawl - in progress

Narrow cotton weaving - in progress

Carding, blending Gotland/silk - ongoing

Pink linen poet shirt - in progress

So it's no wonder that I feel a bit scattered and unfocused.  And what I really want to do is make another puppet.  The Infinity con is in July, and I've taken the dragon puppet for the last two years.  I've been having the puppet-making urge, but that's as far as I've gotten.  I don't have any design ideas yet, other than using my remaining Iceland fleece for fur.