It's curtains for you! Lacy, gently wafting curtains

I finished painting the office, but making the curtains has been taking me forever! Not because curtains are difficult or challenging, but because they are boring me out of my mind. I am usually really good about not procrastinating, and just getting things done that need doing, but these curtains have been my nemesis. Several times I have gone to the sewing room, sewn one seam and then promptly decided that really I better go brush the cat, empty the dishwasher, get the mail... you get the idea. 

I now I have two of the curtains completed, and have conveniently run out of thread so I am unable to make the other two right now. I must say, I am pleased with how they turned out. I didn't really follow a pattern, I just took some muslin and sewed one inch seams on all sides then folded the top over to make a pocket for the rod. As you can see from the photos these curtains are multi-talented and are capable of both opening and closing. 

Mike and I are so pleased with how much better the room looks, it was very much worth the labor I put into it. I included this last photo below because the colour is more accurate. It's very bright, but we like it. The rest of our house has very neutral colours, and we wanted something a little more funky and fun for this room.

Appropriate Punishment?

I had a great start to the Tour de Fleece. I finished spinning 8 ounces of bamboo/merino/silk (most of it was spun prior) and plied it, and began spinning from the fleece I bought a couple weeks ago. I was starting to think "wow, I had forgotten how much I loved spinning!) and I was really excited about actually finishing Tour de Fleece this year... when I came downstairs and found that Chase had eaten my driveband. This is actually the third driveband that she has eaten (with shipping they cost about $20 dollars).

So what should I do with her? My initial thought was that she should have to buy me a new one out of her allowance, but Mike pointed out that she is a cat and does not actually possess or understand currency, so I am out of ideas.

While Mike was away last weekend at a conference, I took along around our office and decided that I had reached my breaking point with the peeling wallpaper and decided to fix it. When Mike and I first moved into our house we said that painting the office would be one of the first things that we would do, we told ourselves that we would never be the kind of people who would just live with something that ugly in their house without fixing it.

Flash forward 18 months and somehow we just never got around to it (although to our credit in the meantime we painted the mudroom, kitchen, hallway, bathroom, kitchen and dining room, we also put in a front garden, got new appliances, changed the bathtub and toilet, put in a new light fixture, got a new roof and installed a gas stove and dishwasher).

In any case here are our before office pictures:


For the record, Jackson just inserted himself in this picture.


Most of the room had this pink wallpaper on it, but one of the walls had almost all the wallpaper gone, revealing a neon yellow plaster under neath. It still baffles me that someone would sell their house with a room in this bad of shape (and that Mike and I would be crazy enough to buy it).

As it stands right now I have stripped off all the wallpaper, primed and painted the trim and painted about 25% of the room. I plan to finish this weekend. Today I bought some fabric and plan to make curtains. After pictures to be shown when completed. Stay tuned.

The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Yesterday after work Yesterday after work Bristol and I took a road trip up to River croft Farm to procure a fleece for my tour de fleece project. I have not decided yet what my goal will be for Tour de Fleece, other than to spin every day. I do plan on spending the majority of it though working on spinning from my fleece (which I will have processed and carded myself) and increasing my skill with woolen spinning.

For those of you unfamiliar with the tour de fleece (have you been hiding under a rock?), is you spin everyday that the cyclists participate in the Tour de France. You get to rest on the two days that you rest. Most people also set a personal goal. The idea is to challenge your spinning ability and develop new skills. A lot of knitter also find that it can be hard to make time to spin, and this is a nice way of building up a stash of hand spun.


River croft farm is run by Joe and Judy Miller, it is located in Starks, Maine. They specialize in fleeces for handspinners. Most of their sheep are coated (meaning they wear little jackets in the winter to prevent them from getting hay and straw in their coats) and they do an amazing job of properly shearing the fleece and caring for the animals. I have been very impressed with the quality of fleeces that I have seen from them before at Common Ground Fair and Fiber Frolic, but since I was unable to attend either of those fairs this year I decided to go right to the source and buy one.



We had a really fun trip up, Bristol was very helpful when picking out a fleece for me, and manage to find a great one for herself too (which she totally 100% NEEDED). I came back with a Moorit Ewe fleece that is about 5.5 pounds. Moorit refers to a colour, not a breed, but Judy thought it was likely a Merino/long wool cross, so it is likely similar to corridale or polwarth. In any case it's beautiful, soft, and I loves it.



This morning I filled a Tupperware basin on my deck and I have laid the fleece out to soak and ferment for at least 3 days (although if you can wait a week it's better) to get out as much suet and dirt out, after that I will do a hot wash and get as much lanolin out as possible.



Check out the crimp on it, totally drool worthy. Now all I have to do is complete the agonizing wait to start spinning with it.

I feel like it has been so long since I blogged that I don't even know where to start. I am not really sure why I stopped blogging, but I am pretty sure it had something to do with buying a house that has taken up way more of my free time than I meant it to.

Sometime last year I also lost my knitting mojo, and while it has been slowly returning it has not come back full force. I am not sure exactly when that happened either, but I think it was related to knitting two sweaters back to back that turned out really truly awful. One was the Vine Yolk Cardigan and one was Vivian. They turned out so badly that it sort of made me want to give up on knitting. I have since made some ok things, but I just haven't knit as much.

So what I have been doing with my spare time? Lots and lots of sewing and a little bit of running. My running has been on hold a bit since winter due to shin splints, but I presently have no injury restricting my sewing!



I recently bought a serger and have been having lots of fun sewing with knits and doing my apparel sewing. This is my most recent creation. It is knit with a cotton jersey, super comfortable. The pattern is Simplicity 2219. I found the pattern very easy to follow, except I had a few issues with the neckline, but I think that was more sewer error than the patterns fault. Now all I have to do is wait for it to get warm enough in Maine to wear a dress!

Final day of rest

It's the last day of my Christmas/Holiday Vacation today, I am trying to soak up as much relaxing and resting into one day as possible. Everyone in our house has their own way of relaxing, Mike likes to sleep in as late as possible, I like to finish (not just start) crafting projects, and the animals like to maximize their lounging time. Chase and Jackson had marathon lounging sessions this morning. I envy the animals in our house, they are able to attain a state of supreme relaxation that I did not know was even possible.


I generally do not do New Year's Resolutions, I feel that they only set my up for failure. However last year I had great fun with setting knitolutions. I had only one last year, and that was to spin and knit a sweater. I spun and knit Metro over the month of November (pictures to come after it's blocked). I have spent part of the past few days planning out my 2011 knitolutions. I don't have them set in stone yet, but I have a few ideas:

1. Spin and knit something out of cotton. Can be very small, such as a wash cloth. I just need to do it.
2. Publish at least one knitting pattern (I actually have a good start on this one, I designed and knit a slouchy hat over break, I just need to take pictures and write out the pattern).
3. Knit three sweaters, including the one that I have started over break (1.75 sleeves done!)

Of course, I still need to get final approve for these knitolutions, from the committee which is made up of my Tuesday night knitting group. We will have to wait and see if I get approval.


Finally, I have a little bit of handspinning to show off. On the right is my first attempt at kettle dying roving, spun and plied. The colors are a little whacky, next time I am going to make the dye a little less strong and use a but less contrast between colors. Still it was a good first attempt and I think I can make something cool out of it.


I also have some hand dyed that I did more of a painting method, and with more subtle color variation. I left in single ply and I am not sure what to use it for, but I am really happy with how it looks. I have yet to knit anything out of my single ply, so that will be another sort of experiment. I am a little afraid that it will either be so under spun that it will fall apart, or so over spun that it will warp into a wacky diamond shape when knit.

2010

It's New Years Eve, Mike and I are having a potluck party tonight. I've got the lasagna made, the drinks chilling, vegetables cut up, hummus ready, and crackers out. Mike is mopping the floors. It feels refreshing to clean the house and get it ready for 2011, which I hope will be a little less stressful than 2010 was.

This year was highly eventful, and often not in a good way. There was a lot of changes (good and bad) as well as a lot of loss. However, it was also the year that I was able to marry the love of my life so I can't harp on it too much. Here's a summary of the year:

In March Mike and I became engaged! And on raverly no less! Mike gave me a beautiful sapphire ring as an engagement ring and we excitedly began to plan our wedding!


In June I had a wonderful bridal shower, I felt so special to be surrounded by so many friends and to be given such wonderful presents. It was a ton of fun. I was also lucky enough to have a second bridal shower in late summer with my work friends. I shared my work shower with one of my best friends, Katie, who was married a week before me.

Very sadly, in the spring my step sister Irene became ill. She fought a long and courageous battle with a chronic illness, and in July she passed away in Halifax. I was able to go home for her funeral and appreciated being able to spend some time with my family. Irene was an amazing person who had to fight her whole life. She took on a struggle to ensure more equitable drug coverage for persons in Nova Scotia who were battling illness. CTV wrote an article about her here.

While I was home in July, the day of Irene's funeral, my Granddad fell and sustained a traumatic brain injury. I was able to visit him in the hospital for a few days, but he didn't really know I was there as he was in full blown delirium/active brain bleed. Over the summer he made gradual improvements until he drastically declined. We think he had a stroke, but can't be sure. He didn't want any surgery or intervention so a CT or MRI was not done. He passed away September 26th. I am grateful that I was able to spend some time with my family during that traumatic event. I miss him and think about him daily. He was a great man, and a wonderful grand father.


In September Mike and I had our wedding. The whole day was perfect and wonderful and special and amazing. We felt so lucky to have such amazing friends and family, and we enjoy remembering the specialness of the day.


Sadly, in October I lost little Cocoa Bean, she was a little off one day and the next day she died while I was at work. I still don't know what happened to her, but I really miss her. She was a great rabbit and I learned a lot from her about how to care for Angoras.



In the fall I was able to go to Rhinebeck with my knitting friends and we had a blast! We stayed for two nights in a sketchy hotel in upstate New York and spent both days that weekend immersed in yarn and fiber and soft animals. I can home with Petunia, a Giant Angora. Petunia has not been as easy to train as Cocoa Bean was, but we are getting there.

I was lucky enough to have two thanksgivings this year. My Dad, step mom and Nanny came down for real (Canadian) thanksgiving in October and we had a wonderful time. I was able to cook the turkey myself on my big green egg (wedding present from my Dad!). You have not had turkey until you've had smoked turkey! In November Mike and I went to Orono for fake (American) thanksgiving. We had a great meal with my new in-laws and a wonderful visit.

Which brings us to December. This month has been a little rough. My grandmother who I love dearly had a heart attack a couple weeks ago and has been in hospital in Canada. I have been unable to visit because I am in limbo right now with my green card, but I hope to have my travel documents by mid January so I can visit.

So that was my year. I had some really hard times, and some really great ones. Here's to 2011 being a little less stressful :)