Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Once More Down A Rabbit Hole - Life, Love and A Bit of History

It's my "day off" and I have hats on the brain. I have one more thing and a signature to put onto the holiday cards and then they are ready to mail out, so I'm quite close to completion on that as well. It seems that things are progressing well, but it's December 2nd and I have gifts to make for the holidays. They'll be completed on time, I have no doubt, but that knitting rabbit hole is a deep one. Every question I research raises more questions and presents more projects for me to try. 




We all go down various rabbit holes in our lives, 
although we don't always admit to it. I tend to 
dive in head-first, rather than put careful steps 
down to explore. 



In looking up "mundane" things like fingerless gloves and hats and scarves, I also came across sweaters I wanted to try and stitches where I thought "I think I can figure out how to do these". The last time I got caught in a whirlpool this strong was when I dove into Tolkien when I was starting to write again. I have never regretted that particular rabbit hole, in fact I return to it every now and again. I just have to remind myself sometimes that writing is really an activity of self-satisfaction and that I'm not writing FOR anyone, I'm writing to scratch that itch. 




There are some really cute fingerless gloves
knitting patterns out there. I'm considering 
making at least one set of these for a friend 
for a holiday gift. But, I have other things I 
have to make first. 



An earlier rabbit hole that opened up in front of me was for fiber arts - spinning and making yarns of varying weights. I had to put that down when my hands betrayed me more than twenty-five years ago, but I also was in a quandry - what do I do with the yarns I've made? I do have the one shawl on the stationary pin loom, and I'm working slowly on that. I love how it's turning out, but DH is probably correct - it's going to be two years before it is off the loom. That's OK, but it is a long time. The only other option was knitting. I wasn't a knitter, so I crocheted one sweater from yarn I had spun. Although I wore it (once), it was a disaster. The yarn was too thick and the sweater was bulky enough to substitute for armor. It left me with a dilemma of how to use the yarn I was spinning. 




Among the four spinning wheels that I 
own is this one - the Rio Grande Spinning 
Wheel, invented by Rachel Brown. It's a 
gorgeous wheel, quite large, and I first fell 
in love when them when I toured Tierra 
Wools in northern New Mexico near 
Ghost Ranch (famous because of Georgia 
O'Keeffe). This spinning wheel is amazing and 
versatile and so very easy to use. I love it. 



But, life progresses and rabbit holes close, then open, then close and then open again. I'm back to fibre arts again. I haven't sat down with any of my spinning wheels yet, but I'm knitting and happy to research stitches and projects and watch lots of YouTube videos. I have patterns I want to make and sitting at the knitting machine gives me great joy. So ... this rabbit hole, a well loved and familiar place, is as comfortable for me as Badger's hole beneath the tree in "Wind in the Willows". Grab a cup of tea and tell me about your rabbit holes. I know we all have them. 


Have an excellent day, stay safe, be kind and please wear your mask. I'll be back tomorrow. 





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