As the World Turns

Thank you to all who offered their well wishes - everyone continues to heal and make remarkable progress. Sitting still, for better or worse, is not a strong suit in Dan's family. In this case, it is a good thing because everyone is highly motivated to get moving again.

Lest it all sound terrible, please let me assure you that we did manage to have a bit of fun in Maine, even if it was cut short and the weather rather rainy and cold (something that I was actually quite happy about considering this summer).


The lovely Lucy on the rocks at the beach at Morse Mountain. Beautiful, subtle light and waves that were huge and dangerous, removing any thought whatsoever of actually going in, if the temperature of the water were not deterrent enough.


It's Maine. What more can I say?

Between all the phone calls, planning, organizing, talking and talking again, and convelesing, some other kinds of work was done.


My friend, Patrick, has two huskies. He made mention of how they shed each spring and I made mention of the fact that this was highly prized spinning fibre. At first, he didn't believe me but, later convinced, he sent me a box of fur.


I have slowly been carding and spinning it into yarn that another friend of his will weave into something special for him. This is my first experience working with dog fur. I first washed it as I would any raw fleece - lots of hot, hot water and detergent. Like any fleece, the amount of dirt that came out was rather shocking. But as you see, it is now a lovely white colour. The staple (length) is very short, like yak, which presents its own challenges for spinning. Patrick requested a thick and thin single ply - a little tricky since one must have a lot of spin to catch up the short hairs but not so much that the single is overspun. Definitely a fun challenge except, perhaps, for the amount of dog fur in my mouth and nose by the end of a spinning session.




The beginnings of my Hand Towels for the Apocalypse. I think it will be good if I can finish on time.


At long last, the socks I was knitting all through our Knitting Sprawl (west) adventures. Between the heat and general laziness, it took me months to finally finish them.


And these! My mom made these for me out of some hand painted yarn that I gave her as a present. Don't you love giving people handpainted sock yarn as a gift so that they can make you socks from it? A perfect system.