I spun up 4oz of Hello Yarn’s Askew colourway. This was my first attempt at doing a colour gradient. I separated the colours as best I could and then spun, roughly, from light to dark. I believe that this was Romney, a long wool. Have to say that I’m not 100% sold on long wools (I feel similarly about short/fine stuff). I guess I’m a middle of the (wool) road kinda gal.
I think that this might be destined for a weaving project!
I’ve spent a lot of time over the last two weeks spinning. I’ve been doing a pretty major spring cleaning/overhaul of the house and had started to get a little overwhelmed by my fiber cupboard. The best solution? Spin like a mad woman! I think any point in time when you spin pounds of yarn in a one to two week period qualifies as crazy.
One of the difficulties with indie dyers is that you often end up with 4oz of a beautiful colourway. Because I don’t have fantastic yardage I end up with little skeins. Partly because I wanted more yarn and partly because I’ve been inspired by all the lovely yarns I see spun up on Ravelry I decided to play around with some combos. Excuse the photo heavy post – imagine how much work it would be if I included all the yarn I spun. Below (at 12oz of fiber, or one pound) is about half of what I spun up – eek!
First up is Hello Yarn in Minerals (shetland) and Juliespins in Amish Rainbow (targhee). I think that this is just lovely and it makes for a springy, dense yarn. Lovely, lovely, lovely! I also ended up with two giant skeins of yarn!
Next up is Spunky Eclectic’s Storms of Jupiter (organic merino) and Hello Yarn’s Icing (superwash merino). I’d originally hoped to ply Storms of Jupiter with Minerals (both are red/blue/white), but the colours weren’t complimentary. I think that this mix worked wonderfully!
A friend of mine is working for the Map & Data Library at U of T. They are doing some crazy work, funding the digitization of old fire insurance plans (which become public domain after 60 years). She’s come across a couple of my neighbourhood (Dundas & Dovercourt in Toronto) that she’s sent my way. In fact, she’s been given permission to start blogging about some of the maps she finds, so check out the Map & Data Library’s blog to see all the awesome things she’s uncovered.
1884
I love that Dufferin is the western city limit on this map. And that what used to be the old elementary school on Dovercourt north of Dundas (torn down now to make room for a new police station), used to be an orphanage! Also, our house didn’t exist. In fact, our road didn’t even exist. Crazy.
1890
My road exists now, although its spelt a little differently (there’s an extra ‘A’ in there now). In fact, my house exists now – and we’re one of the first ones on the block, which is pretty cool. Its funny to see churches where the Remax building is now. Oh, how times have changed. The current Roman Catholic church at Dovercourt and Argyle apparently started life as a Baptist church. And that Garrison Creek is still visible (there are even bridges!). And just how empty it all still is.
1910
This map is less detailed, but all the houses are here. Apparently the Baptist church also had a Memorial Hall and Sunday School attached. And for some reason Lisgar was referred to as North Lisgar.
Looking at these maps makes me wonder what the deal was with the architecture of the time. The houses are all designed to look very similar, with the narrowing at the back. Was there a functional reason?
I’ve been playing around with weaving on my new rigid heddle loom over the last few weeks. Mid-last week I warped for my first scarf made out of handspun yarn! I had spun up 8 oz. of Spunky Eclectic’s fiber clubs (4 oz. each of David’s Gift and Mordor) and plied them together. It was funny, I disliked both colourways on their own but really like them together. I love how you have to learn to trust fiber in that things that look bad at first can look amazing further along in the process. For the weft I used a mix of the SE two ply and some two ply I spun up quickly from some Moonrover batts I had in my stash. It worked so perfectly!
I like weaving on my little rigid heddle! Its extra awesome because it means another way to use my hand spun and I can use sock yarn without having to knit socks!! I’m not sure where this scarf will end up, but my first two are already in the mail on their way to their new homes so there’s a good possibility that this one will get gifted as well.
A large part of why time has been so tight this year has been that I’m partway through my yoga teacher training at YogaSpace here in Toronto. The experience has been challenging and time consuming and rewarding and amazing. Right now we’ve finished two of the three in class modules (i.e. 120 hours of class). The crazy part is that during each six week module, my weekends are totally booked – so I go almost seven weeks without a day off! I’ve learned that even though its difficult (and sometimes frustrating), that I’m capable. What a lovely lesson to learn.
I’ve also been practice teaching this year. In fact, this coming Saturday is my last official class! How rewarding though to see this on the schedule, after convincing myself that I really do need to drag my ass out of bed or away from my spinning wheel and go to class right now.
There’s my name!!
I was having a discussion with a friend about my experiences during my MBA. I used to be petrified of presenting. My MBA made presenting a little more comfortable. Teaching yoga, however, has made it feel much more natural. You try getting up in front of a room full of people, teaching them for 80-ish minutes all while trying your best to keep them from injuring themselves. One of the hardest lessons is learning to shut the fuck up. Just because there’s a space in a class doesn’t mean that you need to fill it with words.
I wonder if learning this element of patience will translate over into being a better negotiator?