sunshine on a cloudy day

Posted on Posted in designing, projects, spinning and fiber

it’s been the craziest day for weather here, but the daffodils decided to open up anyway. i caught this photos during a brilliant few moments of sunshine, though you can see the raindrops clinging to them from an early morning shower.

sundays are still for spinning and the gang arrived right on time at ten. linda has given up knitting for lent, which is wearing on her a bit, but she’s filling the void by spinning more. this week she spun up four ounces of creatively dyed wool/seacell/milk protein fiber (i don’t know what colorway it is, but if we’re really really nice to linda, she might leave it in the comments . . .). in class she worked on plying it

this was a challenging project for linda but i think she ended up with some beautiful yarn. and she has another four-ounce batch to match it.

i worked on my ongoing briar rose BFL project—the same 3-ply i’ve been working on all winter. the good news is, i’m almost done spinning that batch and i should be able to ply it up soon. i have dreams of it being enough to knit something substantial, like a vest.
after that, i have some alpaca that my friend debby brought me as a gift from the martha’s vineyard fiber farm which is burning a hole in my stash—i think i’ll spin that next.

anne marie showed up in her newest sweater, arianne. she actually had this finished a couple of weeks ago but i didn’t take pictures.

she bought this yarn from catherine when we went to the pittsburgh knit & crochet festival last month. this is catherine’s classic merino worsted in the pear colorway (same color i used to knit the lacewing shawl). anne marie knit this one right up when she got home from the show and now she has the perfect spring sweater. i’m so jealous.

i’ve been a blog slacker this weekend, i know (besides, time seemed to evaporate last week, no??). i’m trying to get patterns written, but i’ve been knitting some, too.

i got started on a secret project which needs to remain a mystery for a couple of weeks. i know you hate it when i do this, but the reason i mention it is that the color combination seems to be in the air—jocelyn is spinning up some fiber in the same colorway and so is kim (oooh, and while you’re at kim’s blog looking at the fiber, check out her awesome maplewing—how much do we love that mama mia colorway??).

i made decision about what to do with my gray sweater and am working my way through the armhole/shoulder of the back—i used the same cable that i put along the side seam for the armhole trim.

and i’ve got the leg of bricker two knit—tonight i’ll add a heel and then i’ll be almost done.

the pattern is all set to go now, thanks to our friend carol who test knit it so fast. i’m a little worried about my yarn supply—it’s going to be very close. this is often the case with david’s socks so i’m trying not to be too concerned, but it’ll be a nail biter—another reason i’m trying to get them as done as possible in the next couple of evenings. i really hope i don’t run out.

yesterday i put in a few hours at the stove for a cooking marathon—a big pot of soup, a fish sauce for pasta, and a casserole to fill the fridge for the week ahead. i wanted to cook a pan of curry as well, but all work stopped dead when i whacked a good-sized wedge out of the business end of my index finger on a can i was opening (beans for the soup). it was a gusher too—blood all over the kitchen. there i was trying to put pressure on the wound while scooping the last of the chopped zucchini into the sauce when i realized that the curry could probably wait til tuesday. sigh.

it doesn’t bleed now as long as i keep a tight bandage on it. and that first-aid cream with pain killer in it? it is, well, killer. miraculously, i can still knit as long as i don’t wear a brand of bandage with that sticky kind of adhesive and plastic—sticky and wool just don’t mix.

but i do have daffodils.

29 thoughts on “sunshine on a cloudy day

  1. i love the bricker socks they are really great…i would love to be able to knit them as ankle socks any suggestions

  2. First aid cream with pain killer in it? I need it! (I lost an evening of knitting last week for lack of such a thing.)

  3. I hate kitchen injuries! I love to cook, but I’m also a very clumsy person- not a good mix. There has been more than once (who would have thought the food processor blender would be sharp enough to cut me while I’m washing it, for instance?) that I’ve sliced open my finger and that wound has NOT wanted to stop bleeding. There have been a couple times I’ve thought that I should probably get stitches, but I was hungry and in the middle of cooking dinner….I didn’t want to abandon it! And I haven’t yet bled to death from a cooking injury, so I seem to be okay.

    I have, however, placed myself on a frying moratorium, because I have some issues with splashy oil.

  4. Sorry to hear about your injured finger! I have scars from a couple of can-opening incidents and I remember being surprised how much a finger can bleed. I hope it heals quickly for you.

  5. There’s a first aid cream with a painkiller in it? Really? What’s it called?!

    I’ve been enjoying the crocuses and even saw some dwarf irises on my walk home Friday night, thinking Spring! Yay!, and then this afternoon it had the audacity to snow. Totally. Not. Fair. (I know, it’ll all melt tomorrow, but still. I just do not want to see snow!)

  6. My daffs are still at least a week away from opening, and I’m sure today’s snow didn’t help any.
    I hope your finger heals fast!

  7. Envying your daffodils – we’re far from that stage up here in northern Vermont…
    Love the colors on the bobbins. And speaking of loving colors, Kim’s Maplewing is gobsmacking!

  8. Doesn’t Neosporin have a version that comes with painkiller? I use that one. I’ve never really paid attention to whether or not it makes a difference, though, so I’m unwilling to make an endorsement. 😉

  9. Ouch! I hope your finger heals quickly. I’m jealous of Anne Marie’s sweater, too. I had started Arianne but frogged it. Seeing this picture makes me want to start again! And giving up knitting for Lent? Linda is a stronger woman than I am!

  10. So sorry about the finger injury – I always panic when I do something to my hands – will I still be able to knit? Oxo makes a great can opener that leaves no sharp edges.

    Why would anyone give up knitting for lent?

  11. Sorry to hear about your owie (I’ve got 2 young kids, remember?). But the real tragedy would have been if it’d rendered you incapable of knitting, right?

  12. I’ve had my share of kitchen slicing “incidents” lately. Funny how as soon as the bleeding is under control, the first thing we do is pick up the knitting! (Adjust bandage as necessary…)

  13. I am so sorry about your poor finger. It is hard to knit with a bandaid on. I love reading about your cooking because I cook from scratch too. Tell Anne Marie that her sweater is lovely.

  14. I love Ann Marie’s sweater. Something new for spring, so appropriate. You are so far ahead of us with your weather. We also have snow on the ground. Makes everything look nice and pristine for a day anyway. Heal quickly.

  15. Sorry to hear about the finger 🙁 just make sure you don’t put gauze on it! I did that once and … well … it bonded with my finger .. dumbest thing I ever did!
    Love your spinning!! I’m just learning and so far so good, I’ll be posting about it on my blog soon 🙂

  16. Love your Bricker socks! I know that you’re keeping a close watch on your finger for any signs of infection, but it does sound like the injury was/is a candidate for stitches. If you continue to need a pain killer ointment, I hope that you’ll consider having a doctor look at it.

  17. Oh, NO! Your poor finger! That sounds just awful — blood all over the kitchen is never a good thing.

    Wow, you and Kim and I really are all spinning the same sort of thing right now, aren’t we? I wish I really were spinning this minute, but work calls. Soon… soon… Hope you’re having a good Monday 🙂

  18. Ouch! Sorry about your kitchen booboo. Finger cuts bleed like crazy. Very dramatic! ;-}

    After one especially bad cut, a surgeon friend suggested I close the wound with Crazy Glue. It works.

  19. ouch! i need to know more about this painkiller first aid cream…when i was in school building models all the time, cuts were…a regular feature…

    (i’m slightly jealous of anne marie’s sweater too – pretty!)

  20. Anne Marie’s sweater is way hot. WAY hot. I love it. Love the color; good choice for her! Good color choice for me too! Okay – do you think she’ll mail it to me??? hahahaha. Anne – don’t worry about the finger; you got 9 more already!!! Just joking. Hope it heels up fast!

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