I hand dyed the yarn and knit this Color Affection shawl using the colours of the Plumeria flower as inspiration.

After spending 2 weeks in Maui last August I had to find a way to keep a bit of the island alive here in my cold Northern climate in Canada.

Our condo in Maui had these plumerias growing everywhere. I’d never seen anything like it.

The yarn is Knit Picks Bare sportweight 100% wool; a soft, lightweight yarn that takes dye very well and knits up with lovely drape.

This shawl is pure comfort. When I’m wrapped  in it I can imagine the Maui sun and feel the ocean breeze on my skin once more.

Here’s  a pattern for a very simple, knitted slouchy hat. It’s made with Bernat Softee Chunky yarn making it economical and a quick knit.

2 skeins is all you need and it can be completed in a couple of evenings.

Happy Knitting!

Essence

I no longer recognize the woman who is inhabiting my body lately.

One day happy and relatively well adjusted, the next I’m swimming through a fog so thick I’m convinced I’m coming completely unhinged.

Grief is a tricky adversary. It lulls me into thinking I’m moving forward and getting stronger and then slaps me with feelings of loss so acute I’m left struggling to put one foot ahead of the other, and unable to string 2 thoughts together to accomplish anything or even to communicate with my loved ones.

Knitting and spinning offers some comfort on my ‘unhinged’ days. The feel of the wool slipping through my fingers and the rhythmic whir of my spinning wheel help to steady the tumult in my heart and reassure me that this too shall pass.

When my insides are becoming unhinged my craft restores a comforting sense of order and progression that gives me hope.

California Red sheep are a cross between American Tunis and Barbados Blackbelly sheep. I obtained a pound of California Red  from Apple Rose farms in New Jersey.  The wool is a warm oatmeal colour with raspberry hairs scattered throughout.

I spun the fleece just as it was when it arrived, with a fair bit of lanolin still  in it.  The smell and feel of the almost natural state of the fleece is like aromatherapy for me (it had been washed somewhat before being carded and shipped). Using my Fricke single tread spinning wheel I spun it with a Z twist following Judith MacKenzie’s advice for spinning woolen yarn in her DVD A Spinner’s Toolbox .

I plied 3 strands together, S twist, to create a lofty, warm yarn with plenty of bounce.

At this point, the yarn was still ‘greasy’ and felt too heavy so I scoured it well, using Calgon water softener (our tap water is very hard) and Woolite detergent.  I soaked and rinsed the skeins 3 separate times until the water ran clear and the yarn fluffed up.

I chose Susan B. Anderson’s 45 Minute Mitten Pattern to knit a pair of super warm, chunky mitts with my handspun California Red yarn, for those cold winter days when I’m on playground supervision. I’m talking minus 20 degrees celsius temperatures where I live! I’m confident these mitts are up to the challenge.

I won’t say I’m looking forward to those kinds of frigid temperatures; they’ll be upon us soon enough. But when the mercury plunges, I’ll be ready with these cozy mitts, thanks to the sheep that produced such luscious fiber.

I’ve spun 3 skeins of chunky yarn with the fleece so far and plan to spin a finer yarn with the remainder. This wool would also be very suitable for hats, scarves and lighter weight mitts.  The long red hairs in the fiber are slightly scratchy so I wouldn’t use it for a sweater or any garment that involves large areas of skin contact but for warm outerwear and easy spinning, California Red is a great fiber choice.

One blustery day last fall, I wrapped myself up in my  Hestia shawl to take my little Kinders out for recess. Huddled against the cold September wind, it occurred to me that a cardigan made with this same luxurious alpaca yarn would be pure comfort.

And so… Solace was born.  The yarn is 2 ply, 100% alpaca from Legacy Studio in Cochrane, Alberta.  I love the natural, rich, russet brown colour.

Keeping in mind alpaca’s tendency to stretch with wear, I knit the cuffs, bottom edge, collar and button bands in a firm cable and rib pattern.

The construction method is top down, with the body knit back and forth on a circular needle and the sleeves knit on 4 dpn’s.  This yarn is a pure pleasure to knit with and the sweater is as  cozy and warm as I had hoped for.

Happy Knitting Trails!