Hello my dears. I've been putting off writing this blog post for a number of reasons, but quite frankly, most of them don't seem to matter all that much anymore! I've always joked with people that my fibre crafts aren't hobbies, they're post-apocalyptic life skills. I never really expected that to turn out to be true for me personally!
Lockdown
I find that I can't just dive right into the regular topics without first addressing the fact that daily life for the majority of people the world over has changed dramatically, almost overnight. If you are only here for the knitting, the yarn, photos of my dog, or even the penguins, and you just can't deal with any more talk about The Virus, I understand if you skip this section.
COVID-19 strain of Coronavirus. The 'Rona. The Virus. What does it mean for you?
For most people it means working from home, or not being able to work at all, it means home-schooling your kids, it means the entire family cooped up inside the same 4 walls for an indefinite period of time, that includes the Easter holidays, and the first few glorious days of summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. It means fear, and stress, and uncertainty.
For me it means very little change.
Yep, let that sink in as you rage against the bars of your gilded cage.
My life has not noticeably changed in the last month, except that I no longer need to worry about having to cancel arrangements last minute because my body isn't being cooperative. My disabilities mean that I've largely been a prisoner in my own home for the better part of a decade now. The few times that I have made it out to socialise have been special, and precious, but infrequent enough that over 2 weeks into lockdown, I have yet to feel the effects of my isolation.
Yet I'm still incredibly privileged. I have a roof over my head, I have food on my plate, I have both human and animal company in my home, I live near beautiful green open spaces where I can safely take my daily walk, and most of all I have hobbies, and a large stash of the materials necessary to indulge those hobbies to keep me occupied.
Too many people have none of these things, and the schemes that the government of the UK has devised to help people through are not aimed at the people who are the most vulnerable. I know it's difficult in times like this, but if you do have anything to spare, please consider donating to local homeless charities, foodbanks, and shelters. Here are a few places to start:
The Trussel Trust - Organising foodbanks throughout the UK
The Hygiene Bank - Not everyone can afford the amount of soap and hand sanitizer that most of us are getting through right now, this charity is more iportant than ever in these times.
The Archer Project - Helping homeless people in the city of Sheffield
Shelter - Helping homeless people, and those struggling with inadequate housing, or unscrupulous landlords.
I also have a decade of experience in dealing with isolation, and fear for my health, even fear for the health of my loved ones. Mentally, I have the tools to deal with the inevitable wobbles that the current global situation are causing. I also have many friends who are willing to help. Early on, when people first began to stockpile, but I was shielding due to my underlying illnesses, I was finding it very difficult to get gluten free bread. My friends came through for me spectacularly, making sure that I had enough at home to last me until supplies in the supermarkets began to level out again. I am so grateful for that.
There are many people who aren't used to living with these levels of anxiety, people who are trying to balance an existing condition, such as OCD, with the constant overt reminders to wash their hands, people who don't have a strong network of friends to help. These people also need every bit of help that you can afford to give:
Mind - The mental Health charity
Samaritans - People to talk to when you need it most.
Taking a short break to Clap for Keyworkers - It's sweet, when there's nothing else we can do, at least we can show our appreciation for all of the Doctors, Nurses, Drivers, Cleaners, Farmers, Teachers, and everyone else who is carrying on doing their job under such stressful circumstances so that the rest of us can stay home and keep safe.
The Regulars
FO's
I finished my sweater, and I'm really pleased with it. It fits perfectly, it's comfortable, and I've had lots of positive comments about both my appearance, and the sweater, when I've been wearing it.
The pattern is Ground Pepper, by Suvi Simola, and the yarn is a pack of 4 x 100g merino/nylon sock weight by HeyJay Yarns, in colourways designed to work well together as a fade.
Next up is a sweater that I made for Finn. He doesn't really need it to keep him warm, his own coat gets thicker over winter anyway, but this winter was very wet, and I got quite sick of washing mud off his belly after nearly every walk. This protects him from the mud a little bit, and is much easier to wash! I also happen to think that he looks very handsome wearing it.
The patterns is Cabled Dog Sweater, by Cricket Toomey, and the yarn is Stylecraft Bellissima DK, in the colourway "Overly Olive".
Yes, it's an odd sock, and it's very small.
This sock was a request from Gemma (could you tell? It's grey...) because for a little while now she and Graham have had a friend living with them. It started with them offering her space to escape an unhappy situation, then she became invaluable when Gemma became ill, and needed regular attentions from a nurse. They began to call her their "House Elf" (On the off chance that you don't already know this, a house elf is a sort of servant/slave in the Harry Potter books who can only be freed from service by presenting them with an item of clothing. In the second book, Harry frees an abused elf by tricking his owner into giving him a sock). Just before The Virus invaded our lives, Gemma's House Elf found herself a new home, and Gemma wanted to present her with a sock to signify her freedom. This is that sock.
The pattern is my usual one, just shrunk down very small, and the yarn is one from my first Opal Advent Calendar.
More socks that are mostly grey...
Yes, they're for Gemma! As I said earlier, she has been very unwell for most of this year so far (entirely unrelated to The Virus), and at times the enforced rest has driven her a bit stir-crazy, and has certainly done her mental health no favours. So I made her some socks, because socks always cheer her up, even if only for a little while. Sadly, I haven't had a chance to post them, as I've been isolating since before I finished them. Hopefully we'll all be let out, and I can get them sent over to her in time for summer Scout camps.
The pattern is my usual one, and the yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply, in the colourway "Bullfinch".
Please excuse the state of my windowsill, and our front lawn. The dried lavender tends to shed whenever we open or close the curtains, and I deliberately planted daffodils and crocuses in the lawn in order to prevent it from being mowed too early in the year, when there is still a risk of small critters hibernating in there. The daffodils have flowered somewhat later than I'd anticipated.
Anyway, I noticed that quite a few windows nearby had sprouted rainbows since the outbreak, and discovered that it's a thing to display "Rainbows of Hope", and that in some places families are using them as a way to get out of the house, while still maintaining social distancing, by taking their children for a walk around the neighbourhood "Rainbow Spotting". So I've made some rainbows to put in our window. I've crocheted 2 of the hanging rainbows, and needle felted the stand alone one.
The crochet pattern is Rainbow of Hope, by Ann Cooke, and the yarn is a selection of mini-skeins by a number of different independent yarn dyers.
I'm not sure that there's such a thing as a needle-felting pattern, but even if there is, I didn't use one. I just felted several different coloured wool fibre strips of increasing size, then stabbed them until they stuck together!
WIP's
Not what you expected perhaps, but definitely one of my largest, and most ambitious works in progress so far this year.
You may recall that in my January post I listed my goals for 2020, and I said that I wanted to create a new craft room/Yarn Cave for myself. Well, this is it. It's almost, but not quite finished. There are still a lot more penguins to be moved from Kelly's house to those penguin shelves, and there's still at least a couple more boxes of yarn, and another spinning wheel to be moved too.
Just so you can see how big an accomplishment this has been, here is a photo of what this room looked like before I started:
I've done the vast majority of this on my own too, so I'm very proud of it. It took about 6 weeks in total to get to the stage it's currently at. I can't afford to replace the terrible 1970's carpet, but I've replaced the curtain pole, painted everything, fitted a lampshade, bought, transported, and built all 3 IKEA Billy Bookcases, with just a little bit of help from random strangers in IKEA carpark to get the flatpack parcels into Stephen's car. I brought the rocking chair back from Newcastle in bits, and rebuilt it myself, and of course I've stuffed yarn and penguins onto every shelf.
This is the Before photo of the next transformation.
In order that Stephen could still have an office if he needed it (Obviously he does, but we didn't expect that to happen quite as soon as it did!) we had to rearrange the entire house. So this room that had for at least the last 11 years been used purely for storing junk had to be turned into a bedroom:
Not finished, as you can see. There's no wardrobe, and entirely inadequate storage for clothes, as those things are still at Kelly's house, waiting to be brought to Stephen's as soon as we're allowed out again. Still, you can't deny that this is a pretty impressive transformation!
I can't thank my friends enough for their help with this. In helping me sort through all of the junk, and to throw away a lot of it. Helping to clean the paintwork, and paint the ceiling.
Next on the list is Stephen's office. Right now there's one little corner of it that we've managed to make usable, pretty much because we had to. The rest of it is currently furnished with piles of boxes full of books and games. We can't do anything more with it until we're allowed to go to IKEA though, as we're going to need a lot more book cases!
This is my progress on my Mitred Squares blanket. There's almost enough to cover our feet if I spread it on the bed now!
5 more crochet granny squares for my memory blanket. 3 squares using yarn left over from other projects, and 2 squares using yarn bought while on holiday, or visiting new yarn shops. Eventually there will be 100 squares, all made from DK yarn. Then I will either sew, or crochet them all together to make a blanket.
An old project that I've pulled out of hibernation to work on, however slowly, as part of my goal to reduce my number of WIPs. These are a pair of leg wraps I'm making for a friend to use as part of his LARP (Live Action Role Play) outfit. Fortunately, this friend is very patient, because it's just about 4 years since I first cast these on...
There is no pattern. They're just 3 metres of stockinette, decreased into an icord to use to tie them in place. The yarn is King Cole Giza cotton DK, in the colourway "Grey".
This is another dog sweater, this time for Bounty. Bounty is Finn's pack-mate from when they were both working dogs together. Bounty retired a few months after Finn, and was adopted by a friend of ours. I think she definitely deserves her own sweater, and her new humans chose pink for her.
The pattern is also Cabled Dog Sweater, by Cricket Toomey, and the yarn is Stylecraft Bellissima, in the colourway "Raspberry Riot".
I was really trying not to cast on anything new that I didn't have to, but then along came this pattern. It's part of a huge collaboration of independent businesses in the fibre craft world, set up by GamerCrafting, called Operation: Social Justice Warrior.
<tangent>
We're all aware that the term "Social Justice Warrior" has been given a lot of bad press, as people equate it with the term "Keyboard Warrior", and imply that such people like to look like they're doing good, and pick arguments with people online, but don't actually change their behaviour to effect genuine change, or do tangible good.
Here's the thing though, I'm sure that there are people like that, but most people who argue in favour of righting past wrongs, of trying to be better people, are already making these changes in their own lives. Nobody is perfect, we all make mistakes. The important thing is that if someone calls you out on something you've said or done that has upset them, it's your job to apologise for upsetting them, and find out how you can do better in the future. The moment you get defensive, and try to insist that you've done nothing wrong, that other people are too sensitive, that you were only joking, that's the moment that you become the dickhead.
I'm proud to call myself a Social Justice Warrior, because I genuinely believe in trying to make a world that is fair, and just, for everyone. I also believe that although we've come a long way in my lifetime, we're still nowhere near that place yet. I believe that it will take more than "Just being nice to everyone" to do this, as that intrinsically glosses over the uneven playing field.
</tangent>
Operation: Social Justice Warrior had the aim of bringing a little bit of love and care into the world through the medium of fibre crafts. Over 180 independent businesses, mostly in the UK, but many from other parts of the world, produced one or more items according to their skill sets, to go up for sale on March 15th. A minimum of 20% of the money raised from the sale of these items was donated to charity. Each business owner was allowed to choose their own charity, as long as that charity supported equal rights for all.
The pattern for these socks is called Fire Rainbow Socks, and was released as part of Operation:SJW, by Carolyn Lisle Designs. 40% of all proceeds from sales of this pattern will go to Kind Space, which is an LGBTQ+ support charity in Canada.
This pattern is written specifically for yarns that have a "pop" of colour against a solid or tonal background. It uses short rows to make the colour pop really stand out, as you can see in my version knit using sock yarn by Mothy and the Squid, in the colourway "Autumn Rainbow".
Stash Acquisition
Oooooooooh Kaaaayyyy.... I was doing reasonably well and just sticking to my subscriptions, then there was The Virus, and Operation:SJW... So I'm breaking this section down a bit into subscriptions, and not-subscriptions.
Knitcrate Sock Crate January Chill Out box. Knitologie cabled sock, in the colourway "Cadet". Plus a little pack of yarn needles.
Knitcrate Sock crate February Chill Out box. Audine Wools Luxury Sock, in the colourway "Dew". Plus a pretty ballpoint pen.
Knitcrate Sock crate March Chill Out box. Uru.Yarn Sugared Sock, in the colourway "Hidden Pool". Plus a silicone reuseable teabag!
This is the best crate I've had in a while, which is a shame, because I've decided to cancel my subscription to Knitcrate for the foreseeable. I've had too many insipid green shades to feel it's worth the cost, and the carbon footprint.
The other 2 colours from the March Sock crate were a deep magenta colour for the Energize Me boxes, and this tonal grey for the All Natural boxes. As I had accumulated enough loyalty points to be able to buy this skein for just $2, I decided to use those loyalty points before I cancelled my subscription. So this is another skein of Uru.Yarn Sugared Sock, in the colourway "Stony Outcrop".
My stunningly gorgeous February Exotic Birds and Butterflies box by Homespun Wonders. As you can probably deduce, the theme for this month was "Peacock".
My Beautiful March Exotic Birds and Butterflies box by Homespun Wonders. The theme this month was "Clearing Butterfly".
You will no doubt have noticed that there are 2 skeins in this photo though. The pink skein was not part of the subscription box, instead it was a thank you for being a regular customer. Sadly, this may have been my last ever Homespun Wonders box, as due to family commitments they have had to make the decision to close their business :(
After announcing the closing of their business, the lovely ladies of Homespun Wonders put everything on their site on sale with a massive 40% discount. I felt honour bound to help them clear the last of their stock, and bought these packs of mini-skeins. They sent me the beautiful brooch/shawl pin that you can see in the top left corner as a thank you.
January's Emperor Penguin subscription from Made by Penguins. Inspired by colourful birds. This month's bird was the Blue Naped Chlorophonia.
February's Made by Penguins Emperor Penguin subscription, inspired by the Lilac Breasted Roller. I am utterly in love with these colours!
Made by Penguins Emperor Penguin subscription for March, inspired by the European Roller.
The final Instalment of my 4-part Dark Crystal mini-skeins subscription with Beehive Yarns, inspired by the colours of "Thra".
Dad's house is under offer, although we've no idea when the sale will complete thanks to the current situation. I went up to check that everything was cleared and ready, and to actually spend some time with Davie for a change. While I was up there, of course I popped into Ring-a-Rosie's, I knew she had some Malabrigo in stock, and wanted to take a look, as well as catch up and have a chat.
You've already seen this in use, as it was bought specifically to make the sweater for Bounty. It was also a convenient reason to shop at my local yarn store while I took Finn to the groomers.
Sadly this is a terrible photo, so you can't see just how perfect a colourway this is for me. It's bright purple, with a red pop at one end, and black speckles, and it's sparkly! This was a spotted on instagram at 3am when I was suffering from insomnia purchase. Of course, any purchase from HeyJay has to include a mystery mini-skein too!
This is my "haul" from Operation:Social Justice Warrior, excepting the sock pattern.
From left to right we have:
Made by Penguins - Operation: Zebra, including mini-skeins of all 3 colourways - "Have you tried yoga", "Level the field", and "Zebra", then a full skein of "Level the Field" with 20% of all sales going to EDS UK.
For the Love of Yarn - colourway "Respect is for everyone", dyed by Callum, with all proceeds going to the Scottish Association for Mental Health.
Floof Fibre - colourway "N.E.Othr Rose". 20% of all proceeds go to Stonewall.
It's a Stitch Up - colourway "The Grey Area", which is coincidentally the name of my favourite Culture ship (Sci-fi reference for fans of Iain M. Banks). 20% of sales donated to Mermaids UK.
Technically, this has nothing to do with Operation:SJW, and yet to me it does. This is going to involve another story...
Last year a man who is well known in the knitting world said something thoughtless on instagram. Several people called him out on it, explained that it perpetuated a racist narrative, albeit a likely unintentionally racist narrative. Instead of apologising, and asking how he could do better, he raged against the accusation, demonised anyone who didn't take his side, encouraged his followers to do whatever they could to get the accounts of anyone who disagreed with him banned. Then at a yarn show he was approached by a woman of colour, who tried to ask him why he'd taken the stance he had. He assaulted that woman right there in the middle of the yarn show. Yet for some reason, it was her who was escorted from the premises. Since then she has been the subject of repeated online attacks, she's had to make her business social media accounts private, just to reduce the torrent of abuse that has been levelled at her for doing nothing more than ask a question, and tell the truth about the response she received.
That woman is called Almas, and she is the person behind Witchcrafty Lady.
A few months ago someone who is a supporter of the man who assaulted Almas created a range of yarns with names that mock people who campaign for equality, and social justice. Operation:Social Justice Warrior was our response to that. They try to spread hate, so we respond with love and support for those who need it most.
While people of many different ethnicities, abilities, and sexualities were involved in Operation:SJW, Almas herself was not. I don't know if this is because of the abuse that she's suffered over the last year, or for some other reason, but I do know that I couldn't support this endeavour without directly supporting her too.
Her fibre is beautiful, and she is so generous. I only ordered the hand dyed fibre, as I'd actually been lusting after it for a while, but because I was still in the middle of planning then building my new craft room, and I wasn't doing any spinning, I couldn't justify buying it. Almas recognised my email address on my order from my online name though, and she included the blended braid with my parcel.
Another middle of the night insomnia purchase, but can you blame me, really? If fibre were candy, then I'm the kid in this scenario! These are rolags, blended by Shunklies, who is a local fibre artist.
Clearly I'm in the mood for fibre, but this is the last of it! It's just so beautiful and shiny and soft! I also couldn't resist the Yarn Maiden pin badge in the Iron Maiden font. Both of these were bought in the wee small hours from It's a Stitch Up in the first few days of lockdown. I wasn't sure how long it would take to get here, but fortunately the post is still running, and online businesses are mostly still up and running.
Knitting Adjacent
I don't think I've ever met another yarnie who doesn't also have a thing about tote bags. This is my new favourite. It's designed by Skeinhead, and is full of little references to Jane Austen.
Finn
Look at my baby! Out in his lovely sweater, wagging his tail so fast that it's just a blur!
I know you've already seen photos of him earlier, but he's so adorable!
I made apple crumble with some of the handful of apples that Stephen managed to get for us. Due to people panic buying, they were mostly bruised and damaged, better used for cooking than eating fresh. Finn was hoping I'd let him have some.
Privilege, and luck combined mean that even in the middle of a pandemic lockdown, I still have access to this. Beautiful countryside, and a happy spaniel. I am very aware of, and very grateful for this privilege.
Officially the cutest photo in the entire world.
Penguins!
Finn stole one of my penguins soon after we adopted him. He likes to carry it around, and sometimes take it to bed with him. I wash it, of course, but it's pretty much permanently filthy now. I couldn't bring myself to take it off him anyway, even if I could ever get it clean again.
Then Stephen came home one day with a new identical penguin for me! Finn tried to steal this one too, but I didn't let him!
Kelly and Liz got this little fellow for me. Adorable little unicorn penguin pin.
Lisa-Lou of Made by Penguins and I both spotted these bags made by The Fibre Fox on instagram. At the time, neither of us could afford to buy one, but it stuck in the back of my mind until I had a little spare cash again. I hope that Lisa-Lou managed to get the other one!
Another terrible photo, this time because it's zoomed right in. Along with the Operation: Zebra collection, Made by Penguins also released a new penguin pin badge, Suzanne the lilac Easter penguin. She has joined my growing collection of penguin pins.
Cheerful little things that fit through the letterbox are always good for those days when you're struggling. Like many people, I've had quite a few of those recently, although perhaps not as many as most, for the reasons detailed at the beginning of this post. Still, I've had enough that not just yarn and fibre have been ordered at 3am.
These button badges, fridge magnet, and notebook are all by Kate Elford.
Well my dears, it's 05:15, but I do believe I'm finally finished. Hopefully I will be back again soon, with more progress on wip reduction, and rather less on stash enhancement!
TTFN!
