That is 17 skeins of yarn that I’ve spun in the last four weeks – early morning cell phone photos don’t do it justice. Its actually not even everything that I’ve spun either (eep!). There is some Hello Yarn, Southern Cross Fiber, Sweet Georgia, Spun Right Round, and Juliespins. There is Merino, Targhee, BFL, Wensleydale, and for the first time ever – Jacob. There are singles, two ply, true three ply, and some navajo ply.

My new hang ties arrived yesterday (a separate blog post is coming because they are that awesome), so next week I’ll have to finish this yarn, go through my hand spun stash, label some skeins, and drop off more yarn at Wise Daughters and the Knit Cafe!

Blogoverse, meet our sheep! First up is Beatrice, named because all of her kin are also named after the Royal Family. She has a lovely (albeit dirty) rear.

Next is Sweater! My intentions are obvious (thankfully I didn’t name her lamb chop!).

Lastly, the two lovely ladies hanging out together. Even crazier is that two alpaca brothers (Pete and Prince) are arriving on Wednesday.

We’re heading down to Ohio this weekend to get some last minute wedding related stuff sorted out (like licenses, ha!). I’m stoked to get to see Kerri and Chris, hang out with our nephew Harper, and play with sheep!!

Its been on our bed ever since. Which means that we have two handmade blankets on our bed – how crazy is that?

This weekend I cast on for an easy baby cardigan. Little Raglan cardigans are starting to become second nature. I don’t necessarily know sizing off hand, but as long as I know how many stitches to cast on and how many I need for the sleeves, the in between bits are pretty brainless. I cast on Friday and this is where I am this morning.

I’m using the more green skein for edging, which I quite like. I’m also splitting up the use of skeins on the arms so that the two are better matched (well, hopefully they will be!). Its funny, the last baby cardigan I knit was longer and narrower compared to this one. I need a toddler on hand to write down my own kids clothing size/measurements database to help me with stuff like this.

I really like this sweater and am debating switching it up and gifting it to someone else because I feel like this sweater needs to be appreciated/loved hard. Ah well, baby things knit up so fast that it’ll be easy to get away with this.

I think that this might be destined for a weaving project!

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!

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 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.

Germaine’s cousin works/volunteers at the Guild Shop, so I was able to talk with her a little bit about the tattoos. Apparently, the tattoos in the print are based on those of Germaine’s grandmother. Tattooing started at the hands, went up the arms and onto the breast. Faces were tattooed last. The main portion of the design identified the tribe/clan, although some elements are unique to the individual. She also described the traditional process, which involved very sharp leg bones from caribou, sinew, soot, and sewing.

I think its lovely. I’m excited that by purchasing this print and hanging it out in our house, we’ll be able to share this piece of (not very well known) Canadian culture and history with friends and family and future generations.