Rebecca posted: " Happy New Year everyone! It's the first day of a new year, but I'm not quite done looking back yet. You've maybe heard of a "Make 9" - an Instagram grid of 9 projects that you plan to make. I didn't make one of those last year. But looking backwards inst" Osborn Fiber Studio
Happy New Year everyone! It's the first day of a new year, but I'm not quite done looking back yet. You've maybe heard of a "Make 9" - an Instagram grid of 9 projects that you plan to make. I didn't make one of those last year. But looking backwards instead of forwards, I decided to do a "Made 9" for 2023 - a 9 grid to round up the things I did! Going through my photos was a really good exercise in reflection in itself, and this post turned into a fun way to round up my year and celebrate what happened. Check it out!
Spinning
I did so much spinning this year. Much of it was sets of samples so small that I didn't measure yardage, so I couldn't tell you how much it is. I would guess in the neighborhood of 3000 yards of finished yarn. Here's a summary, with representative pictures:
Superfine Merino - old stash turned into a heavy fingering 3-ply DK weight. Started in 2022.
Year of Colour explorations: I have five or so of these medium-size skeins that came from sidebars and from the class I took with Diana Twiss in March.
Year of Colour samples: These are the dye sample skeins, which represent maybe a third of the sample spinning I've done for the Year of Colour. This was the bulk of my spinning brainspace this year!
Ice-cool gradient: a Polwarth/Silk blend, 2-ply lace, that was my first major spin on support spindles.
My Tour de Fleece spin: 900-odd yards each of two colours, 3-ply worsted. The grey is 85/15 suffolk/qiviut; the green is 85/15 custom woolen mills roving (dyed by me) and qiviut.
The Halloween corespinning bundle! Various core yarns, and a couple traditional yarns, that came together to become two tapestries in October.
The in-betweener: a lonely skein of mostly silk. I spun it so I could keep up 15-a-day of spinning when I was in between projects, this skein represents how important 15 minutes of spinning a day was to me this year.
The Qiviut Blending Project is ongoing, but I spun a few skeins for it this year. Maybe 3 or 4? I don't actually remember! I have five skeins now, with one more prepped.
Knitting
You know what? Knitting takes a lot of time. I've done a lot of knitting this year, but most of it I can't show you yet since it's for the Secret Project. Still, I managed to get a LOT of knitting done. Six of these examples are entirely in handspun. I'm pretty proud of that!
Socks: I knit two of these pairs in January, finishing my first big handspun sock batch. I started using them right away when they were all finished. They got a break for vacation, but three pairs have already developed holes. This is a bit distressing, but gives me good information for the next batch.
I knit this Cowal : Cowl, and a brioche hat, during a knitting class that the late Brenda K and I taught during the deep winter this year. Little did we know we would lose Brenda so soon.
I made the Shakerag Top, something I'd been meaning to get around to for ages, out of silk and ramie from 51 yarns. I wore it a good bit this summer. I still hope to make more of them, if I get around to spinning the cotton left in my stash. This was the one garment I made start to finish this year.
Accessories! I wanted to make accessory sets so I could actually coordinate while keeping warm! This is a brioche hat and mitt set, knit from the yarns I spun during my first few episodes of the Wool Circle. Modeled by our sweet neighbor R.
This is The Shift cowl by Andrea Mowry, made from the Superfine Merino handspun above. I adapted the stitch pattern into a hat and mitts as well, and I go through phases when I wear them together a lot. They remain amazingly soft, though as expected they show some wear.
Another hat-mitt-cowl set, I adapted The Shift cowl shape into a brioche cowl, and made the Dissonance mitts and Weel Riggit Hat to go with them. The natural colours, and using the same yarn, are enough to tie these three different patterns together.
Weel Riggit I finished early in the year, started in 2022. A warm, comfortable, wearable sweater. It has great shape, great drape, and I love it!
At this point in the year I started knitting hexies - not pictured here because I ran out of room and the project is also not finished - and getting more serious about my Secret Project - so there's not as much to show here. But this was a special project inspired by MiniMighty. We knit the mug warmers together, and I also knit her and her doll a matching sweater set with the ample leftovers.
Of course, Attune! In a very special spin- and knit-along by Andrea Mowry and Rachel Smith. Knit in colourful handspun and a soft grey commercial yarn, purchased thirteen years apart from each other at the same yarn shop.
Dyeing & Weaving
Weaving was part of my 15-a-day practice for the first few months of the year, and it shows. I got quite a few pieces done. I also squeezed some dyeing in there, which was a really special learning phase for me.
An Ikat scarf from sock yarn.
Another Ikat scarf from sock yarn. Both turned out beautifully, and are not really the right dimensions to be scarves. I have them stashed away to be supplemented with other fabric and maybe become garments one day.
Exploring textured weaving with handspun, using ideas out of Syne Mitchell's book.
My first time twill! And my first time mimicking four-shaft weaving with a rigid heddle, using up some very old stash too. It's pretty scratchy, but I might make it into a bag at some point.
A handspun treasure from several years ago finally became a double-gradient scarf. I wear it to church sometimes!
DYEAPALOOZA! 53 oz, 53 colourways of handpainted wool. So much fun and learning, and this colour play has been the most important part of my making this year!
Leftover dyes from Dyeapalooza made their way onto some spare fiber, making some lovely stash, some of which has even been used (see the green TdF spin above).
The Dyeapalooza teaching content - the point was to create some how-to videos for the Wool Circle. I'm really proud of what I made there.
Last, and honestly probably least, throwing a couple things into the washing machine with Rit dye. Easier than learning fiber reactive dyes as well as acid dyes.
I'm actually really surprised with how much sewing I got done this year. Having a working machine (thanks Lorraine!) that I can just sit down and use is a big part of it, of course! Thanks to all the quilting, I've also just gained some confidence at the machine, and found that I do have enough knowledge to just put things together, though I need some help at times! Here is most of them.
I made these two aprons with pretty batiks sent up by my MIL. Adapted from Sew Liberated.
A polyester sheet from the thrift store, a free pattern, and a lot of guesswork went into this goofy dinosaur dress for Dooner.
This Remy Raglan is a sort of wearable muslin, made from a thrift store tablecloth. The fit is fine, which is what I needed to know, but I think I'll do some simpler sleeve hems when I make it for real. I bought some cute fabric with mushrooms to make it.
Burnside bibs! I saw the lovely Tazhi wearing them and I had to have them. This is made from a curtain, again found at the thrift store. They are a green printed houndstooth on white; I have since overdyed them with green. They are more subtle, but a lot more green.
This project is not finished, but I wanted to mention it since the project sat for a couple of years. I made some solid progress on this EPP quilt when I prioritized it in the spring. 15-30 minutes a day and I'm probably more than halfway done now. It's back into hibernation for now.
I think this might be the first really useful object I've sewn from my weaving? Ironic, since it's the least obviously useful piece of fabric! I lined the textured weave (see above) with muslin to make this bag that carried my support spindles all vacation.
Dooner's quilt finished! My one actual sewing goal, accomplished.
I made my first ever parka, for Stringbean, with lots of help from Lorraine. She wears it daily and I'm super proud.
The Catching Up Coat, a bog jacket made of too-holey handknit socks. A complete impulse make during the week before Christmas!
Adventures
You know what, a lot of crazy stuff happened this year. Crazy exciting fun stuff, sometimes overlaid by difficult stuff happening at the same time.
Solo trip to Vancouver in March to hang with Rachel and visit Fibers West. Pic is from the class I got to take with Diana Twiss.
Family trip to Yellowknife to get away and process for a while, and get some support during a bad time. Very thankful for the connections and support we got there, which continued in the job I started in August working (very) part time for the Diocese.
Harvesting really high quality qiviut for the first time, ending up with a couple pounds of the stuff. Blending experiments, here we come!
Learning how to support spindle!
Family vacation in June and July. We saw both our families for the first time in two years. This is Jared's side, with the wealth of cousins.
The Labrador Tea harvest in the fall was a wild ride, ending with a visit from Pedro of o5 Tea in September. That was a really peaceful and transformative conclusion to a tumultuous season.
Getting our bathroom renovated in the late fall! I have a lot to say about this, and pictures I've been collecting; I might make a video or something. Suffice it to say, it's done, and I enjoy it all day, every day. It's been suggested I podcast from in there, since it's the nicest room in the house, but it would be a bit echoey.
Such a small thing, but I checked something off my bucket list: Granny squares! I'm not even done this. But as crochet is having such a MOMENT right now, I decided to get over my attitude problem and accept that we can be friends.
MiniMighty started hockey this fall, and that has sure been an adventure for our family!
A Few Favorite Photos
My favorite meme this year; possibly of all time:
As I was scrolling through my photos from this year, a few jumped out at me that I thought I'd share, as I collect my final thoughts about 2023.
What haven't I mentioned? Becoming owners of the cabin, which circumstances made more of an emotional roller coaster than it should have been. Giving up the cake business. Starting a new job. Sending Diana to big kid school for the first time. Discovering I am a cinephile, and watching tons of movies and listening to tons of podcasts while I work.
Our family did reach a bit of a crisis this year, as did I personally. We got help, and prayers were answered for support and friendship. But it was touch-and-go for a while there.
It feels really strange reflecting on that season now, since the season I'm coming out of is so different. The fall has become a whirlwind of busyness, which I don't mind, but it can lead to me operating at a shallower level emotionally. I just let it be intense, I let myself do what I needed to enjoy it, and didn't worry too much about my failures and the failures of others.
I think self-care has many aspects, and it's not unlike being multicraftual. When you are into lots of different things, you go through seasons where each one of them ebbs and flows. It's the same with self-care - sometimes I'm more focused on diet and exercise, sometimes on emotional and reflective work, sometimes on creative work, sometimes on relational work. When one area is at ebb, the important thing is to be aware of it, and when my functioning drops, to not avoid asking why.
The bubble of the fall-to-Christmas intensity has popped, and I'm feeling peaceful and ready for a new season. I think the biggest thing I have learned this year is how to be patient with myself and my limits. I'm starting some big new things, and finishing some big old things, and I'm trying to hold them with an open hand and curiousity to see where they go.
What making are you most proud of this year? If you enjoyed this post, my friends Rachel and Kelly have posted their reflection posts for this year too - check them out!
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