Solstice Shenanigans Return - 3 projects

 Another December Shenanigans month is just wrapping up, and I didn't leap in with the wild abandon I typically have. There were other projects that I took on, and I allowed myself some much-needed break time. I dabbled in a few Shenanigans projects regardless.

Slow Lane

The Slow lane is a cherished institution at Franquemont University. I chose my longest-running unfinished Shenanigan this time. It'll look familiar, because it was spun, warped, and started in the very first Shenanigans, 2 years ago. It also featured in April... I made progress, but stalled again, despite my best plans to do more

This go-round, I nearly doubled the amount that was completed, and have renewed excitement in seeing it finished. The bundle of finished tape is very satisfying to look at, and that warp chain keeps shrinking!

Shrinking warp chain at the top - December progress starts a bit before the pale string marker.

Andean Weaving 110

For my Andean Weaving category, I opted for a 6-pair warp, which is the widest I've worked on to-date, in a pattern that builds nicely on other skills I've been exploring. It's also 'penance' of a sort... I miscounted the number of pairs during a class session, and I'm on record with the wrong answer... so the best way to learn it, and really absorb the lesson, is to DO the Thing!

In true Shenanigans spirit, I set up a longer warp than my typical one - about 1.5 yards...
...and it's alpaca.

Partway through adding ply twist.

I didn't spin this yarn specifically FOR Andean weaving, but I have 4 natural colours, in my 'default' laceweight... so I added enough twist to help them handle the abrasion, and got started.

There are errors, and learning curve moments, in the band, but I chose not to go back - I don't want to make too many un-weaving attempts with this warp. The yarn is about as sticky as some of the wool warps I've dealt with using other techniques, and I can see why it's not recommended for learning with.

That said, it *feels* amazing. 

I didn't make a huge amount of progress on this band, and I may play with more 4 and 5 pair patterns before I come back to it, but it's off to a good start.

Back side

Front - There are errors, and lessons - getting them to LOOK good was part of the challenge.

And this corkscrew is delightful - it makes me smile just looking at it.

SPROINNNNG!

Abomination

This is the project that really captured my imagination... and I have very mixed feelings about it. I kind of hate how much I love the finished product.

It all started with a crazy idea... and a gadget.

i-cord machine, still in its box

I wanted to make YARN with that thing... simply to see how it worked up, and what it would do when used to make cord from stripey top. 

I have several lots of *OLD* Ashland Bay top, taking up real estate in my stash. They are great, and I've always enjoyed working with the muted, heathered yarns I got when plying them on themselves, or making marls with other colours... but I always wondered if there was something that would make the colours pop, without needing to spin from the fold to force them to pool more.

I even had some leftover singles - this was some of the first bobbin I spun on my EEW Nano 1.0 - and I'd already played with chain-plying it with beads, so I knew how it would look that way... plus it had rested a couple years, so it should be pretty well-behaved during testing.

So I sampled - first with a bit of cotton from my weaving stash, then tried the merino singles.

First sample - 2/16 cotton

The singles were a fair bit finer, and springier, but it looked like it would work.

Then I started thinking about twist, and having the right amount of weight on this yarn... the weight it came with would be awkward to wind yarn onto as the cord got longer, AND it felt a bit too heavy for my singles. Spindle to the Rescue!

takli, much more effective than the weighted plastic hook

The takli also allowed me to add a bit of twist, to compensate for the twist energy the singles still had, and make the cord behave a bit more like the hollow, 8-ply equivalent yarn it sort of is...

Much cranking ensued...

And I discovered another problem - and a needlessly complex solution. I wanted to leave the yarn on the old ballwinder core, and work from the outside end - only it wasn't co-operating, and would sometimes hang up. Those tension changes occasionally caused the singles to pop off the i-cord machine's hooks, or break... neither was a lot of fun to fix.

So I added a support spike, to allow the ball to turn more freely.

One more piece added to the 'workflow'

It was at this stage, that I started to realize, much to my horror, that I was starting to LIKE the result.

It shows off every thick and thin spot, because a slub gets multiplied, and I was starting to wear through the plastic from the abrasion (I was applying a tiny amount of tension to keep the singles from coiling on itself as the twist 'woke up' with handling)... but LOOK at the difference in the colour!

That's the most distinct colour I've ever gotten with this type of prep.

I knew I would have to turn this into a project, just to see how it looked knitted up... 

In the end, I cranked out, exceedingly slowly, just under 170 yards of cord, with plying twist added. I needed a couple days off, because at one point, I was developing shoulder strain from the cranking. The machine makes about 3 stitches per turn, so it's 4 turns per 3 rounds of knitting.

I cast on a simple asymmetric scarf, using a 4.5mm needle. The fabric is everything I could hope for (and HARD to photograph, because this is Ashland Bay 'Night Garden'... a black base did me NO favours when it was time to take pictures.)

scarf, showing both the chainette yarn, and the beaded chain-ply from the same fibre.

That fabric, both colour AND texture-wise, is everything... but was the Abomination of a process worth it?

I suspect there will be more sloooooow cloth in my future... because at 1-2 mm per crank, it's still WORLDS faster than making the same 4 stitches by handknitting an i-cord.

Welcome 2023 - and word of the year.

 I'll admit right up front that neither my 'Process' year, nor my 'Purpose' year yielded the results I was hoping for... 

Some of that is tied to my personal expectations, some to 'Pandemic Fatigue', as COVID keeps wearing on, and wearing down my reserves... and some - some of it just IS. Neither year was a TOTAL failure, OR a complete success. That still taught me some things about this process, and about myself.

So in the spirit of actually learning those lessons, this year I'll revisit something that has long been a theme in my life, but also something I have never focused on with real intention.

Balance.

Balance has always seemed an unattainable goal - how do you Balance obligations and personal growth, or housekeeping and creative time - or any number of other impossible-feeling things... The more my health has become a factor over the years, the harder that gets. (do I stick with the exercise program, so I can forge more 'spoons' someday, or use that energy on dishes NOW?) I have made lists, I have tried apps, I have tried NOT trying so hard... with varying degrees of effectiveness.

Balance can be pretty elusive, and the more things you choose to care about, the harder it is to juggle every one of them, without dropping one or all of them at some point.

So that's my focus for this year. I want to really see whether I CAN Balance:

Health and Household
Creative Time and Connection
my Process and Purpose from past years...

...and so many other things.

The only way to discover what I am capable of, is to find that Balance, so my path meanders through everything in my life that I value.

I have to learn that it's okay to:

Rest
Say No
and Change Plans

...so that I get through this year. Balance is ALSO about not overdoing stuff, just 'because' you think you've committed to it. It's a complex, and ever-moving target.

And it's time I paid it proper attention.