October Updates

It's been a whirlwind couple of months with a lot of change for our family. We moved over the summer and now get to call Fort Leavenworth, Kansas our home. I didn't get to do too much in the way of hobbies this summer, but now that we are in the middle of fall, we're steady in our rhythms and getting back into the things that make life feel "normal" - whatever that really is.

I'm so busy at work, but when the temperatures started changing, I realized I needed to hold on to the things that keep me feeling like myself, so I pulled out my projects that I was working on when we were in Texas. I just finished a spinning project of some merino wool that I purchased way back in 2014 the last time my husband and I were in Alaska. It's a pound of really beautiful hand painted fiber in a color way that reminds me of a stormy sea - it's all whites, grays, and blues. I spun it two ply, fingering weight, with a short backward draw. I'm going to set it this weekend and let it dry, and then figure out what it will become. I bought it thinking I would make a sweater for Curtis, but now that I'm nine years older and wiser, I know that I can't make a man's cardigan with only 16 oz of wool. I'm planning on making some sort of set of accessories for him - hat, scarf, mittens, that sort of thing.

I also picked up my most recent knitting project. I started the Hyperion pullover earlier this spring, and I'm just about done with the top portion. It's got a really interesting construction, with the sleeves and yoke being knit from left to right sideways in an open work pattern. Then the body is picked up and knitted downward in a basic stockinette stitch. I'm using Madelinetosh Light in Ocean - also a multicolored blue, but this is brighter with aqua tones that feels more like the Pacific Ocean. I hope it will be a good layering piece when the spring starts.

The next project on the needles is going to be a little different. I have been wanting to explore cross stitch and embroidery, and I've been thinking of doing a sampler with images that remind me of the past year. This year at Fort Leavenworth is going to be so different from the rest of my career, and I want to use my creative talent to help me remember it. I'll share more once I get my tools together and start coming up with an idea.