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Today’s segments include: drafting, fully drafted, research, lit review, five favorite things, and noteworthy. Pull out your knitting and let’s knit together!
Drafting:
Fish lips kiss heel socks by Sox Therapist in Desert Vista Dyeworks Viso 75% merino/25% nylon colorway NYC New Year’s on size 1/2.25mm 32″ Hiya Hiya sharp circular.
Nanaimo socks by Cookie A in Marigoldjen 75% BFL, 25% nylon colorway Earl Grey on size 1/2.25mm 32″ Hiya Hiya sharp circular.
Spinning Into the Whirled Polwarth/Silk colorway Moriarty on my Ashford Traveller spinning wheel.
Fully Drafted:
Camp out fingerless mitts by tante ehm in Into the Whirled handspun colorway Tickled Pink, 8 wpi, on size 7/4.5mm signature circular.
Lit Review:
I actually finished something, and I sort of haven’t started anything new this week!
Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins for June’s book club
Last week I talked about how I was enjoying this book because it had an unreliable narrator. That stayed true until about the last hour and a half when it was obvious to me whodunnit. Here’s a quote I wanted to share: “That’s what I’ve taken from the therapy sessions: the holes in your life are permanent. You have to grow around them, like tree roots around concrete; you mould yourself through the gaps.”
The end was probably my least favorite part because none of the characters were likable or redeeming. This makes sense since it’s hard to write a good end to a book, let alone a twisty turny one. All in all, though, I really enjoyed reading this one. I would definitely recommend the audio. There were 3 narrators for the 3 narrators of the book, and that was a really enjoyable way to listen to it. The narrators were stellar. I gave this book 4 stars on goodreads. I might give it 3.5 stars at book club.
Research: Drafting (spinning)
It’s been awhile since I’ve had a research section, but I’ve been watching Jacey Boggs “Drafting from Worsted to Woolen” crafts class, and I have a few things to share with you.
First of all, I’m basically self-taught at spinning and knitting. For knitting, I never thought it was really worth it to shell out money for a class for things I already know how to do, though I’ve changed my mind on that since going to retreats. Even if I know how to do a thing, a class helps me learn things I never would have thought of. I recently had this experience with the online teaching workshop I attended, but I digress.
Anyway, in the worsted section (which basically all the yarn I make right now is worsted, which is yarn where you let in very little air, make with combed top where all of the fibers are facing the same direction), Jacey talked about short forward and short backward drafting. Last week I mentioned trying to get a more consistent yarn, and after watching this, I realized I draft short backward, which makes it hard to control the amount of fiber you draft and is thus more inconsistent. I am currently trying to draft across the top, which means I go back and forth across the fiber rather than down along the side. It’s hard. Jacey said you need a lot more practice with that.
Five Favorite Things:
I bought some things!
1. Fibernymph dye works bedazzled colorway Advance to Go
2. Three Waters Farm BFL colorway Honky Tonk for the Knitgirllls spinalong/knitalong.
3. Sense8 on Netflix
4. Sheriff of Nottingham game
Noteworthy: SSK is in July. I got my class assignments! I’m taking spinning Soft Core yarns which I know nothing about, and shawl design which will also be pretty new for me. I’m excited.
Read along for Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
Here is a discussion question for this week: Cain tells the story of being an introvert and making a very successful lawyer because of her style. When I read that chapter, I thought a lot about my style at work and the successes I’ve had. What successes have you had at work because of your style, introverted or extroverted?