Homespun yarn – Yarn, Books & Roses

Hannah and the CoalBear: Chicken Caturday

Hi. I’m Hannah.

Do you see this knitting that is draped over my back? It is the chicken!!!!

So, yesterday the Mother of Cats started knitting away on the Emotional Support Chicken. I don’t know why she needs it, because she has me, right? Anyway, she got going on the knitting and Mateo and I were forced to entertain ourselves FOR HOURS while the Mother of Cats knitted the feathers for the tail of the chicken. Today she attached the two tail pieces together with a crochet hook and then started knitting the back of the chicken. This is what it all looked like.

Look at how big this chicken is going to be! I can wear it for a blanket on really cold days. Maybe it can be made into a little snowsuit for me so I can go outside with Mateo on cold days. I bet that there will be enough extra yarn to make me little snow booties to wear.

Mateo the CoalBear: Hannah should grow fur like me!! I never get cold.

The rest of the stuff that happened this week was playing with the loom. For some reason, the Mother of Cats wouldn’t let me near the yarns while she fixed up the loom for weaving; she was sneaky about when she did her work. The Mother of Cats did most of her stuff with the loom during the afternoons while I was taking a nap. When I got up from my nap all the loose ends of yarn were stuffed into bags attached to the loom so the CoalBear couldn’t get touch them. Here’s what happened while I was snoozing…

The part of the loom with the little slots comes out of the loom, so she sat on the loveseat while she threaded all the little yarns through the reed using a special little hook called a sley hook. Later Mateo dragged it off to play with it downstairs, but she was calm about it because she has two of these hooks. I’m pretty sure that she will find the hook that Mateo took eventually. Then she had to thread all the yarns through the little metal holders in the loom (the heddles) and finally she got everything wound up and started weaving. She made a few different starts with the weaving while she was working out the tension on the threads, but now she thinks that she is good to go. It is going to look kind of cool when she makes better progress because the yarn will keep changing colors while she works back and forth. Next up it starts to turn to grey.

So that’s it. The whole week. Tomorow we’re going to get more of the chicken done. I can’t wait!!

This is Mateo the CoalBear, signing off for Hannah who is asleep again.

Note from the Mother of Cats: March is the month that Hannah was born in 2020. This is what she looked like the first time I saw her in the animal shelter.

She was the last kitten in the room as she had been returned to the shelter after her first adoption didn’t work out. She evidently cried all night, so they returned her. How very lucky for me that they did.

I Need an Emotional Support Chicken!! (and a bunch of other stuff…)

I’ve been doing really well this year with knitting out the stash. So far, I’ve finished 19 hats and 4 PICC line covers and am well on pace to meet the goal of 50 donated hats this year. So… I should be able to take a break and get some stuff finished up and maybe I can start a new project or two. That sounds completely reasonable, right? I cleaned out my yarn stash a couple of weeks ago and came across a bin of homespun yarns and roving that I’ve been saving for ages… The minute I saw it, I knew that it had to be an emotional support chicken.

This is an emotional support chicken, in case you haven’t been keeping up with the latest patterns trending on Ravelry.

Doesn’t that chicken look great? Don’t you think a rustic homespun yarn will be just perfect for it? The chicken will need some great solid colored yarn for the stripes, and the minute I opened the storage bin and looked inside I knew that I had my chicken.

Look at that yarn!! It is marled looking because it was spun from some roving that I got on a field trip to a yarn mill. At the end of the month the mill gathered up all the bits and pieces of fiber that they had leftover and made a run combining them into this roving that I just loved and bought a pound of. The roving had mystery fibers (I’m pretty sure there is alpaca in there…) in cream, tan, brown and black with a little pink here and there. It was wonderful to spin, and I have 4 skeins of the yarn and more roving right now. Chicken yarn!!

This pink will look great on the chicken! I bet you never suspected that it is dog yarn, as in husky dogs.

I’m pretty sure that I am going to use this pink too. Do you see how fluffy the yarn is? That’s because it is spun from husky down blended with wool. (Yes, a coworker brought in bags of husky down from her dogs for me to spin. I kept some for myself.) I’m excited to find a project to use these yarns that I’ve been keeping for quite a while, and what a great way to keep using up the stash. I’m thinking that I have other homespun yarns that will make great chickens too.

Once I bought and downloaded the chicken pattern it was like the floodgates had opened. I have seen several sweaters that I would love to knit and I’m chomping at the bit to buy yarn for them. (NO, NO!! I tell myself. Must use stash!)

I took a look at this book on Amazon as it was one included in my unlimited subscription. Hey, there are lots of great patterns and they can all be adapted to fingerless gloves and wrist warmers. SOOOO CUTE!!! I found the size needle that I needed to do these, and I’m pretty darn sure that I have the yarn in the stash to make lots of cute mitts to wear and gift. The hard copy of the book is slowly (very slowly) making its way to me. At the rate it is moving the chicken may be done before it gets here.

Then I saw the latest edition of The Knitter magazine (also in my Amazon unlimited subscription) and there are two sweaters that I want. Maybe it is the color. You have to admit, that is a fabulous raspberry color in those sweaters. I’ve already tracked down the colors online and I really, really want to buy, but so far I’ve managed to not pull the trigger on the online sales. Stash. Must knit the stash… I need to find a hard copy of this magazine.

Then this appeared on Ravelry. When will it ever end…

Look at that sweater. That sweater is beyond cute (but not as cute as the chicken, you must admit!!) I probably do have the yarn to make this sweater in the stash. I must stash dive right away!!!! I need a Renaissance sweater.

And so it goes. My knitting mojo is back big time, and I am on fire to create beautiful things from the yarn I have. I also pulled out the sweater that has been hibernating for the last few months and I’m ready to get going on it again too.

Sorry hats. You are now paused for a few weeks while I fall down the chicken homespun rabbit hole, and if a couple of sweaters happen while I’m down there, that’s cool too.

My La Prairie by Joji Locatelli is one of the sweaters that I plan to get done while I’m playing with chickens.

Wednesday Update: lots of work, very few words

I would love to do a Wordless Wednesday. It would be so cool. I think that I should set a goal for myself to work up to it slowly and to capture the best picture that displays the struggles/successes of the week. Since I didn’t do that here is an almost wordless Wednesday update of my current projects.

Om Shanti Bed Socks socks by Alice Yu. Here are the Ravelry project details.

Roving — Strips pulled from the long edge of the giant batt and rolled up ready to spin. The spinning wheel rattled his double treadles in excitement the whole time I was doing this…

Singles on bobbin — Singles spun using a supported long draw that will eventually make a fluffy 2 ply worsted weight yarn. Happy spinning wheel.

Cat on spinning chair — You wanted to spin? Whatever…

It’s raining outside and will change to snow overnight. I have the flowering plants that I want to keep inside and I am ready to ply this yarn tomorrow. Sure wish my bed socks were done. Have a great rest-of-the-week everyone.