Kirsti

A cluster of gently pastel yarns in beige, green, purple, and blue rest next to a skein of similarly toned pink alpaca fluff on a tan and cream sheepskin.

Hooray for squishy mail! All set for the Westknits MKAL. This'll be my first; I'm not really a neon person. With these colours, though, I'm looking forward to the challenge. Many thanks to Eden Cottage Yarns, with whom I've been low key obsessed for her gentle palette and wonderful fiber blends.

A year old Bernese Mountain dog puppy cuddles her mama's boot-and-jeans clad leg, firmly holding the cuff of a soft cotton shirt in her mouth. Mom is stroking her cheek.

Thenie approves of this autumn weather long sleeve technology.

From my youngest (10): "Art is just scribbles, but in order." Applicable to so many fields, really.

A sea green knitting project sits on a white desk, with two closely matched balls of yarn sitting next to it. One of the balls is nearly gone.

A tricolor Bernese puppy stares goofily at the camera with a playful expression, one eat flopped upside down over her head. Butter would not melt in her mischievous mouth.

It's cool this morning and Thenie, my Berner puppy, has the devil in her. She rip snorted into the room, grabbed my working yarns in her mouth, and RAN. I had to chase her to get them back. She found a way to get me to play chase!

It's a good thing this jumper will be washed before I wear it. 🤦🏼‍♀️

A robin's egg blue and soft pink shawl is arranged on a mannequin in front of an admittedly overgrown bush (looks good in photos though!). One end is artfully draped across the front, leaning the other to fall in a delicate, ruffly spiral. The shawl is very, very soft to the touch.

A robin's egg blue and soft pink shawl is arranged on a mannequin in front of an admittedly overgrown bush (looks good in photos though!). Both ends fall in delicate, ruffly spirals. The shawl is very, very soft to the touch.

A robin's egg blue and soft pink shawl is arranged on a mannequin in front of an admittedly overgrown bush (looks good in photos though!). The back of the shawl hangs well, showing three alternating rows of lacework punctuated by pink pearly beads. The shawl is very, very soft to the touch.

Here she is, all blocked and looking pretty!

A pink and robin's egg blue lace shawl is pinned to the blocking mats. The blue yarn is 100% cashmere; the pink is brushed baby suri alpaca and silk. It is incredibly soft and fluffy to the touch.

That's my outfit for the Scottish Yarn Festival sorted! I'll be volunteering; feel free to say hi!

A young Bernese Mountain Dog gently places a smallish stuffed mammoth into Mom's hand.

Thenie says she's not even one yet and she and Mammoth were scared of the dark. Can she cuddle? She knows it's 2 am, but she was really very delicate about shoving Mammoth in your face...

Labeled models of atoms made from air dry clay are stuck to two sheets of paper.

Starting the school year off right!

A year-old tricolor Bernese Mountain Dog puppy looks playfully at the camera with a raccoon dog toy hanging from her mouth.

Thenie is adorable. That is all.

Yesterday, my son and I made the 5 am decision to trek down to Whithorn for the Eden fiber festival. It was cozy, centered more on fiber and spinning than yarn. But even better, Whithorn has amazing history from the Iron age onwards. We will be back. And I managed to take approximately 0 photos.

I already have an appointment to have this painful lump on my finger inspected, but I'm kind of bummed that the logical thing to do is to rest that hand--no fiber arts until at least Monday. 😭

A young Bernese Mountain Dog stands with her head cocked behind a spinning wheel.

Reasons Thenie is barking, #533678: this thing SPINS. In lots of different ways! And Mom is paying attention to it, not me!

A multicoloured bobbin of dark reds, bright teal, rusty orange, and pale teal is mounted on a walnut spinning wheel.

I really like the colours on the new project, especially where they blend into each other. After working with Shetland, this Bluefaced Leicester feels open and loose! I can get it much finer, though, which is something I need to work on with the Shetland.

Last July, I broke a rib (pushing myself up on the couch, which...yeah). Today, I was sitting at my desk when that spot started seriously hurting. It's an arthritis flare, but I've never had one start so suddenly. It's amazing how little you can accomplish when your back is out of commission.

A woman's hand holds for smallish hanks of mottled green Shetland wool plied with a variegated grey, green, and brown wool/alpaca blend.

I finished my Tour de Fleece project a wee bit early, so now I need to decide whether to start something new for the last 4 days or rest on my laurels. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll have something new on the wheel by bedtime tonight. 😆

So if I were to warn you that a cautious but astute shapeshifter who was a bit of a clothes horse had taken an invisibility potion, would I say beware the wary aware wear where werewolf? Asking for a friend. Who is my son. Who is very proud of his joke.

A very small start to a big knitting project featuring stripes of robin's egg blue cashmere and pink alpaca/silk fluff. A hand holds the hem down.

I woke up in a F O U L mood. I tried to interact, but retreated because I was too prickly (thanks, perimenopause!). Instead, I caked alpaca from Eden Cottage Yarns and cashmere from ULA+LIA and started on a shawl from booknits. The softness melted my grump. Texture is everything for my knitting!

A wee embroidered European robin on a black fabric background.

My father just moved into an assisted living situation. My brother said the walls were bare, so I set to work. We've got a complicated relationship, but I guess I still have some compassion left for him.

A shawl with a soft pinkish body and creamy peach lace edging on a headless mannequin against a slate grey background. It is perhaps softer to the touch than it looks, and it seems very squishy.

A better image of the lace on a shawl with a soft pinkish body and creamy peach lace edging on a headless mannequin against a slate grey background. The lace is an alpaca blend that fluffs into the stitches. It is perhaps softer to the touch than it looks, and it seems very squishy.

So I finished a Thing. Hopefully, with the final clue out and folks starting to finish, a potential spoiler is ok. #RomiMystery25

Earlier this week, I was able to use language I've learned as a parent to grant myself a bit of space and grace to recover from sensory overload. It's a small win, but in a world where my chances of a diagnosis are miniscule, learning to support myself is a huge step.

Blue laceweight, single-ply yarn has been spun on a walnut spinning wheel.

Having a pup named Athena reminds me never to show hubris in the fiber arts, but I am cautiously very pleased with how this art batt from Sealy Macwheely is spinning up. She outdid herself with this gorgeous colour!

A romp of otters plays around a stump. One otter has climbed to the top of the stump and has their paws outstretched. Steve is an expressive speaker.

Please try to listen to Steve's speech. He's doing his best.

Hedy, a headless and armless black mannequin, sports a woven scarf in shades of teal and green. The warp is a slightly darker shade of teal.

I made this from yarn I also made from an art batt I bought from Sealy Macwheely in Wales despite attending a weekly knit and natter at her shop in Kirky until she went on maternity leave.

Two pattern pieces for a doll-sized coat face each other. One shows the correct side facing out; the other, the very obviously wrong side.

Lest anyone make the mistake of thinking I'm smart, this is what I cut from my mother's jeans to make a coat for a bunny for my niece. I don't have the fabric to recut it from denim. 🤦🏼‍♀️

Fortunately, I got extra meterage on the fabric I bought for dresses. This bunny will just be extra matchy-matchy.

I've figured out that spinning is a meditative break, so I decided to start playing with the various wheel sizes on Elissa. This is the smaller drive wheel, bigger side of the bobbin. I'm pretty pleased with it. It's just undyed BFL as I'm playing and not working towards anything.

My pretty girl. Fifteen years young and accompanying me to Wales for a yarn festival as a break from the Berner juggernauts. ❤️

Bobbin. App???

Thank you! I'm just learning, so having an entire app of *relatively* consistent yarn is a real achievement. ❤️

Burgundy yarn is tangled in the remains of a tabletop swift, which has come apart into individual pieces.

Well, this was a...start to a shawl called Radical Acceptance (by Romi Hill). The center post of my swift came unscrewed. 🤦🏼‍♀️

A walnut spinning wheel sits in front of a white wall and white shelves. There are floral fabric bins in the lowest cubbies of the shelf.

A spinning wheel bobbin filled to the brim with fairly evenly spun yarn in shades of pink, peach, and purple.

I've been kind of nervous about how open this platform is, but look! I did a thing! This is Elissa, and we are a great match. ❤️