It is finally the beginning of tomato harvesting season here in Alberta. I’ve been waiting for what feels like forever! In reality it’s only been three months, we don’t plant out tender plants until May long weekend here in Edmonton because of the risk of frost, but watching these guys grow for three months and having to wait to eat them is a serious tease.
To say I love tomatoes is an understatement. I grow around 30 plants every year, all of varying varieties, and have converted a not inconsiderable amount of my yard to tomato patches. I grow them, I save as much seed as I can, and I share them around the world with other gardeners (The Populuxe Seed bank has been my pet project for the past 10 years, and I have hundreds of varieties preserved).
I know, I know, this is a knitting/spinning blog right? Well, that’s a bit of a explanation for you why it’s been so long since I posted! We’ve been enjoying the summer here (when I’m not hiding from the 30C temperatures that is), and the garden does take up a lot of time and care through the summer.
Not to say I haven’t been knitting and spinning of course!
I’ve finished up my Merino/Romney spin, which I started for Tour de Fleece, and continued on after that. I wanted to get around 1200 yards so I could have enough to knit two 600 yard shawls, and I accomplished my goal. There’s 5 skeins, all totalled after finishing, at 1221 yards.
The Stats
Grist: 1039 ypp
Twist: 40°
WPI: 15/16
Weight: Light fingering
Draft: Short forward draw
Ratios: Spun 14:1, Plied 14:1
I plan on dyeing this yarn, but I haven’t decided how much and what exactly. I purchased some natural dyes from Maiwa in Vancouver that I’m very excited to start experimenting with.
I bought logwood, osage, and chestnut, along with some iron. I think out of these three colours plus what I can scrounge around me I should be able to make a few different colours that I’ll be happy with. It’ll be an interesting experiment anyway.
I’m leaning towards dyeing these skeins (or at least a few of them) with logwood, and giving them an after-bath of iron. But first I’ll be experimenting on some mini-skeins I spun up exactly for this purpose. Part of me is really scared of screwing them all up and I’ll just despise the colours I dye them, so taking that leap is a bit of a scary prospect.
I’ve been knitting too – but I’ve been mostly keeping that under wraps for now. These are a few designs that I feel like I’ve been working on forever. It’s mostly been starting to knit, ripping out, rejiggering the pattern (technical term), and then re-starting them. But now, I’m almost done the first pattern, and the second will be started imminently. I’m really excited about these designs, and if you liked Inis Oirr, I think you will too.
Inis Oirr is available for free on Knotions, so head on over to the pattern page here to find that link to tide you over until the new knits are ready to be released.