Project for 2020 - Perfect Vision

With the close of 2019 upon us, I'm giving some thought to the theme for my yearly project.
2019 was caught up with the move to the homestead and some of the basic decisions we've had to make. A great deal of time, effort, and resources are also going to be invested in the Homestead in 2020.

Upcoming posts will detail the progress we make on the Homestead, but my "Perfect Vision - 2020" theme will have far more to do with my fiber and art decisions.

I have gotten so much more production done when I have some underlying theme and goals. Three years ago was the 60 Years 60 Miles theme where I attempted to spin and ply 60 miles of yarn during the year. I was doing well, with over 37 miles before I got ill. Further progress was halted while I recovered, but I was on track for the goal.
I have several goals for this year:

• Build the garden beds, including dye and fiber plants
• Grow the cotton seeds I just obtained
• Spin 62 pounds of fiber in honor of having just reached 62 years of age. This would be in excess of 5 pounds per month, which is an ambitious target. I possibly have enough fiber in my stores for this target. If not, I hope the cotton that I grow this year will make up the difference.
• Weave the handspun into fabric for several projects. I have vague ideas of a couple wool blankets, cotton for historical re-enactment attire, and items for sale.

In order to hit these targets without dropping the ball on the ongoing projects for the Homestead, various scheduling and organizing will need to be done.

It may be a couple weeks before My Hero will be able to help me with the larger beds, but nothing is keeping me from filling five gallon buckets with some of the better soil on the property, and assembling rows of containers like I had at an apartment I had a few years ago.

The seed starting season is about six weeks out. I can put some attention on gathering containers for seed starting and setting up a space in the house for it.

The pound of cotton I just received needs to have the fluff picked off the seed - or ginned - but that can be done over the course of evening video watching.

With a little math, the 62 pounds breaks down to a little under 3 ounces of fiber spun per day. Every day.

It will be some months before My Hero gets the addition for my studio completed. This will keep me from putting my big loom together until the studio is available, but I can weave on triangle looms or frame looms until the studio is ready.

Spinning in Public, Demonstrations Coming Up

by Ameda Holmes

Practicing in public any of the skills, crafts and art forms that make up such a large part of my life can gather a fair amount of attention.

Street artists base their livelihoods on this, though my aim in spinning, weaving, or knitting in public has a lot more to do with giving people a glimpse of those portions of our history. Gently correcting ignorance is needful. Comments and questions such as "Look, honey, she's making string!" "Wool is too scratchy" "How does it jump from the wheel onto the bobbin?" "Isn't it cheaper to buy a sweater at a store?" "I heard sheep are killed for wool" give the wrong idea to both adults and children.

Last time I went to the coin laundry, I had my drop spindle with me. I got several long looks, but only one question.

The Pottsboro Frontier Day was another story. There were several visitors that were fascinated by the function of my wheel. One of them was a political candidate that used a photo app on his phone to give the impression of a historical photograph.

The librarian that was in charge of the booth where I was located was thankful when I told her that I had mostly taught myself out of library books, and inter-library loan books.

University of Google notwithstanding, the resources of our library system are very valuable and needed.

I plan to volunteer as a living interpreter for our local library and local museum programs, and I'll be contributing more on YouTube.

The first weekend of November is a Civil War recreation event in Oklahoma. We hope to make it there.

Ameda's Favorite Slippers

by Ameda Holmes

These have been my own version of Mary-Jane slippers for some time. They are fast and easy to make, accommodate a wide variety of feet, and are practically guaranteed to to turn the recipient into a jelly of gratitude when given as a gift.

These are a great project to use up the small bits of yarn that accumulate in any knitter's stash. I will use whatever I have, be it acrylic, superwash wool, or even my own handspun, but not mixing types. Making these large in non-superwash wool and then felting them to fit makes for a sturdy slipper.

Size is dependent on the yarn used, and you'll be making these often enough that you'll work out for yourself the appropriate needed needle size for the yarn for your most comfortable knitting. As a general guide, bulky yarn and size 9 needles will make a men's, Worsted weight and size 6 needles will make a woman's size, and fingering yarn and size 2 needles will make a child's size.

This project is a good beginner project, as the very basics of knitting - Cast On, Knit, Purl, Increase, Decrease, and Bind Off - are used.

Here is a link to my YouTube video "The Basics of Knitting" https://youtu.be/yEOh5F-Wna8
It covers Cast On, Knit Stitch, Purl Stitch, Yarn Over Increase from both Knit and Purl stitches, Knit 2 together decrease, Purl 2 together decrease, and Cast Off

CAST ON

CO 6

STARTING TAB

Knit 6 rows in garter st (knit every row)
Continuing in garter stitch, Inc 1 stitch at the beginning of each row until you have 19 stitches on your needles.

INCREASE ROW

K1, YO to last stitch, K1 (you should have 36 stitches)

BODY

Knit 40 rows in Stockinette stitch (knit 1 row, purl 1 row

DECREASE ROW

Knit 2 together across row - 18 stitches

ENDING TAB

In garter stitch, Dec 1 stitch each edge until you are back to 6 stitches
Knit 6 rows

BIND OFF

Bind off the 6 stitches

FINISHING

Fold your rather funky-looking piece of knitting right sides together and the beginning and ending tabs together. Using the tails from your cast on & bind off, sew the beginning 6 stitches to the last 6 stitches. Match the ends of the increase and decrease rows, and sew up the sides of the body.

A SHORT DISCUSSION OF GAUGE

Since I'm not making a specific yarn recommendation and these slippers stretch to fit a wide variety of feet, I'm not being very specific on gauge for this project.
Gauge can be defined as the number of stitches and rows per inch for the specific combination of knitter, needle size, stitch used, and yarn. It can vary quite a bit.