Adrianna

Fiberuary Challenge Days 27 & 28: Looking Forward and Gratitude

Combining the final two prompts because what I'm looking forward to is spinning up my now considerable stash of fiber, and what I'm grateful for is how I acquired that stash.

Last fall I spotted spinning fiber in the photos of an estate sale ad. The sale company doesn't have great yarn prices—they want $3 per skein, which would be a steal for good yarn, but it's always scratchy vintage acrylic and kitchen cotton—but I took a gamble that they wouldn't know how to price fiber. When I got there at opening, I realized not only were they out of their depth with the product itself, but they were flying totally blind because tons of it was unlabeled in little gift bags.

I was looking at several years' worth of the Paradise Fibers mystery club, $35US per month, priced here by bag size for $3 to $10 each. (Side note that PF is owned by ultra-hardcore Trumpers, so I don't buy from them directly.) Not only that, but the estate owner appeared to have been a "spinner" solely by aspiration, so there were no partial quantities, just hundreds upon hundreds of dollars of pristine fiber. On the first day I bought 460g of combed flax and 25g of silk cocoons, and I planned to come back on the final day for 50% off anything that was left.

Well, it wasn't 50% off. Everything marked $10 and under was a dollar, and other shoppers hadn't been interested in mystery fiber. I took almost all of it and spent the afternoon watching Youtube unboxing videos to identify the contents. And that's how I paid one American dollar for 120g of 100% mulberry silk. Other hits included Shetland/eri silk, another 85g of combed flax, Falkland/camel/llama/eri silk, and over 500g of plain ol' Merino in various colors to play with.

I did have two duds: The first was 85g of bamboo viscose, and the second was a compostable bag that I assumed contained something actually eco-friendly but ended up being 85% "bio"-nylon/15% "rose" viscose (a trademark because it's "as soft as rose petals," no actual rose plants involved). I guess I'll blend the nylon into sock yarn, but what to do with the bamboo other than sell it on? I'm not hardline against (semi-)synthetic fibers when they can have their uses, but I don't like the greenwashing in viscose marketing and don't really have a use for 85g of it anyway. Feels like too much to blend, and I don't think I'd enjoy working with it solo. But I now have almost 5kg of spinning time to decide on a solution.

So that was Fiberuary 2026. Some of it was tough to translate from Instagram, but for the most part I really enjoyed this. I'll try not to go dark for another three years!

Fiberuary Challenge Day 19: Color Crush
My favorite color is rainbow. My second favorite color is bi flag. Sad beige knitwear designers are a blight, and I wouldn't hesitate to push a button that deletes their entire catalogues.

Day 20: Finished It

All I've finished this month (and in 2026) is swatches for spinning guild. That's just where I am in my projects right now. I have a pair of socks I should have finished earlier, but it's the kind of cable pattern where the distance between crosses is so long that I have to mark down Every. Single. Row. so I don't lose my place and have to count rounds in teeny tiny stitches. It's much more laborious than such a "simple" pattern ought to be. But I'm down to about 30 rounds, including the toe decreases, and should be done tomorrow!

( Days 21-23: Sip & Knit, Giving Back, Memories )

Fiberuary Challenge Day 17: Project Bag Contents

Let's find out!

Blue Harris tweed bag: Giant handspun shawl in progress, beer glass print needle holder, 15 1oz/28g handspun miniskeins. If this project leaves the house, I also take my .01g dye scale to make sure I reserve enough yarn for color change sections.

Coffeepot print bag: Finished sock, second sock in progress, goth girls print needle holder, Doctor Who print needle holder (with only the edge of Five's head 😭), and pink and yellow gradient sock yarn (next project). Also a random full cone of navy sewing thread?? My sewing machine doesn't take cones, so why do I even have that?

Beer glass print bag: Two finished sweater sleeves, bag of stitch markers, tape measure, black hand-dyed yarn from my last sweater, and KnitPicks Chroma laceweight in bi flag colors (no memory of why it's in this bag). The sweater body piece doesn't fit, but maybe it would if I took out the random leftovers.

Woolly Thistle logo canvas tote: Three drop spindles, hand distaff, skein of yarn spun on a kick spindle, miniskein of handspun banana-wool blend yarn, KnitPro wooden double-pointed needle set, handout from last guild meeting, business cards from a fiber fest last year, and Shave 'Em to Save 'Em sticker for Leicester Longwool.

HyVee reusable grocery bag (Why are reusable grocery bags made of that IKEA bag plastic now? This one can go in the laundry!): Hand carders, flick carder + leather scrap for lap guard, sewing shears, and ~100g of Cheviot wool. I need to make a denim bag to hold my carders better. Right now they're just awkwardly sticking out of the original box.

If I take a project bag out of the house, I add a container of stitch markers, a darning needle, a tape measure, and my KnitPro elephant swatch ruler/needle gauge/yarn cutter.

Empties: ChemKnits Pokeball canvas bag, Baby Yoda print bag, another Woolly Thistle canvas tote, mushroom print knot bag. Maybe I should start loading future projects into these so they're ready to go as I finish current WIPs.

I knew keeping this up would be a challenge because—and this is a large part of why I didn't post for three years!—if my hands are free, I want to be touching sheep, not tapping on a keyboard. I'm at peace with not currently writing fic*, but I don't want to not write at all. These prompts helped me think through some of my concerns around balance.

*I didn't write fic between ages 16 and 30, so who knows, maybe I won't write again until something grabs me around 45. I only feel drawn to fic for a tiny percentage of what I read and watch, and that goes quadruple for wanting to write it myself.

( Fiberuary Challenge Days 7-10: Self-Care, Reading or Watching, Motivation, and Texture )

Fiberuary Challenge Day 3: Mood

Uh. Well, my mood's not great these days, guys! Not sure how it could be! I go back and forth on the idea of mood tracking. Crochet designer Toni Lipsey ran a make-along for a "mood blanket" in place of her usual temperature blanket last year, and that actually kick-started my thinking about this. On the one hand, it could be helpful to show there are still good days despite lo, these times. On the other hand, lo, these times. I'd better love the color I choose for anger and pre-purchase a good 500g of it.

That's not necessarily a bad thing! The intention behind temperature blankets is to document climate change, after all. So they're complex objects, recording a crisis alongside (hopefully) good memories from the year and the enjoyment of one's stitching. Likewise, a mood blanket can tell multiple stories.

Now, the real problem is they take a fuckton of yarn and I get sooooo bored. The one temperature blanket I made had nine different mosaic crochet stitch combos, and that still wasn't enough variety for me. An angrysad mood blanket would need 365 stitches to make up for the color monotony.

Three years? Whoops. Kinda wish I had more worth writing about in that big of a gap. Still trying to escape Indiana, but I'm mostly getting job applications rejected before lunch the next day. Haven't been transformatively fannish about much either. I gave up midway through Critical Role campaign 3, but I'm finding the new campaign's multi-table approach interesting so far. Hopefully it's inspiring enough that I might get back to my Mighty Nein socks project. I'm wearing my Beau socks right now.

Spouse and I started playing Sky: Children of the Light right after it launched on Steam, so we're coming up on our 2nd moth-iversaries in the spring. If you play too, feel free to hit me up for a friend code! I play most days and always send light to everyone. Spouse has done a bunch of needlefelting and clay sculpting projects of our characters and in-game creatures, and I have needlefelted one (1) crab. What I really want to make is the crochet cape a TGC employee developed from several existing patterns. You know, right after I knit that Journey scarf I've been meaning to get around to.

I've always wanted to participate in Fiberuary, a yarn-y Instagram event created by Cecilia Nelson-Hurt, but I'm just not an Instagram person. Or any kind of image- and snippet-based social media person. So I'm going to give it a shot here and get myself back in the habit of posting!


(I see there are two Wear It Wednesdays. Undecided if I'll do both or pick a past year's prompt for one.)

Day 1: Hello, it's me

When I last posted here, I was already crocheting, knitting, and dyeing yarn. I learned to crochet in my early 20s, knit late 20s, and dye mid-30s. Since then I've started spinning my own yarn, and one of my goals this year is to learn embroidery for visible mending and embellishment. I've also known how to sew clothing since childhood, but it's always been more of a chore than a hobby.

I'm doing my very best to resist weaving! They're not gonna get me, dammit! It helps that I'm far more interested in blankets than shoelaces, so it's easy not to be tempted by inkle looms and tablet sets. Even if I could afford a floor loom, there's nowhere for it to live in my house. This does not stop me from keeping Handwoven and Little Looms in my Libby magazine subscriptions.

thefridayfive 25 November 2022

1. What is your favorite vegetable?

For sheer versatility, it has to be broccoli. Equally good raw or cooked, fits just about every cuisine, and freezes well. I guess this is also true of carrots, but I'm meh on carrots. Too sweet and the wrong kind of crunch.

2. What is your favorite fruit?

Maybe this is boring, but for me nothing beats a crisp, tart apple. Pink Ladies are my favorite of what's commonly available here, but I got Envies on sale a few weeks ago and lost my mind over them.

3. What is your favorite cheese?

Maytag blue. I'm a general cheese fan, but Maytag is a big favorite. That and the tavern sandwich (from sketchy diners and dive bars, not the Maid-Rite chain) are the state of Iowa's only worthwhile contributions to the world.

4. What is your favorite dessert?

I wasn't sure how to answer this at first, but then it hit me as I was literally making it this morning: Cranberry gingerbread.

I always make cranberry sauce from scratch. You could get away with canned as long as it's the whole berry kind, not juice only. Mix 1 pound of fresh cranberries (I added some sliced apples this time), 1/4-1/2 C of sugar, a splash of brandy and/or orange juice, and a pinch each of pie spices. I sometimes grate in fresh ginger or citrus zest too. Cook in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the cranberries burst, the syrup thickens, and the alcohol (if used) cooks off.

I adapt this gingerbread recipe. I use vegetable oil instead of butter to save time and grease a measuring cup for pouring the molasses. Increase flour to 3 C (I do 2 AP flour, 1 whole wheat), baking soda to 2 tsp, and eggs to 2 (or sub 1/2 C applesauce). Half and half white and brown sugar. Lightly stir cranberry sauce into prepared batter and pour into a 9x13" pan. The extra mass of the fruit can overflow a 9-inch pan even without increasing the batter amounts, so I would use a 9x13" regardless.

It's great with a thin lemon glaze and mulled wine or cider.

5. What is your favorite beverage?

If it's a "You can drink only water and this for the rest of your life" situation, I have to say coffee. Always hot, never milk, usually no sweetener, though sometimes I like a bit of brown sugar or maple syrup.

[ETA: Added a paragraph Nov 19, 2022.]

( Spoilers for Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Reunited ep1 )

I don't think this one counts as too big a spoiler: Fanartists who restore the beefiness to Yasha's new design own my soul. Put her lats back where they came from or so help me! (So help me!)

( This part's the pet death talk )

We're getting boosters this evening so we can spend New Year's back in Chicago again (I should also, like, get an oil change before I take the car out on I-80, just a thought). Our friends' kid has been planning her next one-shot for two years, but she gets camera-shy around our Zoom game and won't DM that way. I haven't decided on a character approach yet. My NYE 2021 Zoom game character was Flamin' Hot Doritos the fire genasi barbarian, and for 2020 Z and I were Old Norse Scooby Doo & Shaggy. So now I need something equally ridiculous. I've never built a wizard before. Might be worth trying with a throwaway character.

My hands are still pretty stiff these days, but I haven't had any full-on inflammation since that bad episode in September. (My mother's like, "You're too young for that!" Yeah, that's also what you said when I found a grey hair at 16, Mom.) Taking lots of breaks, doing lots of stretches. Holiday gifts will have to be a couple weeks late, with the exception of two non-knitted gifts I made to continue a childhood tradition.

My mom used to fill empty Harry & David 12 Days of Christmas gift boxes with small, useful presents every day from Christmas to Twelfth Night. It limited our gift footprint at home when she knew her in-laws--who were the reason we ended up with three Harry & David boxes in the first place--would refuse to give us less than a car-full of Useless Garbage Toys every year. Then my parents split and it was a way to make holidays happen at all as a broke single mom. She gave me my box before we moved out here, but our "probably no kids" at the time very quickly turned into "definitely no kids, never, ever, ever," of course, so it's been collecting dust for a decade.

At first I thought of offering it to my youngest sister if she wanted to keep the tradition going with her two kids. Then I found out that her family makes zero effort to donate or pass on anything they aren't keeping when they move. They rent a dumpster and throw out half their stuff. This box did not survive 30-odd years to go in the garbage! So I loaded it up with mini paints, terrain cover, and a sketch of a lightbulb to use as a "gift certificate" for a clamp-on LED lamp. To detach things from Christian feast days, Z is getting the first box on the 21st, which puts box #12 on January 1st. A nice little way to get us from the solstice to the new year.

For my mom, I, um... gave a mouse a cookie. It's me. I'm the mouse. I started by dyeing 200g of sock yarn in colors from Mary Cassatt paintings, a set of "Young Mother Sewing" minis for Christmas and a "Little Girl in a Blue Armchair" full skein for her birthday. Well, that's six things already. Why not make a coordinating project bag to hold them? There'll be leftover fabric, so how about a notions pouch and some needle keepers? Then all it needs is tea, chocolate, and cedar sachets to fill it out for 12 days of gifts. I hadn't sewn much in a few years--oh man, my poor sewing machine is falling apart--but everything came together well. I even did a decent job installing a zipper, my nemesis. I don't know that I'm going to keep going this all-out in future years, but I do want to dye up a palette pulled from Ezra Jack Keats books at some point. It'd be so bright and saturated for grandkid projects.

Now I have a pair of mittens left to knit,* two toddler cardigans that need pockets and elbow patches stitched on, and then it's all procrastinating over going to the World's Worst Post Office. It's going to be incredible getting back to household knitting. Z's sweater has been marooned on sleeve island for months, and I've had yarn dyed up for a hat, gloves, and socks set for just as long. And the Critical Socks project! I've got Beau and Essek yarns ready to go and just have a couple characters' pattern choices to narrow down for VM and M9. Half the ExU characters joining the campaign 3 table made me pause my pattern selections for all of them, but I do have notes. Lots and lots of notes. I'm also doing a terrible job at not getting carried away with the new party. Ashton has like a dozen options already, but I'm not allowed to decide until the campaign is over. I mean, imagine how a Molly sock would change just between 140 and 141, let alone if I chose a pattern and colorway on episode 6. And then there's Travis goddamn Willingham, that unbelievable troll!

*This is the most on-brand thing, but I got nervous about a pattern that had a short section of three-strand colorwork. I'd never done stranded colorwork of any kind, so to be safe I elected to start on a pattern that only used two colors throughout. Much easier! And that's how I knitted a full pair of traditional Norwegian mittens for my first stranded project, because I was scared of... *checks notes* five rows.

Well, damn. The Olympics just started a dedicated figure skating channel on Youtube, and its big draw (for me, at least) for about a week was an endless stream of past Olympic events. They'd alternate between two segments each day with a short special feature (a specific gold medalist's programs, one country's team event, etc.) as an intermission. Some of their choices were questionable—Who wants to relive anything from Salt Lake City?—but I was hoping they might dig into the archives and eventually stream much older events. The regular Olympics channel has the full women's FS from Albertville commentary-free, but pretty much everything else pre-2000s I've searched up is the US TV broadcast. There are limits to what I'm willing to suffer for skating.

But now the stream has disappeared without a word! Maybe they ran into a music rights issue or didn't see enough viewers for the effort, I dunno. Have a French recording of Katarina Witt's Sarajevo FS that looks it came from somebody's grandma's VCR instead.