Exuberant!

Sometimes the creative process takes you in a different direction and on a different timeline.

We are past the busy autumn festival schedule. While it seems crazy, my body actually began to bother me. I had so much fun! How could I be hurting myself? But at some point, my body started to say, "Um, hey, could we maybe take a break? Rest a little? Sleep in our own bed for a whole month?" I'm not accustomed to making such accommodations. This has been a good reminder that right now we are entering the restful time of the year. The harvest is over. Yes, we are coming into the holiday season. But at the same time, the holidays should be joyful, not exhausting. Cuddly Hubby and I spent a delightful Thanksgiving holiday weekend together at home. We played games with friends. We saw a movie in a movie theater. (Yes, with popcorn and a Slurpie. Sadly, Pepsi not Coca-Cola. Zero-world problem.) I am looking forward to spending the whole end-of-year holidays at home. No travel.

I have a backlog of knitting work to do. I've been updating my "Brioche Rosetta Stone" handout for The Knitting Guild Association conference next spring. I need to update the handout for "Scheherazade Intarsia," as I'm teaching a weekend of that at Kanuga in January. And I have an illusion knit experiment sitting on my needles.

But instead of working on all that, I decided I needed a quick spinning project.

Back in January, I took Esther Rodgers' "Sculptural Core Spinning" class online at STITCHES Expo at Home. I was a bit skeptical. I tend to think of spinning classes as very much an in-person sort of thing. But I also know Esther. She is one of the most joyful, giving, delightful, creative souls I have encountered. Of course her class was wonderful! And I loved the idea of light-up yarn. Must. Have. More.

As it so happened, my weekly Wednesday shopping fell on the 2nd of November. The stores were in full switch out mode — how quickly can we convert Halloween into Christmas? There was an abundance of light wire/fairy lights at the big box craft store. I bought a string — 100 lights on a wire about 5 meters long.

I've also done some stash diving lately. Truth is, I do have too much yarn and too much fiber stash. (And I bought two fleeces this year. What was I thinking? I was mesmerized by the wool fumes.) I have a small stash of long locks for tail spinning, including these Leicester longwool. And I had way too much Firestar. I decided to try making icicle yarn for holiday decoration.

Things I learned:

• Use a bobbin with a solid end. I love my Akerworks bobbins, but this is not an appropriate use of them. The locks poked out and got wrapped around parts of my spinning wheel.
• Use the Majacraft overdrive head. I figured with such a short length, I could use a plying flyer and bobbin. Ok yes, but just barely.
• That Clemes and Clemes lock pop I purchased at Rhinebeck is the perfect thing for this type of spinning!
• Thin locks worked better. Most of the time, three locks between each light was right. Sometimes I divided a thicker lock.
  

Overall I'm very happy with the result! There's a certain joyful exuberance about lock spun yarn. It looks like a party. While this design took icicles as a starting point, I am thinking about other possibilities. Would green lights and green locks look like slime or oobleck for Halloween? There's something Dr. Seuss-like about this yarn. Maybe multicolored lights and multicolored locks with ribbons for a birthday party? While lock spinning is slow — at least for me it is — it is also rewarding. I have some chocolate brown Leicester longwool in my stash. Could I make a lock spun yarn based on chocolate sauce or a sundae or chocolate-covered cherries?

At minimum, this beautiful yarn is adorning the interior side of my front door for the holiday season.