Sunday, January 22, 2023

Happy Lunar New Year

It's the year of the rabbit, unless you're Vietnamese, then it's the year of the cat. For the Chinese, that figure in the moon is a rabbit. This year earth tiger, my birth sign, has given way to water rabbit, all about peace and prosperity. Sounds good.

Either way, cat or rabbit, good health, long life and good partying! Along with the many East Asian countries who celebrate.





Back home, I finished the pink mix gloves 


and did a bit more spinning. I decided that to satisfy my need to spin and to knit, I'd include the silk mix thread I've spun into the next gloves with some other yarn I found in the box under the roving. Blurry picture of same, dark rainy day.


It's a single, that's a single thread, not plied, so it works. I have no idea how much I need to spin, so I'll do it the way I did the vest of many colors. Just stop when I run out and spin a new supply! 

Serious spinners will be shocked that I've skipped the washing and weighting and drying and all the other approved steps before using the yarn. I did all that when I learned to spin, and when I was dyeing my yarn. 

But when the roving's already dyed, I don't see a downside up to now to skipping. I just knit sometimes right off the spindle. Gives a new meaning to just-in-time manufacturing.

About the terminology in this blog when I talk textiles. This is probably the downside to combining the two blogs, the art blog with this one. There the audience could be assumed to be was mostly familiar with the language if various arts, all of which are just everyday speech to me. In the combined blog perhaps not so much 

However I can't guess which terms are unfamiliar to readers. So I rely on you to alert me if you want an explainer, and I'll do my best. 

Just specify which words are obscure. I do try to guess, and often insert an explanatory phrase, but I'm open to hearing specific questions. 

Speaking of specific, the puzzle with all the ells is:

ILLEGALLY!  So you can now unfurrow your brow, very annoying when you've been assuming any puzzle answer is probably a noun. I did at first.

Happy evening everyone!  Celebrate if it's the start of your New Year and good health to all of us!





28 comments:

  1. Agricultural & pastoral shows in NZ used to have a competition to shear a sheep, spin the wool and knit it into a jumper. Can't remember how many in a team (maybe three or 4). They were spinning and knitting greasy wool so the jumpers must have been heavy until washed. Gloves are looking good.

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    1. Fiber shows in the US sometimes have a Sheep to Shawl contest, same idea. The spinners and knitters hands must be very soft, with all that lanolin.

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    2. PS we have decided to go with Vietnamese this year. Tigger thinks that every year should be the year of the cat.

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  2. Replies
    1. Thank you. Someone will enjoy them. They go to a special project.

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  3. I saw a white jackrabbit today hopping down the road. I took it as a good omen for the Year of the Rabbit.

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    Replies
    1. That sounds like an excellent auspicious sign.

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  4. You knit those gloves so quick. There are lots of happy wqrm hands because of you. How lovely

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    1. They're much faster than socks, which I have to get back to.

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  5. I don't worry about the details and just understand the broad strokes.

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    1. Sounds good! I do likewise when you talk photography.

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  6. There is nothing wrong with combining textiles and art in one blog. It is your blog and whatever topic trips your trigger is perfectly fine! If I don't understand something, I generally just look it up for more information.

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    1. Textiles are art. I was referring to the different audiences I had in each blog. Thank you for looking up what's unfamiliar!

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  7. Peace and prosperity sounds wonderful in a world where many lack both. Yay for rabbits!

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  8. Wow! I would never have gotten that word. I think you're right -- I was thinking mostly in terms of plural nouns. I understand enough of what you say about the textiles to make it work for me!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, that was an annoying puzzle! Thanks for reading for your own comprehension without sweating it.

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  9. I, too, often find myself looking up terms and items you use.

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    1. Thank you for looking them up. I'd be glad to explain if you ever mention which terms are obscure.

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  10. I'm a dragon. I'm also a scorpio which just goes to prove how wrong all these things are!

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  11. I enjoy the reading even if I sometimes haven't a clue. It's still interesting.

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  12. Well, yay, I was right about the puzzle answer! As for craft terminology, since I did remark on unfamiliar terms, I find I don't need to know it all unless it's something I want to pursue, I get the jist from your explanations. Good enough for now.

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    1. Well done on the puzzle! That was a tricky one.
      And thanks for the addition to your comment. I won't be so concerned as long as readers are getting what they want from here.

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  13. Our #2 daughter-in-love was born in Taiwan so we 'celebrate' the Chinese New Year a little bit with her. I learned something last year because I thought our grandies were born in a certain 'year' and it turns out I was totally wrong. Their actual year doesn't start on Jan. 1st as we would think so the fact that two of our grandies were born the end of January means that actually their 'year/animal' is from what we would think of as being the previous year. Don't know why that didn't occur to me before.

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    1. Since it's a moveable feast to do with phases of the moon, it's not surprising it gets confusing. I expect the grandchildren got their red envelopes?

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    2. I suspect they got their envelopes, although their true celebration was somewhat delayed due to 3 members of the family getting food poisoning. Not feeling up to celebrating.

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