Nostalgic November

Welcome, welcome, welcome November! Usually, I herald your arrival with some manner of grumbling, but as it is still in the fifties and smelling like fall, you are quite welcome to move forward. This month, of course, is always one of my favorites - my birthday, Thanksgiving (which means a break from school), and that hint of Christmas to come. I am already busily knitting away on projects that must not be named, and I have my wrappings, trimmings and decorations (what few of them there will be) planned and prepared.

This time of year always feels so productive to me. I get to stay indoors and work on something beautiful and warm and usually woolen, spin yarn to my heart's content, and snuggle up under a blanket to knit and watch a movie. Lately, Hulu has been my knitting entertainment of choice. With shows that are only about half an hour long, I can spend just a bit of time working, get up and do something everyone else considers productive, and then settle back down for another increment.

Today, I discovered these Wallace and Gromit Short Films. They are only about three or four minutes, so I watched them consecutively, but watching Wallace and Gromit only brings joy, a desire to knit, and a strong craving for cheese. I'm seriously considering trying to hunt down the original three films on DVD - they are so nostalgic for me (the woman who taught me how to knit showed me Wallace and Gromit) - and isn't this the time of year for nostalgia?

Of course, I don't have a lot to be nostalgic about, but what I do, I promise to share with you on the blog for the entire month of November! Recipes, projects, and traditions from my family to yours - what are you planning for your Nostalgic November?

A Shanty for Arethusa

Not so much a shanty, but a home. An apartment.
Welcome home, little cat.

And the Wheel Keeps Turning

I have been busy lately. Busy with school, busy with work, busy with knitting, busy with projects, busy with going here and there and everywhere. And although I have been so busy, I still have trouble finding the time for all the things I am busy with! School seems to take up such an overwhelming majority of that time that when I have a few moments, I am far more likely to pick up a spinning project than a knitting one. No rows to count, no cables to figure out before you can move forward. This is not a good thing - it means that I'm getting more spinning done than knitting lately. But it is kind of fun, besides. And I get really pretty yarn out of it!

At Yarn School this year, I took the Ashford Traditional and somehow turned it into a Kromski Mazurka! It's amazing, that yarn purchase magic. The Ashford was a great wheel - sweet, sentimental, steady, smooth. But I needed something a little speedier, a little quicker, so that I could spin the lighter weights without having to treadle like a gerbil on cocaine. So the Mazurka fulfills all my intermediate spinning needs. Plus, could it get any prettier?!

I have been very busy spinning on it, too, having amassed quite the collection of both Hello Yarn and other fiber products. I am sort of addicted to Adrian's work - after all, who isn't? But after getting to meet her, it's refreshing to find out that she is a totally real, down to earth person. With a penchant for cheese and pajamas! She and the other Yarn School instructors really gave me a lot to think about when I spin (twist ratios, anyone? WPI?) But I can tell that there's already been great improvement. My first Yarn School Spin was a merino from Hello Yarn - the colorway is exclusive to Harveyville and was called 'Poisonous'. My spinning and plying came out far more even than ever before (pictures are on the Flickr.) 

When I returned home, I was delighted to find that I could spin a pretty, lovely, even single on some Romney (a club colorway called Sweet Potato Vine - I told you, I'm addicted), which yielded around 414 yards of yarn! This is destined someday to become a something lovely, I'll have you know. But for now, I am totally enjoying the yarn's photoshoot. It seems that the better my spinning gets, the better my photography gets too. Lately I have been wanting to start a series of paintings based off of some of these photographs. I feel like the line and fuzziness of yarn would be fun to capture, as well as the softness and stroke of the fiber pre-spinning.

Welcome to Fashion School

I feel like we've finally started fashion school. Officially. Before, the classes were all about things like learning to sew on an industrial machine. Learning what terms like 'Trend Forecasting' and 'color story' mean. But now we're getting into things like draping, and illustration, and I couldn't be happier.

It's funny to imagine that just a little while ago I thought that I was living out my dream of being a painter. I did enjoy my time at Drake University - don't get me wrong - but in a lot of ways I was just never fully satisfied. Fully challenged. Fashion speaks not only to my artistic side but also to my crafty one. It speaks to my ambitious side, a part of me that works really hard to come out when I'm working really hard. Fashion design makes me strong willed. Determined.

I am double focused - both in creative design (the one that most people think of when they think of fashion design), and technical design. This means that I get to use all my artsy, crafty stuff, my drawings and dye ideas and musings about poetry or natural collection, written material and visual absorption. But my technical focus allows me to be detail oriented. Serious about structure and construction and perfection.

Yes, my personality and fashion seem to be the perfect marriage, for now.