What I really want to tell you about is my sister. She and her family are staying in South Africa for 4 months while her husband works at a medical clinic. My sister has been helping at an orphanage near her house twice a week since they've been there. It is an amazing place and the pictures she posts on her blog - From Canada to Sundumbili - are really great. She is helping with the kids but also trying to drum up donations for Ikhaya LikaBaba Orphanage She writes on her blog that it is a real uphill battle since the need in South Africa is so great and the number of businesses that can afford to donate supplies and money are so small. If you would be interested in mailing baby and toddler clothes, baby items, health care items the address to send the items to is on the Ikhaya LikaBaba website. You can also make monetary donations from their website as well. I sent one package and it took about 2 1/2 weeks to get there. I am planning to sew up a few more blankets and pick up some more outfits from the discount stores to mail in the coming weeks.
Have you read the book "The Shack"?? If not, I highly recommend reading it! It is an amazing story and really touched my life. It has given me a different perspective on life in a few areas and made me realize I need to be a bit less "structured" and "controlling". I think that is one of the reasons I haven't been making quite so many charity items lately. I new I really needed a bit of a break but the "guilt" kept getting in the way of the break time. I know not everyone agrees but I think I need to make some things for me and my family as well as for others. I kept having that nagging thought that I don't "need" anything and there are so many who do need things that I couldn't make anything for me. I found myself being overwhelmed by the needs of the world and wanting to fix everything - which is completely impossible on my own. I hate seeing people suffer and, if I could, I would make it all better (like everyone else would) but I can't. So I need to chill out and relax a bit. I really am enjoying spinning and knitting and sewing more since I've relaxed a bit --- though some of my friends would say "not enough"!
So what have I been doing since the last blog posting. More spinning ....Green/Teal yarn is two ply handspun 100% merino. Probably about a sport weight yarn and I have no idea what to do with it. I have 315 yards of it but it is really bright. I could just save it to squish every now and again.
This grey/blue/tan yarn is 50% merino and 50% silk three ply using the navajo plying method. It's a bit heavier than the green but still a sport weight. I started to make socks with it but not sure that's what I really want to make. You can see what the fiber looks like before spinning in the background. It's called "sea mist".
The brown/teal/blue yarn still on the spool is roving purchased from FatCatKnits on etsy and is called Eureka Springs - 100% merino and nice and soft. It's spinning up beautifully. I also purchased some other merino roving that is dyed with natural plant material and I want to do one ply of that with 2 plys of this Eureka Springs. Love experimenting with colour so looking forward to how that will turn out. I don't have the natural dyed roving yet (maybe today) and it's purchased from NatchWoolie on Etsy as well.
This dark brown yarn is spun from 50% sheep wool and 50% alpaca. I thought it would be much softer than it is, but it will be super great for the sweater I'm making. I purchased 2lbs of it to spin and have spun about 1lb of it already. It is 2 ply and about worsted weight. I tried 3plying it but didn't like how it felt so I went with the 2ply yarn. The sweater I'm making from it is called Gaelic Mist by Lisa Lloyd in her book A Fine Fleece. Wonderful book with so many neat patterns. She lists requirements for handspun yarn and also suggests a commercially available yarn to use as well. I can see myself making more patterns from her book.
And I finished my first handspun/handknit socks. This is the cable twist sock pattern from Hello Yarn. The pattern is very easy and the socks turned out lovely with a bit of shine in the yarn from the bamboo. I'm really happy with them and they feel good to wear.I also went on a quilt retreat with my mom. It was so much fun to spend time with my mom doing something that we both enjoy a lot. I finally finished my queen size quilt and it is not proudly displayed on my bed. That's the biggest quilt I've ever made and it really wasn't hard to quilt it on my table top Bernina. I also made a small wall hanging from some of the Japanese fabric I purchased from Japan last June. I will post pictures next time (and hopefully it won't be a month from now).
And I'm working on knitting a baby blanket. It's a really great stitch pattern and I'll post that next time as well.
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