(In case you missed it, I introduce this series here.)
I am a do-er, a maker, a creator, and a tinker. And somewhere in all that is a bit of an artist.
From as far back as I can remember, I have been a maker and
a “fixer.” I remember learning to sew and do all kinds of handwork when I was
12 years old. Here I am at 70 and I almost always have some kind of project (well…several)
that I am working on. And then there are more ideas floating around in my head
at any given time!
Even while traveling, I have projects—especially fiber
projects I work on during down time or while on trains or buses. Knitting
projects are very portable. And now I carry a little e-spinner, so I can
indulge that addiction as well.
Here are some of the projects that I completed during my travels between March 2022 and April 2023.
My Williamson Scarf
While still in Scotland in March 2023, I finished my version
of the famous Williamson Shawl. I had been working on it on and off for over a
year. The original shawl was made sometime in the early 20th Century
by Jane Thomasina Williamson. She handspun the fine yarn from the fleece of
hearty Shetland sheep. It is on display
in the Unst Heritage Museum in the far north of Scotland in the Shetland
Islands. The pattern for it was reverse engineered by a team of skilled
designers who published it Creative Commons a number of years ago. (HeirloomKnitting Group on Ravelry.com)
When I was in Scotland in 2017, I visited the museum and later picked up some
Jamieson and Smith Shetland yarn, cobweb weight. It took me a few years until my
skills were up to attempting this fine shawl with this tiny yarn. (For you lace
knitters out there, this is knitted lace—with patterns on every row and few
“resting” rows. Not for the faint of heart!)
I did not have near enough of the precious cobweb yarn to make the entire shawl,
so I altered the pattern to make it narrower and shorter and this is my
version: a “Williamson scarf.”
Legwarmers
I carried with me a supply of merino wool top for spinning
on my little Nano e-spinner during my journey. I did not have a plan for the
yarn until I began planning my winter Camino. I would need very warm clothes in
layers. So I designed these legwarmers meant to be worn over tights. They are heavy
and require garters connected to the top of the tights to stay up. They not
only came in handy on the Camino, but also on some nights of my journey when my
accommodation was freezing!
Heavy Mittens
I spent a few days in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on my train journey
from Georgia to Spain. There was a cute yarn store near the main square that
had a yarn-bombed bicycle in front. It was here that I picked up this green
yarn. This yarn is much heavier than I usually knit with. But I had in mind
these heavy mittens which I would wear over my handwarmers on the expected cold
days of my upcoming Camino.
Matching Blue Hat and Mittens
I found the fine soft blue yarn that would make this
matching set in a yarn shop in Sofia, Bulgaria during my 2022-23 train journey.
I already had a heavy wool hat, but it was nice to have a lighter, prettier one
for when the weather was not so cold.
Rebecca’s Handwarmers
I spent a month in Scotland between my Camino and the
arrival of daughter Rebecca, who joined me for a month in Scotland. During that
month, I made these handwarmers from the same handspun merino wool that I had
used for my leg warmers. Even though it was late spring, the weather was still
quite cold in northern Scotland.
