Oh, for a Linen Sweater

I have set aside the first grey mitten because there is something wrong with the gauge.  I need to fix it and just haven't.  Actually, I haven't made anything at all for three weeks, fibre or metal.  I have been resting and procrastinating on non-maker tasks.

I like to browse the online listings of a local auction house.  I like secondhand things and also material culture: it interests me to see what people had.  There is an estate sale up right now that includes something like ten storage tubs full of unfinished quilts.  Let this be a lesson to us all!

I've also been browsing Ravelry's project search function for finished sweaters, finished sweaters in linen, finished sweaters in undyed yarn, lace-weight finished sweaters, and handspun finished sweaters.  Many of the handspun sweaters were stockinette with thin stripes in multiple colours that were blurred and indistinct as they changed from one colour to another.  I would guess their owners spun the yarn from those 4 ounce bags of of roving dyed in multiple colours that have been so popular the last while.  There was a dainty Waterlily sweater, which is a solid colour in mostly stockinette stitch with some knitted lace at the yoke, knitted with the most beautiful linen yarn.  I went so far as to look up where to buy the yarn.  And then I thought of all the supplies I have already.  I may lack linen knitting yarn (and a nice linen sweater to wear) but there's a fair bit of linen weaving yarn, wool yarn, hemp yarn, wool roving, and raw fleece waiting for their turn.  I also have a 1990s thrift store linen sweater that might yield some knitting yarn some sweet day in the future.

Speaking of linen, and keeping in mind that I aim to get as much linen in my life as possible, I treated myself to a purchase of linen placemats from my favourite furniture and housewares store.  I don't know why I waited so long.

I went to the Fiber Farmers' Market in Northern Virginia.  The best moments for me were when I talked to someone who was thinking about buying her first spinning wheel and to someone else who had an antique spinning wheel that needs restoration.