Cozy Winter Knitting, Spinning, and Baking - The Cuttle Corner #19

Welcome to the nineteenth edition of The Cuttle Corner! This week I’ve stayed close to home and worked on some cozy winter knitting, spinning, and a bit of baking.

If you missed last week’s post, you can take a look here.

Now, let’s get cozy!

What’s going on

It’s not freezing outside anymore, but it’s still pretty cold and rainy, which means I’m not leaving the house very much. This has paid off in the form of sourdough bread.

I recently got a new sourdough starter going and this week it was finally ready to bake some bread. Instead of a more traditional sourdough method, I followed a no-knead method. It takes three days to get bread, but it is very little work and this is the best sourdough I’ve ever made.

Image of a round loaf of freshly baked sourdough bread with decorative scoring in a cast iron dutch oven.

In the past, when I’ve had a sourdough starter, I end up killing it. Because I usually only bake bread once a week at most, I’ve kept the starter in the fridge where I forget to feed it, and eventually it goes bad, and I have to start over again.

This time, I’ve kept it on the counter and fed it every day, even when I’m not planning on baking. What made the difference for me was saving the discard. I have a very big jar in the fridge that I pour my discard into every day. At some point during the week, I use this discard to make something else. This week, I made a giant batch of sourdough pancakes.

Image of a jar of sourdough starter full of bubbles.

Because I feed this starter every day, it is doing so well! I’ve never had one this happy. I’m almost out of flour already from all the baking I’ve been doing this week!

What I’m working on

Knitting

Kildalton Cardigan

After a couple of weeks of being ignored, I finally got my Kildalton Cardigan back on the needles. The front left should work up very quickly, and then it’s on to the sleeves and collar.

Image of a partially knit cable sweater with the left front portion still on the needles. The yarn of the sweater is cream and is knit into Celtic style cables.

Even though I didn’t work on this sweater for a while, it was easy to see where I left off. I even still have the cable pattern memorized.

Vanilla Socks

My vanilla socks are still my go-to knitting project when I just need something to keep my hands busy. I’ve already finished the first sock, and gotten through the cuff of the second sock.

Image of a hand knit sock in brown yarn with pops of purple, blue, pink, orange, and green, with a partially knit sock in the same color, still on a pair of circular knitting needles with a blue cable.

Of course, I still need to weave in the ends, but I’ll save that for last.

Spinning

I’ve been spending a lot of time with my Norwegian spinning wheel. Every night I try to spend some time spinning to relax before bed. It is a repetitive enough task to be soothing, but requires whole body coordination, so my mind doesn’t wander as far as it does when I do other projects.

I’m spinning together 7oz of Corriedale wool and 4oz of a Polwarth and Silk blend. This is creating a beautiful heathered effect with long color shifts. I think this will look really amazing once it is plied together.

Image of a nest of purple and orange fiber for spinning, resting near the feet of a spinning wheel, next to a pair of hand carders.

In just over a week I’ve already spun up a quarter of the 11oz I’m working with this blended fiber. Hand carding rolags to spin takes a bit of extra time, but the fiber drafts so evenly after, and I am enjoying every minute of this spin.

What I’ve spun so far filled one of my bobbins, so I went ahead and switched to the next bobbin for the next quarter. When half the fiber is spun, I’ll need to stop and ply, so I can free up some bobbins again.

Image of the lazy Kate of a Norwegian spinning wheel with a bobbin full of freshly spun singles.

Remember, whenever you are switching bobbins on your flyer, it is a great time to oil your wheel. It is a machine and needs a bit of TLC sometimes to keep working at its best.

What’s in a name?

Earlier this week, while I was spinning, I started thinking about what to call all my various crafty machines. I always like the idea of naming inanimate objects, but I have a habit of over thinking it and never deciding.

But then I got an idea. My new loom has to be Elrond, because Hugo Weaving plays that character in the Lord of the Rings movies. Which means all my spinning wheels, sewing machines, and spindles all need Lord of the Rings inspired names. I haven’t fully figured out who is who yet, but I really like this idea.

I think my Dealgan spindle is Gimli and my Ladybug spinning wheel feels like Frodo.

If you have any thoughts on what to name my crafty machines, let me know in the comments.

Until next time, keep cuttle-ing!

What are you working on? I’d love to hear about your projects in the comments below!

Cozy Winter Knitting, Spinning, and Baking – The Cuttle Corner #19

What’s going on