Woolly wash!

 It's suddenly spring-ish, and time to wash our woollies.  I always try to do a wash of our mitts, hats, etc. before tucking them away for the summer.  I love the moment where all of this hard work, these handknits and handspun garments, are clean and dancing in the warm breeze.  A good once-a-year image!

Moths are attracted to dirty wool, so our wool should get cleaned now and then. :)

Here's a close up of two different pairs of Due North Mittens.

These are variations on The Hole Inside Mitts.  The one on the right is all handspun, hand-dyed purple and natural brown finnsheep wool.

Here are the special order handspun mitts  (placed last fall by a twin with a fondness for a special flock of sheep!) with a stripe from Margaret's Shetland gray wool.  These show hardly any wear, but sadly, will likely no longer fit the twin in question in the fall.

What else was on the line?  Handknits/handwovens by Didi (the twins' grandma), Slippy the cowl and some gorgeous green wool scarves from Ireland, used for wrapping up preschoolers' faces when it is -40 out.

Also this week, another new column of mine came out:
Young people are interested in social justice...let's engage them

(Again, definitely not my title.)  The way this is framed, it sounds as though community elders must condescend to younger folks to get them involved.  On the contrary, I believe Gen X, Y and Millennials are already reaching out to make change...their elders need to acknowledge it and make space for them in established institutions.  If you want to meet someplace, why not your place of worship?  If you make it too hard to gain entry into your building, we'll just meet at Starbucks (or wherever) instead...

Suddenly I'm humming..

People get ready, there's a train a-coming...You don't need no baggage, 

You just get on board