Friends

I didn't meet Morgan by pure happenstance early last year.

In fact, it was a deliberate choice on my part.

I remember getting the email from Harps and Thistles about an upcoming trunkshow with Knitcraft and Knittery, their first in the US. And my little heart was all aflutter with the chance to meet them because, duh, new yarn friends!

What I didn't expect was just how important of a person Morgan would end up being in my life.

As we've gotten closer over this last year or so, I've been privileged to see just how incredibly generous and passionate of a person Morgan is, always going out of their way to not only help others, but to fight for and lift up others' voices, too.

Morgan, for me, has been the cheerleader, supporter, and mentor that I never knew I needed.

For the first time in my life, I feel like I have a clear, reachable goal ahead of me (global pandemic aside) and I WILL get there.

None of that would have been possible without Morgan guiding and helping me, with a smile and a "You've got this!"

Last Saturday, we were supposed to go to the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival together (which has obviously been cancelled), a rather big thing for me as I am not used to going so far away from home without Robyn.

But with Morgan's reassurance, plus the generous offer to change their own plans to better suit my anxieties, I was excited to go.

I had knit this shawl (Softsweater's Authenticity) to wear, specifically to showcase the new Targhee/Columbia base Morgan's now selling.

I used Sandilocks for the body and Kat-ctus for the edging.

But what Morgan didn't know, was that I was always planning on gifting this to them as a thank you for everything they've done for me.

To be clear, I told them I was doing this right after finishing the damn thing, because I am HORRIBLE at keeping secrets.

But I figured I should show y'all before I pass it on.

So thank you, Morgan, you wonderful, amazing, smart, talented, hilarious, beautiful soul, for everything you've done and are doing.

Love you, bud.

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Wild and Wooly

Welp, we're most of the way through February and I still don't have a shawl done.

Just like when I knit it before, Orchid Thief is taking a wee bit longer than I anticipated. I'm SO CLOSE to finishing it, but it's gotten so heavy that I have to often take breaks to rest my poor hands.

So in the meantime, why don't I show you some yarn porn instead?

Last weekend, we went to Wild and Wooly in Cleveland. It's a fast and furious one day show with around 30 vendors.

I'd seen that Bewitched Pigments was going to be there and I really wanted a chance to show off my vow renewal shawl to them in person. Which in hindsight, may have been a bit of a mistake. I couldn't walk more than 5 feet without someone wanting to talk to me about it. My throat was killing me from talking for like 2 and a half hours straight.

But I DID get to hand out my new business cards, so that was exciting!

And there was also all the yarn I bought. That was pretty okay, as well.

First off was a skein of sparkly fingering weight from Icemelon's Stash. Observant viewers may notice that I bought this exact same yarn at Great Lakes Fiber Show last year. I thought one would be enough, but I should have known better. So into the shawl stash this goes.

These I fell in love with immediately as soon as I spotted them. And then I saw that the colorway name was Ida McKinley and all hope of restraint was lost.

For those who don't know, Ida McKinley was the wife of President William McKinley and was born very close to my hometown. My grandparents took me and my sisters to the McKinley Library and Museum every summer. These visits helped to form my deep and abiding love of history.

Ida was a prestigious crocheter herself, making an estimated 4,000 pairs of slippers in her lifetime. They actually have a pair of them, along with a project bag and crochet hook, in the collection at the museum. You can see the slippers here.

It seemed that this show, soft ivory with muted colors were the name of the game for me.

I found this AMAZING handspun silk and alpaca blend from Four Square MicroFarm. It feels amaaaaazing.

And you want to know something EVEN COOLER?!

You can watch the batt that this was spun from being made RIGHT HERE!

I only have a wee bit of this and I want to use it for something special, but I'm not quite sure what yet.

My last yarn purchase was from Bewitched Pigments again. Vi actually spotted this colorway and when she showed me that the name was Swamp Witch, I said to hell with the budget and bought it.

I'll probably end up buying a second one sometime because, holy hell, I want to just bury my face in this.

I also picked up an OLIVE FRIGGIN GREEN pompom from their booth. And Vi bought me the rainbow one!

So that was Wild and Wooly, but I'm not done yet.

Oh no, my friends. I have BONUS YARN CONTENT!

The most wonderful and amazing Morgan of Knitcraft & Knittery has released a new yarn base and you know I HAD to get in on that action.

It's a Targhee/Columbia blend and it's WONDERFUL.

I'm actually thinking that it needs to be a hat and that olive green pompom needs to go right on top.

For now, though, it's back to this giant monster.

Maybe I'll be done by the weekend... which is what I've been saying for the last 3 weeks.

*sigh*

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Mail Bag

I've gotten a lot of fun things in the mail recently that I've just been dying to show off.

(We won't discuss how this is also a super low effort post, which is exactly how much I can do right now...)

First up is the amazing skein of yarn I won from Desert Panda Fiber Arts. It was part of the Quiet Queers Craftalong. And I am in LOVE.

LOOK IT!

It's sooooo prrreeeeeettttyyyyy.

Speaking of winning things, I ALSO won the giveaway for the #KnittingAndIceCream contest hosted by the wonderful Jacqui.

(And no, I don't know how I won two contests so close together, either... O-o)

The whole point was to say a giant "fuck you" to fat phobia and fat-shaming companies.

This was my entry.

View this post on Instagram

What? You don't coordinate your knitting with your ice cream? But seriously, fuck your fat phobia. My body is exactly that: mine. You have no say on how it looks or what it should do. I get to decide that. Just like I get to decide what I want to knit. (Image Description: A fat woman sits on a upholstered bench holding a bag of knitting with one hand and a pint of ice cream in the other. #fuckfatphobia #knittingandicecream

A post shared by Ashtan Albright (@blackgoatknitting) on Jul 24, 2019 at 7:27pm PDT

It was also what inspired the blog post that I wrote recently, too.

The prize was 9 skeins of yarn that Jacqui herself won from a yarn retailer who posted some rather problematic, fat-phobic things.

It IS a lovely shade of grey (my favorite neutral) and I can't wait to make something particularly fitted for my body with it.

And if winning two giveaways wasn't enough, I was gifted this GORGEOUS lace gradient yarn by my fellow all-things-lacy-and-beaded friend, A. Llama.

I have PLANS for this.

But alas, all my plans really do have to wait until I get this dang ceremony shawl done.

Let's see, what else?...

Oh! I also got a couple of new pins for my project bag, both of which happened to be bee themed.

This adorable little beekeeping hedgehog from The Clever Clove...

And this BEEEE20!!!

This one is from Monstrous Incantation.

And after a glowing recommendation from a dear instagram friend, Yelley, I bought a new project bag from Tomboy Femme Bags.

Isn't it lovely?

Look at the pretty lining!

It's a great addition to the collection and is holding my new scrap project quite nicely.

Oh, I suppose you'd like to see that, too, huh?

I'm kinda at a standstill at the moment because I'm nearly out of the ivory yarn. But a new skein is on its way, so hopefully I can get back to it soon.

In the meantime, I'm working on getting the pattern written up for it. And I'm doing so in my new bullet journal dedicated just to my knitting projects.

I actually originally ordered this as my next bullet journal (I've almost finished my first!), but it was a little too big for my everyday journal. So knitting journal it is!

I'll finish up with a little sneak peek at my latest finished object.

Full post about that later this week!

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Queer Pi for the Fat Bi

This is proving to be a hard one to write, y'all. I had hoped that this was going to be a bright and happy post. Something to celebrate an accomplishment.

My heart and head just hurt. I'm just exhausted from... well, everything.

But I'll try my best to bring some love and light to you, my dear readers. Because maybe a rainbow is exactly what we need right now.

Back in June, a craftalong arose on instagram that I felt I had to take a part of.

It came out of the desire for a digital knitting group for those of us in the queer community who are not as comfortable at the typical Pride celebration. Large crowds and loud noises are not our jam. It was also geared towards those of us who maybe still trying to learn how to be comfortable with our queer identities.

As it started growing and changing, it was decided that not only would this serve as a way to bring the crafty queer folks together, but also as a way to celebrate queer dyers and pattern designers. Participants were encouraged to use yarn and/or patterns specifically from queer folks.

Thus, the Quiet Queers Craftalong was born.

I knew from the beginning that using Morgan's yarn from Knitcraft and Knittery was the only option for me. I ended up using their merino fingering weight in a deep charcoal black called My Sister's Soul.

As for the pattern, I decided to bite off more than I could chew challenge myself by picking a circular shawl by Frenchie of Aroha Knits. Because, y'know, it only took me A YEAR to knit my last circular shawl...

Caim Shawl called to me. So, I purchased the pattern, got my yarn, and got started...

And then IMMEDIATELY decided to add misery for myself another challenge by incorporating beads into the increase rounds. Did I mention they're in rainbow order?

Y'all, I STRUGGLED with this one. I struggled hard. I knit all of my anger and frustration and hurt into this shawl. And I just couldn't finish it properly.

My heart and my hands hurt so much that I ended up binding off 48 rows early.

Yes, my friends. I made a shawl smaller than the pattern called for again. That should tell you how much I was dealing with in my head while making it.

My mental health was in the worst place it'd been in two years. Plus, we were dealing with having to fix our bathroom. And that was just personal stress. That's not counting the absolute burning shithole the world in general is at the moment.

Even so, it came out the size that the pattern listed the final dimensions to be, so could you even imagine how big it would be if I would have finished those last two repeats?

We had planned on taking pictures this last weekend and I was struggling to decide what to wear. ("Struggle" seems to be the name of the game lately...)

And that's when I had yet another bloody awful brilliant idea to wear not just one outfit, but six of them.

Yes, in rainbow order... on a ridiculously hot day where all of my makeup would melt off.

Because if we're going to show off our queer pride, why not go all out?

It probably comes as no surprise that I have enough dresses to wear the whole rainbow.

I'm someone who loves wearing colors across the whole spectrum.

And I know that this is supposed to be about the shawl and the craftalong, but as I'm writing this, I'm realizing just how much my style has changed over the last couple of years.

It's evolved into something that feels right... feels wholly ME.

And it's not just my outward styling, but my whole identity.

I'm finally embracing all the different factions and parts that make up me.

My bisexuality, my polyamory, my knitting, my mental illnesses, my drive to make things, my trauma, my fears, hopes, and dreams...

The good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, it all swirls together and has formed me into the person I am today.

And knowing who you are, where you belong in this world, is such a gift.

I've fought so hard to get to this place for myself.

And you know what?

I'm proud of myself.

I'm proud of who I am.

And I know that even though I will stumble and make mistakes, as long as I keep moving forward, I'll be pretty dang proud of who I am in the future, too.

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Magical Squish

Okay, so this blog is REALLY late.

Like, this-happened-two-weekends-ago late.

It's been a tough couple of weeks, okay?

Jass' UTI hasn't cleared up. Whatever strain of bacteria she's got going on is either resistant to the antibiotic she had, or we just need another round of it. They had to do off-site lab testing to find out which. So, we're waiting for those results and having to give her liquid antibiotics to keep her covered until we know what to do next.

And of course, this hasn't exactly been a cheap endeavour, soooo.... maybe check out the donations links below if you haven't yet? It's much appreciated!

ANYway, on to what I actually want to talk about.

One of my FAVORITE things that Harps & Thistles does is host various trunk shows throughout the year. And when Cindy announced that Knitcraft & Knittery would be the first trunk show of 2019, I found myself intrigued.

I mean, a fellow Harry Potter nerd? Right here in NE Ohio? What's not to love?

Mikayla and I decided to scope out the website in advance to see what sort of treasures we could find.

We both found this gorgeous skein of grey fingering weight. And that's where the trouble began.

Have you ever had one of those super polite, "But *I* want this, but we're friends, let's outpolite each other to see who ends up with it?" battles?

Well, that's what happened to us.

And I fought dirty.

I actually cart-jacked my darling yarn-wife.

I know! I know! I'm the WORST.

BUT to be fair, I really did need it for the edging of this Sort of Secret But Not Really shawl that I'm making.

I have already atoned for my sins, but damn. Wool fumes can really bring out the worst in people, amiright?

The weekend of the trunk show ended up being Snowmageddon, so I popped up Friday before we were all buried.

I only managed to snap a couple of quick pictures because I was too busy enjoying my conversation with Morgan, the wonderful dyer responsible for all this squishy gorgeousness.

Not only did I find out we had a lot in common, making me want to just be best friends instantly, but...

We also have a similar taste in colors.

LOOK AT THAT AMAZING MUTED COLOR PALETTE!

AND!

AND!

I want to cry with how pretty all that green is.

I was good and only got myself the one skein of yarn. (Which ended up being good in hindsight... fucking vet bills...)

AND LET ME TELL YOU, THIS SHIT IS SO GAT. DAMN. SOFT.

I'm already looking forward to buying soooooo much more yarn from Morgan.

Which is going to be super convenient seeing as Cindy will be stocking the yarn at the shop!

So, you can either order directly from the Knitcraft and Knittery website or come visit Harps & Thistles to squish it in person.

And let me tell you, you NEED to get some of this yarn in your stash.

I promise to not buy it all out from underneath you....

Maybe.

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