Hemp in winter

 

Since about a week, it is suddenly winter here. We had weeks of rain and wind and general misery weather-wise, but now it has changed. It is colder, brighter, and it is supposed to get even colder. I do admit that it is a lot better then the rain drenched ground we had to live with during most of December and January. So to start an image of the landscape from my bedroom window. As one can see, the one thing lacking is snow….. I do love snow, well that is at the beginning of the winter. At the end of it, I hate it, hate it with a passion. But each year I can't wait for a good think layer to go through. Hopefully some snow will fall soon, it gives protection for the plants!

So now for the title and plants that do not need protection…. In the back of the photo, the field with hemp is visible. It is left standing on the field until the end of winter, then it has become much more pliable and it is easier to get the fibers spun…. So yes there it is: yarn to be!

I do like hemp (not only to knit with). The plants grow extremely fast, it is an annual that grows up to about 2 m here. During the summer it is green and lush. In the autumn great flocks of birds live in it, eating the hemp seeds and in the winter it gives a nice cover to the field. It hardly needs any fertilizer and can grow even on poor soil. The only negative bit is the enormous amount of paperwork that needs to be filled in in order to grow it….

Anyways, the yarn is great for summer, but now it is winter so a winter knit...

 

This is going to be the Albero Cowl from the Textured Knits book by Connie Chang Chinchio. The yarn is Madelinetosh Erin, a 100% wool in a worsted/aran weight. The color is "tart". This is the second item I knit in "tart". The other one was a Moineau in Madelinetosh merino light. That yarn had a wonderful black haze and other colourways I have in my stash, also have a haze whether black or white. Erin doesn't have a haze, it is much more straight-forward. So the color is more "direct". Very lovely still and a good match to the pattern (I think…).

Making the pictures was a challenge….

 

This week I discovered pinterest, so I have bee pinning. I put a knitting board up, but I do think it is even better for food pinning. Now I finally can organize nice recipes that I find on the web and want to make later in some neat way.

Yesterday we went for a major bit of indulgence:

 

Homemade Nutella

Today we were more restrained, S and I made Lai Wong Boa, one of my first pins…. Our efforts were quite good: