We made it to Jena

After the kind of mad house packing-up that I thought we were done with (seriously, I had planted my metaphorical oar, signed a mortgage, and stowed my suitcases in the deepest closet) and a few false starts, we are here.

My two week quarantine ends tonight, and I can’t wait to start exploring the city tomorrow. Never let it be said that international travel in the time of pandemic is easy. (That said, our charges - both toddler and dog, handled the flight and are handling the transition with aplomb).

Now to find the fiber community.

And now for a three-year hiatus

Just when we thought that next year would be the year that we properly plumbed the workshop and maybe installed a heater of some sort, the opportunity for my husband to do graduate work arose, and so instead of installing a sink I’m packing up the shop (and we’re packing up the house) and we’re moving to Jena, Germany. This month. With a toddler and a dog. In a pandemic.

The logistics of it all are not good for our sleep.

Upton Yarns in its current incarnation will be on hiatus while we are in Germany, but I am looking forward to getting to know the fiber world of the former East Germany and surrounding areas, and maybe even writing about it a bit. We are currently slated to be there for three years.

I would like to continue to support the shepherds I have been working with, though I’m not sure how that is going to work. One plan involves maintaining my current fleece buys and storing it all in our barn until we return (how will the fleece get to our barn you ask? Good question) but I feel like there should be a better option. I will continue to brainstorm once my head is clear of our current logistical hurdles, and would welcome suggestions.

A million thank yous to all the knitters who have supported Upton Yarns up to this point. I am looking forward to the next chapter, whatever that might look like.

Life Changes

This (annoyingly out of focus) photo is really a photograph of potential.  In the photo I am standing in my future dye space, wearing a future dress (a heavily modified take on Mary Jane Mucklestone's Solbein) and most importantly, I am seventeen weeks pregnant. 

As my friend Sarah said, here's hoping the kid looks good in blue (given that I am already plotting indigo dyed everything).

I am still working through all the changes the last few months have brought, which is perhaps why it has taken me so long to write this post.  I am currently 22 weeks pregnant, and looking at my (relatively) flat stomach in a photo taken so recently I am amazed to remember how ungainly I felt at the time (it's hard to see in this photo, but I definitely had the beginnings of a bump).  My midsection has changed significantly since then, and I my feelings of constantly catching up with a new body shape have not diminished. 

Needless to say, I will not be heading back to Antartica any time soon.  I will however have more time to devote to the fiber side of my life, and to vending more often in person.  

This upcoming weekend in fact (April 7) I will be vending in person at the Yarn Sellar’s Fiber Marketplace & Retreat in York, Maine from 10 am to 3 pm.   With any luck (stand by for steeking) I will be wearing that knit dress. 

For those of you interested in my travels, I have lots and lots of photos that I never got around to posting, and subjects that I always meant to write posts about but never had the time for.  I am hoping to actually write some of those posts.  Stay tuned, and feel free to email me with prompts and questions. 

Speaking of travel, I am very sorry to say that I will not be able to attend this year’s Wool Scouts knitting retreat.  The retreat was honestly one of the highlights of last summer and I really would love to be able to head back up to Bradford Camps, but my due date is August 2 and “advanced maternal age" and absolute faith in Sarah and Rob's ability to handle medical emergencies aside it just feels like poor planning and bad manners to head into the Maine woods at 38 weeks pregnant.   Hopefully I'll be able to return next summer.