Þegar við byrjuðum með Uppspuna, ákváðum við strax að spinna geitafiðu fyrir þá geitabændur sem vildu selja sitt eigið garn. Eða koma með til mín og selja mér fiðuna svo ég gæti selt garnið í búðinni hjá mér.

Þetta var strax vel nýtt og margir geitabændur komu með fiðu til mín til að láta spinna eða til að selja mér og ég tók við öllu sem að mér var rétt og reyndi að spinna það. Sumt var mjög gott hráefni og spannst alveg frábærlega, annað ekki alveg eins vel og sumt var bara ekki nógu gott, fór allt í þykkildi og slitnaði stöðugt. Það getur verið heilmikil áskorun að spinna geitafiðu. En útkoman var alveg frábær. Svo fallegt og alveg óhemju mjúkt. Ég man að ég sagði við manninn minn þegar fyrsta lotan kom í gegnum hárskiljuna; "Vá. Við þurfum að fá okkur geit!"

Mjög fljótlega áttaði ég mig á því að ég vissi ekki nóg um geitur og af hverju fiðan var svona misjöfn frá ólíkum bæjum. Mig langaði að vita hvað bændur gætu gert til að bæta gæðin hjá sér og jafnvel ná úrvals hráefni á hverju ári. Svo eftir að hafa hugsað málið aðeins og rætt við fjölskylduna, ákváðum við (ég) að fá okkur geitur. - eins og maður gerir til að læra.

Ég fékk nokkrar yndislegar huðnur og einn hafur til að fá kiðlinga sumarið eftir og átti þær í fjögur ár. Og ég lærði sko heldur betur á þessum fjórum árum allt mögulegt um þessi yndislegu dýr. Þær hafa sinn eigin karakter, fara (næstum því) allt sem þeim dettur í hug og eru mjög sakleysislegar á svipinn þegar komið er að þeim þar sem þær eiga ekki að vera, þær hafa gott minni, framleiða frábæra mjölk og osta þegar þeir eru gerðir úr mjólkinni, kjötið er líka gott, þegar ég hafði lært að elda það, og garnið!!!! Vá!!
Já, ég kunni vel við að vera geitabóndi.

En stundum breytast bara áætlanir og þó ég hafi haft virkilega gaman af geitunum og þótt mjög vænt um geiturnar mínar, þá þurfti ég af ýmsum ástæðum og með sorg í hjarta að selja þær frá mér haustið 2024.

En öll árin sem ég átti þær, safnaði ég af þeim fiðunni og spann í garn. Seldi eitthvað af því, en geymdi líka eitthvað til að gera eitthvað fyrir sjálfa mig, án þess að vera með verkefni í huga.

Þegar ég hafði ákveðið að selja þær, safnaði ég fiðu af þeim sem ég átti og spann það alltsaman í garn handa mér sjálfri. Mig langaði að búa til eitthvað einstakt handa sjálfri mér. Eitthvað til að nota við sérstök tilefni, sem ég myndi leggja vinnu í og heiðra þannig tilveru geitanna minna. Til að muna þau skemmtilegu augnablik sem við áttum saman og hversu áhugaverðir einstaklingar þær voru allar saman. Muna þegar ég var að fóðra þær, kemba þeim, kenna þeim að teymast, girða fyrir þær, mjólka þær, knúsa kiðin, klappa þeim eldri og spjalla við þær mörgum stundum.

Svo fór ég í það að prjóna mér kjól.

Engin hönnun.

Engin uppskrift.

Spila bara eftir eyranu.

Vera sjálfstæð eins og geiturnar.

Sjá hvað yrði til við verkið.

Ég leitaði að hugmyndum og svo náði ég mér í prjóna og garn og byrjaði.

I started at the bottom with needlesize 3,0 mm (which is between 2 and 3 US needlesizes) and 450 sts (if I remember correctly,- it was a lot of sts at least). I did not knit a ribbing, but had equal amount of knit and purl stitches without having it to curl up. I had two colours to work with, white and brownish grey, but those are the two natural colours that the goat provides. I did not want to dye it in any fancy colours, just keep them natural, but I wanted to use them both. As I knitted, I designed what I wanted to do next. So the purled stitches were supposed to be my decreasing stitches. And because I had a LOT of stitches on my needle, I pretty soon started decreasing. Too soon, I would say when the dress was finished, but I didn’t want to unravel it. I made some stripes at the bottom of the skirt and when I saw that knitting stockinette in one colour for so long could be boring, I added some flowers with the method of yarn over and knit 2 together. Not wanting to have it too regular, because goats do not follow patterns, I decided to have those hole flowers just here and there. Also to publicly refer to the goat’s ability to crawl through small holes in fences when there is something interesting on the other side. That can also be irregular.

When I got over the hips to the waist I changed colours to brownish grey, added more flowers and decreased carefully. Too carefully and when I saw it was way too wide, I unravelled it, started over at the hips and made it tighter over the waist. Changed again to white and now it was the upper part that needed some thinking.

I wanted to make some nice pattern on both sides, I mean, the back and front side of course, and the neckline needed to be a bit open, because I suspected this to be a warm dress and I am the warm type of person. So when the armpit was hit, I started to knit back and forth, continuing with the pattern and making the neckline wide and the shoulders slim, deciding I would knit short sleeves afterwards over the shoulders. At one point I had to unravel the back, because it did not fit, but the second attempt made it as I wanted it.

The sleeves were a bit of a headache. I decided to pick up the stitches all the round and knit first in a round, and then back and forth, make them longer over the shoulders and out to the arms sometimes using German short rows, sometimes going almost all the way, putting in hole-pattern as I wen on with it. I should have just picked up few and knit back and forth and pick up sts as I knitted on, it would have worked better. But I will just do that the next time (if there will be a next time). Not doing it that way, and not writing down, exactly what I did on the first sleeve made me have to unravel the second sleeve halfway through – once – and start over. But they became equal enough. I mean, it is only me who will know what sleeve is different from the other, right?

I knitted and knitted and unravelled and knitted some more, the pile in my lap growing bigger, I mean, I am rather big. Usually I use L or XL in clothes. As I was holding the dress getting bigger in my hands, I started thinking “Wow, this is going to be a very expensive dress! I will end in a kilo (2 pounds) with all this yarn” Because the goat yarn (Cashmere) is indeed very expensive. But guess what…  the dress is only 302 grams (10.6 oz) And wearing it is like you have nothing on. The magic with the cashmere from the goat is that it fluffs up to a lot, but weighs almost nothing.
And it is sooooo soft. Oh, my. I don’t think I have ever had anything so special. And I find it very beautiful also.

I have had the chance to wear it on numerous occasions already and it catches the attention every time. Many people that know me and come over to me to say hello, put a hand on my shoulder and stop instantly and say; “Oooh… that is soft! What is that?” and when I say it is the goat yarn, their eyes go wide and they instantly lower their voice lowers to a whisper and they say; “It is THE goat!!!” and then they pat me a little more.

Knitting the dress, with the thinking about how it should look, unravelling and designing in my mind what to do next I also kept remembering my lovely goats. Seeing their faces before me as when I was combing them to get their delicate, gorgeous fibre to work with.
How Hneta sometimes turned her head to smell my face as if to say, “you can have it, I have more later.” and then sniffed my nose and gave me little kiss.
How Heiða would stand behind me as if she was waiting for her turn.
And Mandla a little bit away, always a tiny bit more shy than the others. Thinking if she could get away with having some treat and then just go away to graze a little and then come back for more as if she did not have any when she came the first time. Putting her head down, when I took hold of her collar and tied her to a wall and then started to comb her as well. She would be a little nervous first, but then she would just relax and enjoy the moment, because it was a quality time for me and them.
I would also remember when my mother-in-law told me that the goats had visited her garden one day and then just gone back when they knew the time was close when I would be around to let them in. And I was so surprised, because when I did, they were just standing by the door, waiting for me to open as if they had never left the fence that they were supposed to be inside of.

I miss them a lot.
But the dress will always remind me of them.