I recently came into possession of a large compilation of the works of Lewis Carroll. It’s a big, beautiful “leather” bound copy. Not so good for taking on trips, but excellent for curling up with on a gray afternoon. From my initial perusing of the new material (I’m already very familiar with the two Alice stories) I’ve come to the conclusion that Carrol can be very amusing to read, but he tends to wander off into lengthy dissertations on things in which I have little-to-no interest.
However, to get to the point, one of his shorter writings features tips on writing letters and contains this little gem: “My second Rule is, don’t fill more than a page and a half with apologies for not having written sooner!” And I have taken this to heart. I think it safe to assume that you’re fed up with my apologies for not having blogged sooner, so I will dispense with them forthwith.
I’ve been keeping pretty busy lately with various fiber projects. One of which was a large undertaking. 
Eight ounces of superwash BFL fiber to be handspun and dyed for a Maiden Yarn customer. Oh my goodness – I practically had to fight off my knitting sister to keep the spun yarn. Bluefaced Leicester is rapidly elbowing its soft and lustrous way to the top of the fiber heap, so to speak. It’s simply wonderful stuff.
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Announcing the grand opening of my second Etsy store — Filigree Willow Laceweights
Come on over and take a peek. I’m so, so excited!
And, on that note, I am so, so loving custom orders. You probably remember my first custom yarn (Raven’s Wing) and the gorgeous yarn that came out of that. Well, prepare for custom order number two.
Absolutely gorgeous emerald yarn. This green took forever to achieve (no less than three times in the dye pot) but it was so worth it. The yarn practically glows from within. And it’s superwash, which means it is very soft.
I can’t wait for the next custom challenge, whatever it may be.
Just as a quick update, I’ve been busily plying away on the Raven’s Wing yarn, and here is the result so far! That’s about three out of the five hundred yarns needed.
The tencel in the blend is giving the black fibers the same sheen as an actual feather! I could hardly believe it when I saw the first finished skein. And no worries about the glitz making it scratchy. I am so proud of this yarn!
No, I am not starting to knit sweaters for birds. I have made excellent progress on the Raven’s Wing yarn, and I want to show you! Ta-da. My first wound-off bobbin of the single ply. Looks pretty nice, eh? I’m so excited about the way it’s turning out.
And, for the second half of our program, I give you my sweater progress. I finished one of the sleeves and started merrily in on the cowl. Supposedly the accepted and generally used method of sweater knitting holds that you must knit both sleeves one after the other, but who wants to do that?
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I’ve been mentioning this custom yarn on and off, and now I have a picture to share with you! A wonderful customer came up with the idea of a black yarn with purple and green iridescence, just like a raven’s feathers. Here is the beginnings of that yarn. I’m so excited about it! It’s spinning up quite well. 
Of course, I’ve got my fair share of green and purple glitz tracked all over the house, but I believe it’s worth it.
And yes. That bright pink thing is my make shift drive band. It really dresses the wheel up, don’t you think?
In other news, I finally got to the seed stitch part on one of my sweater sleeves after very carefully increasing way more then the pattern called for. Thankfully the sleeve isn’t too wide, and can therefore be fudged with the greatest of ease.
And my first Creeping Vines sock is finished, except for weaving in the ends. Pictures will be forthcoming.
