I realized I’ve been leaving you in suspense over my purple sweater! It did get finished, and I literally had to take it to Colorado unblocked and block it in a friend’s washing machine, but it got finished. I wore it a lot and really, really enjoyed it. Several people commented on it (in a good way). Yay! The photo, or rather a piece of the photo, I snagged from a friend’s picture of the trip. We were playing an acting game called Freeze.

Another project I’m really excited over is my latest thick-and-thin yarn. I spun this from two batts carded by my good friend Legossi, and the yarn turned out so wonderful! The batts were all light and springy and the yarn took up that quality and made it a poem. (That’s what you call waxing poetic.)
Here it is undyed -

And here it is post-color –

Interestingly enough, I just dumped the dyes in with the yarn to see what they would do. I wasn’t expecting it to go that dark, but the pops of color shifts are gorgeous! So subtle, and almost shiny.

And, the projects that I haven’t begun yet are very exciting. I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was scouring Ravelry for hat and cowl patterns. Well, here’s why. I’ve been appointed as assistant director for a Christmas play. And that, to my knitterly mind, means I will be out and about in the cold more than usual. Thus, I will be empowered with the ability to wear more knit items than is conceivably possible. My heart beats wildly at the thought.

I finished the silk laceweight for my sister.

And, while I was at it, I almost finished up the Willow fingering weight. (That’s due to be finished as soon as possible so I can dive into some lovely merino.)

And I’ve been simultaneously (well, not quite simultaneously) spinning this gorgeous thick and thin yarn. Again, it was on that super secret device, which was perfect for this kind of yarn. The thick bits wouldn’t fit through any of my wheel orifices, and the Walking Wheel keeps me at arms length from controlling the thick and thin variations.

And big news! The Phat Fiber “sneak peek” videos are now up, and you can see my samples in the first video. Hooray! I’m about the fourth one in on the first video. If you’d care to see it, you can find the Phat Fiber videos here.

And here’s the “long.” I finally finished spinning the fall fleece.

What spurred this sudden completion? A new issue of Spin Off arrived and it mentioned a pattern I thought this fleece would look fabulous in.
Trouble is, the pattern is an entrelac. And I’d never even heard of entrelac knitting until earlier this year. It looks rather hard. But fun. Although I don’t know if this yarn will behave enough for such an undertaking. It spun up rather oddly, due to the fact that I had spun two thirds of it, then stopped for a month or so before spinning up the rest. I completely forgot what kind of twist I was giving the singles. Whenever will I learn to not stop halfway through? And it’s a bit of a thick and thin yarn, due to lumps in the drafted fleece and a spinner who hadn’t carded it quite enough.

And, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make an atrocious pun off of the word “tail” and turn it into a rather fairytale- ish happening that occurred to me this morning. I was happily expounding upon natural dye stuffs to a young friend of mine when she asked me what a pokerberry looked like. After I corrected her pronunciation of “pokeberry” we looked it up online.

Come to find out they have bushes and bushes and bushes of pokeweed in their horse pastures! We rode around for a good ten minutes discovering a veritable jackpot. Is this a dream come true or what? Pokeweeds all over, a Gator or Ranger to ride in, and willing hands to help when the pokeberries come ripe in August. Yahoo!

The Completed Rebecca Yarn

So, that was the good news. Now for the . . . well, not really bad news, just mildly depressing. I’m still working away on the drop spindle projects. I can practically guarantee that the New Zealand will not be done before New Years, but I’m not sure about the pink silk. I just reeled off a spindle full and started plying it with a thick Wensleydale single I had stored away for that purpose. It’s rather fun looking. I can’t decide whether it reminds me of a little pink and white bunny (angora!), or peppermints. I’ll get some pictures up once it’s done.

But, in the meantime, the Jester batt keeps calling my name and the alpaca is batting its little eyelashes at me. Must . . . resist . . .

And that reminds me, in a round-a-bout way, that I got an email from Paradise Fibers saying that my box isn’t scheduled to arrive until January 7th. (Oops, did I sigh out loud?)

I Can See The Bottom!

This is all I was able to make before running out of purple locks to stick into the thin single.

The Finished Lumpy

I’m learning that movies are great for the Walking Wheel. I can crank out an ounce of spinning (a full bobbin) in about a half hour, so it adds up. Last night we watched The Quiet Man, which is a long one. I spun four bobbin-fulls, added that to the one I finished up on Christmas, and put the whole stack of Rebecca bobbins together. It’s really coming along. And I can see the bottom of that basket-full, too. Not as empty as the turquoise, but getting there. A couple more movies should do it.

A Tower Of Singles

I spun about an eighth of an ounce on the New Zealand wool, decided that the spindle was getting too heavy to spin well, and wound it off onto a tube.

Tube Full and New Beginning

I’m having to keep the New Zealand tube separate from the Rebecca tubes because they look a lot alike. New Zealand is slightly whiter than the other, but it’s best not to take chances.

You may have noticed that I still have some turquoise fiber left. I decided to spin it up into some three-ply light worsted. It’s almost all spun onto the bobbin. Then I just need to ply it! One more thing almost checked off of the list.

Turquoise Single

Smooshie Yarn

The thick single isn’t all that bad. Although I would think that it would be easier to spin thick than to spin thin. Ha ha.

Semi-Thick Single

I’m used to spinning thin. Thick feels like such a waste of fiber that I’m constantly trying to stretch it out thinner, only to realize that I’m messing it up. The results are much more of a thick-and-thin single.

And the thin half, into which I am sticking the purple Wensleydale locks, is getting on my nerves. The locks will not fit through the orifice on their own, so I’m having to babysit them through. I have to stop spinning to get them in to the fiber, carefully let the twist grab them, make sure that they’re secure, then wind them onto the bobbin. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Aaaah!

A Small Mountain

Don’t even ask about plying. It will not fit through the orifice at all. I’m having to wind the singles off of the bobbin and onto a spool, then ply them on the big drop spindle.

Granted, this isn’t as bad as spinning the singles, but if anything didn’t get spun in tightly enough it will fall out at this point. Good thing the results are worth it! I just wish the pile of fiber would vanish faster.

Although I guess it deserves a little extra work. It took me a long time to blend all the fibers, so let’s not blow through the product!

Blending On The Carders

The End Is In Sight

Smooshy Singles

The following single is a blend of black wool, silk, and black Angelina (sparkly stuff), spun on the Saxony wheel. I’ve got another, oh, six ounces to spin. Eventually. It’s hard to go back to something you’ve already played with when there are new possibilites hovering before your face.

On The Spool