A Yarny Post

The thing I dislike most about not posting regularly are these marathon posts. Usually, I'm trying to fit a couple of months worth of progress into something that doesn't take days to read. I'm going to try something new and see how it fairs. This post will be focused on yarn. Maybe the next one will be about FO's since I have a few WIP's that are nearing completion and maybe another one about dyeing or whatever shiny thing that happens to hold my attention at the moment.

So, yarn....lets see, where do I start. I'll start with my pretties. These are my most recent spinning projects.
I joined the Spunky club again this year because frankly, I just love the way she dyes fiber. This is the March offering of a Dark BFL called Myrtle. I spun it a bit thicker than usual because I was in such a rush to finish it. I wish there was a such thing as squish-o-vision because this skein is so freakin' soft. I only have enough for maybe a hat or a baby sweater but its still satisfying none the less.

Specs
Weight: 3.7 ounces
Yardage: 121 yards, 523 ypp (yards per pound)
WPI: 10wpi or worsted weight

Next up is a skinny skein that I spun after a dye experiment I applied to some fiber from my stash. You can read about how I dyed the fiber here on Ravelry. I'll admit that I made a big boo-boo when I dyed it but thankfully the fiber still turned out wonderful. Here's the skein.And the stats...
Weight: 1.9 ounces
Yardage: 81 yards, 682 ypp
WPI: 12wpi or light worsted/sport weight

I am in love with this skein and I have absolutely no idea what I can make from it. I wish they had a feature on ravelry where you could put in the weight and yardage of the yarn you have and it'll automatically pull up all the patterns that qualify. Maybe they do and I'm just too lazy to have found it as of yet. Point is, this yarn is so soft that I keep it under my pillow so I can have sweet dreams at night.
Speaking of yarn, recently I took the fam on a little road trip to yarn heaven, better known as WEBS.
I went to their tent sale last weekend and spent waaaay too much money. I got great fiber but here are the irresistable yarns that just jumped right into my shopping bag.
I picked up that huge cone of unmercerized cotton for a song. The price was so unbelievable that as Kathy was ringing me up I asked her if she was for real. She said "Yeah, why do you want me to charge you more? I can if you really want me to." I quickly declined, paid my money and snatched up my winnings. I'm thinking of balling it up as needed to knit last minute baby shower gifts. The other four skeins are a bulky wool/cotton mix. A nearby friendly shopper helped me figure out how much I'd need for a sweater based on her handy dandy yarn requirements chart. Can I just say that knitters are some of the nicest people I know. During the sale, people were all bumping into each other and no one got an attitude. As if yarn fumes have a calming effect. After I purchased it, someone asked me how I plan to dye it and I didn't even think of that. I guess I'll use RIT because I think I read somewhere that it contains both ingredients to dye animal and plant fibers.

The next purchases were made inside the store and all I can say is WOW. I didn't really have a chance to explore the way I wanted to because it was just jammed packed with people but it was definitely an unforgettable experience. I'm a sucker for sock yarn so here's what I got:Sorry for the blurry pic but what you see here are two skeins of Regia Design Line - Kaffe Fassett, One big ball of Beroroco Sox in which this picture doesn't do the colors justice and the most incredible skein of Dream in Color Smooshy. I'm so glad sock yarn doesn't count as stash.

I definitely want to make another trip to WEBS. Maybe after my bank account recovers. As an aside, if you need a ride from hubby and he hates hanging out in yarn shops, you can point out that the basketball hall of fame is only a 20 minute ride away from WEBS. He can drop you off, go there and pick you up hours later. Ask me how I know? Thats about it for yarn....until next post.

Sneaking away for a little R&R

I recently went away for my first vacation ever. Unbelievable right? 30 years old and never been on vacation, what a shame. After a couple of hectic weeks, I was determined to go away and recharge my battery. I felt like I was running on empty! Since the child had the whole week off of school I gladly shipped him off to grandmas house (thanks Faith!) and set out to plan my getaway.

Since I've barely traveled outside of the northeast, I decided to be a little adventurous. Even though some may think that my decision to take a vacation all by my lonesome is pretty brave, its just that sometimes I prefer my own company the best. That way I can do what I want to do when I'm ready to do it and not have to wait for anybody. Don't get me wrong, I would've liked to have had someone to chill with during my trip but it didn't work out that way so I was determined to have a good time regardless.

I ended up in booking a trip to New Orleans, the crescent city. I spent 4 wonderful days in this beautiful city. My hotel was in the French Quarter so I was within walking distance of everything. What I enjoyed most was the food. I think I gained like 10 pounds on beignets alone. I went to Cafe Du Monde about twice every day I was there.
Of course I did all the other touristy things like the trolly ride Uptown and walking around the Garden District. Had some po'boys and jambalaya, hit up the French Market and got tipsy on Bourbon street. My other hangout spot was the yarn store on Chartres street called The Quarter Stitch (sorry no web site). I absolutley loved this store. It was so vivid and lively in there, it makes you want to smile as soon as you walk in.Thats the back of Carol's head in that picture. She was lovely to chat with, I could've spent hours in that shop talking to her. And the shop dog, Leif Ericsson was such a cutie pie. You would think he had never been pet before the way he begs for attention. He even posed for a picture. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of my purchases but they wrap your yarn up for you like a present with tissue paper, confetti and lost of brightly colored curling ribbon. I don't even want to open it, thats how cute it is. All in all, I would go back to Nawlins just to visit this shop again.I'll have more pictures on my flickr and facebook but I just had to blog about this cute little shop. I know some may have questions about NO after Katrina but to tell you the truth, I opted out of taking the tour of the devestated areas. It's not that I don't care but I'm a very sensative person and I would've been boohooing the whole time so I just chose not to go there. I do highly suggest that if you're looking for a nice little getaway, New Orleans is the place to go. The weather was nice, the food was great and the people are so hospitable. So far, this is my favorite (and only) vacation.

Outta My System

Now I can finally stop obsessing over this thing. I swatched on Wednesday during Lost and casted on yesterday. I felt compelled to finish or else this thing haunt me forever. You wanna know something? After everything was said and done, I thought to myself ...."Meh".

It was a very anticlimactic moment. It didn't turn out exactly how I remembered the orginal holy grail of a hat as being but its close enough. I'm not bummed out about it though. I know that my indifference stems from my yarn choice. The original hat was done in an aran tweed and here I used lustrous Vanna's choice acrylic. By the way, Vanna's choice is my favorite acrylic yarn to use. They come in some really nice colors. Except for the baby colors, they're not my cup of tea.

All in all, my obsession has been quenched and I'm glad that I can get back to knitting my socks. I took some notes so I'll definitely be on the lookout for some tweed yarn...or maybe just try to spin some up. Did somebody say Webs anniversary sale? Who said that? Bad enablers, no cookies for you!

Trainspotting & Copycating

Thanks guys for all your comments on my last post. I really appreciate your feedback and its also nice to know that I'm not in this boat alone, knowhatimsayin?

Anyway, I sat next to this guy on the 6 train during my ride home and I couldn't help but stare at his hat. We played that little game where whenever he turned his head I would examine the stitches in his hat, then he would feel my eyes on him so he'd turn back around and I'd divert my attention really quick so he wouldn't think I was a weirdo. I'm not a shy person so I finally just blurted out " I luv your hat" with a dumb look on my face. Then Kim said (did I mention that I ride home with my co-worker & knitting confidant Kim?) "We're knitters and we were just admiring your hat". He blushed a little and said thanks and that everyone seems to comment on his hat. He picked it up at an American Eagle Urban Outfitters (something like that) store 6 years ago. We continued to oogle over his hat the rest of the ride until he got off at 103rd. Thats when the wheels started turning in my mind.

I haven't been able to keep that hat off my mind, I think I'm obsessed! The hat was a pale green with specks of other colors in it, read: tweed. It must've been wool because he tugged on it and it was pretty givey. I wanted to ask him if I could turn it inside out so I could examine theI thought was very nice of him. I know I keep beating around the bush when it comes to the details of the pattern but hey, I'm trying to create some drama here. The pattern wasn't anything complicated but it was just how everything married together so perfectly, the tweedy yarn, the close fit but not too tight, the sparse single slipped stitches on a reverse stockinette background and the icing on the cake....(wait for it).... the sideways brim knit in reverse stockinette! Simple right? But believe you me, it was fly. 

Hopefully I'll get to bed at a decent hour because I know this hat is going to keep me up for a while. Maybe I'll be able to get it out of my system by the time Lost is over.

A bit of randomness

Is blogging like riding a bike? I was just sitting here going through my blog reader wondering why I haven't posted anything in a while. To tell the truth, there really is no reason. I just kept on making excuses in my head but that doesn't explain where my blog writing avoidance stems from. I'm kinda thinking aloud here so this may seem very random although it may make perfect sense to me. I think aloud, you could say I talk to myself but this is the way that helps me have a better understanding of a situation. It just bugs me that I enjoy reading craft blogs (even if they don't have pictures) but I can't seem to find the same pleasure in writing one. My nature is to seek logic and this situation makes no sense to me. Maybe it has something to do with me being my worst critic. I avoid things that I don't excel at and expressing myself in written word form is certainly one of them. but on the other hand, when I suck at something, I like to work on it until I have mastered it, then start chasing the next windmill. In all honesty, I partly started this blog so that I would have no choice but to work on my writing so at this point, I'm refusing to give up. Maybe I can use this blog in a theraputic way to help me get over myself. All I know is that I'm not ready to give up this blog until I have this thing figured out.

Sorry for going off on a tangent but inspiration hit and I just figured I'd go with the flow. I don't really have anything crafty to show but its been so long I forget what's been showcased already and what hasn't.

Knitting
Right now I'm working on knitting a pair of Leyburn socks (ravelry link) in some Yarn Pirate sock yarn from the stash. Its really, really thin but nice. I just finished the heel and I'm working my way up the cuff.

I'm also working a labor of love which is a saddle shoulder sweater for my son. I'm trying to work through my stash so I figured I'd knit something for the little one. I'm fashioning it the same dimensions as a sweater that he already owns. I had to do it this way because I'm using the "instructions" from Barbara Walkers Knitting from the Top. I didn't use the word pattern because the book basically gives you the recipe and you have to customize it yourself. I love the way this is working out because I can make certain style descisions as I go along. So far I've done the body and I'm still deciding what I want to do with the hem. I can't decide between ribbing or a folded hem. I'll probably decide by this weekend.

Thats about it for knitting although I have taken a vow to finish my Primavera (ravelry link) by the end of Primavera. I only have the last step to do which is to pick up a gazillion stitches around and knit a cute, lacy border. I just need to knock it out so that I can wear it before summer hits.

This post is already long enough, so I'll end it here. Hopefully it won't take me so long to post again.

Peace

Can I change my name....

....to Spinderella? It's only fitting since I love to spin and I'm marrying a DJ.

This is going to be a really quick post because I'm exhausted. We're in the thick of our busy season at my day job and nights of not getting to bed on time are starting to catch up with me. I've been making yarn more than I've been making FO's but I do have one to show off. I really needed a pair of mittens. I was successful at hatching a plan to have someone else can knit them for me because I'm way too indecisive when it comes to making things for myself. Only problem is that I wanted mittens NOW. So I had to cast on for something quick and simple.
Even though I only took a picture of one of them, I assure you that there is a mate. I used some angora yarn that was gifted to me by my cousin. Deets are on ravelry.

In my last post (last year), I stated that I wanted to spin up the rest of my spunky club stash from 2007 before I joined the club this year. Well I'll have you guys know that I finished before Christmas. Here are the two I had left:
Colorway: Aspen
Weight: 1.75 ounces
Yardage: Approx 134 yards
WPI: 20 - laceweight
Spun: short forward draw, navajo plied

The last one I spun using the fractal stripe method. I split the roving straight down the middle then predrafted one hole strip. I then broke the other strip up by color to keep the lights and darks seperate. I spun one bobbin of all the blues then all the pinks. I spun the second bobbin as the colors lay in the long strip then plied the two together.


I really like how it came out. I'm thinking of knitting a nice chunky hat out of it (or mittens).Colorway: Celebration
Weight: 3.375 ounces
Yardage: Approx 108 yards
WPI: 10 - Heavy Worsted
Spun: short forward draw

Lastly, I can finally say that I've tried a crosspatch creation batt....and I liked it! I picked one up at Rhinebeck just so I could see what all the hubbub was. I was having a not so good day and needed to relieve some stress. I wanted to spin something without thinking about it, without having to worry if it was even or smooth. So I pick this batt up and just started spinning all willy nilly and this is what I ended up with.
It's lumpy and bumpy and I love it.

Weight:2.875 ounces
Yardage: Approx 61 yards
WPI: 8 - Bulky
Spun: Long backward draw- point of twist

Thats about it. I'm still working on my sweater project, I've got about 5 skeins spun and I need about 6 more. I've also been working on stuff to put up in my shop. Speaking of shop, I will be posting to my Etsy Team's Blog this weekend so take a gander when you get a chance. There are also some great tutorials on there too. By the way, Happy New Year!

I'm Focused Man

I've been a busy little bee (or sheep) since my last post. I've been so focused on spinning lately its crazy. My wheels and I have become best friends. I wish I had another but I doubt my tiny apartment can hold them all. Too bad I'm not willing to give up one of lovelies. I have lots of handspun yumminess to show so moving right along.....

Let me briefly get the knitting FO's out of the way first. First off is a hat I finished a while ago for my future hubby. Funny thing is that I casted on originally for the little one in mind but I realized about an inch in that it was going to be way too big. I asked the hubby if he minded the color and he said it was cool. I forced asked him nicely to pick a pattern out of my default Japanese knitting book because he's way too picky and I wanted to make sure that he would actually wear the thing. He loves it and its coming in rather handy right about now.
Yarn: Vanna's Choice
Pattern: #032 from Knitting Pattern 300 ISBN:978-4-529-04172-0

Next FO is a special project I made for my Nana. She's the matriarch of our family and she turned 90 years old on the 22nd so you know I had to make her something extra special. Since I was on a budget, I decided to knit a spectacular pattern with economy yarn. Her favorite color's pink so I went with the Hemlock Ring Blanket in Caron One Pound. The yarn doesn't block well but I already knew that before I started.
We all got together and threw her a surprise birthday party. Of course she cussed us all out for not telling her about it (gotta love those southern women) but you could tell she was eating it all up. Here's a picture of her all decked out. Can you imagine experiencing Jim Crow and a black president all in one lifetime? I thank God every day for having her in my life.
On to my current obsession, yarn. I was a member of the Spunky's Fiber Club last year but I canceled when I started to get a little backlogged. Well she's opening the club back up in January (you guys better leave me a spot, I know how you fiberhaulics are!) and I am so psyched. Only problem is that I still have stuff from 2007. So to make me feel better, I'm trying to spin it all up before I join again. So far I have two finished and I'm working on another.

This is Tulips from her May 2007 offering. Its 100% BFL and was a joy to spin. I tried to spin it a little thicker than I normally would. I ended up with almost 3 ounces and about 137 yards at 12 WPI which is about sport weight.

I then tried something different by spinning up a long wool which I don't have a lot of experience with.
This is Harvest Haze which is 100% Lincoln wool. I spun this from the fold to try and wrangle those long fibers. It is rather scrathy but I picture knitting this into a double knit hat with something soft and luxurious on the underside.

Right now I'm working on the the Aspen fiber from the September 2007 installment. Its a merino tencel mix which is really slippery and shiny. I'm also spinning this from the fold but I'm spinning as thin as I can so I can get a great lace weight in the end. I'm thinking of navajo plying it to gain a little thickness in the end.

Once I'm done with this, I only have the July 2007 fiber which is a colorfully dyed Shetland called Celebration. Then more fiber for me!

This post is getting a bit long so I'll try to wrap it up. Thats what I get for staying away so long. I already dipped into my Rhinebeck haul. I spun up the sock wool that I snagged at Little Barn. I had two ounces of both blue and green which equated to two skeins of tw- ply loveliness.

I wanted to share my sheep to shawl project that I'm working on but I don't think I have time. I'll do it briefly:
Step One: Scoured Romney Fiber from RH Lindsay.

Step Two: Hand carded into rolags. (dog brushes really help with picking the wool)

Step Three: Spun long draw on my hitchiker. (Dave is working on a double treadle hitchhiker yay!)

Step Four: Plied and felt blocked for a nice fluffy yarn. (this skein is about 2 ounces and 83 yards at worsted weight)
I just found the perfect project for this project yesterday. I picked up this wonderful British magazine at B & N and all I can say is I am in luv! Its called Yarn Forward and it is a great magazine. I would get a subscription if I could. Anyway, I couldn't find any pictures of the pattern I want to make so here's one straight from the mag.
Its a one piece cable yoked sweater that I can't wait to knit. So far, I've processed about 3 and a half skein so I have a bunch more to go. I'll keep you posted. That's about it, I'm off to read my fifty-eleven blogs in my reader. Be breezy.

PRB - Post Rhinebeck Blues

Is anyone else sad that Rhinebeck 2008 over? Oh well, only 347 days until Rhinebeck '09 woo hoo! I know you guys must have had your fill of Rhinebeck posts but there's always room for more....just like jello! I had fun, like I always do but of course my throat started bothering me the day of the event which turned into a week of feeling icky. I'm much better now but I haven't played with anything I bought yet becasue I was waiting to take pictures so here you go.

This year was all about the family so I only made fiber purchases at two vendors. I hit up Little Barn as soon as I hit the entrance. Last year they were my last stop and my budget was almost gone so I couldn't buy all that I wanted but I learned my lesson. Here's the haul:
8 ounces of CVM combed top in a natural color
8 ounces of Fine Wool in the Alabama Color #42 (navy and orange)
3 ounces of Merino and Soy Silk carded Roving
and 4- 1 ounce bags of a carded wool & acrylic blend for socks (2 blue, 2 green)

After Litte Barn, I did some fun kid activities with the kiddie then I headed next door to building A to pick up a Lucet from the Rouge Lucet. I had planned to buy one since I missed my opportunity last year. It was just hard deciding which one to get. I already lost the paper with the wood information but its still purty to look at just the same. Oh, and if you don't know what a Lucet is, its basically something to make two stitch i-cords with.

After that, I had some fried artichokes, went to the Ravelry meetup, hung out with the family then went to my next vendor of choice, Carolina Homespun. It was really crowded in there but I was on a mission. Here are the goods:
2 - 2 ounce hanks of Tactile Fiber Arts BFL roving in the Dogwood colorway (had to support my girl Maia)
an 8 ounce batt of a wool, mohair, angora, glitz mix from Applegate Country Fibers
and a 4 ounce Crosspatch Creations Batt that I can't wait to start spinning!

That about sums up my experience. I also snagged an ounce of angora during a walk through one of the barns. I have some spinning and knitting wips and fo's to show next time. I leave you with a family pic.

A Dream Realized

Over a year and a half ago, I joined a knit along that was supposed to help motive me to knit my first sweater. Let me rephrase that, my first adult sized sweater. I've knit many a baby sweater but I had yet to try my hand at something that didn't take more than a couple of skeins of yarn to complete. I consider myself an equal mix of a process & finished product knitter. Although I love the act of knitting I also have a short attention span. I'll fall in love with a project but then quickly lose steam when I've been knitting on it for too long so finishing this sweater was a real challenge for me. You cannot understand how proud I am that I actually finished a wearable garment! If you've been following this blog for a while, then you would remember that I mentioned this sweater maybe once or twice. Lets take a quick trip down memory lane.

I wanted my first sweater project to be something very special. I also wanted it to be a challenge. Although, something very complex might have frustrated me to no end, miles of stockinette would have likely led to a similar fate. So I searched long and hard and found the perfect sweater pattern in the Vogue Knitting Ultimate Book. I liked the wrapped style of the sweater and the cables & slanted rib pattern would keep me very engaged without driving me to drink.
I started with so much enthusiasm but lost steam after completing the back piece.I think it took about 2 or 3 months to finish that piece so I was just imagining what a daunting task I had ahead of me. I took my Necia's advice and decided to knit a sleeve, then knit the left front, then knit the other sleeve and lastly the right front. It took about a year to complete this process because I would lose focus and abandon my poor project for a while. Then I would revisit the pieces in progress while going through the stash and rekindle my joy and try to dedicate myself to accomplishing my goal. This sweater requires 2 belts to be knit which resembles really skinny scarfs to me. Scarfs are not my favorite thign to knit so it took all my crafty powers to finish one.


My middle name should be procrastination because I swear I have it down to a science. Once I had all the pieces done, the hardest obstacle for me was getting them all seamed together. I knew I could do it but I would get so discouraged just thinking about how much seaming had to be done, and how much I disliked doing it. I also had this nagging feeling that I would do a horrible job seaming the thing and it would come out looking like some mishapen mass of wool. I feared that allmy hard work would be for nothing. SoI kept putting it of for later until one evening I just had to push myself to do it. I seamed the shoulders in one night using slip stitch crochet. In fact, I used that method throughout the whole sweater because its quick and easy. I think the sweater sat for another couple of months until the weather started to get a bit nippy and certain people finished like two sweaters in a week. So I pushed myself to finish this sweater and what an accomplishment it is! There's something to be said about feeling warm and cozy and knowing that you evoked that feeling with just some sticks and string. Now when people ask "Hey, did you make that?" I can say "Why yes, in fact I did!".
Started: January 23, 2007
Finished: October 7, 2008
Pattern: Oscar De La Renta Wrap Cardigan from Vogue Knitting, Ultimate Knitting Book
Yarn: Patons Decor in Sage Green, roughly 6 skeins
My Ravelry Link



This may start a trend. Maybe I'll finish that other sweater I started back in January (2008). I finished all the pieces in about a month but its been sitting in my WIP basket waiting to be seamed up (notice a pattern?). Hey, you never know.

T minus 14 days and counting.....

Can you tell how excited I am about Rhinebeck? I thought the thrill might be gone being that this is my third year in a row attending but I've still got those first time jitters. My budget is really low this year, mainly because I'm going more to socialize than to burn a hole in my pocket. I should be wearing a green sweater (if I can ever finish seaming it up, but that's another story) so if you see me, please say hi.

This should be a short post. I just have a small knitting & spinning FO for your viewing pleasure. Oh, speaking of Rhinebeck (I know, I'm all over the place) I got these cute shoes at DSW the other day. My SO said that they look "old lady"ish but I don't care, I love them anyway. They remind me of the indestructable Buster Brown shoes that my Mom used to make me wear back in the day. I got them a half size larger than I normally would to accomodate for my hand knit socks. If they only had them in green....

OK, where was I...thats right, FO's. Remember when I posted about the fugly scarf I was working on? Its a basic sheep to shawl item. I scoured the wool, dyed the wool, carded the wool, spun the wool and now knit the wool. It was intended to be a drop stitch scarf but I ran out of yarn so it magically morphed into a cowl. I think I may like it better this way. It's still a bit scratchy but I plan on giving it a nice long soak in conditioner or wool wash or something to soften it up a bit.

I also just finished the fiber I was spinning in my previous post. The colors are still a bit muddled but not as badly as I originally thought. I'm still very pleased with the results.
Fiber Source: Ashland Bay purchased at the Yarn Tree
Weight: 3.75 ounces
WPI: 14, Sport Weight yarn
Length: 217 yards

I don't have any projects planned for this yarn, maybe I'll do something different and knit a baby item instead of some socks. I'll just wait for the yarn to tell me what it wants to be when it grows up.

I guess thats about it. I told you it was gonna be a short post. I just finished knitting a cowl for a swap but I'll wait until my swapper receives it before I post a pic. Oh yeah, I almost forgot.......

I'm getting married! Yeah, my fiance (I love saying that) proposed to me on our anniversary and I was totally surprised. It was very romantic and I couldn't have pictured anything more special than the way he planned it. And the ring is freaking GREEN! What more could I ask for? See you guys in Rhinebeck!

Fiber Fever

Yup, I've been self diagnosed with an acute case of woolleria addictivosa. Can you tell that I've been watching the House marathon? But really, I've been spinning like a mad woman. I don't know whats gotten into me but it seems like I've got non stop wool on the brain. By the end of this post, you guys will let me know if I need to go into a 12 step program or something like that.

We'll start from the earliest to the latest. First up is my spinning project from last post. The singles were super thin so I decided to navajo ply. That means that I ended up with a 3 ply but I lost major yardage doing it that way which doesn't bother me much. I have no knitting patterns planned for this yarn so for now, it will be my little piece of fiber eye candy.Here are the approximate specs:
Yards: 113
Weight: 2 ounces
WPI: 20/fingering weight


I only have one project sitting on the wheel right now. This is about 3 ounces of Ashland Bay Fiber that I purchased from the Yarn Tree a while ago. My buddie Ann ( side note: Hi Nancy, Hi Maribel, Hi Kathleen, Hi Cara) was spinning something similar last weekend and it reminded me that I had some sitting in the stash. I'm stripping the roving as I spin so the yarn doesn't get too muddy. I'm trying really hard not to spin this too thin being that I have plans for this yarn. It's roughly 24 wraps per inch which should be worsted weight once I ply it. I'm imagining a hat for the little one.

Extreme close up. Aint it purty?

I've also been practicing my spinning skills a lot. My comfort zone is spinning high twist, very thin singles in a short forward draw. I wanted to practing spinging low twist singles in case I decide to offer some in my shop. I grabbed some merino roving that I've had for a very long time and got crackin. Here's my attempt at spinning singles and its not too shabby if I do say so myself.
It's about sport weight and I think it could be knit into a lovely light little lacy scarflette (try saying that 3 times fast). This skein weighs around 1.25 ounces and is 106 yards.
Yup, there's more. In preperation for Rhinebeck, I'm still trying to clear some room for this years haul. I decided to card up a Felters Fiber pack of wool that I got from Misty Mountain farm. It had a whole bunch of differnt wool in there. I can't wait to see how the yarn will come out.

Lastly, here's my newest sheep to FO project. Looking at the previews of the upcoming spin off magazine got me really excited about spinning woolen and worsted yarns. As I said before, I already practiced spinning low twist yarns, now I wanted to practice spinning long draw or woolen yarns. I did a search on videos and came up with this wonderful one. I tried her technique and guess what, it worked! It finally worked. I had tried so many times before to spin long draw and it just never worked out but this time it finally did. Here's my sample that I made out of my first woolen yarn (yay)
I used some domestic wool that I purchased from RH Lindsay. The wool is not all that great but hey, you get what you pay for so I'm not complaning. I'm carding up a bunch of this stuff into light fluffy rolags. I'll most likely dye the yarn and then knit it into a vest.

I couldn't leave you guys with absolutely no knitting so here's my current commuter project.
I'm knitting the Drop Stitch scarf even though I think there's another pattern out there that's very similar. I'm naming this the Fugly scarf. Yes I think this is coming out rather ugly and I'm refusing to give up on it. I promised myself that I would try to knit with my handspun more often and I'm going to try and stick by my word. Just try not to make fun of me when you see me rockin it this winter.

See what I mean about the fiber addiction thing? Do I need professional help. I think this years trip to Rhinebeck should cure me. What do you think?