Skein! We Have Skein!

This is 4 oz of plied heavy worsted/tab bit of bulkyish yarn. It came out to about 81 yards. Hope with me that when all is said and done, I can at least get a vest out of this deal. Will have to swatch and see....

The Purple Green Project

Yarn! Not sure if this will knit up marled or tweedy or both, but I'm excited! I had this left over on the lazy kate because my plying bobbin overfloweth.

These were the singles. It is mostly fingering with some worsted here and there. Hoping to get more consistent with practice.

Familiar story?

In the beginning...
But what had happened was...

And at some point, like a thief in the night...all will be revealed.

Some Spinning

Finally, I'm back at the wheels in anticipation of another trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival coming up in just two weeks. The original goal was to spin up whatever was in my basket and then to go for stash busting "practice" fibers.
That worked for a little while until I followed whimsy and tried my hand at the wheel to spin silk, baby camel and bamboo. The easiest and dreamiest to spin was the camel. I heart it. Didn't want to stop spinning it. Camel is the potato chip of fibers in my book.
On the otherhand, the bamboo and silk gave me the blues. I had the hardest time attaching the bamboo to the leader yarn. It is very slippery and seemed to want to be thick singles. As for the silk, perhaps spinning from gummy hankies is not the best form. Much of it matted together before I got twist into the section. Hopefully, there'll be a nice blend to redeem the experience at the festival.

My bottomless bag of turquoise merino top is almost exhausted. A smidge is plied with some dark coopworth. Here's a small hank of my beginner-again yarn below. Next up...purple and green wool. Wish me luck that I make way for other goodies by show time.

Unintentional Swatching

Is what happens when you make a square for gauge that is accurate, cast on for the back and still come up with a project that is five times too big. Grrrr. This is what I get for not spinning every chance I get before the next wool festival.

I am attempting to make the Drop Collar Jacket found in the premire issue of the Debbie Bliss magazine. It had better work out, shoo. This yarn, Wool-ease Chunky, has already been frogged from a wretched Vogue Knitting pattern that I gave up on. Hoping...

What's new knitty cat?

Hot off the needles is the Ursula shrug that I first saw at NY Sheep and Wool Festival 08 at the BriarRose Fibers booth. I've knit the pattern in their awesomely dyed Charity yarn.
It feels great to have used yarn bought within the last twelve months.

My only modifications were to the sleeve length. I steam blocked as I knit along and bound off at 66 inches. I still need to wash the shrug, so I anticipate it being a tad bit longer in the back once dried. This project was so easy and enjoyable. I can't wait to do lots more lace this year.