Month: September 2011

On Tuesday when the new Knitty went live, I spent some time perusing Knittyspin, like I always do. It seems that the past few issues have caught my eye more because of the spinning articles than because of the knitting patterns. And of course, reading about spinning stuff just made me itch to get on my wheel. It’s been over 2 months since I’ve had any time to spin, so finally on Tuesday night I made some time.

My goal recently is to try spinning different fibers. So far I’ve done merino, merino + firestar, alpaca + silk, and domestic wool. I was really excited to acquire some Bluefaced Leicester wool, Cotton + flax, and another type of wool that I can’t remember the name of now. I decided to spin up the Bluefaced Leicester, and this stuff is great! I can see why it’s commonly recommended for beginners, because it is very easy to spin. I don’t have to do any predrafting and it spins beautifully. It’s soft and has a little bit of lustre to it, so I can already tell from the singles that this is going to be a very beautiful yarn.

I’m fractal spinning this fiber (read this post for my first discussion about this technique), so I’m excited to see how the colors mix and match up once I ply. Unfortunately, it’s a Christmas present for someone, so I can’t reveal the colors. But I can say that the colors are deep, rich, vibrant ones that are going to make for a lovely yarn and a lovely knitted item.

I’ve noticed recently that as my social life has gotten more active in the last 2 years, my social knitting has decreased. What I mean by that is I haven’t been knitting/crocheting as much when I’m just hanging out with my friends, or out to a restaurant, or just waiting for something to start. I’m still bringing projects along, but somehow they always get left behind in the car.

It was so good on Sunday, then, to actually bring my knitting INTO the restaurant for lunch after church. My singles group has a tradition of eating Sunday lunch together every Sunday after church, and it’s something I look forward to all week. We usually hang out well into the afternoon, eating and enjoying each other’s company. This past Sunday, I brought along the new sweater project I started, and I was amazed at how much knitting I was able to get done while just enjoying conversation at the table. And I forget how much my friends like to see me doing something I love: playing with yarn.

Especially when I have a variegated skein of yarn, it brings hours of entertainment to both myself and the people watching enthralled as the color changes (“Pink! Oh now it’s Blue! Wait, what’ll be next, oh Yellow! And there’s Orange…”)

The back, the front (pictured above), and Sleeve 1 are done. Over halfway done with Sleeve 2, and then it’ll be time to put the whole thing together. Can’t believe I’m almost done with this epic piece of knitting. Prepare for picture overload when it’s done.

Here is video of sheep in Iceland. If you count the sheep, you will fall asleep. (Don’t try this at work!)