Spindle spun yarns, mainly

The Bank Holiday weather not being of the absolute best, and me being "under the weather" anyway, in the shape of a mild summer cold, spending time plying up some of the yarns that I have been spindling seemed like a jolly good idea.



Here we have, from left to right, the cormo (!! - it turned up!!), a rather luscious alpaca and merino? and silk? blend form Fyberspates, the three dyed tops for the Extended Coven Christmas project and the Norwegian top from Adelaide Walker. We also have the spindles they were plyed on - a super, heavier than I normally use new spindle from True Creations, my regular plying spindle from Avi Wasserman and a long time favourite from Forrester.



Here is the cormo, with the spindle I used to ply it (and then put the entire thing back in the spindle jar - why? Hence the loss.) This is destined to be a lacy scarf, or shawlette if I think there is enough.

The alpaca blend is soft enough for a warm scarf, the three EC skeins are for fingerless mitts (I am thinking something with short rowed cuffs for shape, and decorative buttons.) The Norwegian - goodness knows. I bought it as a new fibre to try out; I quite liked spinning it and indeed quite like the yarn, but it came out relatively chunky, not to mention hairy. So there is probably not enough for a pair of socks, and it is not next to the skin quality, that's for sure. Maybe a bag? Or some slippers, perhaps - yes, that might work.

I still have on the go the "crab apple" blend that I hackled, some Polwarth and silk and some cashmere, oh, and two lots of silk from Royale Hare that I have been spinning for ages. Just in case you should think that I am letting things slide......

It was Alston on Friday, a lovely quiet and friendly day, with quite a bit of braiding done. And there were fleece.



I really wasn't going to buy any - but there was this rather nice Poll Dorset - one of the very first fleece that I ever spun was one of these, and I have fond memories of it. So this was irresistable. And as it is a grand day today, and forecast to be good for the next couple, I have started washing it, which I consider exceptionally efficient. I'll sample as soon as dry.

A cat pic. At the moment, they are often either outside, or asleep on the bed. (Neelix is always the latter case.) We suddenly spotted the snowshoes rather uncomfortably sharing the high wall, Ruby wanting to be her usual fishwife self, but neither of them quite daring to misbehave as they were somewhat precariusly perched!



Completely loopy (them, or us?)

Otherwise, I'm knitting on three projects, the angora/silk stole, the Noro circular blanket (I've found a pattern for a square one, now!) and a pair of socks for bedtime knitting. I'm actually being quite productive, but there is a lot more that needs to be done - and that I want to do! We've got a workshop at the end of next week, and then a few days away; I have a couple more articles to write; and lots more spindling and the making of things from spindle spun yarns. Many, many ideas bubbling - and that is before we go off to SOAR, which always produces another crop.

Too much fun?