It’s summer. It’s hot and I have the attention span of a gnat. There’s essentially no craft-related activity happening right now. I suspect that this state of affairs will continue until autumn. Not that I don’t have a bunch of lovely things I could be working on, including some scrumptious batts from Abby.
(Also: I didn’t get a scholarship to SOAR–I wasn’t expecting to, honestly–and I’ve decided not to go this year. I’ll probably look into going the next time it’s in the Midwest or on the East Coast. I’m going to take a class at MDSW instead.)
Here’s Peaby’s solution to the problem of what to do with the alpaca/merino/silk batt:
Or, for added fun, here’s the lolcat version (courtesy of my husband):
Yeah, I live in one classy household. Nothing but lolcats and poop jokes for us.
So back in 2006 I got this absolutely glorious batt from Indigo Moon Farm (who apparently no longer exist). It’s 50% alpaca, 30% merino, and 20% silk. It’s 8 ounces of beautiful fluffy layered color.
And I have no idea what to do with it. I desperately want to spin this, but I’m worried I’m going to ruin it (which is dumb, because it is just fiber and I can always get more even if I can’t get this specific stuff ever again) and I’m stuck.
Any ideas?
My current pair of socks is, as the title implies, a hot mess. I’m using a very highly variegated Lorna’s Laces colorway (Iris Garden) and it’s been difficult to find a stitch pattern that was interesting enough to keep me from getting bored as well as one that didn’t get completely lost. And since I finished my second pair of Monkeys in the week before I cast on for these, that pattern wasn’t an option.
So this is what I’ve come up with:
The colorway is, I admit, a bit on the garish side and I chose it because I started these socks at the Romantic Times Booklovers’ Convention in Pittsburgh last month (I am their SF/F reviewer) and it just seemed too Jacqueline Kirby in Die For Love–in lieu of wearing a big ruffly dress and Southern belle hat, that is. IN other words, I couldn’t resist. And the yarn’s been in stash for a couple of years and since I’m trying to work my way through said stash (with better intentions than results)…
It’s a simple 4-row repeat in which three of the four rows are knit plain and the pattern row is basically paired yarn overs on a stockinette background–hardly original, and I think if I were to knit another pair with this pattern, I’d try to do the pattern on row three in the middle of the stockinette so you’d end up with some sort of staggered eyelet thing going on. But I’m not going to rip this out again to try. I have probably 3 more repeats to do on the cuffs before i move onto the heel and foot.
Blue merino top from Ashland Bay, purchased at MDSW in 2005 if I”m remembering correctly. About 174 yards and 11 wpi, give or take. Destined to become a Baby Surprise Jacket, I believe.
Dusty rose Finn, purchased at MDSW in 2008. About 80 yards and well under 10 wpi. Probably 8-9 wpi average. No clue what I’m going to do with this, I’ll probably end up giving it away.
Current project–Olive Bar BFL/silk/nylon tweed batts from Abby’s Yarns. I have two of them, so this is half, I have yet to start the other half. This is coming in at around 40 wpi, so it should be a nice rustic laceweight when it’s all said and done. Hoping for enough yardage for Persephone, but am not overly optimistic.
These were all spun on my Louet Victoria, which should give folks an idea of the range of the wheel–it’s incredibly versatile and amazingly portable. I love it. But not more than I love my Lendrum. Which is being sadly ignored at the moment. But that’s okay.
And in other exciting news, I think I might have a local spinning group! I belong to a very low traffic group on Ravelry for Delaware fiber folks and over the last few months, there has been some traffic on whether or not there’s a spinning group in the northern part of the state–specifically, north of the canal. People who live in this part of the state are weird–they do not like to drive long distances and suggesting that someone drive half an hour down to Middletown or Smyrna is pretty much unthinkable. People won’t do it unless they have no other choice. I’ve heard people complaining about driving from Prices Corner to Pike Creek which is a 5 miles drive and pretty much a straight shot across Kirkwood. So, yeah. No local spinning group, woe woe woe. The topic came up again yesterday and I decided to take action (well, make a comment to a post). I said, basically, “Since there doesn’t seem to be a local group, why don’t we start one?” A few people agreed that would be a good idea, some brainstorming around location occured, and then I took it upon myself to call our LYS to see if they’d be okay with us meeting there a few times a month–working around their class schedule, of course!–and they were, so voila! Local spinning group. The first meeting is Sunday, May 25 from 2 to 4 pm. Whee!
