Spinning Stuff!

The other night, I wound my most recent 2 ply into a pretty yarn cake.





I also knit up a swatch with it.



Sorry for the crap-ass picture. My camera was being moody last night.

I'd love to make socks with this (I have about 400 yards in 3 separate skeins), but I'm afraid of their durability. This yarn is . . . hm, how should I put it? This yarn is not even. In some sections it is around a heavy fingering weight, in others near lace. I can probably work things so the lighter weight parts are nowhere near the danger zones on my feet -- heels and toes. I also probably could double up the yarn in the thin parts. I washed the swatch this morning, and will measure it when it's dry. If not socks, what else should I make with it?

I also started another spinning project over the weekend.



It's this stuff that I got at the CT Sheep and Wool Fest. Corriedale, merino, and silk, I think, with gold tinsel thrown in there. It's really soft and smells nice.

I had some friends help me out with this weekend's spinning.





The Abita Jockamo is pure perfection. I love Abita, and I love IPAs, so it makes sense that I love an Abita IPA!

The Monty Python beer has a great cap though.



I'm not sure if I kept the cap or not, but it would make a great magnet or a button. Back in my wild youth, us punk rockers used to wear beer caps on our leather jackets. Oh yeah, I owe you stories, don't I? I'm such a tease. I have one in mind, but it's a little racy for me to type out on my blog while I'm at work. . . keystrokes and such. Do companies really keep track of that stuff? Well, not racy, but indicative of some of the degenerates I've hung out with over the years. I'll do that this weekend, because I'd hate to keep mentioning it and have y'all be disappointed when I finally start telling stories. I'm going to aim for one story a week, as the mood hits me. Okay?

Oh! I got these really cute stitch markers too!



Tree frogs!!!



Snakes!!!



Turtles!!!

Check out this little trucking turtle dude:



(Pay no attention to the black cats hairs underneath said trucking turtle dude.)

Aren't they adorable?? I got them from an Etsy seller called Yarn Lust, who has many more that are just as cute!!!

Oh, yeah, I also got more yarn lately. I blame my downstream Secret Pal, because every time I buy something for her, I buy something for me.

I was purchasing "things" for her from KnitPicks and decided to pull the trigger on one of the laceweight samplers. If only I could knit lace as fast as I can purchase laceweight! Here they are:








I don't know which is which right now, so I'll come back and tag them later!

I also purchased some tweedy sock yarn:



And, because my total was something like $48.10 and $50 gets one free shipping, I went trolling through the clearance and found this laceweight for $1.99.



Considering how much fiber and yarn you know I already have, and how long it takes me to knit anything, much less lace, you'd think I'd be done, right?

Wrong.







(the 1st and 2nd pics, and the 3rd and 4th, are both respectively of the same yarns. . . just so you know there was only three yarns in that purchase.)

A local yarn shop, Mind's Eye, was having an anniversary sale so I strolled in and bought the above. I've since made another purchase at another LYS, Newbury Yarns, but I don't even have pictures of those yet.

I think I may only buy equipment at Rhinebeck, like carders and stuff. No fiber. Do you think that's feasable for me? Or should I just make 2009 my "yarn diet" year?