Rumors

There's a rumor going around that I spin yarn occasionally. Not sure where it came from, but I did find this skein laying (lying?) around the house yesterday. Seems I forgot to post a photo of it a few weeks ago when I made it for the "recycle" Fiber Friday theme. Called "Lacewing," it is just under 13 yards and made by tying 6" lace scraps end-to-end. Not spun at all. I think it would look great as trim on something, maybe a hat?, with cream-colored thick-and-thin wool yarn (maybe some handspun similar to Crystal Palace's Labrador yarn). It would be great to wear to a winter wedding, don't you think? I'll have to push one of my friends to get married soon...

And remember this batt that Natasha sent me? I made this yarn, "Cinnamon Candy Cane", with it yesterday. 76 yards of super-bulky thick and thin wool and sparkle plied with a commercial wool-blend boucle. (There are a couple more pictures here and here if you want to see more). It was my first experience working with a batt, and I've got to tell you, that was the easiest spinning I've done, and it was so easy to get a fluffy yarn that way. I may never go back. Two of the LYS owners have expressed interest in carrying my handspun, and I need to start spinning up an inventory for them; I think this skein will be part of that batch, rather than saved for personal use. Now if I could just settle on a business name...

In other spinning news, I have joined 2 more spinswaps, Spin Me a Treasure and Art Yarn Spinner's Magic Yarn Ball. Sponsored by the French Tricotin, the former is a straight 1for1 skein of handspun swap, but the twist is it's an international group of participants; I'm hoping to receive a skein from someone on another continent. The second is sponsored again by Yarnpunk, who started the Buggin' Out Fiber Swap I did recently. So that brings my spin swaps to 3, including the SpintoKnit swap.

As for knitting, I've been cranking out hats left and right. And on the left is a 2x2 ribbed beanie in Noro Kureyon; on the right, another watchcap in Manos del Uruguay. Manos was over the weekend, and Noro was this week. I'm thinking of donating some of these to a one of the charity that have been proliferating out there for cold folks in need.

Last but NOT least, look what I got in the mail this week!! Sock yarn out the wazoo, as my mom would have said. On the left is "Orange Julius", 360yds of hand-dyed merino sock yarn from Sunset Yarns (now Cherry Blossom Fibers), sent to my by my SP9 Secret Pal (thanksTHANKSthanks!). Boy does my spoiler get me - she picked the perfect color, and knew that I've been wanting to try making socks (I'm a sock virgin). And on the right is "Foxtrot", 425yds of hand-dyed merino sock yarn from Perchance to Knit. The latter is 1 of 3 exclusive colorways created by Susie Grougan for SP9 swappers. I bought 2 skeins of that one: one for me, and one for my spoilee. (You can't see it, but there's a Swarovski crystal stitch marker attached, too). I'm socktastic now!


Edited to add: Oh, yeah, I forgot, I joined another KAL, too: Norovember, hosted by Minxknits. How could I not? I practically live for Noro; I could probably wallpaper a small room with all the ball bands I've used over the years. I'm thinking that the Kureyon Kap I did (above) for my 1st project, then one of those Kureyon Kozies, and maybe a felted bowl from One Skein...

Tags: handspun, yarn, spinning, knitting, swap, FO