Handspun yarn can be so mysterious!

Now that I'm knitting with my own handspun yarn, I've discovered how much fun it is.  I don't know why I waited to long to do this! Sometimes, as is the case with my current projects, it can be such a mystery!

Here is the fiber I spun - 8 oz. of Blue Faced Leicester, a long staple breed with considerable shine in the fiber.  It was hand painted by one of my favorite dyers - Crown Mountain Farms - who unfortunately has closed down due to a move back to Germany.  This colorway is called "Finding Rainbows".

I didn't try to do anything fancy with the colors.  I just split the long strip in thirds lengthwise and spun it onto three bobbins.  Then I plied the singles into a 3-ply

You can see in this picture that the skein had two different coloring throughout the yarn.  One is primarily a forest green and dark purple.  The other is yellow greens and a redder purple.  

I knit these fingerless mitts from yarn pulled from the center of the yarn cake.  They are the forest green/dark purple coloring for the most part.  The yellow green started creeping into the mix half way up the right glove.

I'm knitting this scarf from the outside end of the yarn cake.  Looks like an entirely different yarn, doesn't it!  As the scarf progresses the colors will move from one blend to the other.  I can hardly wait to see how it will look when it is done!

A little more knitting and some spinning

Cowl in Seahawks colors.  Go Hawks!

12 oz of fiber becomes two skeins of 3-ply for socks and one skein of 2-ply laceweight for a scarf or small shawl.  These are currently being "finished" - meaning they have been washed and are now drying to "fluff" the yarn and set the twist.

More January Knitting

January knitting

Thank you for all the nice comments you readers sent.  I will strive to write a post here and there so if you are interested then don't take my blog off your blog reader.

Here's the knitting I've done in January.  Still going strong.  I'm filling a big basket of gifts - fingerless mitts and cowls - to take to my local Starbucks baristas who take such excellent care of all my coffee needs.  Quite a few of these are knit from my handspun yarn.

If you are interested in more details you can check the individual project pages in Ravelry for pattern names, yarns, etc.  I will create the pages in the next couple days.  My user name is hardenbrookgirl.

Distractions II

I see my last post was about distractions, and was written two months ago.  So it seems appropriate to address distractions in this post also.

Since the knitting retreat at the beginning of November I've done next to no quilting.  I've been knitting and spinning instead.  And reading.  And enjoying the holidays.  And spending very little time on the computer.

I thank those of you who sent an email to check up on me.  All is fine.  However, knitting and spinning do not generate any desire to write.  I don't know what the difference is, but they just don't inspire me in a verbal way.  So I have stopped writing.

Keeping a blog isn't what it used to be.  When I first started blogging there was so much give and take between the quilting bloggers.  I made so many friends all over the world who became very dear to me - and still are.  These days, however, there are so many people writing blogs, and with people busier than ever it seems that very little commenting goes on.  The comments and discussions were what kept me blogging, and I miss them so much.  These days it just isn't the same.

I thank you who have read my blog over the years.  I'm going to leave it in place as I know people still visit the tutorials regularly, but I'm not going to keep posting.  I wish all of you the best in both your quilty and your personal lives.