As The World Spins

My life has been spinning lately.

Back in February (I think) I bought 4 ounces of wool roving from a LYS.  It was a mix of red, black and white.  I spun it up into 2 skeins.  Each skein is about 65 yards.  It is about 7 wpi.  I haven't swatched it yet.

It turned out lovelier than I expected.  The roving was coarse, but the final yarn is fairly soft.  It will work for a hat or mitts.  It might be a little too coarse for a cowl.  The shop was marketing the roving as Ohio State colors.  It has too much black in it for OSU.  If I am to make something collegiate with it, it will probably be for someone who attended/attends University of Cincinnati. 

 Below is 24 ounces of Blue-Faced Leicester roving I purchased from Webs.  It is from Ashland Bay and is a mix of natural and brown wool.  It is very soft.

It was a bit of an impulse buy.  When I saw the pattern Buttonbox in the latest edition of Knitty, I knew I wanted to make it.  Since it is a pattern for homespun, I thought I'd give it a try.  I'm probably being too ambitious.  I am still a novice spinner.  

While I'm showing roving, here is some black alpaca I bought last year.  I have 12 ounces of it.  I started spinning this on one of my drop spindles.  I don't know if I'll continue on the spindle or not.  I might transition this over to the wheel.

Now I have to pack up all of these goodies and clear out my dining room.  Ed is going to tear up the carpeting and install hardwood.  I'm hoping I can fit a walk outside into the day.  Today is forecasted to be nice but another winter storm is predicted for tomorrow.

Handy Dandy Project Bag

Kristin was home last weekend for midterm break.  It was her first time back this semester.  Her experience at her new university is totally different than her first semester at the other school.  She is involved in a lot of activities, isn't stressing as much about her classes and, like a typical college kid, doesn't call home much.  It was nice to have her home.  She sent me a of meals to cook for her.  I fulfilled her request except for one dish.  I substituted something I had been wanting to try.  I had this pasta dish at a local restaurant and wanted to try to recreate it.  If I say so myself, it was a huge hit.  It made a lot, so I think I'll cut the recipe in half next time.

Sunday afternoon we took a family drive and took her back to school.  With an hour of sitting in the car, I figured I'd work on my current prayer shawl.   I think I added about 8 inches to it during the ride.

Before leaving I grabbed this bag to stow the yarn in the car.  It turned out to be quite a handy project bag.  The bag is from a pair of shoes I recently bought.  Puma is using these bags instead of shoe boxes.  I think it was a great idea.  The only problem I see is that if all the shoe companies do that, school kids will have trouble finding boxes for their dioramas.

I started working on a blanket for my personal trainer.  He is getting married in June.  This should be a quick knit on US 11 needles.  It is my watching TV project.  It will quickly become too large to transport anywhere.

I knit up a little of my homespun.  It works out to about 4 1/2 stitches per inch on US 7 needles.  I have about 320 yards.  Not sure what I'm going to make out of it yet.  I wish I had more because I would make this vest from the latest Knitty.  In the photo below, I knit the bottom section on US 7s and the top on US 8s.  I like the density of the bottom.  The top is just a bit too loose for me.

Here's my latest spinning.  It is a ball of red/black/white roving I got from a LYS.  I think there is about 8 ounces.  It is coarser than the wool I spun first.  I am see that it is less prone to breaking while I spin it, but it is harder to draft.  I hope it softens up after it is plied and takes a swim with some baby shampoo.

The weathermen are saying it is going to reach 50 deg F today.  Time to sign off now and take a long walk outside and get some Vitamin D.  My doctor tells me that I am deficient, so I better follow her orders.