Blue Meanies

Well, not really, but I saw one at the sandwich shop yesterday and then I came home and spun all this blue, blue, blue yarn. First, though, I had to finish spinning this bit of alpaca and wind it off the spindle! That's about 200 feet of suri alpaca singles, and it's spinning into a beautiful fine soft yarn with occasional slubs. And then there's the Blue Stuff. This is the kool-aid roving, which I split in two lengthwise so I have two pieces of even length to ply together (one spun last night, one waiting to be spun). Imagine my astonishment: it's not felted, it drafts nicely, and it ended up as remarkably even singles! I seem to be getting much better at drafting all of a sudden. And therein lies my one little piece of advice for new handspinners: Try lots of different fibers. I was scared to try anything too nice when I started out, but after a little time with the Corriedale, I think it helped me a lot to get a lighter spindle and work with merino, then llama and alpaca (and there's a gorgeous merino/tussah blend waiting for me). When I went back to the Corriedale I had a much better feel for it and could draft it much thinner than before.

In case you were worried, I haven't abandoned my knitting just to make more yarn; I've been working exclusively on the second sock since Wednesday or so, and it's coming along nicely! In fact, everything past the toe was accomplished in the past 36 hours, thanks to an afternoon s&b and some TV knitting in the evenings. I should manage to finish the pair just in time for the weather to warm up again. Because as you can see in this sky picture a la Sandy, today is not a nice warm day. Today is one of those days when the fog hides the mountains and looks like it'll be there all day, dropping more snow on us occasionally. A perfect day to stay in and knit.