Into The Good Stuff

There's something very invigorating about laying all your unfinished projects out. At least, it was for me. I was mobilised into action after telling you about all my WIPs last week and in a flurry of activity, have finished quite a few.

Here's the first. Handspun, delicious, bluefaced leicester. It's my best spinning so far. Still with a distinctly handspun feel (read: a bit thick & thin and overplied in places) it's pretty even and so super soft. I filled two bobbins then crammed them both onto one bobbin when I was plying and was chuffed to work out I had about 305m of roughly a four ply/heavy fingering weight yarn. Although I imagined that I might dye it - now it's all skeined up, I'm thinking not. The creamy colour is just edible as is.

I thought you'd like to see the high-tech way I skein my yarn. I don't have a niddy noddy or a swift or a ball winder but I do have chairs. With the help of my kids (usually my 11 year old son who loves everything to do with numbers) I wind my plied yarn around two chairs, measure the distance around and count the number of times it's wrapped. Distance x wraps = rough length. I'm sure there are easier ways to do it - but this works very well for now :)

Our trip to Fibre East this past weekend was fantastic, as usual. My main aim was to get spinning supplies (although I couldn't resist just a bit of yarn and some buttons too ... ) Anyway, here's the fibre I got. Clearly, I am feeling in the mood for natural and earthy tones right now ...

This little beauty was first. It's a 100g braid dyed by Katie of Hill Top Cloud. I love her dyeing, she has a great eye for colour. I can't find a colourway name, but it's a 70% BFL, 15% Seacell and 15% Baby Alpaca blend. I'm going to have a bash at spinning it to about a DK weight. I'm laughing as I type this - I'm not sure if I have much control of how thick or thin my spinning is yet. We'll find out. It's good to aim high though, right?

Mr Myrtle spotted this swirl of creams and browns first and once I squeezed it, there was no going back. Ooh la la! It's an undyed, luscious blend of merino, alpaca, camel and silk. Soft is not the word, it feels silky, with incredible bounce and I am in love. Swept away, I bought a whole 200 grams. I have no idea how many metres of yarn that will spin into, the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned.

And finally, this silky, "pink champagne" suri alpaca needed to come home with me. I bought 100g from the lovely woman on the The Woolroom stand and I'm thinking (again with a bit of a panicked giggle) that I'd like to try to spin it as a DK weight single (is that even possible?)

I don't know what to spin first. I've "pimped" my wheel with a new plastic stretchy drive band, a thumb tack under the tension knob and a new bobbin and asked a gazillion questions of the very patient ladies spinning in the "have a go" tent, so I'm ready to go. I better start soon before I'm struck with the affliction where you can't bear to use the lovely stuff.

Any suggestions?