Love of Yarn (Spin)

My friend Kristine (found here and here ) is totally awesome.  She and I have been friends for what feels like forever; maybe 7 years?  Maybe more?  Anyway, we talk about everything.  And we both knit.

Well, Kristine spins.  She makes this beautiful yarn that she dyes and spins herself.  It's always amazing.  For the past year for various occasions, she's gifted me this incredible stuff.

(This is what I made with the beautiful merino she dyed/spun for me for graduation.  The picture is a little grainy, but you can see how beautiful it is.)

So when I got a pretty gold package from her and her boyfriend when they came to visit around Christmas, I thought I was going to get some more pretty yarn. 

Wrong.

I got something (and I hate to say this) better.

That's right.  She gave me a drop spinner, some natural brown fleece, and then this beautiful stuff she custom dyed for me with some of my favorite colors.  Kristine then proceded to teach me to spin.

My stuff is still pretty uneven, but it's so much fun.  I've always loved the creation end of things when knitting, and this is just an extra bit.  Check it out:

 

 

 

 

Isn't her colorwork awesome?!  I can't get over how many colors are hidden.  I keep finding all these different shades as I spin, yellow green and dark green and mid green and blue green and deep purple and almost neon purple and everything in between. 

I only have one ball finished; the other is in the works.  When I'm done, I'm going to ply them together and set it.  Then we'll see what pretty knitting I can do. :)

~Birdie

P.S. - I looked into the pooling of my socks.  Turns out that the particular kind I'm using is known for having large twists of color.  I still love them.  And now I know for future reference.

When It's Cold...

..cast on a new project!

I was trying to come up with some new things last night.  My friend Kristine knits mittens and has a really cool way to formulate them.  It's incredible watching her go.  Mittens have always kind of made me nervous.  (Thumb gusset?  What?)

So last night while charting out some new colorwork, I attempted to write a formula for knitting mittens.

 

 

Which I then promptly ignored and cast on with abandon and scrap yarn.  Dangerous, I know.  But sometimes danger is good for the soul.

This is what I have as of five minutes ago:

I would like to note that this is without a pattern.  It's a little big, but that's okay.  I'm more or less experimenting.  So far, I like it.

Also, in case you were wondering, I have not forgotten about the nice blue socks I was working on.  Today I made it to the heel flap, all while in the car.

Do those stripes look a little wonky?  Cause they do to me.  I know that's the beauty of hand painted yarn, but I still can't get over how this is pooling.  Also, I know they're from the same dye lot, I know the Loopy Ewe wouldn't send two from different lots, and I double checked when they came.  But look at this:

Isn't that strange? 

I still love them though.  They're my odd little blue socks, full of soft warmth and personality.  :)

My sister Katie wants me to knit the Doctor's Scarf.  We ordered the yarn today, and it should be in by this time next week.  The Yarn Harlot did it in a week; Kate's expecting her within ten days of the yarn delivery.  I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I mean, that's a whole lot of garter stitch.  I'm excited for the challenge though.

(It does mean putting these cuties on hold though.  That's okay, I can't afford yarn at the moment anyway.)

And that is that.  Back to my mitten now. :)

~Birdie