Friday, January 30, 2009

Ready, set, SPIN!

Before starting on the 5 1/2 pounds of white alpaca top, I wanted to have three empty bobbins - two for singles and one for plying. That prompted me to finally skein off this lovely stuff, made from a white alpaca single and a single from the luscious merino/angora/glitz batt Allena gave me (taken in natural light).

After washing it, I have this oh, so soft two-ounce skein (taken with flash). Any ideas for what I should/could make with it? The thought occurred to me that it would make a lovely stranded project combined with the sample skein of white alpaca - a hat, perhaps? But seeing as how I haven't tackled stranded work yet (although I have a fantastic tutorial saved from the Traditional Knitting list), I am hesitant to use such wonderful stuff on my first attempt. I know, I know, it can sit in the stash until such time the perfect project presents itself....

With bobbins at the ready, I just had to wait for some time to start spinning. That was handed to me yesterday afternoon, when Rick took Brian with him to the office while I gave my friend Debbie a dressage lesson. When I got home, I was able to make one pass up the bobbin (covering the core always seems like an accomplishment to me) and start back towards the orifice. I weighed out 8 oz. of top to put on this bobbin, and will do the same for bobbin #2. Then I will ply off two 8-oz. skeins for Barbara at the alpaca farm and be more than a third finished with my obligation to her. At that point I may take a break from the alpaca to spin something else if I feel the need.

And finally, a frosty sedum shot for Karla, taken this morning:My sedum suffered last year from browsing deer and dashing dog; I'm hoping to nurse it back to a healthier state of growth this year. I may have to use the puppy exercise pen as a barrier to redirect traffic for awhile, until new traffic patterns become habit.

That's it for now from . . .

11 comments:

Jennifer said...

Can't wait to see what you make with it, it is very pretty yarn!

Laura said...

The yarn would make a great baby hat and booties. It would also be pretty with solid purple for a bigger project. Great job spinning!!

Sharon said...

I think it would be a wonderful hat. I agree with Laura - great job spinning. You should think about getting some Gaywool Dyes. You can dye very small amounts quite quickly and would be able to turn a skein like that into a couple of colors, or maybe a rainbow dyed yarn.

LDSVenus said...

Beautiful skein! And oh my how lucky to have alpaca handed to you for some spun yarn!!! You get alpaca and get to spin too, how cool is that! :)

Claire MW said...

That photograph of the sedum and the leaves is so beautiful. I think it would be great inspiration for a blended batt....don't you?!

MiniKat said...

That yarn is gorgeous! The sedum photo is also lovely. The frost highlights the edges so well.

A wildlife gardener said...

I'd say a hat, definitely..it would be a wonderful colour to frame the face :)

Lady Katherine said...

You spinning is great! I want some leggings, lol so I would pick that. My 90 plus year home gets cold in the winter. lol Yes a hat or scarf would be lovely!

Kathleen said...

Beautiful yarn! I love the color. The last photo is lovely, too. It would make a wonderful background for your blog.

Michelle said...

So Kathleen, can you give me a tutorial on how to create my own custom blog background?

Windyridge said...

Lovely colors!