Amy asked yesterday if my family looks at me weird when I take pictures of, say, our breakfast. Actually, they don't much care as long as I don't get them personally involved, which obviously happens more often with knitting than with French toast. When I start saying things like, "Hold still so I can get a shot of your feet," or "Hmmm, that's not working, come stand over by this window," they maybe get a little annoyed.
Much better to take pictures of things by themselves; the yarn doesn't care (Actually, I think it kind of likes it, don't you?). Like these:
The latest yarns off my wheel. These are the two merino rovings I got for Christmas. The green I started spinning pretty much immediately, then I got sidetracked by all the January birthdays. As a result, it's pretty uneven. Also, I tried winding it into a center-pull ball, then plying the inside end together with the outside end, rather than plying from two balls or bobbins of yarn. I'd heard this is doable, and you don't end up with any leftovers if your balls aren't quite the same size (hee). I ended up with a tangled mess that broke about a jillion times. Through sheer force of will and my thrifty and sentimental desire not to throw out perfectly good, beautiful merino, I got it finished. But it's not as nice as I'd like it to be.
The brown was my first attempt at spinning a singles yarn, with no plying. As a result, it is also, um, pretty uneven. I was going for a bulky single to make into the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat, except I was going to make an Unoriginal Neckwarmer, because I already have a hat. The cables, though, just didn't look right with the thick-and-thin yarn I ended up with. It was Just Too Much. So I frogged and made a neckwarmer in just stockinette, with a picot hem at the top and bottom.
It was. . . . a little big.
It was also quickly frogged, lest it become sentient and attempt to eat me. The third attempt is on the needles now, and I sure hope it works, because I've missed having a neckwarmer. It's a little bit of a change from a scarf, a bit less bulky (unless it is big enough to be a tube top, of course), and my old one is currently residing somewhere on the floor of Ikea.
I've also got a sock going for Baby Sister, from the leftovers from my mom's socks, which is going very slowly since it's pretty much traveling knitting. It hangs out in my work bag or my diaper bag, waiting for spare moments I don't often have. Don't worry, I'm making it big.
My other current knitting project is still the seamless hybrid I started a while ago. I've been working on it, I swear, but it is a little boring. It makes good tv knitting, but not particularly interesting photos, so I'll wait until something's going on with it before I show it again. You should look for it sometime in April. :)
Finally, once I started with the spinning wheel again, after a bit of a break in December and January, I can't stop. I'm working on this pretty merino I got at Manmade by Jonne:
Yeah, the colors are a little bright. J called it "circus wool." But after all the green and brown and the white alpaca I had worked on before, I wanted a bit of color. I'm thinking fun bright socks. Next on the wheel, once Jess gets it dyed up, will be the wool for her contest. (If you haven't seen her contest post yet, click the link - I can wait.) It's Shetland, and sooo soft. I think it's going to turn out pretty great, and I'm not just saying that so you'll click the link already.
So, yeah, I've kind of got my hands full. I guess I have a touch of startitis - I've always been prone to it. It's worse than it looks, actually, because there are other things done that are waiting for another post, and stuff that is destined for the frog pond because I suddenly had a desire to do something else and I'm going to need that yarn. There's always something more I want to try!
Man, I just love knitting.
*PS - Happy Birthday Magic Baby!!
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