So what is going on in real life that prevents blogging:

• Attempting to learn Koine Greek (and memorization doesn't come easily for me)
• Spinning the brown alpaca (which makes me sneeze and must be spun outside the house)
• Aparment hunting (trust me, I would only do this if I had to)
• Teaching (only 5 weeks to go then no more paycheck)

I'll be back, sometime when I don't feel like Eeyore...

Work In Progress

Knitting my first shawl with true laceweight yarn.



Still carding alpaca from this:



to this:



and dreaming of other spring projects...


(my plum roving, all spun up)


(yarn rescued from the thrift shop)

Handspun Stash: Brown

The twilight roving is all spun now. The red/pink braid became the singles on the far left, and the blue/brown braid became the two ply in the middle. Not sure what to make with all this!

In the mood for lace...

Belated

Well, I missed posting on St. Patrick's day this year, which makes me a bit sad. However, it was one of those low energy days and I don't regret having focused my St. Paddy's energy on fixing dinner rather than blogging. There was corned beef, cabbage and mashed potatoes. Yum! I need to remember to fix cabbage more often.

Today, in the spirit of posting something green (better late than never) I present my belated St. Patrick's day FO:



a small, squishy scarf from this handspun.

137

My first try at handpainting top :)

Elusive

Many things have seemed elusive recently, including the color of the final Twilight yarn. A little grey, a little brown, an overwash of deep rose...

Actual progress on spinning projects also feels elusive. It may not actually BE elusive, because trail and error must be adding something to the body of knowledge, but still, an FO seems a far off dream.

Spend several hours today processing some alpaca fleece (a not to brilliant picture here). Staple is about 4 inches with some crimp. Light VM, some easily spotted second cuts. Initially the fleece was dusty, which produced a gritty spinning experience. Not for me. A wash left the fiber cleaner, but somewhat wadded together and crusty at the tips. Tried the following:

1. Separate locks. Drum card locks butt end first (on coarse guild loaner). Result - is it everyone else's photographs or do my batts really look tangled?

2. Separate locks. Flick with flea comb (oops, was that supposed to be dog comb?). Result: Almost all VM removed. Easily fed into carder "sideways."

3. Separate locks. "Topload" drum carder, initially holding locks until they are pulled open, then gradually releasing for take up. Result: like flicking, but faster.

4. For areas without discernible lock structure: pick into open cloud. Drum card. Result: slightly more textured batt. Slightly more VM.

In my mind, I picture a perfectly smooth batt, but I'm starting to realize that I don't know how to get that result. Do I card more (two or three runs through), or am I just hitting a wall with the coarse cloth and the fine fiber?