Knitting content first…

I spent the weekend working on my re-started Honeybee Stole. I am totally smitten with Malabrigo laceweight. This yarn is being added to my desert island choices.

You know, if you were stranded on a desert island and only had one yarn with you, what would it bee be? Heretofore I’ve been torn between Koigu and 2 ply jumper weight Shetland wool. Now, I don’t know. There’s so much you can do with this Malabrigo merino. Single stranded it makes wonderful, light lace. You could double strand it for a more substantial (but not to say hefty) item. In January, Lynne Vogel is going to show us how to energize this or a similar single ply and knit with it, right from the spindle!

Anyway, back to the Honeybee. I worked hard all weekend and got to the point where I was with the silk. That’s about halfway through the first lace pattern. I need more devoted knitting time, that’s what I need. Good thing a road trip is on the horizon.

I did some spinning too…

I finished spinning the Grafton Fibers batt I started a while ago (I think this is color #6 on their fiber page). These are definitely not my colors, but I was intrigued by the variety of color, from pink through all the golden shades on in to black. As I was plying it, I let it twist back on itself again, and discovered that it wanted to be a cabled yarn. So I wound the two-ply into a center pull ball and plied again in the opposite direction. The tweediness of it just makes me drool. It’s a bit underplied, but for my first attempt at a cabled yarn, I don’t think I did too badly.

So what am I spinning now you ask?

This gorgeous hunk of merino blended with tussah silk from Flawful Fibers. It’s unlike anything else I’ve seen so far. The color shifts are subtle and the presentation is just lovely. I’m spinning it very fine, in the hopes of getting a laceweight yarn, enough for a smallish shawl.

I won’t show you the many other packages that have arrived in the mail this past week — my lack of restraint is moderately embarrassing. You’ll see it all in good time anyway.

When I wasn’t knitting or spinning…

I was dyeing. They’re both silk and wool. The purple is a retrieval from disaster. I had attempted to mimic the colors found in the silk moth’s wings — I’d found one (wing) in our yard a couple of weeks ago — but my attempts were awful. So yesterday I overdyed the skeins with a deep raspberry/purple blend, and I’m very pleased with the results. The real color is less mauve, more purple, and a bit darker too. These are both for the store, much as I’d like to keep them.

I’m having spindling adventures, but that report will have to wait for another day. I have to get ready for our trip.