It's Yarn: Nameology

Drumroll please...

I have finally finished Nameology, my Very First Handspun.

After the singles, (see previous posts) I plied.

I made my lazy kate into a tensioned lazy kate with the creative use of a paper clip and some gorilla glue. I put both singles onto separate bobbins and plied away.





(my house isn't really this messy, we've just been cleaning out both of our offices, post on that once our new office is presentable)



I ended up with a very full spindle of two ply.



Isn't it just gorgeous! This picture is probably the truest color.

Then I made use of our dining room chair, since I don't have a niddy noddy.



After a resting overnight, I gave it a quick bath in the morning. Then some good whacks against the tub (yarn's version of a shiatsu massage) and hang up to dry.



It's even balanced enough to hang in an open loop! The strands that are out of place here are because it wasn't hung properly.

The end result:



About 26 yards of a very bulky thick and thin yarn.

It won't grow up to be anything. Its sole purpose is to hang out in a vase in the living room, and be pretty.

Catch Up Post: Random Baby Gifts

So, in early spring this year, there was a small baby boom in the people around me. People at work, ladies at the knitting group, and even our neighbors were popping out babies. Must be something in the water.

Of course, these new arrivals mean: baby gifts. I made a few.

First, three different burp cloths. The pattern is the Baby Genius Burp Cloth, from Mason Dixon Knitting. The yarn is various shades of Peaches n Cream. I used size 4 needles to get a really tight fabric. These are very pretty and absorbent.







Next, some booties.

The "Free Baby Mary Jane" pattern by Lucie worked in Lane Cervina Madrid Solid gives these







So cute and interesting construction.

I also used the Jimmy's Baby Bootie Set pattern, and the same yarn, to make these.



Also cute, but in my opinion this yarn has a bit too much definition for the pattern. It looks a little wonky.

And lastly, a Baby Bib o' Love (again from Mason Dixon Knitting, and in Peaches n' Cream).



I paired up these gifts (everyone got two), and got some takeout containers from Micheals.

This set went to Deborah from the knitting group (recipient of Super Secret Project #2) who had a baby around Easter time.



These booties (and the pink burp cloth) went to our neighbor. I don't know what colors they like, so I just went with lots of color.



That table is our dining room table. Can you tell that this was during exam season? I wish I could say it wasn't always covered by study materials and/or my sewing machine.

And, for this last set I had no cute takeout container, but I did have a model help me out.



Don't be too hard on Indy, he was having a bad face day. I only did this because he kept getting into the pictures I was trying to take. clicky

In other news, May 19th was a pretty lucky day for me, I passed my exam! Which is good because that one's done, but bad because I have to start studying for my next one, which is a bitch.

Field Trip - The Local Needle

Last weekend, our knitting group went to the Local Needle.

We were greeted by Joan (the proprietor) in style. She made a sign, and buttons!



The graphic is the group logo made by Kate, one of our members. Joan is so thoughtful and always makes us feel welcome.

And, she has great yarns. As part of my anniversary present (more on that in another post later) I got to splurge a little.

Here's the take:



First, Alpaca with a Twist laceweight Fino, which will probably grow up to be a lace shawl or stole.



Some Wildfoote for some baby booties. I'm interested to work with this yarn.



Dream in Color Smooshy in November Muse.



And least but definitely not least



Pagewood Farms sock weight in Really Red. Besides being the most appropriate color name ever, it is my favorite of the bunch. It was also damn hard to catch the color on a rainy day.



The actual color is somewhere between the two pictures. It's amazing. Amazing enough to convince me to get some color in my life. I bought two skeins to make some fingerless mitts and socks. I'm contemplating getting some worsted weight for the February Lady Sweater.