NEW BEGINNINGS
Unbelievably, this weekend was the second in a ROW that was slower-paced and very enjoyable, at least for me! Ken worked some more on the ongoing construction and re-landscaping of our property yesterday. Today was devoted to prepping the racecar and organizing the trailer for the upcoming race. Sooo…I spent Saturday relaxing and playing with Stephen, who is having a ball with his new water and sand activity table – he is practically velcroed to this new toy! Since we put the sand/ water table on our deck, I grabbed the spinning wheel and finished up the 4oz bag of Camel Down that I started spinning at the beginning of the week. I just need to ply it, and start knitting up the gloves for Christmas. This fiber is amazing all around, and the sample two ply I made up checks in at about 30 wpi. After finishing up the camel down, I started a new bobbin on the wheel with a blend of Merino and Alpaca that I carded on my Fricke Finest. I absolutely LOVED it coming off the drum carder – a rich mango-colored alpaca blended with natural colored merino which resulted in nice variegated shades of peach and cream, but I am not thrilled with the way it looks on the bobbin so far. It spins up beautifully and easily, but I am not sure I like the finished product. I had intended on knitting up a lacy, drapey scarf that would throw a splash of color over a black sweater or turtleneck, but I guess I will probably end up using this skein of yarn for a pair of cozy bed socks for me – you can’t beat alpaca and merino for pampering your feet at night! In any case, I have had to walk away from the wheel for a while till I can decide if I want to continue spinning this batt the way it is, or maybe blend in some other fibers and colors until I am pleased with the results.

Today, in anticipation of the frantic pace this coming week, I grabbed a skein of Koigu Merino in a purple, lavender, and burgundy colorway and a set of #1 Addi Naturas and cast on for a “skinny scarf” in Feather and Fan for another Christmas present. Wouldn’t you know…about 25 rows into the project, the bamboo tip snapped off. This is the second set of bamboo Addis in size 1 to do this. Carol at the Mannings told me several months ago that Addi has stopped making the Naturas in this size or smaller because so many people have had the same problem. I am considering sending back both sets to Skacel and see if they will replace the needles – you never know! Anyway, I decided that my gauge was too loose the first time around (how convenient that the needle snapped off, right?!), so I cast on with regular Addi Turbos in size 0 and started again, but this time with a different pattern that I think will complement the handpainted yarn a little better. I think I will be able to memorize the lace pattern fairly quickly, and this will become my first non-sock take-along project in over a year. We’ll see how long it takes me to finish this project…I love knitting with Koigu, and I can’t seem to put the needles down!