The Weaselmomma

The last month has marked the annual “busy” time at work, meaning my personal life screeches to a halt as I settle in with my compatriots to do the people’s work.

OK, a little overdramatic. But now that I’m finally peeking out of the trenches, for at least a little while, I can start to reconnect with the world. Very exciting.

For starters, I has some houseguests this weekend, and while one left early this morning, this one is sticking around for the week…

…although I did pack him a lunch, told him to play nice and sent him to daycare for the day. He was quite happy to go!

I also managed to finish up a certain project that I’ve been plugging away on for quite some time.

This is “Pleione,” 485 yards of fingering weight merino/bamboo blend. I ended up going for the 2-ply, and I do think it was the right choice. Spun on the Greensleeves, plied on my Heavenly Handspinning Little Joe.

I think this yarn is just heavenly. Thus, the name.

Pleione is a name from the heavens. She is the mother of the Seven Sisters who sit with her and their father, Atlas, in the night sky as the nine brightest stars in the Pleiades constellation, a part of Taurus (which is my astrological sign). Pleione is a blue-white star surrounded by a cloud of red hydrogen gas–making her appear purple. I think it’s fitting.

I don’t know what Pleione will become; for now, I’m just enjoying the look and feel of the finished yarn.

I’ve also been working on some blue-faced leicester top that I got from DragonFibers in the “Gems” colorway on my Heavenly Handspinning Lovely Su spindle.

While I don’t think BFL will become my favorite breed to spin, I’m glad that I went for it with this top. It’s good to feel how the different fibers behave. This is my first experience with a long-wool, and I can totally see the good qualities it has.

Also, this fiber was space dyed–so I didn’t have to work to get any regular color repeats–which gave me the added opportunity to try a new technique: the Navajo ply.

Working right off of Su, I picked up Little Joe to try my hand at Navajo plying on a spindle. At first it was a little tricky (the first of the “chain bumps,” for lack of a better term, are very noticable and sloppy, but I’m thinking that a good wash-and-whack will help)  and I still have to “park-and-chain” (meaning I make a length of chain and then add twist, instead of chaining while the spindle’s spinning) but I think the end result is really coming along nicely. And, it’s the first time I’ve achieved a worsted weight! Go me!!

Su, by the way, has been the perfect spindle for this project. There’s nothing showy about Su. She’s not a fancy wood or shape. But what she lacks in style she more than makes up for in substance. Of my three Heavenly Handspinning drop spindles, I do believe she’s the best spinner.

And while she’s no ugly duckling, I do think she lets the true beauty of the project–the fiber–really stand out.

Finally, wonder of wonders, I am making slow progress on the knitting. Though if it’s gonna be slow progress, it should at least be impressive progress, and I think my Twisted Neopolitan socks fit the bill.

Unlike the Herringbone Rib socks, where the slipped stitches slowed the whole thing down, these just cruise. But the tweeding…oh, the tweeding…

…oh, how I love thee…

Madori, by the way, is quite happy to have a houseguest for the week…though they were both more than a little mopey after Mr. Blue-eyes left this morning.

I need at least one of these things because there’s so many things I need to do on a daily and weekly basis that I just don’t have enough time for the things I really want to do.

Like spinning. And knitting.

I’m fighting off some serious spinning startitis right now. It’s tough. I have three–three–naked spindles right now as I’m working to finish up some of the projects I have going right now. And I am making some progress, slowly but surely.

I wound the first singles from the “pewter” merino/tussah silk project off the spindle, but I still have a long way to go on this project.

I still have to finish the second ply of pewter singles before I can start the third ply with this maroon merino, which I’m hoping will bring out the subtle burgandy tones in the pewter top.

I’m slowly making progress on the soy silk project too, but the real focus of my efforts has been on the merino/bamboo. I finished the first two batts, then wound the singles off the spindle.

This is when I really started getting excited about this yarn. It’s really freaking pretty. Like really pretty. I’m almost halfway through the third batt; only one left after that and then I can ply…though I have to say, the decision to ply this is a tough one. This is really nice as a single. Luckily, I still have plenty of time to change my mind.

I haven’t really shown off the Greensleeves I’m spinning this on, but I must say that I’m completely in love with this spindle.

Not only is it oh, so easy on the eyes, it’s also the second best spinner in my collection, right after the Bosworth. I was unsure about the hook on this one when I first picked it up, but it’s really well designed and balanced. Another of these, like maybe the bloodwood and ebony version perhaps, is probably very likely in my future.

I’ve learned from this project that I’m not crazy about spinning batts on a spindle. I have no idea why this is. I think batts are so beautiful; I love looking at them and I think Fiber Monster’s batts are just amazing. But when it comes to actually spinning them…I dunno. Very little appeal. Maybe that’ll change with time…here’s hoping!

That being said, these batts are spinning up really nicely. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t trying really hard to finish these up so that I could start something like this…

or this…

….both of which are just sitting pretty, waiting for me.

And in case it isn’t obvious enough already, WC Mercantile is A.W.E.S.O.M.E. Period.

The only downside about spinning that I can identify, besides the urge to constantly splurge on more pretty pretty spindles and pretty pretty fiber (which I’m dealing with quite well…yay willpower!), is that it takes away from my knitting time. My progress on handknits has definitly slowed since I started spinning.

Not complaining, though. Not one little bit!