Spinning Sunday

After doing a few chores this morning so I wouldn't feel guilty, I spent much of the day knitting and spinning. I began by spinning some new fiber I received in the mail this week - 8 oz. of 100% merino Ashland Bay roving, colorway "primrose." I only spun about 0.4 oz, but it was enough to fall in love with this fiber. It's mostly blue with veins of turquoise, red, white and yellow in it. Here it is in roving form:

I'm using one of the spindles my husband made me (love him!). Here's the single I created today and wound off onto a paper towel tube to await plying:

And because they are cute, a few pics of Zedd and Briggs in the pet bed they got from Santa (Briggs is gray, Zedd is stripy). It should be mentioned here that the bed is a dog bed that barely fits Zedd; when they both get in, it's downright cramped:

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Project Bag and Update

In knitting, as in life, one should keep one's eyes peeled. Doing this netted me not one but TWO beautiful project bags!
I was at Dunkin Donuts, ordering my once-weekly breakfast of a bacon/egg/cheese sandwich (on a croissant) with hot coffee (skim milk, two splenda, caramel swirl), when I chanced to look to my left. There on a table was a bunch of clearance DD merchandise.

That's when I saw it.

There, amidst the cheesy donut-with-one-bite-missing ornaments and tacky holiday gift card tins, were two darling orange drawstring bags with silk snowflake liners. Hmmm, I thought. Those look like they would be perfect bags for my knitting. At the very least, they'd be better than the crappy plastic Hannaford bag I've been using. I reached out and flipped the price tag over. $4.99, down from $9.99. That's a pretty good deal, I said to myself. There was a piece of paper underneath the closest bag, so I pulled it out. "Buy one, get one FREE!!" it said. Well shit, it'd be stupid not to get two! So I did. Here they are:

Aren't they the cutest things? I was so happy with them that as soon as I got to school, I put my Plaited Cable Scarf in one. Here's the scarf in the bag:

And here's the scarf laid out (since I haven't shared pictures before now):

It's kind of hard to see the cables in this pic (sorry about that). As always, if you click the pics, you'll see them bigger.

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WIP & FO Update

Since New Year's Day, I have both completed an object and begun a new one. I love the space of time in between projects; the days where you can simultaneously enjoy the satisfaction of a new finished object while building anticipation of starting a new one. There are times I know exactly what my next project will be and other times when I search through my books and Ravelry, looking for something to catch my fancy. This time I knew that I wanted to knit a scarf for my friend Deedle's birthday, but hadn't found quite the right pattern. Last week while browsing Ravelry, the right pattern jumped out at me and I knew instantly that it was the right pattern for my beloved Deedles.

The finished object was quite the labor of love. I began it in July for my sister-in-law. It was a wrap to be worn with her wedding dress. She and my brother were traveling from Arizona to Maine for an outdoor October wedding, and I thought she'd need the wrap. Only I couldn't get it completed in time for the wedding. I didn't finish weaving in the ends until New Year's Eve, actually, about an hour before they arrived to ring in the new year. The pattern was Michaela, from Berroco; the yarn was shine worsted from Knit Picks in "hollyberry".

The color is most accurate in the third picture.

Tara loved the wrap, despite its being wholly useless now. I should probably mention that she is a fantastic sister-in-law, and I will keep her over my brother any day. :)

I do not have any in-progress pics of the new scarf to share, but I can tell you that it is the Plaited Cable Scarf and that I'm knitting it with Caron Simply Soft Eco in "greenfields." Here's a pic from the Ravelry Pattern Page to give you an idea:

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