Are we there yet?

Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
I feel like my Toasties are asking me the same question over and over, and over. So I've stopped avoiding them and have decided to knit mostly on them until they are done, so maybe yes 'we' being the two socks are nearly there, being only 2" from the top at most. When I say mostly I mean that of the time I spend knitting, I am trying to at least knit more than half of the time on Toastie. I do have other knitting, the long abandoned cardigan of which we do not speak - no worries, I just got board with acres of stocking stitch flat, which lead to its temporary abandonment. Finally there is the baby blanket - which shares my knitting time. But I've also been spinning, we had a spinning night Tuesday and then again this morning - 4 hours of guild meeting with my wheel in tow. So today - the nearly there Toastie socks, some nice new fiber, and spinning.


This is a plaited wheel of Perenedale combed top, fresh from the Milton Mill and via Vintage Purls dyepot. I asked for something burnt orange and not blue ... isn't it wonderful? And the best thing is its 300g, so enough to do something with, something more than a small scarf, hat, or mitts. I'm thinking perhaps a linen stitched or slip stitched top of a ralan something ... who knows. Some of the fun is in the planning and thinking, and investigating options.



And spinning, I'm over half way there, spinning the mill waste fiber, which turns out to be a 75% merino and 25% silk. One Bobbin done and the second started. The second bobbin always seems to fill faster, and now we meet to spin every Tuesday night, well, faster still. I envy those who were more selective in their shopping, stopping to sort only the fiber of one colour, but this is pretty. I do plan to ply two singles together, other spinners keep asking if I'll chain ply, and its temping, to keep the colour runs pure. But, and its a pretty big but, that might just make the yarn to thick for my intended project. Besides I'm thinking I should knit up a variegated yarn made from singles with lots of colour changes just to see why spinners avoid them. I'm hoping for pretty summer/spring garden tweedy mitts when I knit this up.


This is what it looked like before becoming a fine single. As I said - probably a mucky sort of color choice, but there you go. At the time I thought $2.60 was a good price to pay for a few weeks spinning practice, it was only latter I thought the fiber could actually be some yarn that I might want to knit.

My Fall 2008 IW Knits arrived Friday, and I took it to guild to share, making it clear that I'd only had it 1 day, so they could only look today. They all grinned and understood completely. I know many of you have had it for weeks, if not months, but for some reason post to our little set of islands takes longer. So what do I like, I like Fresco Fair Isle Mitts, by Pam Allen, and want to find some angora locally so I can blend and spin some yarn to knit them. I love Chrissie Gardiner's Knotty or Knice socks, just my thing. To encourage me to finish Toasty, I've already wound up my hand spun sock yarn into two balls all ready. . .. . ... 2 inches on 2 socks to go .... what'd'ya'rekon? Will I be all done Toasting next time I post or not?

Take care
Stella