Don’t you love when you find long lost and forgotten projects?  Often they’re put to the side after getting old and boring or something new comes along that grabs your attention and they fall to the bottom of the old WIP pile.  Months (possibly years) go by and it’s like seeing an old friend again and the fire is rekindled once more.

For those who don’t remember (don’t worry, I certainly didn’t), I spun this yarn from roving I received as a gift from Karen over a year ago.  It stands to this day the best yarn I have ever spun.  When I found my goknit bag with a half finished sock in it I thought to myself “Hey, this yarn is lovely, where did I buy it?” before it dawned on me that this is my very own handspun.  It baffles me why I didn’t finish knitting these socks, though I do suffer quite badly from second sock syndrome, but I have fallen in love again.  The yarn is soft but surprisingly strong and I adore the colours: grassy greens, muted purples and toffee yellows and browns.  It’s thicker than 4 ply weight, more like DK, which is making them whiz along.  I’ve turned the heel and it’ll only be a matter of a few evenings before I can slip my feet into a pair of handspun socks.

This last Sunday we went over to Karen’s place for her big Wildcraft spin-in weekend.  It’s been ages since we’ve seen each other and I’ve totally forgotten to take any photos, but it was an exciting day meeting new fibre lovers, dyeing adventures and catching up.  It was also when me and my Ashford Joy parted ways.  Since last year (when I spun up that beautiful hay yarn) it has been sitting sadly by itself gathering dust and cobwebs.  As much as I love using it, between being a mama, cooking and knitting I don’t get as much time as I’d like to sit down and spin.  So she’s gone to a new home where she’ll get a lot of use with Karen and her traditional Ashford and Majacraft Rose.  Karen was planning on selling her Kromski travel wheel and getting a Joy, so when the opportunity came up she snatched it!  They have gotten on splendidly and I’m pleased to it getting some real use.  The weekend did give me a bit of a case of the spinning bug, but I wasn’t totally without means.

This is a resin spindle Karen made me with little stones embedded in the whorl.  It is light and balanced and so quick and easy to use, I pull it out when making the morning cup of tea and spin a few yards.  I’m spinning up some beautiful roving she had given me for Christmas with muted purples and greys.  I can imagine some beautiful socks made with this but am thinking maybe a shawlette would show it off even better.  Whereas with knitting I so often get bogged down with the technical details: gauge, following patterns, finishing, etc, the joy of spinning is that you just pick it up and spin.  Become one with the fibre and find your inner Rupunzel.

I hope everyone’s had a nice Easter break, I know we have.  As far as actual Easter celebrations go all I did was make a batch of hot crossed buns.  It’s a bit hard to get in the Easter spirit when it’s still cold enough to snow.  Most of our time was spent at a pottery exhibition David was showing at.  He was able to go down and do some throwing as a bit of a demonstration to visitors.  Both of the items he had for sale sold so it was a good start for him.  I stuck around to watch him get messy with clay and watch a rather scary bit of inferno known as a raku firing.  The rest of the time was spent relaxing and getting down to the needles.

I spent one of my evenings going through all of my handknits and frogging those poor neglected knits.  One was a blue and cream striped scarf of Rowan Polar that I had made David about 5 years ago when I started knitting.  I don’t think he wore it once.  No matter, they make lovely loafers.  The pattern calls for two strands of Malabrigo worsted held together, and I can only imagine how lovely they must be, but one strand of Polar feels beautifully soft and cushy.

I finished them in two sittings over two evenings.  They are easy, quick and wonderfully warm.  He even wears them as “welly warmers”, keeping his toes warm as we splash through the spring mud.  I am so knitting myself a pair out of some purple Lamb’s Pride Bulky I’ve had in the stash forever.

As if knitting loafers wasn’t enough excitement, Karen came over yesterday for a fantastic  day of fiber chat and hanging out at the beach.  She has been dyeing like crazy recently and have made some absolutely lovely colourways based on photos.  I am always stunned by the richness and accuracy of her colours and can’t wait for her online store to open officially.  I doubt she will need much publicity since I am very willing to make myself poor with rovings such as this.

This is a beautiful roving based on a photo of hay (can you imagine?  Hay!), and I love the subtle colours and mix of greens, purples, oranges, and creams.  It is blue faced leicester so we know it will spin up nicely but I just feel  my spinning isn’t even worthy of such loveliness.  But how yummy would navajo plied sock yarn be in this?  And if that is not enough to be madly jealous about I also got a lovely set of stitch markers.

They are even nicer in person, believe me.  I had been using flimsy little markers I had gotten for free and was even resorting to tying rings of yarn so something had to be done.  These rose quartz stitch markers are beautifully made and have a great weight to them, you just know they will last for years.  I am only too lucky to have such a generous and talented friend, but don’t worry, I’ll be paying her back with plenty of dyeing (and cake making) labour quite soon.

I’ll give you a sneak peak at something big that I have finished but still need to model.  It’s been on the needles for a long time and I am glad that it’s finally over with.  The end result is fabulous though, and I hope I’ll get a chance to take photos before we go on holiday to Cornwall next week.  And for the record, I actually don’t have anything on the needles at the moment!  This is definitely a moment to remember, and no, I have no idea what to make next.