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.

This weekend has been both busy and fun.  Yesterday I went over to east Dorset to hang out with my fiber partner in crime, Karen.  It was her birthday on friday and I gifted her with treats of chocolate, cake, fingerless mitts, and of course, yarn.  I gave her a ball of Twilley’s Freedom Spirit, in a gorgeous red colour.  I was able to meet Giles, the newest member of her family.

A gorgeous Ryeland ram, he is such a sweetheart.  I couldn’t believe how tiny he was and just loved the cuddles and attention.  Of course to be fair he wasn’t alone.  Splodge, the big texel ram, was with him to keep him company.  At times they even look like they’re best of friends, but I know better.

I can’t wait until next year when there’ll be little ryeland cross lambs bounding about the fields.  Their fleece is truly amazing, it’s so downy and impossible to felt, perfect for socks.  I was supposed to come over to do some dyeing outside but the weather thought otherwise.  All was not lost though, it was a great excuse to go to hobbycraft.  I have to admit I was quite naughty there and bought some yarn, of course having another knitter shopping with you does no good for the self control.

I got 5 balls of Jaeger Siena cotton in a steely blue, thinking I’d find some cute crochet pattern.  So far I’ve had no luck, but I may make Adorn Mag’s cropped jacket.  It’s different gauge but I think it’ll work, and who couldn’t use a foxy little bolero to cover up vest tops in the summer?

All in all we had a great, though exhausting day, it’s always a treat going to the farm (even if she gives mestrange liquorice sweets!).  I fear for the citizens of Builth Wells last week in April as we’ve already booked our accomodation for Wonderwool Wales.  There’s been talk of bringing the sheep trailer for the tonnes of yarn that will undoubtedly be bought by two crazy ladies.

Today we went down the beach and had a fun time watching the weather go by.  We were lucky to completely miss the rain and managed to get into the car before the next downpour.  Batten down the hatches everyone, tonight’s going to be a stormy night.

Last night I was up until the wee hours of the morning, totally unlike me, struggling with my beautiful Fyberspates yarn.  I say struggle because as I was winding it the yarn became an awful, tangled mess.  I have no swift and it’s tricky winding yarn (via the Lego Winder) and carefully getting the yarn off the skein at the same time.  Usually there’s no problem, but last night I was doomed to failure.  Everything was okay until about the last 100 yards or so.  I must have been daydreaming because the next thing I knew I had a huge knot (and I mean the whole damn skein) at the end of the winder.  This is my personal hell.  I would rather be trapped in a room full of huge deadly spiders than have to untangle yarn.  After much cursing and crying, this is why we need hard liquor in the house, I finally got under control and slowly managed to untangle the yarn, a process that took me over three hours.  Three Hours.  We shall never speak of this again.

I’m just glad that this yarn is truly lovely because any inferior yarn would have gone straight to the bin.  Yes, this is how much I love it.   I’m also renaming it Cinnabon because from the top it looks rather like those delicious cinnamon rolls I remember from trips to the mall.  I just hope my mother appreciates the pain I’ve been through to make her socks.

In much more pleasant news I found a patch of daffodils growing in our garden.  I didn’t plant them so they were quite a pleasant surprise.  They are the happy reminder that spring really is coming, even if the weather thinks otherwise.

When the weather is grey, cold and miserable you need to put a bit of spring in your step.

Out come the cottony summer yarns and crochet hooks.  This is the back of the Cupcake top from Debbie Stoller’s “Happy Hooker”, and I’ll consider this my first real crochet project.  I’ve finally got the hang of half-double crochet stitch and getting my hook through those pesky turning chain stitches.  I love the yarn, Wendy’s Supreme Luxury Cotton, and adore the colour, which is a much richer red than pictured.  Because my gauge was tighter I figured that I could knit the medium size, but my measurements make it to be a smidge smaller than I like.  I’m crossing my fingers and praying to yarn gods that there’ll be a bit of give.  Even if this does go to the frogpond I still have this to look forward to.

Fyberspates Merino/Tencel sock yarn.  If only there was ‘feel-o-vision’ because this stuff is soft soft soft, with a lovely sheen.  Best part?  It’s machine washable and non-feltable.  I’m knitting these for my mum for mother’s day (in May), pattern still undecided.  I feel just so tempted to keep it for myself, but will be good, my mother deserves a delicious pair of handknit socks.So if you don’t have spunky yarn to cheer you up on those wintery days you know you can never beat a bowl of hot, thick, roasted garlic and potato soup.