Knitting and Spinning My Way Into The New Year

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Though it's been a rather busy and hectic time of the year, I've managed to find a bit of time to knit and to spin.

First off, the knitting. My little sister has seen my mom's Malabrigo scarf and absolutely LOVES it - she fondles it constantly. She love the yarn and loves the pattern. It's the "Irish Hiking Scarf" - definitely a gorgeous scarf and a fun and easy knit. I tried to talk her into the "Palindrome Scarf", but she insisted on EXACTLY the same style as mom's. She was also quite jealous when she discovered that my daughter was wearing a scarf I'd made....and that she had another one as well.

I showed my sister two different color ways of Malabrigo, and this is the one she selected. The color way is absolutely yummy. However, the patterning will not really show at all since this is a rather dark, variegated yarn, but it's what she wanted. (Secretly, I'm rather bummed out that the cabling won't show....I think that's the best part of the design!)

I've continued on with my "On-line" socks and have one sock fully completed. It was finished in the car on the way to my mom's Dr. appointment. Luckily, my sister was still here, so she drove (so I'd know the way there for later appointments) and I took full advantage of the knitting time. I then promptly cast on for the second sock and got quite a bit done. I expect that I'll have a full pair within the next few days....and then it will be time to cast on another pair. Thankfully, I've brought numerous skeins from my "meager" (LOL!!!) stash!











I've even managed to work in some spinning. My sister seemed very intrigued by the whole process and wondered how I learned to spin...and what made me try it. She used to have a needlework and quilt shop...and she was an avid knitter, though I don't think she's done much knitting at all in the past several years. I brought several roving samples with me - some Corriedale, some Merino, and some silk. I asked mom to select what I should spin, and she picked the silk. Both mom and my sister were surprised at how thin you can spin silk. It's a lovely color way - I'm thinking lace shawl/shawlette when I'm done spinning. I'll have to see how much yarn it yields, and then determine what I can "mix with it" if there's not quite enough.

Pssst! St. Distaff Day is January 6th! How are you planning to celebrate???