A quick recap

This week was definitely filled with fiber (as all weeks should be, but usually aren't). As most of you know, I have cast on for, and been busily knitting Le Lapin Noir. I'm loving it. I was hooked on socks for awhile, but this knit has me craving sweaters...lots and lots of sweaters! I chose green for the contrasting argyle diamonds and I'm really happy with how it's looking.



Another wip is the "Prolonged Fixation" socks, basic toe-up socks in a beaded rib pattern. I'm using Cascade Fixation in a bright pink colour.

This week I joined Ravelympics 2008, which will hopefully give me a bit of motivation to start (and finish!) a few Christmas presents.

As well as all the knitting, this weekend I got to spend some time with one of my knitting friends (Nebula Designs) and dye some yarn. It was really fun and I think our yarn turned out very nicely, though not exactly what we had expected. The yarn didn't take the Kool-aid evenly so we ended up with mottled, almost semi-solid yarns. I used grape Kool-aid for my yarn, which rather than having a really bright, saturated purple colour was quite subdued and closer to a maroon. I was going for a self-striping yarn to use for a simple chevron scarf, but I think this might look better as socks, so I'll have to make a few swatches and see what works best.

While I was over at my friend's house she also showed me how to use a spinning wheel, and even though I was quite terrible at it, there was something extremely exciting about creating yarn oneself. I spun about a yard of yarn, and learned how to draft, spin, and ply. I ended up getting sent home with a drop spindle to borrow for a few months, and a bit of fiber to practice with, very fun!

A photo of my very first handspun (if you're wondering why it looks like a simple lump of fiber, that is because a large chunk of fiber got away from me completely and created rather large slub.) :