Snail Spirals

In addition to whirlwind trips to Oregon, there has been a lot of fibery activity this week. First of all, I finished Clue 1 of the Mystery Stole. It's working up nicely so far. Adding the beads isn't nearly as fiddly as I feared it was going to be, and I think they'll add a lot to the finished stole. (Even though you can't see them in the picture.)



The Jaggerspun Zephyr merino/silk yarn is lovely to knit with, not splitty at all. I'm glad I went with the size 3 needles, though. I think when I give the finished stole a hard wet blocking, it will open up just the right amount. The stole pattern has more open space than the swatch pattern, so it opens up more. I'm happy with my choice.

I've also been continuing on the crochet scarf, and am nearly at the end of the ball of yarn. This has mostly been worked on during the day while babysitting (I've been watching two kids plus Emma for a week and a half), so it has been to the beach, the playground, the sandbox, and the library. Oh yes, it will definitely need to be washed before it is blocked. I try to be careful, but beach/sandbox dust gets everywhere. It's 40" so far, unblocked.



I have been spinning in the evening, while watching DVDs on the computer. After finishing the Sheep-to-Shawl warp yarn, I pulled out the delicious 8-oz bag of merino/silk (80/20) from my sister. I'm spinning this worsted, laceweight, and the singles are about 80-90 wpi.



This bobbin is about 2/3 of the first half of the fiber. I'm going to spin each 4-oz half on a separate bobbin, spinning all the singles first, then ply. I'd love to have just one giant skein of yarn, but I'm not sure my bobbins are big enough for that.

This fiber is beautiful stuff, and is basically spinning itself. Even though it's so fine, it seems like it's going really quickly. I'm loving the Super High Speed whorl that I got this weekend, too. I started the bobbin on the small side of the High Speed whorl (17:1), but switched to the Super High Speed this week. My High Speed whorl doesn't fit my flyer shaft tightly, and makes an annoying rattle at high speeds. The larger side of the Super High Speed whorl isn't that much different (18:1), and it fits tightly (doesn't rattle), so I'm a happy camper. Next time I do laceweight, I'll use the smaller side (21:1), and it'll go even faster. Fast is good when you're spinning lace.


High Speed on the left, Super High Speed on the right.