Rocks

I finished spinning the red rock wool-silk yarn.

I had 50 grams. As I wound it off the bobbin I measured 410 metres. That's equivalent to my commercial laceweight yarn, so I'm reasonably happy with my result. And it's a sweet glossy soft, fine yarn. There was a fair bit of variation in the colour of the tops I bought. That has evened out to some extent with the spinning and plying, but it's still going to be a bit of a surprise as it knits up. Now I just need to decide what to do with it.

Drat!

My camera's playing up, so I can't post the picture of the overdyed wool-silk yarn I wanted to show off today. The yarn is leftover from the Engagement Gift blanket. I have several odds and ends in that bag. They'll be great for making cosy little winter accessories, but it wouldn't be fair to expect some-one to wear a leftover bit of blanket, however nice the yarn might be, so I'm spicing them up in the dyepot. This hank has morphed from a lime green to a strong emerald green with the addition of Landscape sky blue, but the camera just makes whirring noises. So, sorry, no pic. And I must add getting the camera fixed to the list of things to do in the next few days. Drat!

And Mine . . .

Here's the beginning of the capelet I mentioned yesterday: It's pretty fine--those are 3 mm needles, in case you can't quite read the number. And for the first time I'm wondering if I should be wearing my reading glasses while I knit. I haven't quite come to terms with that concept yet!

I'm knitting from the top down, so the first couple of inches are the collar. I've knitted in a fold line. The collar will be double thickness. I'll stitch it down after I've finished the knitting. After that I changed to stocking stitch and started shaping. I'm increasing at eight different points--they're marked with little loops of wool. You can see one in the top right of the pic. I do own a variety of pretty beaded stitch markers, but I just can't think where they are right now. Rather than getting myself frustrated looking for them in the mess, I decided to make the wool loops and get on with with knitting. When I've got the length I want, or when I start to run out of yarn--whichever is first--I'll finish off with a band of . . . something . . . I'm not sure what at this stage. Possibly a garter stitch band to match the collar or a lace stitch. By then I'll have a better feel for the character of the piece. It looks like the yarn will go quite a long way, but I only spun up just over 50 g, so it's always going to be light and easy to carry. Unlike the blankets, which are my other works in progress. I haven't forgotten them. Now that the capelet is taking shape, I'll be happy to stitch away at it when I'm out and about and focus on the bulkier projects when I'm at home. Especially if the weather stays as cool as it has been this past week--still only 10 degrees when I got up this morning. That's still well and truly woolcraft weather.