Hello Spinning, It's Been Awhile

It's been a very long time since I've blogged about any spinning I've been doing. I'm guessing it'll probably go back to last years tour de fleece. I put my wheel away for a long time. When we moved into our new house I brought all three wheels with me and set them up in my beautiful new craft room and there they sat for a very long time - over six months I'm sure. 

  

And then I got inspired to spin this lovely batt.

 Its from etsy seller Dawning Dreams. Its super wash merino and bamboo. And the colourway is called Lisa Frank. I had no plans for it. I didn't care if it was a single or plied yarn. I had no care as to the weight of the finished yarn either. I just spin. And I let the fiber become what it wanted to become - which ended up being a two ply dk weight yarn.

It was a little tricky to spin. Since it's a batt there were different fiber types in the mix. And different fiber types require different spinning techniques (at least if you want a somewhat uniform yarn). The hot pink that you see was most definitely bamboo and had to be drafted so differently than the other colours which were wools. 

Overall it was a delight to spin. And I'm itching to do something with it. I'm just not sure what to do - knit or perhaps even weave. Time will tell.

I can't believe I've done this.

Well actually that's not true. I can believe it but it infuriates me so much. I am the worlds most careless person in terms of keeping track of my belongings. The worse. Ask my daughter about the time I was flying to Montreal to see her and managed to lose my photo ID during what was originally supposed to be a brief stopover in Halifax. Ask Kev how many times he has to help me find my car keys so that I won't be late for work. Ask my choir director about the time that I misplaced my music for two weeks and almost dropped out of choir because I was too embarrassed to tell her that I'd lost it - again. 

You get the picture? I'm a full blown scatter brain. This time though I've managed to bring this scattered brain into my knitting life. Up until now this facet of my life has not been immune to my scatter brain but no real big issues. This time I managed to lose a knitting book. 

And it's totally lost too. Because guess what? I'm pretty sure that I left it on a plane. Geeez. My record with airports - pretty soon I'm going to have to resort to tying anything I take into an airport and ultimately on a plane onto my body. 

The real upsetting this is that this was a brand new book. BRAND new. It pains me to even write it.  It's The Knitter Slipper Book by Katie Startzman. This wasn't an impulse buy either. I'd read several reviews (all good) about this book. And I loved the fact that the patterns in this book were for the whole family. It has everything from baby booties to full sized felted boots that are designed to be worn outside if you so desire and buy the proper soles. 

I bought this book when I was in St John's last week. Yes St John's. Again. The good thing about this trip is that I got to drop by what is my favorite yarn shop on the island Cast On. Cast Off! 

PI really felt like I had to support the local economy. I came away with these lovely things from Katie's cute little yarn shop. See that yellow?? It's called Not So Mellow.   I love it!! The name, the colour, the fiber, the sproinginess - everything about this yarn is just perfect. I had to cast on right away. 

They will become Laren Mitts  and the pattern is in KnitScene magazine.  

But let's get back to the whole losing the book thing. I knit when I fly. It helps keep me somewhat sane during the flight. I had finished one whole slipper while tending to Kevin during his hospital stay (nothing too serious) Knitting during hospital waits also keeps me sane.  The pattern is called Beaded Mocs and they were so cute!! I had the right yarn and needles with me even. And these slippers were felted. And did I mention beaded? The construction was oh so clever. I just loved knitting it.

We get back to Goose Bay last Saturday. We had a big detour into Gander and thankfully I had my knitting to keep me sane.  

Once we got settled in after our return I turned to my knitting like I usually do. And I cannot find the book of patterns anywhere.  I've searched and searched to no avail. It's gone. I think I must have left it in the seat pocket in front of me on the tiny Beech Aircraft that we flew from Gander to Goose Bay. 

I'm thinking I will just have to suck it up and buy a second book. Well, I did mention that I wanted to support the local economy. And I've got to knit a mate for this guy.