This is my very first bobbin full of… uhm… what do you call mangled fiber that is not quite yarn? This bobbin is underspun, overspun, thick and thin, different fibers spun different ways just to see what’s what. It is breaks and slubs and oops and ahh. If you look closely, you might even glimpse an ‘aha!’, though it disappears in the wink of an eye.

The second bobbin is another story. It starts out thick, and gradually thins out to what I guess is my ‘normal’ for right now. I’m going to spin up all of my gray fiber before I move on to my prettily colored combed stuff.

I’m embarrassed to say that I fully expected, in my heart if not in my head, to step up to my wheel and suddenly be able to spin.* I’ve been able to knit and crochet for so long that it just seemed like the next logical step. Easy peasy! Except, spinning is a skill. Like every skill worth knowing, this one is going to take some time. So, baby steps. I’ll let y’all know when I get somewhere. RIght now, Emma doesn’t want to go into her higher gear and becomes recalcitrant when I put her there. We’ll sort it out eventually, I’m sure.

She’s so pretty that I can’t stay mad for long.

* Yes, I’m that bright.

Have you ever had one of those weeks where you’re getting stuff done, a little here and a little there, but you don’t have much to show for it? It’s one of those weeks, craft-wise and life-wise!

Here’s a little tour of what’s been going on. Here’s my first mitten.
It doesn’t look quite like this anymore, as I ripped out the tip and reknit it. I originally finished a row too soon, and the point wasn’t quite right. I convinced myself that it didn’t matter, as no one but me or another knitter would notice. I managed to live with it for an entire week, mostly due to the fact that I knew if I picked out the top I’d have to add new yarn to reknit it. Yesterday, I decided I’d rather be happy with the mittens, so I’ve ripped and reknit. (Ahhhh; much better)

This weekend, John finished my new spinning wheel. We named her Emma. My first lesson is in a week; who knows if I can keep from playing with her before then! Here’s a photo from halfway through her first coat of oil – you can see what a difference it makes.

The latest pair of Ollies is over half done. I’ll be sure to show you when they’re done. Assuming that all of this progress actually *gets* me anywhere!

The Oliver sock pattern was such a hit with my husband that the boys caught his enthusiasm. Last Thanksgiving week, I found myself stranded in Ohio with no access to a local yarn shop (it was closed.) Facing a nine-hour drive back to North Carolina sans knitting, I called my sister the day before Thanksgiving, and she agreed to bring over a ball of sock yarn on Thanksgiving so I could work on some plain-Jane socks on the way back home.

I should have anticipated what happened next. After the wonderful chaos that was Thanksgiving, I sat down and was offered not a skein of yarn but a traveling yarn shop to choose from. Both of my boys chose sock yarn from Aunt Karen’s magic bag of yarn and I cast on for these Ollies during the trip. Thanks, Karen!

The yarn has a short repeat, so it was relatively easy to try and match the stripes. The matching came out better than I anticipated – right down to having the heel turn in all blue on each sock! The socks weigh 50g, but I did dip into the second skein of yarn, so buy two if you’re going to do 9 year old kid-socks in this yarn! The first skein made it through one sock and the cuff of the second. There was a little left over, but I thought it was a good place to match stripes for the rest of the second sock.

I am currently working on my third pair of Ollies, which is rather unheard of. I’m not sure I’ve ever knit three of one thing in a row before, let alone six of them. Details are below, as usual. I’ve included changes for whittling down the Oliver to a child’s size.

I wish you and yours a very happy 2010.

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