Some times you find an amazing bargain!
L&L Trail's End Alpacas, Richland Center, WI
I bought two 4 ounce bags at $10 each!!!
Sometimes it's not necessarily a great bargain, but a nice find never-the-less. 4 oz of lovely charcoal grey alpaca roving.
It's not even always alpaca!
This is Blue-Face Leicester from Sandy's Palette, Mineral Point WI. I got 8+ ounces of this roving. I know these colors won't do it for most of you blue-lovers out there. But I like the warm autumn palette. I'm curious to see how they mellow out when spun. Last night, I finished the last of the Mossy Merino/Yak and, of course, launched right into some of the new stuff. When I opened one bundle of this roving I was bit anxious about the spinnability of it. At first I was afraid it was just this side of felted. But with a bit of coaxing, it loosened up nicely.
Also from Sandy's Palette, about 4 oz of Merino/Tencel blend in a colorway that is sure to be a crowd pleaser. I almost think this is too pretty for my taste, but I'm perverse that way.
In other news
Here's the last skein of the Mossy Merino batch. It's still a bit damp, but I'm impatient.
Here's the bunch of it all together. I didn't count yardage, but I think the weight is about 250 grams fingering weight 2 ply. Overall, I'm pleased with how this turned out. Now, to pick a project for it... hmmm.
Knitting
The Knit-What-You-Spin challenge project, a basic garter stitch scarf. I made much progress on this at Last Saturday Knitting on Saturday. I get embarrassed when people want to look too closely, because I can see now what a crap job I did plying this yarn. But, it's a lovely bunch of colors and the garter stitch hides the flaws pretty well.
The Kauni Cardigan hasn't seen much action lately. I'm in the Pay Attention Zone now. Decreasing for both neckline and arm hole and at two different rates, and the neckline one is alternating between every third and every fourth round, you know, just to make things more complicated than they have to be. I need more alone time at home for that.
Last Saturday Knitting was a hoot, as usual. What a great group we've got! There was one young woman across the coffee shop, looking studiously at her laptop, who kept turning around and giving us the evil eye when we laughed uproariously. What, she doesn't think dog poop is funny? Or maybe she thought she was in the library. Whatever. The coffee shop people seem happy to have us.
Finally
I noticed this nest in the yard while out taking pics of loot.
I think it's new this year. Trouble is, it's in a buckthorn tree. Buckthorns are a nasty invasive species, brought to the US as an ornamental shrub. I spent many long hot sweaty days reclaiming our yard from buckthorns when we first bought this house. This one is growing on the fence line, just into our backyard abutter's yard. As soon as I think the nest is empty, I'm going to do what I can from my side of the fence to take down this cluster of buckthorns. Do you know how much I hate those trees? Don't get me started.
9 comments:
hey, how is Alpaca to spin? I keep petting it, but I'm not sure my spinning is up to it yet. maybe an alpaca-wool blend?
People who work in coffee shops should get huffy if other people are having fun! Just because a place has free wireless doesnt mean its a study hall after all. Or an office either. (Plus she was probably just jealous that you all were knitting while she had to study for finals.)
Definitely jealous. I've had it happen to me where I've had to watch a group of knitters having fun while I had to read about balanced literacy and and the importance of academic vocabulary. (not as interesting as it sounds, and it sounds boring) Yes, I was jealous.
So how are you going to take down the buckthorn? I need buckthorn taking down advice myself.
Dog poop is funny...
Nice haul!!
That's probably a Mourning Dove nest. They build such flimsy, rickety nests, the eggs roll out as ofen as not. If there's no eggs yet, I'd just take out the buckthorn anyway. Taking out buckthorn: cut down, paint stubs with Brush-Be-Gone. Or pull out the stump with a Weed Wrench.
As for knitting and spinning, I wanna move there. I need a fun group to knit and spin with. For all the fiber fanatics around here, I can't find a congenial group whose schedule works for me. I'm feeling lonely.
Arrgh, buckthorn.
Even though I'm one of those pretty blue people, I'm really looking forward to seeing how the first Sandy's Pallete colorway spins up. I think it's got potential for something subtle, but rich.
With everybody showing off their Alpaca Fest finds, it makes me want to learn to spin. However, I'm trying to put it off until 2020, right around the time my kids are both in college... Of course, then I probably won't be able to afford it...
Oooh, nice alpacafest loot!
The mossy yak looks awesome too, glad you finished!
I started a forever spinning project last night. Super fine laceweight merino-silk...6 oz.
Ah, Kauni looks great too.
Cool loot from The Fest! I lugged that self same autumn colorway around at Sandy's for a while until I had to whittle my spending down a little. The Mossy Yak turned out beautifully! And I love your purple handspun scarf! Even up close! :-)
Did you get to feel the basket of buffalo fiber that Susan had? It was a little spendy for me but I did fondle it quite a bit. So much softer than I thought it would be!
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