Quick Spin, Quick Knit

Poppy Flower Fibers
Originally uploaded by Project Pictures

When I gave in to the urge to buy this braid on a destash from a fellow Raveler, I had no idea what I was going to do with the wool. It is four ounces of Merino top, wonderfully soft and squishy. I fell in love with the colors, but walked away for a week before finally going back and buying it.

I've been working very hard to not purchase anything for which I cannot figure out a final plan. I want to know what I'm going to spin with it, and what I'm going to knit. Otherwise, it just gets tossed in my box of fiber for the eventual future. You know. The Stash.

The Stash likes to grow somewhat faster than I can work through it. So my goal this year is to work from The Stash. I've managed so far with yarn (meaning, really, that the past six months or more I have not significantly added to The Stash of yarn). The Stash of fiber benefits from the fact that I have five pounds of white wool sitting in a storage tub. It's hard to look at that and buy more. Not impossible, of course, but it's a huge help!

Still, this wool managed to get past my resolution of "No New Fiber".

As I have mentioned before, I have a spinning wheel for the month. I figured this unknown-end-point braid of wool was great for practicing on the wheel. Since I'm still learning my way around it, I didn't have to worry about what exactly I got out of it.

I still got some pretty stuff!

I spun up 1/3 of this fiber onto a bobbin each day. The closest I got to planning was an attempt to make the colors jumble more by breaking the braid so that the pink portions didn't line up. After that, I just spun it as it was most easily manipulated. I did figure I wanted a warm 3-ply. I thought maybe it would end up a hat, or mittens.

It finished so delightfully soft and Charmin-squeezable. It's thicker than I planned (aran/worsted weight), which is good to know for future spinning. I'll have to work on thinner singles with the wheel.

For some reason it made me think of a good friend who could use a hug and some support from friends right now. She'll be needing a little pick-me-up, so I stealthily sounded her out for project ideas. She pointed out the Ravelry project 198 yards of Heaven. It's a shawlette, for aran/worsted yarn.. and I have.. 220 yards! Perfect.

The knit is fast and easy. It's amazing how quickly a project can go on size 9 needles. And lace blocks out into something marvelous. You may like what you're knitting while you're working on it, but it really shines once you stretch it out and pin it within an inch of its life.

So here's a little shawl for my friend to keep her a bit warmer over the next few weeks. Hugs to you from the other side of the U.S.