Well, I've just realised how long it is since I wrote anything here and thought it was about time I did something about it!
My spinning has come along great guns and I've managed to produce some lovely yarn - I'm currently spinning a Charrolais fleece in the grease, making an Aran weight yarn to knit a sweater for Mike. I've promised it for winter this year, but of course I've still got to finish spinning the yarn before I can actually knit it and there is SO much pretty commercially prepared fluff to play with as well I keep on getting sidetracked!
I've also started using a drop-spindle and have found I can spin a really fine laceweight single with it and so I'm spinning some beautiful natural Blue Faced Leicester to make a shawl for myself.
So far this year I've been on a bit of a sock-knitting mission - I generally use my Universal Sock Pattern and make up the pattern as I feel the urge. At the moment Mike is getting a few pairs made with variegated yarns but as he's pretty boring in the colour stakes I've been giving him outrageous colours for the toes, heels and ribbing. I don't know if he's particularly keen on these little quirks but he loves his handmade socks and wears them so they can't be that bad. For myself I've stuck to plain colours for now and using stitch patterns to pretty them up, and I was particularly pleased with my Fibonacci Socks (based on the Fibonacci numerical sequence) that can be worn scrunched down or pulled up - they're really cosy.
I'm currently knitting a pair of socks for someone else as part of a Sock Swap - I'm making them in my favourite Blue Faced Leicester but as they're pure wool with no nylon for strength I'm making them on much smaller needles than I would usually (2mm) so they are hard-wearing and will hopefully not only fit (!) but will give the recipient a lot of pleasure to wear. I'll post photos of these when they're finished (and I've worked out how to post photos - I'm new to blogging and still need to learn a lot).
Actually, thinking of posting photos reminds me that up until now I've been photographing my socks (for my Ravelry Project Page) by laying them on the hearth and, to be honest the photos have been pretty dire (I never claimed to be a good photographer!). But last week I bought myself a clear plastic display leg so that I can at least get a half-decent picture of my finished items. I'm now wondering whether to get a boatload of glitter to fill the leg - I'm never satisfied!
Well, enough for today - lets see if I can manage to do more regular updates!
