I blame Noro.

Firstly, Rebecca, if you're reading this, stop immediately, and go do something else. You are forbidden from this blog entry temporarily.

Now! My aforementioned friend and I decided last weekend that we would do a crafty-trady-thingamajiggy. I'm the yarny fiber geek, and she makes all kinds of really neat things from beads and hemp. So we decided to do a trade!

When we made this decision, the very first thing that jumped to mind that I thought would be perfect for her is a Noro scarf. You know, the ones that alternate between two different colorways of Noro to make that amazing shifting striped effect? Yeah, that one.

This project marks the losing of my Noro virginity, by the way. A moment of silence, please.

*Ahem*

Anyway, I bought two skeins of Silk Garden Light because my LYS had one for 10% off, and because each skein had 137 yards in it, which is more than either Kureyon or plain Silk Garden. When I got them home and pulled them out of the bag, even my roommate realized there was something Godly about this particular fiber. She kept saying: "that's soooo pretty!" I read to her the fiber content (45% silk, 45% kid mohair, and 15% lambswool), and her eyes got big.

But then I started to knit. And I lost. my. mind. Here's a timeline for you.

5:30 I arrive home from the LYS and plop myself down on the floor. Didn't take off my shoes or my coat or anything. I swatched using three different needles for the baby blanket I'm supposed to make (because I got the yarn for that, too). Once I decided on a size 9, I shifted my focus to the Noro.

6:00 I grab my size 4 straight needles, cast on 24 stitches, and start working a 1x1 rib, alternating skeins of Noro every two rows. I chose to slip the first and last stitch of each color change's second row in order to hide the yarn as I carry it up the side.

I am entranced after...maybe an inch.

6:30 I have not moved. At all. My knitting is several inches longer and I'm staring at it as it comes off the needles, probably open mouthed and drooling.

6:45 My stomach starts to rumble. Somewhere in the back of my mind I remember that the last thing I ate was a sandwich at like...2 PM.

7:30 My stomach is making obscene noises. I wonder whether eating or Noro knitting is a better option. I am seriously weighing these decisions while sitting on the couch.

8:00 I finally decide to put down the scarf long enough to make myself a huge tasty honey mustard grilled chicken salad.

8:30 I am knitting again. I wonder how badly I really need to study for my midterms.

This stage lasted for quite a long time.

I think I finally put my needles down and called it a night at around 1:45 AM. The scarf is just about 4 feet long. I want to put another 2 feet on it tonight and then give it to my friend tomorrow or Saturday. I can't wait to see the finished results. I kept saying to myself: " I just want to see the next color change, then I'll be done. Promise". Yeah...no.

I've read lots of interesting debates about how Noro is good/bad/ugly/beautiful/expensive/unneccessary/overrated/etc. Honestly, though, for my first time knitting with it, I love it. It's certainly unlike any other yarn I've ever encountered, and it definitely has a very distinct character. When I say that, I mean that you're knitting with singles (it's not plied), the colors are very unique to the brand, and there's occasionally little fuzzies and bits of hay still stuck in parts (they're not huge, and they've just fallen out while knitting. No problems). This yarn seems to have such a rustic beauty about it...I just can't put it down. I was knitting this morning while I waited for my bagel to toast, and even in those few minutes I was still amazed. I never really understood the Noro fascination until I'd knit something with it.

That being said, I don't think I'll get to knit with it very often. My student budget will only accomodate a scarf like this every once in a while.

Also, I have some great news for the blog - last night I ordered a digital camera! It's the same one that my younger brother has. I used it to take pictures of my crescendo socks (which I've been working on!), his mittens, the beginning of my cable luxe tunic, and my spindle. It's a great little camera, and I got it for $120 cheaper than he got his, plus the seller is throwing in an extra battery. Hooray!

Anyway, yeah. Riveting update at the moment, sans pictures because I refuse to take a picture of this scarf with my horrendous camera. Photographic evidence tomorrow. Noro is ruining my life as a student. Well, for these last two days, anyway. I have two midterms to study for, homework to do, quizzes to take, and what do I do? I knit a scarf. Damn you, Noro, damn you.

First person to tell me that I need a lesson in self discipline gets slapped with a ball of Kureyon.

Sometimes I knit things...

I know the blog has been really spinning-oriented lately. But that doesn't mean I haven't been knitting! In fact, here's a list of my FO's, just for good measure (most of which you can see on this page by scrolling down).

- Mittens (from "how to make a mitten, part 1")
- Cable Luxe Sweater
- Baby Blanket (not yet begun - does that count?)
- Coffee Sleeves (you'll see these soon)
- Crescendo Socks

That's a pretty fairly good sized list, I think. I like to stay busy. I'm not as busy today as I'd like to be, though. Why? The area I attend school in is...unaccustomed to getting snow. It snowed several inches here over the weekend while I was visiting at Nathan's place where he attends college (about 40 minutes north of my school). I'm fine to drive in the snow - I've done it plenty of times before because my hometown gets snow fairly often in the winter. But the thing about living here is that when it snows...you also get ice because the climate is very very wet. Some people here call the rain "liquid sunshine". Interstate 5 this morning was like a sheet of ice.

I had two classes and a few hours of work scheduled...but...no. I'd rather not risk my life (traffic reports were saying that cars were simply "sliding off the road", and two semi trucks jacknifed in the southbound lane) for a couple of classes and some work I could do from home. Work ended up emailing me and telling me to just stay put where I am. I got a snow day, sort of. Hence, I blog. And show some "terribly exciting" FO's.

I finished Nathan's Shedir! I want to steal it. It's way better than mine.

I don't have much to say about this one. I had one repeat and the ribbing done on Saturday, and went a little crazy with working on it. I had it finished by 12:39 that night. I was so happy. The texture of the silky wool is wonderful and just the right amount of warm.

I've made a few of the little reusable coffee sleeves, too. With the weather getting cold out, these are great to use on a hot or cold coffee drink. I made the bind off edge a little tighter than the cast on to prevent any drinks from slipping away. The ribbing gets pretty stretchy. I made both of these with some leftover yarn bits.

Functional, earth-friendly, knitter friendly...what's not to love?

Lastly...you knew I was going to put up some yarn I spun. You knew it. I had to. Anyway, here's the result of my first attempt at plying with the roving I bought from pigeonroof studios on etsy. The colors aren't perfect, but they're pretty darn close. I have about 68 yards total of two ply.

(singles)


(plied skein)

This was a joy to spin. I can't wait to make some more. It's a little thick-thin, but I kind of feel like it's perfect the way it is. This is about a DK weight. I just measured about 11wpi. I'm so excited about that - I actually set out to make a DK or sport weight yarn with this, and succeeded! I feel so accomplished.

Now! I have to make some mittens. Wish me luck. I'm finding I'm not such a big fan of the cotton/acrylic blend. It's not "grabby" and "sproingy" enough for me (we like to make up words here at summer-wind.net). I'm not really enjoying the knitting process. But I must. Here I go!

I like to spin.

I've been spinning a lot the last couple of days. The roving I received in the mail got me so excited! It doesn't look like very much when it's all braided up, but there is a TON.

Here's a little photo of the recently spun stuff (taken with the webcam, sorry):

The leftmost one is that blue and pink blob I showed a few posts ago. It's 20 yards. The brown blob in the middle is some of my alpaca! I realized that I had enough to give plying a shot, so I did it tonight, and I ended up with only about 30 yards, but it was fun. I haven't washed it yet, and I'm eager to see how it will change.

On the right is the "drift" roving, and oh mama do I wish everyone could poke and squeeze it. It's only a single, but it's 75 yards of single, and it is soft and squishy and wonderful. It's also fairly evenly spun. There are a few little bumps here and there, but I almost feel like it suits the color and feel of the overall skein. It makes me think of seaweed and ocean. I love it so much. I hardly made a dent in the roving, too. I can't wait to spin up another 75 yards or so and ply it. It's gonna be a winner.

I'm kind of worried I'm not going to want to knit with it! I just want to look at it and poke it! I may have made my roommate poke it. I'm not sure she understood why she was poking the yarn, but at least she seemed somewhat interested. She said: "you made that?! Neat!" Yes, it is neat!

I love spinning. That is all.

Stay tuned for "how to make a mitten, part 2". Let's hope this edition of the series will be a little more successful. Although I think I'll end up keeping the steps where I consume caramel. Can't hurt.

How to make a mitten, part 1.

1. Decide on a pattern.

2. Buy appropriate yarn.

3. Think of funky texture details to add to mitten while washing hair in the shower.

4. Sketch out rough design for mitten, based on similar objects previously knit.

5. Walk away from pattern to spin until shoulder nearly detaches itself from torso.

6. Return to pattern, create excel chart of previously imagined funky embellishment.

7. Completely disregard fiber content.

8. Begin to knit.

9. Finish cuff. Finish most of funky embellishment.

10. Realize mitt is huge. Mitt is stretchy. Mitt will not fit recipient.

11. Stab dpn through center of gargantuan mitt (and its ball of yarn).

12. Consume caramel.

13. Consider trying to immediately redo mitt. Do not.

14. Realize it is 12:40 A.M.

15. Begin: "Mitten Fixing Procrastination Time".

16. Consume more caramel.

17. Smile.

...now with more knitting pictures!

This entry will actually feature some pictures of knitting (no way)! But first:

A friend requested a pair of fingerless gloves in green, so I ran off to get the yarn for it today...when I noticed something different about the place. There seemed to be boxes on tables...boxes with patterns in them...for low prices! The yarn I needed was only around $5.25, so I perused a few of the bargain bins. There were three copies of Rowan 34, but nothing really stood out to me, so I didn't pick it up. I did, however, notice one more box near the cash register marked "Free patterns."

Upon noticing the box, I may have jumped slightly with glee and practically raced across the store.

I flipped through a few that looked kind of interesting, but then...right at the very back of the box was a book of patterns I never thought I would ever see.

Rebecca! I've perused the site before, I loved the patterns I saw, but the cost (and how long it would take to ship to me) have always kind of deterred me.

In the box was a book that's not even on their site - it's #9, and it's not in English, but it still seems to be straight forward. Nathan looked at it (he speaks some German) and was reading article titles to me. EDIT: I am stupid, and there's a booklet inside the magazine with all of the english translations of the patterns. Cool. Here are a few pictures of some of my favorite patterns:

Needless to say, I'm very excited about all the neat things I could make. I can't decide what I like best. But it'll have to wait until I finish up this one:

That's the finished cable yoke and part of the back. I'm apprehensive about the changes I'm making to the pattern, but every time I get nervous I just think: "learning experience...learning experience..." Progress is unfortunately slow on this one...I should reasonably be able to sit down and finish the back in one day (or two) but I never put more than a couple of inches on it at a time. I really want to see the finished product...I gotta kick myself in the ass and get working on it.

My last exciting photo is of Nathan's Shedir, which I'm making from a mossy colored silky wool. It looks really pretty, but it has quickly become apparent to me that I've made a mistake somewhere, because stitches are not in the correct position, and I'm "missing" a stitch at the end of the round. Bah.

I feel bad because I told him he would have a nice new hat this weekend, but it just didn't work out as well as I had hoped. Fooey, maybe next weekend. Maybe. And that's a big maybe, because my package full of fiber-y goodness arrived on Friday, and I can't wait to spin it up! I'm eager to see the colors in yarn form.

With all of these works-in-progress, my next update had better be exciting. And hopefully not five days in the making, like this one was. Oops.

Cash-strapped college student resorts to desperate measures

Ever since I spun with those little sample-size bits of roving, I've been craving the stuff. Roving is so much easier for me to spin (consistently!) with than the locks of alpaca that I've been using. I'd love to be able to make roving out of my alpaca, but that requires the use of expensive equipment. The combs used to process the fiber are (at the lowest price I've seen) at least $45, which is outside my meager budget at the moment.

So...I started thinking.

Combs are used to process this stuff...

I have combs...that I use to process my hair...

I don't have a diz, but I do have a needle sizer...

Hmmm...

Desperate times call for desperate measures, my friends.

Shown here are two wide-toothed combs (that I already had), my needle sizer, and one of the bags of alpaca.

Before I show the rest of these pictures, I have to say that yes, I know that this isn't the best way to prepare my fiber, and there's probably a billion reasons why I probably should not be doing my fiber prep this way, but I'm impatient, and..."creative", and it was fun. That's my disclaimer

First, I loaded up one of the combs with some fiber.

Next, I took the other comb, and brushed the ends of the fiber, gradually working my way inward, until I had most of the fiber moved from one comb to the other.

This was about how much I had left on the brush after the first combing:

I smoothed out the brushed hairs into a cone-ish shape, twisted the end slightly, and pulled it through one of the holes on my needle sizer (I think I used size 6, just for the sake of hilarious detail).

I took the brush away from the fiber and brushed out the end I hadn't pulled through the diz yet. I repeated these steps and added to my "roving" by twisting the joins of the fiber together a bit before pulling them through my "diz". I ended up with about 5 feet of "roving" which I then spun.

It fell apart in (surprisingly) only a couple of places. It made spinning faster, easier, and more fun! I love how easily the alpaca pulls apart when I'm drafting. I was making much more consistent yarn, and I spun a TON in a small(ish) amount of time.

I've also knit 3 rows on been working on the back of the cable luxe tunic...I don't know why it's so hard for me to work on things I'm making for myself. You'd think that I would have more fun when I know what I want and can make exactly what I want...but progress is unexpectedly slow.

So is the progress on Nathan's shedir...I'm not sure why...I love the yarn, I love the dude, I love the pattern, and yet it is still not past the first repeat of the pattern. Sorry, man.

Lastly, my auntie has asked me to design a baby blanket for a friend! And I need yarn ideas. She has specified that it needs to be machine washable and dryable, and should be white - maybe sparkly. She wants it to be about 4 feet (square). I get to choose any kind of design I'd like. Anyone have any ideas?

I am so happy.

My happiness stems from a number of things.

First and foremost, I finished up shedir a few days ago - here are a couple of less-than-gorgeous pictures of a hat that actually turned out really neat.

It was a fun, quick knit, despite all of the twisted stitches. It only took 2 or three days to do the entire thing! I've been getting all sorts of compliments on it, even from a woman working in the yarn shop. Nathan wanted one, so I picked up some yarn (Silky Wool, mmmm) today. It's a greenish grey heathered yarn, and when I showed it to him, he yelled: "YEAH! That is such a F***in cool color!" So...I think he likes it.

Also at the LYS, I picked up a few little bags of some plain old wool (not sure exactly what type of wool, the package just read "wool". I chose shockingly ridiculous colors, and picked up a half ounce of each (barbie pink and bright teal). These were prepared rovings, and ohmygod when I spun them I finally experienced that "ah ha!" moment. THAT is what spinning is supposed to feel like. It was so much easier to maintain the correct amount of twist on my yarn, so much easier to draft...so much easier to do everything. So I've decided I need to transform the remainder of my alpaca into Alisha-friendly roving. I'm on a tool hunt.

Here's what I spun today. These are the singles, sitting in their own little cups, while I prepare to ply (for the first time!).

The pink one was a bit overtwisted, but the teal came out just about right. It's so satisfying to see it all get better, little by little. Here's the plied yarn, still on the spindle:

And then I turned it into a skein, stuck it in one of those teeny little cups, and put a penny in it (so you havea better idea of how thick the stuff is). I didn't make very much out of this stuff - somewhere around 10-15 yards, I think.

It was so much fun! I have to wash the skein to set the twist, and then maybe I'll knit a teeny swatch so that I can say I have officially knit with yarn I spun myself. It'll be a giant ego boost. I will revel in my own awesomeness.

Today was also the day of the next big update by pigeonroof studios. I was watching like a hawk for the perfect roving. A few I liked came and went (quickly! you people are FAST!). But finally, I saw the drift roving. I had seen it before, and I loved it. I fell head over heels the first time I saw it on her blog, and then it popped up on her shop page, and I lost it. I HAD to have it. So I got it. Here's a picture of the beauty that is my soon-to-be new roving love.

I can't wait! She still has (at the moment of this post) some more DELICIOUSLY beautiful things up for sale, so definitely check it out. I swore that I would only pick one thing for this purchase, and it was a hard decision, but I'm definitely looking forward to getting my squishy package in the mail.

I've been working on the cable luxe sweater, but I don't have any updated pictures. The yoke is done and I've been working my way down the back. I've been figuring the math for the modifications I want to make...and it seems like it's all going to work out fairly simply. I look forward to wearing it!

Until then...I'm going to be spinning my ass off. Whoever turned me on to spinning should be ashamed. They have created a monster. A monster!

Who cares, this is fun. I love fibers. So much.

Butter knives CAN be dangerous.

Here's yesterday's progress on Shedir - I hope to have it finished tonight...tomorrow at the latest. I could really use a snuggly new hat. It's pretty damn cold out.

It's coming along beautifully. I just finished the 3 repeats of the pattern (making it shorter, like many have done) and will now begin the decreasing section.

The title of today's post comes from a recently acquired wound. I was rushing to make myself a bagel this morning (because I had to make and eat the bagel in 5 minutes) and was about to cut it in half. The bagel was rather tough, and instead of puncturing the bread part of the bagel, when I made my "stabby" motion, I instead, slipped across the skin of the bagel and gouged myself in the finger with a butter knife. Hooray.

It is eerily similar to the one Nathan accidentally gave himself about a week ago - his is on the knuckle of his RIGHT index finger, and mine is is virtually the same spot, with the same weapon on my left index finger. I told him we would have morbidly cute symmetrical scars.

The downside of this (other than proving that I am both impatient and rather moronic, AND that I now have a cut on my finger) is that it is located on the knuckle. It's making knitting slower than usual. I have to keep the finger relatively straight, because if I bend it too much, I split the wound open again and it gets all oozy.

Eeeew.

So I'm not entirely sure whether or not Shedir will get the attention she deserves tonight, but I'll sure try. I'm ready to wear it already!

And now...

...for a visual summary of my weekend (AKA: where I show that I have, in fact, been taking my required pictures.

January 4th:

This is a really wretched picture, I know, but I took it in the evening, and that's the time of day that's worst for my poor camera. This is a picture of the finished cable section of the yoke of my cable luxe tunic. It has since been sewn together. However, I'm faced with another design dilemma. The pattern asks me to (quite reasonably) pick up stitches along one edge in an area I have marked out (to be the back). I, however, have decided that I do not like the way it looks to pick up said stitches.

The way the yoke was knit has left a 1 stitch ridge on each edge of the yoke piece itself. It looks like this:

\/-----{0}-----\/

I know it's a horrible representation, but pretend the V's on each side are knit stitches, the dashes represent the purled area between the edge of the piece, and the O with the brackets is the cable.

I like the knit stitches where they are. I would not like to pick them up. In picking up these stitches, that dimension disappears and the whole thing smooths out. I've decided I don't want that. So I've been trying to think of a way to get my ideas put into action. I thought about maybe picking up from the purl bumps just next to the knit stitches, but I'm worried about pulling the fabric in funky directions. I'm currently mulling over the idea of a strip of single crochet on the yoke, from which I could pick up the stitches without ruining the effect the edge has on the piece.

That might have made no sense. I guess it's kind of hard to explain without a decent photograph (here's the part where I hope everyone reading glares really hard in the general direction of my poor, defenseless camera). I want to figure it out soon - I'm excited to get to work on the body of the sweater.

January 5th:

Ahem. Do note, however, the presence of the cough medicine in the foreground.

January 6th:

This is due to that sickness I posted about on the 5th. It was like a short lived cough-cold thing that I had pretty well beat after only 2 or 3 days, a lot of liquids (non-alcoholic, thank you), and some rest. It's just about gone now.

January 7th:

I started work on the new shedir! And now, I'm happy to say, I absolutely love it. I'm using the Bernat Soy Blends I picked up at Michael's not too long ago, and despite the high acrylic content, I'm very impressed with the softness and the stretch in the yarn. And the stitch definition! My little twists and ribs are turning out beautifully, if I do say so myself. I sat down and worked through the 9 rows of ribbing and about 1 of the pattern repeats before doing this blog entry. It is absolutely whirring by.

It's interesting to note the things I've learned since the last time I tried to make this. The first time, I was using a really splitty sock yarn on a circular needle that was too long, and too pointy. I was trying to muscle my way through the pattern by staring at every stitch, and just found myself getting more and more frustrated every round because I would make one small mistake. This time, I am able to look at the pattern, and see that: "In this round, they simply want me to do X." And then I go around without even looking at the chart. It's so much more enjoyable to knit this time! It'll be finished very soon. I'm very excited.

Today I also picked up Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac. Just flipping through it I smiled at some of the phrases I came across. Things like: "And now, I must go through the unappealing process of calculating my gauge." When I handed the book to the cashier, she smiled and said: "Ah! You've got the master, there!" I nodded.

How cool would it be to have people call you "the master"? Not just in regards to knitting, but anything! To be able to be recognized as having complete mastery of a subject (be it knitting or car building or...waffle making) must be a neat thing. I wonder how many people think they are a "master" at what they do? It makes me think about things I'm good at, and about the things in which I still have room to grow. I'd like to master something(s) someday. I mean, it's not like anyone ever reaches a point in their life where they stop and say: "All right! That's it. I'm done. I've learned everything I'd like to learn, I'm ready to stop now." Mastery of a subject comes with the ability to evolve with it...to be ready to learn new things all the time, despite knowing so much already.

I guess this thinking spawns from college and career-related discussions and thoughts I've had lately - I'm just so excited to have an area of expertise and get the opportunity to use it, I can hardly wait.

Are you an expert at anything? Would you like to be?

I, for one, would currently like to be an expert on inventing methods of picking up stitches on sweater yokes.

But that's just me.

Here's a "nothing" post.

I don't really have anything riveting to discuss. I haven't been spinning much because I've got a sickness. It's just enough of a sickness that the act of spinning seems like it would be completely exhausting.

I would post my "365" pictures, too, but my picture from yesterday is just a progress picture of the yoke of my luxe sweater. Terribly boring. I'll probably do a picture update tomorrow with a whopping 3 pictures.

Just a forewarning for the blog, though - my winter term classes start on Monday. I don't have a very busy schedule in terms of classes, which is good, but it might mean that I won't be able to update every other day, like I try to. Although I knit every day, my camera sucks, and until I get a new one, I kind of feel like I shouldn't update with a billion super-wordy posts.

I could write about spinning, or my attempts at plying, but I'm just not sure how good that would be for the blog without pictures. We'll see.

So...as the title implies, this post is mostly about nothing, and is very possibly brought to you today by Cruzan Mango Rum. I apologize for any incoherent parts.

I shall update (hopefully) tomorrow with a few pictures, and try to spin a bit. Here's hoping I improve a bit.

This is the part where I pretend I know what I'm doing.

Today was finally the day I got to try spinning on my new spindle. I guess the best phrase to use would be that it was a "learning experience". I mean, I didn't expect it to be perfect or anything. It was really fun, despite the result looking like crap. You can't just go from exactly what a book or site tells you to do, either. It seems like a lot of skill in spinning comes from intuition and experience. I have neither. But I learned a bunch. Here's a really terrible picture of my first day's worth of spinning that alpaca (the brown). I'm sorry it's so horrible, my camera really is awful. There's a new one that'll be heading my way within the next week and a half, though.

I know you can't see it, but there is a visible learning curve on the spindle. The first bits I spun varied from so thin it was breaking to having virtually no twist in it at all. And in the last hour I was spinning today, I finally started to get the hang of things - learning that if you want your yarn to look the same, then you actually have to have the same conditions for all of it - it doesn't just magically happen. I look forward to doing it again tomorrow. I'm just worried about the twist factor. This yarn I created seems to be way way way over twisted. When I put it in a skein, it all bunches up on itself, and I can see little squiggles ALL OVER the skein where yarn is forming twists. I have yet to find that "happy place" where the yarn is adequately twisted, but will not curl on itself so much.

Also, I know I missed posting yesterday, but I did take my picture! It was at around 11:30 PM, but I remembered. You can't really see it at all because my camera sucks. But Nathan and I went to play board games at a friend's house, so I grabbed the camera and took a blurry picture of him reading the rules. Riveting, I know.

I hope that once I get a new camera, my "365" images will be a little more pleasant to look at. I promise, I DO know what a good picture looks like. Really. Probably.

No knitting today, because today was devoted to spinning. I'm only about halfway through the cable yoke of the luxe sweater. It takes me almost a half hour to do one 16-row pattern repeat! And I'm not even using a cable needle! That sweater is going to take a while, but I think it'll be worth it. The more fabric I see coming from the needles, the more I love it. I'm very excited.

Now that I've blogged my first spinning efforts...it can only get better from here, I guess. Here's hoping!

Both terrified and excited.

Yesterday when I got up, I found that a family friend had dropped this off:

It's 3 bags full of raw, unwashed alpaca fleece. Two bags of black, and one very full bag of brown.

I know that the black is hard to see in these photos - I used up all the battery on my brother's camera and so resorted to using my Mom's, which didn't like the lighting. It is very very soft, despite all of the dirt and vegetation still in it. I was pulling pieces out to look at them, and it's got pieces of hay and plants still in it. I've been doing my research, though, and it seems as though you don't actually have to wash alpaca before spinning it, because it doesn't contain the same kind of greasy substance that wool does. I will, however, need to do a thorough combing of it. I'll probably end up washing parts just to check out the difference between the washed and unwashed fleece. I've got to get some combs first, though. A trip to the yarn/fiber shop might be in order today.

I know alpaca probably isn't the best thing to learn on...but it's what I've got, and it was completely free, so I guess I don't really have much to lose. Plus, it'll be a good learning experience in fiber preparation, I suppose. I don't plan to dye this stuff...just one more thing to have to learn before I actually get to try spinning. I want to make something (likely a scarf) for the friend who gave this to me. He's very interested in seeing what I can create from his animal's hair. I hope I do it justice. It's very pretty stuff.

Nothing on the knitting front I'm afraid - I spent 5 hours driving over that hill I mentioned in my last entry, and was a little exhausted by the time I reached my destination. It was a nice, quiet new year's with friends...although everyone is slowly becoming either sick or crippled - two of my boyfriends housemates are sick with something, Nathan is coming down with a cold, last night the trunk of a car fell and nailed me in the shoulder, and this morning Nathan practically cut his knuckle off with a knife he was washing. I think there's one person left in the house who has not yet managed to contract some kind of illness or been subject to some freakish accident. I think I'm going to hide in a corner with my green sweater for the next couple of days. Less chance of being hurt that way.

I hope.

Edited to Add: Thanks to Knitasaur, I have joined Ravelry's 365/52 ring/pledge. I have to take a picture either once every day or once every week, and post it (at least once a week). I think I'm capable of doing that, but no promises that they will all be good. My camera sucks, so I always use someone else's. I'm excited, though. And off to a good start so far, too!