Yet another catch-up post

That blur you caught in the corner of your eye is another summer flying by. I've been caught up in trying to get three new classes ready for the fall semester, and have been bunkering down at home instead of coming out to the public library for that marvelous free wi-fi.

I've also done some knitting. First off, here's one mitten I designed (using the Generic Norwegian Mitten Pattern by Hello Yarn; scroll through the scrumptious patterns to find it). Yes, it's a flamingo. Yes, it's for a specific purpose -- let's just say it's going to go in a silent auction next year. I haven't designed the second mitten yet but that's coming.

During the recent Tour de Fleece, I did do a lot of spinning, mostly with my new handspindle. Here's a shot of the yarn-in-progress while it was still in progress. Since this photo was taken, I have plied and finished the yarn -- very pretty. It was Louet roving in the "pastels" colorway.

I also finished that 100 gram ball of Majacraft Perendale roving I bought earlier this summer. I hand-carded all of it, and then spun it on my Ashford Joy, aiming at a worsted-weight yarn. That's what I got -- it's lofty and very nice. The roving was dark turquoise with black and orange stripes. It spun up into a gorgeous, textured heather.

I'm trying to get some more of this roving so that I can have enough spun yarn to knit some kind of garment. What I end up knitting will depend on how much more of this I can get. Another hundred grams would be nice, but I'll have to see what floats in my direction over the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, I have that gorgeous one-pound ball of sagey green Corriedale/silk roving that I scored at the Estes Park Wool Market. I spun up a sample with my spindle and it turned out just beautiful, a little scratchy and lumpy but optically interesting. Thinking about it, the yarn looks kind of like the yarn used in this project. Maybe I've tapped into a zeitgeist or something.