Because, naturally, I needed more roving!

We have here 8 oz of Merino Superwash in “The Beat Goes On” and 8 oz in “Big Yellow Taxi.” And then 8 oz of Corridale Pencil roving in “Crown Jewels.”

I’ll admit, I’m a little disappointed in the first one. It’s got a lot more white in it than in the picture on the website. (The second one does, too, but I like it just fine.) And I love the pencil roving–the colors are gorgeous, and just what I expected. Still, it’s lovely roving, isn’t it?

And then, for a small, practical thing of great beauty–what about this tapestry needle, huh? Isn’t it just lovely? So much more elegant for weaving in ends than the plastic Susan Bates needle I usually use.

Now, elsewhere in spinning, I finished my first bobbin of merino/mohair in Copper Slate, which is just so, so pretty. I adore the colors and am really happy with the way it’s spinning up. The plan, again, is to spin up 6 oz and then triple-ply them into something resembling sock yarn, which is why I’m spinning as finely as I reasonably can. And really . . . sooo pretty.

Thank you all for your help (so far) with the felting questions. I don’t think I’d made it clear yesterday that, when I mentioned the pocket for the bag frame, that I didn’t mean an actual pocket–but rather, the pocket/sleeve through which I’ll be threading the satchel frame when the bag is done. I mentioned to Jessalu that what I really needed was something that I could put in there to prevent it from felting closed, but which would be easy to pull out AND (most important) would be washing machine-friendly. She suggested a rubber hose, which really, sounds just about perfect.

Then Diane mentioned re-felting the swatch in the washing machine, to make sure the felting level would be the same as I’ll get in the finished product . . . which, I have to agree, is excellent advice. (The only reason I didn’t do that yesterday was that I just couldn’t bring myself to use that much hot water for a tiny little rectangular swatch, and we just don’t do any of our laundry with such hot water.) I’ll see what I can do, though . . . although that would definitely put a massive delay in my getting started. Chances are, I wouldn’t get to do that until the weekend, and well, I’d like to start the bag tonight!

And–head on over to Unraveling and make a donation to Celia’s Asthma Walk. (You know, really, Chris‘s regular announcements of various charity drives and contests is very handy.)

Lastly, any geeky, sci-fi-loving bloggers out there–you have to check out this cartoon. The punchline just cracks me up–I’ve never had that exact reason, of course, but I certainly have sent people to my blog and told them to scroll down past Chappy and knitting pictures to get to whatever I’m directing them there for . . . anyway, I thought it was funny. And, I got there through the blog of Steve Miller, co-author of the Liaden books I love so much. Sharon Lee has one, too. That’s pretty cool all by itself.

Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning // 10 Comments »