the Akamai Knitter

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I’m wondering whether I’m a person with a strong will or a strong won’t. I refuse to start the Rose of England until I finish one of the shawls I have going. I think the best way for me to accomplish this goal is to take this beautiful cone of Sage Green Zephyr and put it away in a box until I can really pay it proper attention., because it’s too hard to resist!
So I continue to plug rather obstinately away at the Flirty Ruffles making slow but sure progress. Nothing to really write home about since you can’t really see anything new happening. I’m almost to the heel of the second Pomatomus and if my hands were feeling better I’d say the end were near.

Unfortunately, I promised myself that this time around I would not knit through the pain. Instead, I’m resting them and soothing them with gentle baths. Hopefully this will all get them back to their former working order sooner rather then later.

So I figured I shouldn’t give up entirely on the whole spinning thing since I figured I’ve been doing this for about 8 years now. There’s no reason for me to give up just because I hit a snag or a snarl or a tangle or a… yes, I’ll stop now.

So I dug out some Brand X wool that I had gotten from Woodland Woolworks and lookie! I be spinning a fairly consistent yarn! Yay! I still have the Spinnin’ Touch. I dyed this particular batch purple myself a few years back. I don’t even remember what dye I used, but I do know it was an acid dye.

I figure I’ll ply the Brand X with this Merino and have enough to make some socks or even a small shawl. Like a shoulderette. Is that a word? I thought I saw it on some site or another that had really pretty patterns and now I can’t dredge up where it was.

Knitting with my own handspun is a particular dream of mine. I should clarify that though.

There. How’s that for a dream? I know I can do it. I just wish my hands would cooperate. Sadly, they’re acting up again. I’m not really sure what’s aggravating them, but I am resting them. I see my doctor again on Monday so I’ll see what’s going on then.

Progress on the Flirty Ruffles
It’s been incredibly humid the past couple of days here in Honolulu. Perfect weather to stay indoors, crank up the air conditioner and knit lace. After receiving my Sage Zephyr from Sarah’s Yarns for the Rose of England, I was doubly motivated to make some headway with the Flirty Ruffles.

Since I started having problems with my hands, I’ve stopped using metal needles. I find that I really like the Crystal Palace Bamboo Circular Needles. Luckily I still use the Inox Express
and Addi Turbo needles for sock knitting. Otherwise Id have a whole lot of needles that I wouldn’t be able to use on my hands!

Pressie was so thrilled with my progress on the Flirty Ruffles that she actually woke up from her nap to take a look see. Luckily she kept her distance from my precious lace shawl. Not that I would do anything if she had wanted to meander her way to it. She’s really quite respectful of beautiful things.

If you’re wondering about her appearance, her ears were cropped at an early age as a preventive for skin cancer. Apparently white cats are particularly prone to skin cancer. Before she was rescued she was feral and out in the sun quite a bit.

I hate to admit this, but I suck at spinning. I never really thought I did until I started spinning this silk/merino blend. Now maybe it’s because the stuff is partly felted and hadn’t been blended really well, but I tend to think that it’s because of the lack of spinning skills on my part.

At first I thought the singles were coming out pretty well, but then I started coming across neps and big tufts of unblended silk. Finally I started plying this monster yarn…

.. and came out with this stuff. Now maybe there’s still some hope left. Maybe something will magically happen during the washing process or during the knitting process. But I’m pretty unhappy with the whole mess. Im not even done plying this junk and I’m not sure I have the heart to do it.

It’s times like these that I really regret living on an island and a fiber desert island at that. I only know of a couple other spinners and none of them have the same wheel that I do. (Schacht Single Treadle Matchless) I don’t think I can really blame the wheel though. Really, I blame myself. So woe. Woe is me.

And at this point I have to laugh, because when ever I say that I feel completely ridiculous. I think I’ll end up using this yarn to make a felted bag for my Tarot cards or something like that. I’m a creative person, right? I can do something with it! And if worse comes to worse, I can gift to a friend, like Wendy!