Bubble Yummy

So it's been a little while since my last post. I've been working on a top secret project - and can't post about that -this is the first time I've had a project that I can't blog - and it's really really no fun! It's been going along swimmingly - and then somehow I messed up part of the pattern - a really easy pattern - but mistakes have been made, which of course means frogging. I hate frogging! But once I get back to where I screwed up, it should just be a matter of an evening or two's knitting.

But spinning that I can share has progressed as well... I've finished plying up these three bobbins. The two bobbins on the outside are kid merino, I've showed you those before... In the center is the Tussah silk that I dyed in a similar colourway, but different dye bath. I've really enjoyed this project so far. The colours are so pretty together, and the fibers are so scrummy! It's just been such a pleasurable spin!
I plied all three bobbins together onto my Schippertje wheel (I just call her Skipper) and ended up with 540 yards of 3 ply goodness. It ended up being closer to 10 ozs. I still have almost half of the bobbin of tussah silk left over. That silk, man - it just does go a looong way!

Here you can see that there's actually even room left on the bobbin, with 10 ozs all plied up. I do love my Skipper! It was after dark by the time that I took this picture, so you'll have to forgive the flash picture. I really wanted to get this all skeined up, and see how much yardage I ended up with. I've been having some issues with her though. The piece of wood that is under the hinge for the front part of the treadle just has 4 little double pins to hold it to the treadle. Last night I had to reattach it - again - for the 4th time. I've even tried gluing it - but then again, I had one of the boys do it before. Maybe this time I managed to fix it properly - I'm sure hoping I have!

So yeah - 540 yards. Not nearly as much as I'd expected to get. I know a lot of you are saying - wow - that's a lot! But remember the yarn I spun for my Wings o'the Moth? I had two full Joy bobbins which gave me 1170 yards! I spun this stuff fairly fine, hoping for some good yardage, and ended up with less than half of that... Puzzling isn't it?

So I have enough of this yarn to make a good size scarf - or maybe (maybe) a bolero type vest, but I want a full fledged sweater out of it, so I've decided to spin up the rest of the Tussah silk (I still have about 6 ozs left) as a three ply, and then combine that into a project with this yarn. Which I've taken to calling Bubble Yummy. I haven't soaked it and set the twist yet. I'm expecting it to bloom quite a bit, and am planning on abusing the poor yarn to help that process along. But here it is, in it's unbloomed, unset, unabused glory.
I really wish y'all could reach through the monitor to touch it - it's just so soft and buttery! I wore it wrapped around my neck like a scarf last night, oh man! It's really not a good scarfy type color though - so will continue spinning on the silk. I was really hoping to get started on the CVM that I dyed, but no such luck. Soon though - I'm really looking forward to the soft halo of the kid merino blend against the silk yarns... doesn't that just sound like a marriage made in heaven? No idea what sort of pattern I'll use - but I want it to be something really feminine and girly.

In other news... I didn't get the job that I interviewed for. Can't say I'm not disappointed, but at the end of the day, nothing has changed. I still have a job - and it's OK - I'm not real happy there, but I do know what I'm doing, and where everything is - which I really hate about starting a new job all over again. So things workwise stay the same.

I got a quite a few comments about my daughter having turned 20 last week... I know - I don't feel old enough for that. People are usually surprised when I tell them how old I am - and then when they find out I've got three kids... and how old they are - well I guess I've gotten kind of used to it. I did start off far too young, I was married to my first husband way back in 1983.

The funny thing is - my daughter is my middle child. My oldest son will be 23 tomorrow. He still lives in England, with his other half, and their children. Yep - that's right I'm a grandma... I don't get to spend time with the grandbabies because they are just too darn far away - and that's a really hard thing for me to deal with - I do love the baby loving... But they're doing well, and the kids are fine and healthy, and apparently just smart as anything... So anyway - Happy Birthday Donny - you mom misses you and loves you very very much!

And of course I still have the Boo living with me - he's 16, but pretty easy to get along with most of the time. He gets mad at me because I have too much yarn, and fluff, and I should use up what I have before getting any more... Not that his opinion stops me or anything. He's just started a new home study program, and looks like he'll do really well there. He's also looking at getting his first job, working with my brother doing construction, which will be very good for him.

So - yeah - family update aside... I'm also spinning some more of the Optim that I just dyed on this sweet little cutout spindle. I love that you can see the cop building up through the heart cutouts, and it's a lot of fun to spin on. Very light, but with some rim weight. This is two days worth of spin - very fine laceweight. It will probably go into a project with the other Optim that I dyed and spun.

Until next time... Have fun!