order shipped--phew!

Yesterday I shipped the order that's been taking over my life lately.


Yay! I'm really happy with all of this yarn, and it's so satisfying to send it off to a customer. It's a rush of victory.
I can't rest on my laurels too long--this customer has already ordered more asap!--but I did give myself one evening off. I spun a teeny bit and then went to bed.


This is from a gorgeous carded roving from Little Barn. I bought some as a housewarming present for my department secretary (yes, I am very lucky to work with someone who is cool enough to be delighted with this gift) and of course had to get some for me, too. This part of the yarn came out pretty uniformly teal or turquoise, but the roving looks like an idealized ocean--blues, a little green, a little purple. Total love.
After my experience with the Tour de Fleece, I am completely ignoring the Olympics, Ravelympics and otherwise. I guess I was a little dense last time because it didn't occur to me that part of the point of these things for most people is to give them something fun to do while they watch the events, and that's how they actually finish their stuff--they have that designated time for it. I have the utmost respect for the athletes who compete and all the work they've done and all the ability they have--it's incredible. But I have no interest in watching the events, and I'm too busy dyeing yarn anyway. Besides, my initial impulse was right on--keep the goals out of the yarning.
Thus I was able to spin about 20 yards of pretty colors last night, be very happy, and go to bed. That's the way to do it.

fun new project

At long last, I have started making the cozy for my teeny laptop. Why? It's so much smaller than a normal laptop, all the laptop carrying bags are about twice as big as it. That kind of defeats the purpose of buying a teeny laptop, doesn't it?
Here's what I have so far.


Very exciting, I know. But it's more than it looks like. It's only one row, but I'm done with crocheting into the foundation chain (hate! must learn to make foundation stitches without the chain--I hear it can be done) and I've figured out the plan. I want the rows to run across the laptop shortways, so if you were holding it like a big paperback, the rows would be horizontal. See? (The picture also shows the size of the laptop--that's a normal-sized keyboard in the background.)


I'm just going to keep crocheting this nice rectangle until it's long enough to cover the width of the computer, then I'm going to crochet a little seam down each side and I'll be done. It's a portable, mindless project from here on out--whee! And it's so small, I may actually finish it soon. (Don't talk to me about the hat that's been sitting around for months needing only six stitches bound off and a seam--I don't want to discuss it.)
For once I'm actually using single crochet, the stiffest stitch, and a hook that's only a little bigger than the "proper" size for the yarn. I want this to be sturdy and hold its shape some, usually the opposite of what I'm going for.
This is the first real thing I've made out of my handspun yarn, and I'm very psyched, especially since this is spun from a roving that I hand-dyed myself. Also I'm very curious to see if this is way too much yarn or not enough. I have a coordinating barber pole yarn if I need more, so it's fine either way.

a return to spinning

My old friend insomnia has returned, hopefully for a short visit. I futilely stayed in bed for an hour before surrendering and getting up. I decided that a little spinning would be a nice treat for my bonus time.



This is Indian Summer combed wool from Little Barn. It is gorgeous and a dream to spin. I love their fiber, especially the combed or carded color blends.



The yarn came out well, although I had some breakage with the singles, and I can tell I'm out of practice. I was much more consistent and generally better at this when I was doing it more often. (Gee, ya think?) I definitely want to get back to that.
Also, I finally finished my Tour de Fleece Challenge a few days ago. Remember I stopped in the middle of plying the last single? I went back days later and finished it.



Didn't Lucy in "I Love Lucy" have bangs that looked like that? Well, that's what happens when half the singles were plied while they were active and the rest were plied to match after they got tired. A little wash took care of it.



Not bad for my first Navajo plying project. This yarn is going to be such an awesome cozy for my teeny computer.