I FINISHED THE CRAB AND SEAHORSE CHART!!! The COTR shawl is my first attempt at lace knitting and it is my first project knit "continental" style with the yarn held in the left hand rather than the right. Needless to say, I approached this project very ackwardly at first. About half way through the crab and sea horse chart, everything "clicked" and my fingers were able to work "independently" without too much thought. Whew!



I love the color of this Sea Mist fiber more and more. I've decided it is definitely ecru with gentle waves of pink, blue and yellow interspersed. It looks good with most colors so this shawl will be very practical.



I wish I could capture the color better on film, but my camera had almost dead batteries this morning and I was grateful to get the pictures I got. Naturally, of the tons of batteries in our house, I had an insufficient supply of AAs.



I can't even imagine what this will look like when blocked.

Of course, I am now addicted to spinning and knitting lace.



I have been enjoying the COTR shawl so much that I decided to spin up MORE lace weight yarn to do another one when I am finished with the first. I want to do it without any mistakes the second time! This is Rose merino and silk from The Fold.



This fiber is a rose colored gray that plays with the light the beautiful way all silks do. It looks like it will be nice and conservative, which is good since I want to knit my next shawl for my grandmother. She is the one who taught me to knit when I was a little girl and so I would love to finally make her something.

I've been playing with the drum carder quite a bit lately as well.



Remember this early drum carding adventure? Well, I ran it through the carder a few more times.



Despite how beautiful the early batts were, I knew spinning them would be a nightmare since each color was a different fiber. (Silk, mohair and BFL.)



The fiber now has a silver or pale lavendar color with subtle waves of blue, purple and rose. Nice, but I wanted some excitement.



The Las Vegas girl in me arose and grabbed the Angelina. Now the batts sparkle with blue, pink, purple and rose. Perfect! I think I want to use this to weave on the triloom I told my family they were getting me for Christmas. I just have to figure out how to spin it. I have about 8 ounces total so I have plenty to spin thick or thin. I'd like to spin it as light as possible since I live in Florida, but I don't want to spin it so light that the final product looks like cheese cloth. Thus, I am taking a poll. How thin is too thin? A couple of people have assured me 20 wpi would be okay.

Our guild is working on a group project for the Destin Spin In in January. We are starting with raw fleece.



I wasn't at the meeting the day everyone picked up their share of the fleece and so I think I got the worst of it. It sure is dirty even though Sally generously washed mine for me. I think I am a bit of a clean freak.

I just got a beautiful box of llama fiber from a trade with Tracy from Spindlers.



It hasn't been washed yet. Tracy says with llama you card it and spin it and then wash it. The neat freak in me is insisting it be washed first. So, as soon as I figure out the mechanics of successfully washing 3 pounds of llama, it is getting a bath!

I also found out that my Dad received the socks I knit for him and they were a perfect fit. I am so grateful for all of the help Nannette gave me to make that happen. Now I've promised Kurt a pair of socks. I have to decide upon a fiber. Kurt suggested the llama, but it has a delicate pink cast that I don't think will work for his socks. I think he just liked the idea of something exotic for his socks anyway. And he insists it be something that is not the slightest bit scratchy.