Letting the Yarn Do the Work

First things first: THANK YOU for your rather overwhelming reception of the Adult Tomten. I've had such a nice week reading and responding to your comments. Many knitters have started talk of making more, which excites me to no end. Please keep them coming! In light of recent heat waves (hello July!), I've been working a little lighter. Simple projects with less blanket-ous qualities than my usual sweater line-up. Sure there are always sweaters on the needles, but there's a higher concentration of The Little Things. The best thing about finishing my BSJ (aside from wanting to immediately start another), was realizing that I had a huge hank of handspun 2-ply leftover from my HelloYarn haul. Since knitting the BSJ was all garter all the time, I thought I'd just zone out on something simple and watch the yarn work its handspun, handdyed magic, this time in stockinette. And what magic it is! 16" circular needles really make me happy. A simple hat. I'm happy just watching the colors change and that unique handspun fabric grow. And speaking of handspun, behind the scenes I've been quietly spinning away on my little drop spindle, trolling the internet and the library for information, exploiting spinner friends as resources, and teaching myself about this wonderful art. There's quite a learning curve, but its relaxing and mindless - think stockinette in the round - and is a nice way to take the edge off of your day. I like the idea that drop spindles are one of the earliest pieces of technology from some of the earliest civilizations. Here's a quick photo tour of the evolution of 4 ounces of handdyed top through new spinning hands: *Fiber pictured above is hand-dyed roving from Adrian. Weekend knitting is just around the corner. Tally Ho!