Spinning... sort of...

Wednesday, I finally went and did it. I made kind of a mess of it. The first try (on the pencil in the picture) is really thick and parts of it took no twist at all. The second one (on the spindle) was slightly better, at least parts of it begin to approximate a useful thickness. It is a mess, but it was fun, and fairly simple.

My biggest problem (ergo question) is how one makes a smooth transition at the bottom of a batt when drafting (ie. the way I was going about it the fiber basically needs to be pulled out in strips and then attached - which is not the way it looks in any of the books!!)

My other problem is that I'm not drafting it thin enough, which will just be a matter of practice and chutzpha, because it is already drafted pretty darn thin and I just need to trust that it won't all fall apart.

Any recommendations or words of advice?

Also - I've frogged the first Christmas shawl - I didn't like how the colours were working, it was not the right feel, so I'll do up another colourway and try again. I do like the yarn, however, so I'll be saving it for something else, maybe socks for a guy.

I've cast on the second Christmas shawl, and it is looking really good. I worked on it a bit on the steps of the library at WLU yesterday and a woman, who teaches in my old department - but even when I was there I don't think ever knew who I was (*this is actually rather amusing, since our dept was very small and I was really well known, not to mention I carried all the graduating prizes they could bestow*) - walked by and commented (apparently she used to knit Icelandic sweaters, but doesn't have time to knit now).

Last night I knit a pair of Fetching, in a lovely blue, they will be given as a gift today (3 cheers for simple projects and stash!!)

During dinner, or well, started before, simmered during, I dyed up some more of the Knit Picks bare worsted I had in my stash (last one, guess I'll be needing to order some more....) in a mossy green. I'm going to knit a pair of Dashing for a friend. I was hoping to get started last night as it was super sunny and hot when I hung the yarn up - but I went downstairs for a few minutes and it rained :( - so now it is almost dry, and hopefully I'll get it started today.