Ready for the Final Step

I had hoped to have a finished skein to show you today, but that anticipation was based on spending most of my day off finishing up the singles. That did not happen (I ended up spending the morning shopping with my mom, who also took the day off, and the afternoon finishing a shawl). However, I did finish the singles this afternoon, so I will be ready to ply once the last bobbin's worth have had time to rest a bit.

It's true the lighting isn't so great in this photo, but the top layer on the leftmost bobbins is dark gray, so it's not all a trick of the light. These three bobbins are holding at least 4 oz. of fiber -- isn't it amazing how little it looks on these giant bobbins?

I wasn't intending to start another spinning project right away, but one jumped on the Lendrum anyway. I will partially blame some friends who were over for brunch yesterday and were so interested in my spinning that I had to get it out and show them how it works. I already had my last club shipment from Fat Cat Knits unwrapped, so I grabbed one of the braids to get started. Then I figured as long as I'd started it, I might as well continue.

I'll grant you this would look a lot nicer if it weren't blurry, but at least you can get a sense of the colors. I'm finding this blend (80% Polwarth, 20% black alpaca) a little odd to spin; I think the fibers want to draft differently, so I feel a little out of control from time to time. I'm really enjoying how the black alpaca is changing the colors.

As if I didn't have enough lined up to spin during the Tour de Fleece already, my June shipment from the Southern Cross Fibre club arrived on Friday. This is one I wish you could pet through the screen!

This shipment -- in a colorway very aptly named Peacock -- is a luscious blend of 50% South African superfine/50% mulberry silk. It is amazingly soft. I'm going to have to think long and hard about how best to spin this to keep that softness.