I Took the One Less Traveled By*

After sustaining the injury the other night (which I fully accept is my own fault), I knew I was capable of knitting but wasn't sure I could spin. I use the injured thumb to draft, and drafting is darn near impossible when you can't feel the fiber because your finger is covered in a bandage. Thankfully, I healed up quickly. I still have a wound there, but it was healed enough by Friday evening to take the bandages off for a while and actually have a Friday evening spinning session! (I typically spend Friday evenings at my wheel, spinning and catching up on video podcasts -- I have my laptop set up on the end of the radiator next to my spinning chair.) I didn't need very much time to finish the rest of the singles, and yesterday I managed to find time to chain-ply the entire bobbin. I'm in love with the results, and I can tell you that the gloomy light today is not allowing these photos to do it justice.

The colors are rich and dark and moody. The fiber was a delight to spin. If you've never spun Bond, I highly recommend getting your hands on some. I'd describe it as being like Merino in its softness but with a little more toothiness to it. The finished skein is fingering to sport, with a tight twist, and about 333 yards. This spin was pure comfort spinning to me, and I'm actually a little sad that it's done.

I mentioned last week that I had some stash enhancements come in the mail. I showed you one skein of yarn but alluded to there being more. Also in that package from Fibernymph Dye Works were two bundles of fiber:

On top is 4 oz. of Falkland in the colorway Cosmic Vertigo. On the bottom is 4 oz. of oatmeal BFL in the colorway Winter Deep. I'm planning to turn the BFL into a relatively thick two ply, and I think the Falkland will make a spectacular three-ply fingering for sock yarn. I know I really wasn't in need of any more fiber, but I didn't have any of Lisa's fiber in my stash and she had a good end-of-year sale, so I decided to treat myself.

*The title of this post is a nod to the colorway of the completed spin, Two Roads Diverged. If somehow you're not familiar with the poem these two lines come from, go take a minute and read it.