Kicking Off a Busy Week

Good morning! Today is the start of a big week for me. I'm leaving Wednesday for SSK, and I still have a ton to do to get ready to leave. Packing is the most important, and that's going to be an extra challenge because I'm trying to go with only a carry-on suitcase because I've got a connection on the way to Nashville and am paranoid about the airline losing my luggage. It's been a long time since I've flown anywhere but Florida, where I have options if my luggage is lost or misplaced, but I definitely don't want to get stuck without my stuff. (I do have a direct flight on the way back and plan to take a tote bag with me so that I end up coming home with more than what will fit in my suitcase, I can check that bag and carry the tote on the plane.)

I did manage to ply that skein of handspun on Friday, and I ended up with about 389 yards of two-ply yarn. It's wildly inconsistent, as I was really fighting with the high silk content the whole time I was spinning it, but that's okay -- it's still pretty!

In real life, it's a bit darker than it appears here, but no amount of fiddling with the photo could give me a more accurate representation.

I have started a new spin, though it certainly won't get finished before I leave. This is Turtle on Polwarth from July 2021 (now the oldest SCF fiber in my stash), and this is the first thing I thought of when looking at the colors:

I can't say for sure that David was thinking of Crush from Finding Nemo when he dyed this fiber, but I think the colors are a perfect match! I'm spinning another traditional three-ply that I'm hoping will be fingering weight; I'm spinning singles that are pretty much the same diameter as my Tokyo singles were, but Polwarth is notorious for poofing up when it's washed, so I expect my yardage will be significantly less.

While I'll continue to spin a bit every day in keeping with Tour de Fleece, my main priority right now is knitting. I have some homework to do for my toy class, and I also want to finish up these socks for Mo before I leave:

I worked on these quite a bit yesterday -- I was just at the beginning of the gusset decreases when I picked them up yesterday -- and I think if I really focus on them, I can easily knock them out before I leave. I'm hoping I can actually finish them today, but that very much depends on work today.

I've decided to take just two projects with me on the trip, mainly in the interest of space. I have another skein of sock yarn wound and ready to go (the socks will be for my mother), and I'm going to take my Mas Vida shawl, as I want to finish it by the end of the month. I'm also planning on taking a Turkish spindle with me so I can continue my TdF spinning, along with some fiber to split up and share -- Jillian Moreno did a fiber swap of sorts last year involving a blow-up kiddie pool and fiber minis, and it's happening again this year (basically you bring up to 8 oz. of fiber to contribute, all the fiber is split up into little bits and mixed in the pool, and you get to take out as much as you put in).

That's it for me for today. I'll be back on Wednesday before I leave -- please keep your fingers crossed that I have no travel delays!