You spin me right round baby

Let’s get this out of the way right now: I still cannot knit. Yes, I’m frustrated. Yes, all I want is to sit and crack out a few hours of baby blanket. Yet in the meantime I am thoroughly enjoying a few other things.

Most of all? Spinning.

Last year at the Knitter’s Frolic in Toronto I bought a Turkish Spindle. I also bought some fluff, by which I mean alpaca roving. Later that year, I went on vacation via an alpaca farm and bought some very nice roving there, too.

I did nothing with any of it.

This year at the Knitter’s Frolic, I had no desire to look at or purchase yarn. After all, I can’t use it. I’m taking that personally and holding a grudge against yarn in general despite the fact it’s my stupid posture that did the damage, logic has no place in a frustrated knitter’s mind. Since yarn was out of the picture, I bought more fluff.

This time the fluff was 300g of organic superfine merino roving. Folks, it’s like touching a cloud. I had emotions. It’s beautiful and I love it.

When I got home, I picked up some of the roving from Nuevo Norte Alpacas and gave it a go. I watched ten minutes of a fifteen minute YouTube video on what to do and decided I was an expert, and off I went.

It didn’t go too badly! (It also didn’t go well.)

If you ask me, I’ll tell you it’s art yarn. That’s what anyone with bumpy, uneven yarn says, right?

I’ve tried a few times and even got to plying pretty quickly which was a lot of fun. Then, because now I obviously know everything there is to know (pahahaha) I bought some Malabrigo Nube and spun that, too.

This is actually going quite well, even if I’m doing it wrong (I am, but I won’t tell you how in case some spinners out there have a heart attack. I won’t be responsible for the carnage.)

It’s mostly even, at least compared to my last attempts. I’m about halfway in which means I can start on the second lot soon and then ply it. I’m loving it, and it’s making me feel like I can eventually start spinning with the cloud of merino.

One day.

In the meantime, a good friend of mine asked me to show her how to use her Turkish spindle. Amy is a very talented knitter and also the reason I have even heard of the Knitter’s Frolic, plus she offered to feed me, so I went over last Sunday morning and brought my spinning. I gave her some bad instructions, mostly on what not to do, and she magically made this.

I think she’s probably an alien.

Do I have any other spinners in my midst? Tell me your secrets! Show me your wares! Don’t look too closely at my pictures for fear of the uneven wonkiness!

Yarn Lust: Doctor Who vs. Downton Abbey

To continue in my current Doctor Who theme I thought I’d feature a yarn I haven’t actually tried yet but seriously want to, preferably as soon as possible. Just to shake things up a little it’s a crossover yarn based on both Doctor Who and Downton Abbey. You know, two of the best shows ever. Kudos, indigodragonfly; you have created a yarn of beauty (and pure geekery).

You can find the selection here. Hop in your TARDIS/stylish classic car and get on over there to ogle it immediately. Geronimo!

I’m Not The Only One.

Thinking about the whole nail polish thing I posted about yesterday, I couldn’t help but ask my greatest knitting resource: Ravelry. Specifically LSG which happens to be my favourite knitting group/forum ever for the sheer hilarity of its members.

(LSG stands for Lazy, Stupid and Godless and if it were a face-to-face knitting group it would probably involve copious amounts of alcohol and many gorgeous hand-knitted garments slung casually around shoulders.)

Anyway. It turns out I am not the only one who matches my nail varnish to my yarn-based projects.

Coleva matches her nail varnish to the yarn she’s spinning at the time.

Which I think you’ll agree is fairly terrific.

Annkari is similarly inclined and even matches the luscious shimmer.

Nagarajas matches hers to her knitting projects and her weaving projects. Multi-talented coordination. There are some very skilled ladies on that forum.

Don’t want to match to your yarn but still want to be utterly, spectacularly stylish? Not a problem. Match with your cute little yarn bowl instead, as SlpBeauty does.

Variegated yarn or colourwork? NOT A PROBLEM! Beth825 has a very classy answer to that conundrum.

There’s also someone who matches her nail varnish to the ink in her fountain pen which is a whole new level of awesome.

(I used all these pictures with permission, by the way. I am not a sneaky nail-picture thief.)

Some people are the opposite. Like Ikchen on Twitter, a very lovely lady who replied:

I tend to not knit when wearing nail polish, mostly because it makes my fingers feel wrong (and thus the knitting).

Please share if this is relevant to you too.

I’m way too amused by this, it seems.