Not much knitting getting done around here just now. I missed out my scarf repeat yesterday, did very little sock and am not yet past the cuff.
Yesterday evening all handicrafts were abandoned, in favour of a garage clear out.
We’re going for it, and getting the car MOT’d. Parts have been ordered and it was time to make room to get the Maverick inside for some TLC. We are a test-exempt island, but need a certificate if we wish to leave the island. Mr L’s family are heading North in September and, as they think they will be more or less in our back yard, they’d rather like to see #1 son while they are up in Scotland. They have a cottage booked, on the far side of Loch Ness – about half way down, at Errogie. It’s probably little more than a hundred miles away in fact, but by the time that Scottish roads and two ferries have been factored in, its a journey that will take most of a day to do. Having established that the ‘plane journey is too expensive (about £250) and that the bus/JoG ferry option is unworkable (Winter timetables by then), we began to look at car hire. Not too expensive, but still the additional ferry costs to bear. Anyway, I pointed out that if we are looking at that kind of money, it would make more sense to MOT the car, have the benefit of that for a whole year, and the convenience of driving there and back – plus doing some shopping in Inverness. I was all for the idea of Mr L doing some shopping without my involvement… and was busy drawing up a list. Now he has realised that if he is taking the car, there is little additional cost to taking me as well, and no problem with dogs because they can go with us and sleep overnight in the car… cats are good at fending for themselves for a few nights, given sufficient litter trays and an ample supply of kibble and water.
Bum!
I really hate leaving my island. I don’t even like going as far as Kirkwall. Now I may have to go Sooth for several nights. Bum. Bum. Bum! But how can I turn him down when he turns that woeful look on me and says how much more fun it will be with my company? *sigh* Well, at least he promised me some boots activity. We can find a hill and go up it with the dogs. That will be nice, and maybe worth the disruption. But there will be midges. Urk!
All I can say is that there had better be some compensatory yarn shop activity involved… and maybe a side trip to the Black Isle for a crate of Red Kite.
On the plus side, that’s 4 ferry journeys’ and 100 miles’ worth of sock knitting time.
Anyway, that was last night. Today was full of spinning.
I settled to my pre-breakfast hour, then found myself so close to the end of the roving that I kept on going. I have plied another skein of the Flambé, and spun the remainder of the red/orange. I was wondering what to do with the remaining red/orange single, having used up all the purple.
I had intended to move onto some lovely blue/green/purple toned Yarn Yard rovings that I have in my stash, but I suddenly found myself picking up the soy silk that I was given last year. It is very similar in colour, though brighter in tone, to the merino I have just completed. I wondered what would happen if I plyed some of the soy silk to the remaining singles. And I set to and tried to spin it. Having been running scared of this stuff for over a year, imagine my delight to find that I could actually spin it. It’s nowhere near as difficult as I had expected. It’s not exactly easy, of course. But I’ll tell you what, it’s an awful lot of fun. I am really enjoying it and I have sat and spun and spun and spun – long past the point at which my hands told me to give up.
The idea had been just to spin a little to try plying with, but I think I might just go on and fill the bobbin now.
I think that an art yarn might be in the offing. Just a small skein, for the hell of it challenge. I’ll try it with the thick/thin single, the soy silk, some copper thread, and some beads if I can find some that are suitable, maybe some other bits. I need to go into the craft room this weekend anyway (ATC swap deadline looming for PS3 “Air”) and will need a thorough tidying up session – I’ll see what I can turn up. I am quite excited (though also daunted) at the prospect.