at remind me a bit between castle ramparts or layered scales. I finally finished it Sunday night and set it to block but checking this afternoon after work, I realize it's still a it damp so not quite ready to take off the pins. I think the air humidity down in Florida just makes for a longer drying time down here than it did back up in the dryer climates of Wisconsin.I do recall shawls much larger than this taking sometimes half a night to fully dry back up north with large sweaters taking a full day whilst this much smaller item seems to have taken most of last night and today with still a bit of moisture left in the material. There is the consideration that I should have left this to dry under a windowsill as well to take advantage of the constant sunshine peering in for a quicker blocking but that will be for next time.
I'm really pleased by my first yarn's turnout in project form. The yarn itself close-up is still a little nubby in some areas and it's clearly a thick and thin, tightly spun chunky yarn of a beginner. I've worked spinning on a drop spindle before and was able to get thin and lofty yarns before so it's just taking some adjustment to get a feel for
the wheel. The next batch of yarn I'm playing with is a batch of recycled roving from Knitpicks in a gray. It's not done yet but that one I hope to get a more even, fluffy spun yarn.I'm still very, very happy with my first batch and these pictures were one of the few pictures I could get that held true to the color of the yarn without graying it out in the lighting. The one strange lesson I've learned while spinning is I get a much better consistent yarn when I've got a beer or a bit of wine at my side.
My other lesson I've learned from going through my practice stash of roving odds and ends is if I'm not careful, I can easily spend hours upon hours and spin through all my fluffy roving in a weekend compared to taking weeks on one bit of roving on the drop spindle from start to finish with singles and plys. One may think that a weekend of spinning means I must not have a very large stash of roving, on the contrary, I have quite a bit of roving gifted from friends and family that would have kept me busy for a year or so on drop spindle. While this is an amazing testament to the speed and efficiency of the spinning wheel, this also forces me to have to take time to knit as much if not MORE than what I spin just to keep my yarn stash down to a reasonable amount. We will also ignore the....uh...imprompt discontinued stash of golden yellow merino lace yarn that is coming to me in the mail this week that will be enough to tide me over with a summer lace shawl and hopefully a new cardigan to wear over my sundresses at the office.
A quick sneak peek to the Golden Glow Shadow Tonal Lace I'm looking forward to coming in as well as the cardigan idea I'm playing with. Yes, the nerd in me wants Sookie Stackhouse's yellow cardigan but it is a very adorable cardigan that would look cute to keeping my sundresses perky but professional. I was a little concerned about the multi-tones in the Golden Glow but after looking at the different photos of users on Ravelry who've played with it, knit up it blends together nicely for a very soft effect. I will make note that some ravelry users have posted some very odd, odd photos of the final product with this yarn when its hit by direct sunlight. It just seems that almost every shot of this yarn knit up in direct light actually bounces off light in this funky, weird way that makes it glow an almost jarring yellow. Indoor lighting or cloudy pictures brings out the darker tones of the yarn but it I'd be actually kind of excited if it looks subdued in indoor lighting but glows bright yellow in direct sun.
