So much fiber, so little time

Doll yarn

A pile of Tunis is now a rather large skein of teeny 3-ply. I'm not sure what its grist is, but the singles ran about 75 wpi. It will make a nice cabled doll sweater with good stitch definition.

My last bunch of spinning projects have all been slippery fibers, so I had forgotten how fast one can spin a crimpy fiber, even at frog hair weight. It was fun to watch the bobbins fill up quickly!

I did have some minor problems, though. A while ago, the cap to my oil bottle disappeared, and I made a temporary one with a piece of cork. Unfortunately, I shoved the bottle into the pre-made hole a little too enthusiastically and thus clogged the nozzle. The bottle required surgery with a clipper to get any oil out, and the tip is now too stumpy to get everywhere I'd like, so I've ordered a new one.

The other problem was the ever helpful Jeeves. He managed to unbend the tip of my orifice hook (I'm still trying to figure out how!), and I don't have a pair of pliers small enough to re-bend it. And he was the biggest pain while I was plying. He sat above the lazy kate looking like Snoopy on the doghouse and kept trying to snag the yarn as it passed his face. Good thing he understands and (usually) responds to "NO".

Sock, part deux

The second sock is finished! Yes, Keesmere socks are very warm, and they hold up pretty well. Of course, I always encourage the soles of my handknit socks to felt, which I think helps with wear.

Did anyone see the new SpinOff? I mostly wanted to see if my dog hair yarn was in it, which it was, and a quick glance showed that all the Keeshond samples were 25 wpi and above. I was horrified, however, by most of the winning ponchos. They put the capital "Ugh" in Ugly, particularly the one that looked like dyed hairballs fastened together.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate. I'm not a big holiday person - my main celebration will be to play all 22 and a half minutes of Alice's Restaurant and spin up a large skein of Tunis 3-ply for Emma's doll.

Actual Knitting Content

Look, a completed Keesmere sock! I finally finished it last night and started on the second. This time, I'm weaving in the ends as I go. There's something very painful about spending two straight hours fiddling with the tails.

The next knitting project will probably be an outfit for my niece's AG doll, perhaps a Fair Isle sweater, tam and mittens. Of course, that assumes I feel like steeking and finishing a tiny sweater, since you can't get a pullover on a doll. It may wind up as an Aran set instead, especially since I either have enough handspun Tunis (as used for this hat) on hand or can quickly spin up some more.

Breathing

Still breathing, but not knitting. I might pick up the sock again tonight, though.

A whisker away...

... from pneumonia, that is. An upper respiratory infection went a little too far south, and during the night I realized that I wasn't breathing very well. Fortunately, the hospital has a convenient care center located around the corner and up the street, and the drugs they prescribed this morning seem to be kicking in.

I don't even have the energy to knit (!), so there's a 3/4 completed sock languishing in my knitting bag. Instead, I'm spending the day wrapped in my favorite handwoven blanket, picking through the DVD collection.

Alive, alive-o

Yes, I'm still here, but events have overtaken me. The roof has been repaired, and I'm waiting to see if the furious rain that passed through today confirms that. The roof guys also repointed the chimney, inspected the rest of the shingles, cleaned the gutters and unblocked a downspout. I'm impressed. Of course, I still need to get more quotes to repair the ceiling damage, but stopping the leak comes first.

In the meantime, I'm having storm windows fabricated for the big south-facing picture window and two smaller north windows, and a new storm door should be installed Thursday. As long as the elderly furnace passes inspection Tuesday, I should be set for winter.

In fiber news, the eBay auctions went OK. I only sold about a quarter of what I listed (more Väv's than Handwoven's). That's not surprising, since I priced them higher than I did the knitting magazines. I'd certainly rather keep the weaving stuff than sell it cheaply.

Somewhere in all this, I knitted another stranded Keesmere hat, and if the sun comes out tomorrow, I'll try to get a picture. I'm going to use the odds and ends of color to make myself a few more pairs of Keesmere socks. They're ever so comfy, and I do need more socks.