Secret Pal goodness!

 

On the down side - the parcel which I had hoped contained something I need to send to my SP didn't. On the totally selfish upside, it contained 'stuff' for me - woo hoo! Thank you SP - Thank you, thank you and, once again, thank you! A very thoughtful box that is much appreciated.

Cop a look at this, Elaine , Kool Aid for dyeing. Guess where my SP lives :0) So, what glorious goodies do we have? Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin..... Lorna's Laces, 2 skeins (fantastic given that I am really getting into socks now; Karaoke soy silk/merino ( never used it, so that will be a new treat); stitch markers - already in use, as you will see; knitting notecards; yummy chocolate eatables and last, but by no means least, a shed-load of Kool Aid.

At the bottom right-hand corner, you can just see one of those gorgeous stitch markers - here they are in close up. So much nicer than the bits of plastic and scrap that I am using ( since I managed to , erm, misplace the other stitchmarkers that were part of my my birthday basket ( the markers can be found under Dec 18th posting - if they turn up at your place hungry and thirsty, give 'em a good feed and tell 'em to get right back where they belong). Here are the dinky little numbers from SP

I love the way this yarn looks in the slip-stitch heel. In fact, it has inspired me to make my first original sock pattern. OK - it will not be in the league of Jaywalkers but it is a small start. I am going to have broad-ish panels of stocking stitch and slip-stitch separated by one or two purl stitches. So, essentially, a rib pattern with slip-stitch panels. As I said, it won't set the heather alight, but I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes.

There has also been some spinning activity here. Some beautiful Lorna's Laces fibre in the Desert Flower colourway. For once, my picture is quite close to the true colourway. The sample on the Jimmy Beans link above does not do it justice. I am very pleased with this skein. It is still a bit inconsistent - a bit too thick and thin. That in itself may not be a problem, but I want to knit socks with it. Tonight I am going to split the roving lenghtways, into really narrow strips. That way, not much drafting will be needed and it will be easier for me to control; the thickness of the yarn. I know my drafting etc should be better, but this is how I have decided to tackle this lot. My plying has definitely improved and I think this makes such an important contribution to the finished yarn. I am not too prescriptive - some areas need more plying than others, so I pay careful attention as it goes along. This isn't a perfectly balanced yarn, but it's not bad at all!