Procrastination Knitting Part II (of many, I'm sure)

I took a three and half hour exam today.  Three.  And a half.  Hours.  And it is just the first of four.

My brain is fried.  So I am making pop tarts (obviously) and continuing with my procrastination knitting.  This is what I made last night:

I'm kind of in love with it.

I started with 10 100yard balls of yarn.  It was a bit of a mess.

Most of it is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted...some of it was random wool I had (probably Cascade 220) and a little bit of the white is Red Heart Pound of Love acrylic because I ran out of white wool...shhhh...you can't even tell.

I wound it all up in a big ball.

So pretty!

A really big ball.

And then knit it up on my Size 50 knitting needles.  And got this:

I quite enjoy it.  Big and squishy.   I think I would use just eight strands next time because it is pretty bulky.  But it has also inspired a new idea.  I think I might see how some fat knitting like this felts up in the washer.  Rugs, maybe?  Also going to make headbands and a matching hat.  

Soooo many options for proscrastination.

Different Strokes

Let me be clear: I am really not good at this whole spinning wool into yarn thing yet.  And since I only have a drop spindle (i.e. no spinning wheel), I am excessively slow at the whole process.

But this, of course, does not stop me from feeling immensely clever every time I make something.  Take this for example:

Close-up. Single ply, fat/bulky 100% Merino from Abstract Fiber of Portland, OR in colorway "Snapdragon"

This past weekend, I took some roving of the same color way...

This is roving....essentially a long, dense, prepared strand of fiber that you use to spin with.

and spun it slightly differently.

First ply done and waiting on a paper towel tube.  Second ply being spun on my crappy, crappy, needs-to-be-replaced-with-this spindle.

Look what happened!!!

I'm a friggin' genius!  Or at least as smart as a gifted seven-year-old.

See how even though I started with the same raw material, it came out utterly different. 

This is not something new to spinners.  Had I plied it differently (perhaps a chain ply, that I am going to pretend I already know how to do for the sake of argument), it would have looked even different still....actually I am tempted to go back for a third round of this fiber to do exactly that. 

Thrilled, I tell you!  Thrilled!