More of the same

This week has been really outstanding. The weather has continued to be warm and windy with this Chinook sticking around for a long time. We had a lot of snow this year, and now all the piles are shrunken frozen lumps, and there is no running water anywhere. It is simply evaporating. IT feels like spring, but there isn't the mud and slush that I normally think of spring as having. I'm not complaining, and it looks like it's going to be around for most of next week, with slight cooling off coming by next weekend.

In 1988, when the Winter Olympics were held here (can it really be 21 years ago?), we also had a very similar winter. They were scrambling to find enough snow to make it look like winter, and the ski jumps had to be postponed for 2 days I recall (Eddy the Eagle had to wait for his day of glory) because of the high winds. However, it was just perfect to be out in the city and mingle with all the visitors and see everything that was happening during that time. The huge pin-trading tent was doing great business then! I think we all got caught up in trying to find that elusive pin that everyone wanted. I wonder what I can get for my pins now?

I've been working away slowly on the Merino/Tencel blend that I bought at a conference some time ago. I don't remember which one, but I don't think I went last year. I like to go if I get a ride to them, and look around for something nice to take home. This is just such a luscious colour! I tried to capture it in this photo, but you know what these cameras are like. The tencel is slightly lighter, and so you can see a wonderful richness in the purple giving it great depth of colour. I am spinning it quite fine (it just wanted to be like that!) and putting in quite a lot of twist. I like a firmly spun yarn and yet some softness so this is going to be really hard to get. I'm not sure yet if I will do a 2- or a 3-ply. I'll see how much I get -- I only have 200 gm so that won't go far. However, because it is so fine, I'm getting good yardage.

I have to say it is truly a pleasure to spin. In fact, it almost spins itself. All I need to do is treadle and I barely hold the sliver. I have been enjoying doing the long draw on this, and what fun I am having. I remember when my spinning teacher was showing us how to do this, and it just didn't work. But she made it look so easy! Now that I have this wonderfully prepared merino, it is doing it all by itself, and I'm realizing that the preparation means everything. We normally skip that step, wanting to get right to the making of yarn. Yet, I've learned this before, and forget it, that preparation of every step is so important in the success of the next. This applies to everything. My mother was right (again) that two wrongs do not make a right!

There is only a little bit of the sliver left, and I'm really sorry to see it come to an end. I know I will enjoy the plying, and later the knitting. I know it will be some lace, but haven't settled on what pattern yet. Depends how much I have! In the meantime, I'm getting a few other things lined up, and trying to finish some lace that I started over a year ago. But that is a story for next time.