Knitting and spinning...

I've been pretty busy with knitting and spinning lately. More knitting than spinning as I am gearing up for my new wheel to arrive (Feb. 14th!!!!!!!!!). The pictures loaded in opposite order than I wanted, so I guess I will go from most recent to last...

I just received our order of Angora Malabrigo in the mail from the lys in Murphys, CA, Maise Blue. The colorway is called apple cinnamon and not only is the color gorgeous, it feels amazing. I hope to spin angora yarn like this in the future! The main color is rather close to a rust color, with the halo being a pale green. I've started making a cowl out of it and it's coming along very quickly. I only hope that I have enough yarn to make the cowl long enough to go around my whole neck as I only have 100 yds total of it. We'll see, and I'll have pics up of the final finished project soon I hope!

Tempe Yarn and Fiber's charity knitting project this month is knitting breasts for mastectomy patients. Sometimes insurance doesn't cover normal prosthesis or a patient can't wear them because of sensitivity or heat rash and knitted boobs are just the perfect answer. They look just like regular ones in a bra, they are breathable, and they can be very fun! Here is the pair that I just finished knitting up to donate:

I tried to make them as fun as possible, which I hope some day makes someone with illness smile. They ended up just the same size as me, which I wasn't exactly going for but hey :)! I'm planning on knitting up a few more pairs - they are easy knits and really go to a great cause.

On to spinning... I have put my bunny socks project on hold because I needed to learn long draw to make them more fluffy and less dense. So, I pulled out some yak from my stash and am teaching myself long draw. It's going very well and I'm excited to see what the yarn will be like when I ply it and take it off the wheel. One ply of this yarn with be just yak and the other is yak carded with pink sari silk - I think that it's going to be beautiful and hopefully turned into a little shawl, if I have enough yarn.

Laurie commented that I haven't announced a rather important development with regards to knitting and spinning - I have decided to knit and spin only from stash this year. I'm not going to buy any yarn or fiber - with the exception of travel yarn (small amounts of yarn or fiber that is purchased when on a trip and is therefore a souvenir of the trip). So far, I have been able to reach into my stash for the yak, the yarn for the boobs, and for a lovely cloche hat that I made that doesn't look good on me or Laurie and will be sent off to a friend... So far so good!