Yarn, Beautiful Yarn

I have some yarn eye candy today.  First is a lovely soft superwash merino/alpaca blend.  The alpaca was brown and overdyed with the merino in a spruce green.  Hard to see but it has wonderful depth because of the two fibers difference in taking up the dyes.  Not a lot, very subtle, just what I like.  It is amazingly soft and I can't wait to find a project for it.  This fiber was in the sale bin at Abstract Fibers so I bought 8 oz.  I may go back and get more to spin enough for a whole sweater.

Next is a 50/50 superwash merino/tencel blend in the equinox colorway from Fiber Optic Yarns.  The braid in this wreath felt like pure silk and I couldn't wait to spin it. 

                            
Well, it spun like buttah'.  Practically spun itself and is still oh, so soft.  What to knit, what to knit?

Then I got the first installment of the Purple Fleece Fiber Club for January.  Last month's fiber is Moorit Shetland and I really enjoyed spinning this breed.  It is very sticky, especially after spinning the merino/tencel, but I like it.  This is a natural brown moorit color overdyed with the red and black.

 I'm broadening my horizons with color here.  I would NEVER have chosen this dark colorway BUT it's perfect for dear daughter.  Her birthday is Feb. 14 and she loves black and cranberry.  I think this shade of cranberry is what her living room walls are painted, or close to it.  This is not a soft, next to the skin wool but I think it will be a wonderful hard wearing choice for mittens or other outerwear.  Maybe she will knit a floor pillow with it to match her decor.  I think it would felt nicely and produce an interesting fabric.  This is what it spun up to become in yarn.

The last couple of days afforded me a lot of spinning/knitting pleasure.  The snow here is really piling up but it is SO pretty.  Dear husband is pleased as pie with his new snowblower and I say not a moment too soon.  I'm so grateful he does all the snow removal.  I'd have to pay someone to do it for me or I'd never be able to work after.  Thank you dear husband!
So besides the spinning, I finally finished knitting Carmen Banana Sock Monkey.  Well, I have to embroider her facial features, then I'll post a pic.  I knit her undies (yes there is a hole for tail) and sweaters.

Wish I could find a teeny tiny pair of banana earrings for her but all I've found are too large for her little ears.  Instead of the pink skirt Knit Picks sends yarn for with the kit, Teagan decided she'd rather have a black skirt and top with white trim and the white sweater sooooooo, that's what she'll have.  Stash diving net me one skein of black fingering.  Perfect.  One thing about having so many projects on the needles is that whatever I feel like knitting at the moment is bound to be started in a basket somewhere.  Sometimes I just crave the teeny tiny stitches on 00 needles.  I don't know what is so comforting about it, but it is.  I look forward to the day I can spin lace weight yarn successfully.  I've gone from worsted to dk to fingering so I'm on my way.  :-)  Such a lovely adventure.  Where will this journey take me next?  Can't wait to find out.

Thought for the day:  The most precious jewels you will ever wear around your neck are the tiny arms of your child/grandchild. -- Debbie Caputo