Definetly a Novelty

I did just as I planned yesterday.  I spun. I thought about knitting a shirt.  I contemplated yarn.  I met a sweet young man who now is the proud owner of the Baby Fair Isle sweater.     (No photos of him in it.  I wouldn't let mama disturb him)

I held sweet sleeping Fynn for a good long time.  Holding babies is such a novelty for me.   

I did spin up the rest of the fibre I had prepared.  The spinning went well.  After meeting Fynn, I was feeling a little brave and strong and capable, so I plied.  Plying is when I turn a perfectly good yarn single into a really fine novelty yarn. 

 This photo may not show it.  Indeed this photo shows novelty everything, but there really is a good single in there somewhere. Well there was when I started.  Regular plying is my better looking technique, but I wanted to Navajo ply this one and it was then that my troubles began. Even as bad as it is, it is soft and really looks quite use-able.  I'll knit a little scarf or a neck warmer with it, something that will rejoice in the novelty of it.  I did not fail with this.   I am just taking the long cut to learning something new,  my usual route.  

After a good wash, and setting the yarn to dry, I went back to some of the other knitting I have been doing the last few days as I try to decide just how to begin the shirt.      

 There were 4 balls of Noro Silk Garden Chunky being decimated by being moved aside over and over again on the shelf.  I really hated to leave these good yarns go bad so I put them out of thir misery and knit them into a variation on a Noro 2 row scarf.  I used the 2 with the more green gray lavender cast with a deep rich purple Cascade 220 for scarf one (Cascade held double), and 

held some rusty Rimu for the rich fuschia and pink red skeins.  Its monotone, but very fascinating to knit.  It is  as interesting watching how these yarns blend in as it is watching the high contrast of the original Noro scarf.  Subtely is thy name.  By the by,  if you get the chance to knit with Rimu, try it. A very nice yarn to knit with.  Warm somehow, right there in your hands.  (The Rimu is again, held double)

I've seen a bunch of scarves come into the store this year. There is a depth to what people are knitting. Cushy, deep stitches. Cushy, deep textures.  Sink your fingers into it knitting at its best. That is what people seem to be knitting, no matter what the style books say. Deep.  Thick.  Warm.  

Good thing too.  If our current weather is a harbinger of winter, we'll need it.