Show and Tell is rather overdue

I know. I am a most neglectful blogger, aren’t I? What can I say? No excuses – just a case of  being too busy doing to leave time over for telling. Today, though, I thought it time to catch up a little.

Here we go then, it’s Show and Tell time!

I took this sock to town a couple of weeks ago.  It failed to make progress as I forgot to take my cable needle with me.

From Silk Road Socks, this is the second of my June pair of Joshaqan, knitted in Posh Yarn’s Laura cashmere sock yarn. Status: lagging.

This is the sock that I took to town last week, and the cable needle that went with it.  The sock failed to make progress as I forgot to take Chart C with me.

Also from Silk Road Socks – this is my first sock from my July pair, knitted in Fleece Artist’s Kidazzle. Status: lagging.

This is the parcel that arrived before I left to take my sock and cable needle to town with me.

This is what was inside it.

I am naming her Morgana. By the time that I returned from Kirkwall, she had been fully assembled for me and was ready for me to sit down and spin with her.

This is the fleece that I am attempting to spin with Morgana’s able assistance. It’s a Corriedale/Romney cross and it is quite amazing.

I seem to be making twine.

It is not the first thing that I have spun on Morgana  — I tried some BFL roving first , and then I chain-plied it. Just a wee skein.

She’s a clever thing as well as a beautiful one, and quite marvellously put together.  She arrived set up for double drive operation and that is how I spun the BFL.  I intended swapping to Scotch Tension for this fleece but somebody wanted a DD demonstration just as I began on the fleece. I shall finish the bobbin on DD, then try out the Scotch Tension.  Morgana can also operate in bobbin lead mode.

I think Morgana is such a wondrous beauty that she deserves a few gorgeous trinkets – yes? Here is her first treat – an orifice hook that came from Lori Richter, aka claydancer at  Etsy.

And  here is the diz that goes with it.

They make a handsome pair.

Oh, and here is another diz – this one is from GVPencheff.

The reason that I have both is that I purchased the orifice hook, then the wooden diz, and only then thought to ask Lori if she had a diz in the same glaze as the hook (there wasn’t one on Etsy at the time.)

Let me see, what else have we got…

Some more YoYo, for weaving more scarves as the one that I did was so successful. (It is going to its new home at the weekend, as it is now washed and blocked.)

and some interesting yarns that I picked up at Judith Glue‘s in Kirkwall a couple of weeks ago. It is not a yarn shop — I think these are leftovers from making garments sold in the shop.

**PHOTO** (um… seem to have lost both the image and the yarn – I am sure this is a temporary situation…)

and a late arrival since I began drafting this post – another Etsy purchase. This time some hand-dyed mulberry silk from Australia…

I am not sure what came over me. I was seduced by the colours (this one is called Persian Carpet). It is a miracle that I did not buy more from jacinta11 – all her stuff is gorgeous! I think that I shall spin this silk very fine, and then ply it to a black or deepest purple merino…

That’s about all that there is to show for now but there is just a little more to tell before I go. I have followed the lead of several other spinners that I know of and am now listening to audio books while I spin. I signed up for an Audible account and my Corriedale/Romney is being spun to the warm tones of Bill Bryson, reading from his own book At Home: A Short History of Private Life. I love it! I’m up to Chapter 3 and was delighted to be suddenly hearing all about Orkney and Skara Brae. This is just the kind of history that interests me. The kind of history book that I believed did not exist. Certainly the kind of audio book I did not believe existed: unabridged but affordable; well read and without a jarring note.

More about Morgana soon. I just need a little time to get the measure of her first. In the meantime, there is more about current spinning over at the Sanday Spinners blog. See you there?

Coming up: We’re spinning at a local hostelry tomorrow, so Morgana and the raw fleece will be staying at home and I shall be spinning some nice clean merino roving to keep the landlord well within Health & Safety regulations. Next week it’s all back  to my place again and out with the dye pot once more. There will be further posts on dyeing matters soon.