Mr. Penney and I are mostly homebodies. Most of this is because we have gotten past the point of wanting to do the clubs and such. Another reason though, is because we have someone back home that we have to take care of:
Bogey is a nine year old beagle that has been with Mr. Penney since he was a pup (the beagle was a pup, not Mr. Penney.) No Bogey is not possessed. I just have not taken the time to learn to get rid of red eye from flash pictures.
This weekend, we decided on a change of scenery, so we went down to Dupont Circle for a usual Saturday night out to dinner. Lets just say that we are glad that we are no longer single. Hearing the couple on a date play, “My family is more dysfunctional than yours,” was entertaining though. Fortunately, Mr. Penney and I are sure that we would (gladly) lose that game to the couple at the restaurant.
Being homebodies does give me the chance to make progress on my projects. As for the final baby sweater, I have a sweater pattern picked out, but I am taking a bit of time off of baby things to do some adult things. (That just made this blog sound like it was about to get NSFW.) The adult things being this:
I am working on the sleeves to Mr. Penney’s sweater, doing both of them at the same time. This is a first for me, as I usually just knit one sleeve at a time. The advantages of this, for me, is that there is little notetaking or trying to figure out what I did on the first sleeve so that I can replicate it on the second sleeve, because there is no lag between the two. The constant fear that I have is that I will forget to switch yarns when going from sleeve to sleeve. Also, I tend to measure my progress in knitting by the length of what I am knitting, so progress just seems slow this way. (This “progress” issue also tends to be the reason why I don’t knit sweaters in the round all that much.) I have learned which way to swing the yarns as I go from one sleeve to the next such that I don’t wind up with a twisted mess of yarn coming from the balls.
The sock from the Trekking Pro Natura has been ripped and put away until a time when it will submit to my will (or the other way around.) In place of that sock, I am making these:
These are going to be boot socks that I am making from some of my handspun singles. The yarn is a Romney/mohair blend that I spun last year from roving that I purchased from the Barefoot Spinner at MSWF. At only 48 stitches around, these socks are moving pretty fast, as I just started them Sunday night.
For whatever reason, I have suddenly become inspired to knit with the handspun that I have accumulated. I have hats, gloves, mittens, socks, scarves, all kinds of things planned for stuff that is lying around here, because here is my dirty little secret: When I spin, I usually have no project in mind for what I am spinning. I usually don’t even know whether I am going to knit or weave with what I am spinning. It is not that I don’t try to spin for a specific project on occasion. I have even taken a three day class on the subject from Rita Buchanan. But mostly I just spin because I like the rhythm of it. The fact that I get yarn to use for other projects is a cherry on top. I am not the only one that does this, am I?
Comments
2 responses to “Dirty Little Secret”
Bogey is such a cutie!!! Our Chanel turns 16 1/2 yrs old next week, how time flies. I love your handspun singles socks, gorgeous color, texture and spinning. I have put many a project aside so I know what you are going through with Trekking. I like Mr. Penney’s sleeves, I knit all of mine at the same time unless I am doing them from the top down or else I get 2 slightly different looking sleeves. I, too, spin just to spin and then figure out what to do with my yarn. Your post is very inspiring.
Bogey is adorable! He must make coming home a treat. Your handspun is gorgeous and that sock is so beautiful. I have some socks set aside. I’m just so unhappy with the yarn. I’m pretty sure that I’m going to rip it out and gift the yarn. Though I feel a little low-class for gifting used yarn.