Progress on new year's projects

The Lincoln fibre is spinning up lovely. I am having a great time with it- trying to spin something lighter for my secret pal so she isn't stuck with 1 skein of unusable bulky weight. Nothing wrong with bulky weight, I just thought a lighter yarn might allow more flexibility in whatever she intends to use the yarn for.

The colours are very pretty and much more vibrant than my camera portrays. I am using my Honey's Olympus C-770. It has been a great camera for landscapes but is proving more difficult for taking pictures of my fibre. In particular it does not capture the blues and purple colours well at all. It makes them all a bright, nondescript electric blue, very unlike the colours I dye. I had a bit of a break through last week though and upped the redness in the picture, which brought out more of the true colours, but it is still frustrating.

My other current project are the falling leaves socks in Lorna's Laces sock yarn. Oh. my. goodness. Why did no one shake me and insist that I try REAL sock yarn? It is LOVELY! My previous socks have been using dk weight yarn, and there is no comparison (I am reformed! I AM!). This yarn was purchased as my post-defense treat, and I am having a great time knitting up "real" socks with "real" sock yarn.

But here's the problem, the cash flow is, well for the most part, nonexistent these days. Despite the enormous amount of work I have on my plate, as a consultant I have to wait for invoices to be paid, and in the mean time scrimp to get buy. I can't be spending $20 a pop on socks when I really need new underwear. Can I? Can I maybe knit underwear? Would that be as cool as socks? I would likely want to show them off all the time, which might label me as a tramp. Damn social niceties anyway!

Ok and the other thing I wanted to say about these socks is that this is my first time knitting on double pointed needles. I am thinking now I really am more of a circular needle kind of girl. These points just get in my way, and mostly I am glad I wear glasses so I don't have to worry about poking my eye out. Cause it could happen! The Honey and I were driving to Victoria (and I was knitting to relieve my stress at having to go to a meeting) when I had 2 incidents with the needles. The first one was just me worrying that if I were in an accident head on I might die from injuries caused by knitting needles penetrating my body. I don't worry about that with circulars! So I put away the sock and in doing so dropped one of my needles beside the seat. Because I am obsessive I had to retrieve the needle at the next stop light by opening the door so I could run my hand under the seat. As I opened the door the needle went clang onto the highway (I guess it fell right near the door), I whipped off my seatbelt, jumped out of the car, and scrambled around on the ground, finally pinching the darn thing between my nonexistent fingernails. All the while the Honey is yelling "What are you doing" and I am wondering what happens when the light turns green - do I abandon the needle- but then I couldn't knit after the meeting if I wanted to- but all was ok, needle was safe, I was back in the car and THEN the light turned green.

I have been looking for another project and I think that since spring is coming (I know it is January but on the island here, daffodils start poking up in a month) I may knit this crop sweater. I am considering knitting it up for Best Bud since she: 1) Hates February and this would be a nice treat, 2) is going to Mexico in 6 weeks and could sport this over a bathing suit, and 3) has a birthday (like me, actually only 4 days later) in April, so this could count as an early b-day present (if you think me cheap, please refer to the rant about money and underwear above). Although these are pretty fabulous too, and may have to be a fourth project/adventure.

I love how this whole fibre thing is actually adventure, and wow does it ever keep me sane (really it does)!