Fall Flavored Handspun

Hi Knitters,

I am leaving you this week with a new hank of fall flavored handspun finished a few days ago. I tell you this fall-like weather is a dream for drying handspun outside. No humidity and a light crisp breeze makes for some fast drying time.

This alpaca/fine wool blend is a gift from my Kentucky fiber friend, Dianne of Sheep Dreams. She lives on Tanglewood Farm in Versailles, Kentucky and she is a fiber talent to be reckoned with. Dianne sent me a few 4 oz. bags of this beautiful roving with shades of green and rusty reds. It is the perfect fall spinning. I still have one bag left. I used the first 4 oz. bag up right after I started spinning and I spun that into a beginner's thick and thin yarn, which I love.
My second attempt to spin this fiber was fairly successful. I got a whopping 582 yards out of a tiny bit over 4 ounces of roving. I actually weighed the finished hank when I was done spinning because I couldn't believe the amount of yardage I had in the end. It's all true!
The singles spun so quickly and finely. I did a simple 2-ply and I think with the alpaca/wool blend and the yardage this will have to be a shawl of some sort. It is a fingering weight yarn. My other thought is to spin up the other 4 oz. bag and see what my total yards would be with both bags.
With the unspun roving included I might even have enough for some kind of fingering weight cardigan (like this one that takes 800-1000 yards) when I am done. That could be fun.

I am leaving you today with links to my knitting podcast playlist read directly off my iPod and in alphabetical order (I LOVE them all and have recently added some new ones to the list):

A Playful Day

Cast On

Craftsanity

Doubleknit

Electric Sheep

iMake

Just One More Row

Knitcircus

Knit.Spin.Cake

Knitmore Girls

Knitting Pipeline

Never Not Knitting

Stash and Burn

Sticks and String

All of these podcasts are available through iTunes. I want to send out a huge thank you to all of the dedicated podcasters for their time and hard work. They keep me company on a daily basis while I work, knit and exercise. I am so happy every time I see a new episode pop up and if there isn't a new episode to listen to I often listen to old episodes over and over.

Have a great weekend, Knitters. See you bright and early next week. I did a fantastic nature hike with TC that I will share next week.

best, susie

p.s. I am starting a caridgan knitalong later this month. Click here for the details. Next week, I am adding more larger cardigan sizes than are available in the original pattern if you are interested.