Ply Till You Can't Ply Anymore

I love blogland. Sometimes you need another pair of eyes to help you see what's in front of you and thanks to the comments yesterday I realized that the Sour Grapes handspun will be perfect for one of the cowl patterns I have on my to-do list. I don't have any cowls but they seem like such a practical alternative to scarves and I've wanted one for a while.

I was feeling so good that I went home last night, put up a load of laundry and sat down to ply the last 2 bobbins from my recent spinning frenzy. At first I was feeling really good because this stuff is really even and it's coming out exactly as I had hoped it would. I was looking for something nice and thin and this looks like a pretty consistent sport to fingering to my eye.

I plied and plied and plied and then I looked down at the bobbins and saw that I'd hardly made a dent at all. So I kept at it and after a bit over an hour this is what the bobbins looked like. Clearly there is quite a bit of plying still ahead of me. It has never ever taken me this long to ply my yarn before and I'm very curious to see what the yardage will be. Certainly it'll be a lot - 400-500 yards maybe.

I finally had to admit that this was not a job for one sitting and give up for the night. I settled in to watch Hell's Kitchen but instead of working on a kippah, one of the 3 pairs of socks, the lace shawl or any of the other projects on the needles, I cast on for something new. I am both fickle and horribly afflicted with startitis.

This is the start of the Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket and it will be a gift for one of the four babies that are expected in my family over the next few months. That's quite a lot of baby knitting and for most of them the sex won't be revealed until they arrive so it's a lot of unisex baby knitting.


The yarn is Katia Mexico and it was part of the haul I brought home from my recent trip to Canada. I don't think that I ever mentioned it but even though the trip was brief I managed to find the time to stop at Knit-Knackers in Ottawa. I also got a bunch of spinning fiber, a few balls of bamboo/merino and a bag of Debbie Bliss Cotton DK. All of the yarn was on sale and there were bulk discounts too.