There it is ... one ounce of hand-spun cotton yarn. I’m not sure how long it is - I’ll have to measure when I wind it off - but hopefully it will be long enough for this pattern from Blue Sky Alpacas. It’s a crochet pattern so I’ll be learning something new there too.

The long draw technique started to feel a bit more natural as I worked my way through the second half ounce and the roving didn’t split apart as frequently. I still found joining kind of difficult but didn’t have to do it as often. It’s pretty lumpy-bumpy yarn but I like it. There are a few places when it got so thin I thought it would break but didn’t and I discovered I was looking at short pieces of real cotton thread.

How amazing to think that this same stuff is what makes up my favourite clothes (and my entire Regency costume) and here I’ve just turned it from fluff into yarn with my own hands. People used to do this all the time; every piece of cotton cloth started out as fluff and became yarn or thread on a spindle not too different from this one before being woven on some sort of loom.

A close up for texture.

Katy, Liette and I are doing a Booga Bag Knit-A-Long - yesterday we met in the pub for some knitting and dessert. This has been a long awaited project - Katy had to come back from school, I had to get married, Liette had to find her needles - and now that we’re started we are just whippingalong. After just one evening of knitting (and a few minutes after we finished winding all of Katy and Liette’s new yarn on Monday) all three of us are finished the bottom of the bag and starting to work our way up the sides. The yarn is Noro Kurayon (or Silk Garden in Liette’s case) and the long colour changes make knitting it up really fun. We’re planning to meet again next Wednesday to knit some more - we might be half way finished by then!

 

 

(Did you notice how their faces are mostly still for the photo but their hands kept moving?)

We got married on Saturday, July 14th at 3:00 pm. It was a lovely sunny day and we were surrounded by friends and family. The ceremony was short and had everything important and meaningful without being flowery or wordy. This was very good since I was impatient to see Rob; Saturday morning wasincredibly long from my point of view (I’m sure the people setting things up will say differently). Right after the ceremony we went and got slushies (it was hot) and then drove back for pictures with family.
 
The reception was great. Rob had set up all the music and we had lots of fun things to dance to, including a few tangos. The food was delicious and the wines were the perfect compliment. Our cake decorator did a fantastic job and everyone enjoyed eating the cake after it had been cut.
 
Our goal was to have a wedding where everything was enjoyable and comfortable with a bit of a family barbeque atmosphere and I think we managed it. Very special thanks need to go to our parents and attendants for taking care of all the details and miscellaneous things that came up. I’ll put some pictures up here as soon as I’ve got some.
 
The picture above shows my shawl and purse. The are both patterns from Romantic Style by Jennie Atkinson. The Lace Shawl was made with two skeins of Rowan: Kid Silk Haze and 7.00 mm needles. The Buttoned Bag used about one and a half skeins of Rowan: Pure Wool DK and 3.75 mm needles (3.25 mm for the handles); the bag is decorated with mother-of-pearl buttons and glass beads and lined with fabric left over from my mother’s wedding dress.