This also arrived last week - three skeins of allhemp3 and this pattern from Lanaknits in BC. The yarn feels kind of like twine at the moment but I could feel it softening up as I was swatching and it will go through the washer once it’s all knit up. I ordered the pattern on the long weekend when I realizedthat only two of my hot weather tops were of natural fibres and thus actually cool to wear on a hot day.

Since I’ve had to order needles to make the pattern this may not be finished until the weather is cold gain but it will be a wonderful little undershirt during the winter and all ready for next summer’s hot days.

This is my wedding bouquet. I’m certain that our photographer has some lovely pictures of it so I’ll save detail shots until then. It is made of felt, beads, wire, floral tape, lace, silk and yarn. I spent most of Friday working on it and I was really pleased with the way it turned out. Robhad a matching boutonniere of a small white flower and a couple of the tiny blue flowers with two leaves. The lace was my something old - it was left over from my grandmothers wedding dress. I was a little worried that my bouquet wouldn’t survive the toss (I knew I could put it back together but I didn’t want anyone to get hurt on the wires trying to catch it) but it performed its job well and was caught by my cousin Rochelle.

Look look! This is my very first ever cotton yarn. There is about a metre more of it on the spindle shaft behind the whorl. This fibre was a birthday present from Erin who advised reading up before trying to actually spin it. It took me while but I finally found some information on spinningcotton with a Navajo spindle and on a style of middle eastern drop spindle (though these instructions were kind of brief). Since the Navajo instruction are more thorough I’ve been mostly working from them and trying to alter them in order to use my drop spindles.

Things I’ve learned so far:
1. Cotton has a very short staple (about one inch or so) so it takes a lot of twist to hold it together.
2. The best way to spin cotton yarn is using the “long draft” technique where you continue to draft a long length of fibre as the twist enters it. Since the twist enters slowly it hold the fibres together just enough to stop the thread from splitting while still letting the fibres more so they draft out evening.
3. This is easier if I stop the spindle between my knees while I draft out.

If you have never felt cotton roving please come by and try it out. The cotton balls you get at the drug store are nothing to this. I have one ounce of the red and another of caramel coloured organic cotton. There is a constant debate in my head as to whether I should keep them for separate projects or ply them together or knit them into the same project (stripes!). The colours are both beautiful by themselves and lovely together. Fortunately I don’t really need to decide until I’m done the singles.