I ended up in my sewing room with the door shut on Saturday morning. I'd intended to do some sewing and the door was shut in order to give Zeke some people-time without Abby. I couldn't decide what I wanted to sew and was thinking of grabbing a book or something when I realized this was a perfect opportunity to get reacquainted with my spinning wheel.

I grabbed the roving I got from Squoosh a while ago and tore off a strip. It felt so good to be drafting out all that pink and orange and white candy floss. Zeke spent a little time watching me and grabbing the occasional mouthful of wool (fortunately it doesn't taste as good as it smells and doesn't feel all that great on your teeth). When my box was full of drafted strips I sat down to my wheel, picked a whorl that seemed appropriate, and started spinning.

I was surprised how quickly I found my rhythm - pinch, pull, release. So natural. So relaxing. I stopped when I got the end of my pre-drafted strips. My yarn makes me think of peppermint candy.

I'll have to spin again this weekend.

This is left over from some yarn I spun last spring when I was borrowing Erin's Ashford Traditional. When I plied I was left with a whole bunch of singles on one bobbin that just sort of sat around until I gave her wheel back a couple of weeks ago. I figured Erin would want her bobbin so I wound the singles off into a centre-pull ball and it sat on my sewing table for a few days. Eventually I found my spindle and tied on a leader and plied my yarn.

It felt really nice to be spinning, even if it was just a bit of quick plying. I haven't done any spinning since we got Abby (a rambunctious puppy, a basket of fluffy roving, and a bunch of whirling objects are not a good mix). There are rhythms inherent in spinning and it felt good to settle into one. It was also nice to be using this particular spindle since it's not the one I use the most and I fear it feels neglected.

I haven't unwound and measured my yarn yet. I think it's probably around the 30 - 40 m mark. It will be a handy addition to what I've got already. I just need to come up with a project for it:

I'm considering some socks - it's superwash after all - of the squashy, around-the-house variety. I realize I'm already working on a pair of socks (I'm about halfway done the heel of the first of the Unmatching socks - Abby gets very curious every time I pick it up so it goes slowly) but those are everyday socks.

A cowl might work too. Something loose and drapey to fill in the neckline on my scoop necked sweaters. But then I just got a nice bunch of alpaca fibre (it's so soft and a beautiful pale caramel colour and came from an alapaca living in Alberta) that would make a wonderful lacy cowl (and alpaca is so nice and warm).

No, I think it will be socks for the superwash and leave the cowl for the alpaca. I'm sure I was thinking of socks when I spun it up in the first place and if I made it into a cowl I would always know that it was really supposed to be socks. A two ply isn't great for socks but it should be fine for house socks (or are they called bed socks) - the kind of thing you wear on Saturday mornings while you drink your coffee and when you're stuck at home feeling sick and want all your most comfy stuff.

I wonder what needles I should use?

I wonder if Abby has chewed them yet?

ps. I think I am getting a cold. My nose is stuffy. Rob suggested we have tea. It's good. I think I might want to knit something cozy.