Two by two

Things seem to be lining up neatly around here:

Two spinning projects:
gray Corrie/Churro fleece
red/purple roving

Two knitting projects:
purple Pi Are Square shawl
blue & white socks

Two beading projects:
flowery t-shirt
seed bead necklace

Two weaving projects:
overshot on the Baby Wolf that has been untouched since early November
sampler band in doubleweave tablet weaving

Oh, and
TWO children
TWO stories to the house now
and
TOO MUCH to do!

Matching?

As I've thought about the roving I wrote about yesterday, I remembered another fiber that has been languishing in my stash. This is the one on the spindle below; on the bobbin is yesterday's fiber:


It's a dark picture, but you can see that the spindle fiber is more orangey while the bobbin fiber has more purple.

Here's a picture with fill flash. Surprisingly the colors are fairly accurate:


I could use one fiber for one ply and one for a second. I could recard the spindle fiber with some purple, then use it for a second ply. I could spin them separately but use them in the same sweater -- this is my least favorite option because the bobbin yarn is so much more beautiful, with all its different shades. At the same time, I don't want to dilute its splendor by plying it with something too mundane. But I think I'd really like to have enough yarn for something like the Giant Latvian Mitten cardigan (rav link).

Must run to the grocery store before it's time to get the children -- but wanted to get this up so I can get the opinion of those of you on the other side of the world. Would you keep yesterday's fiber pure? Ply them together? Modify the spindle fiber, then ply?

New spinning project

Last Saturday I went to a craft night at a friend's house & couldn't bear to take the same old pair of socks I've been hauling around everywhere. So I packed up my wheel and grabbed some fiber that has been calling to me. Not that I've responded all that quickly -- I actually bought this about two years ago from my friend Twosheep:


Here it is in my front garden. The many shades & tones make me swoon with delight. It's the perfect companion to the endless bumps of gray that I've been spinning this winter.

(If you follow her links you can see it in many earlier stages as well. She dyed gray/brown fleece in purple and red-orange, then had it carded together. Lovely!)

I am loving this, even though I do have to pick out a bunch of neps. (I think Twosheep was right & they are weak tips. That makes me feel better about the endless trimming of tips for my gray sweater project.) It's spinning up quickly and I am daydreaming about potential uses. I only have 12 ounces, so it can't be a sweater on its own. But I want it to be something that I can wear a lot because I love it so. I'm thinking colorwork, maybe on a black background? deep blue? I don't think I have enough to make the Giant Latvian Mitten cardigan. I don't think I want a yoke sweater because they don't really flatter my shape. I have about 9 ounces of pondering to go.

The only fly in the ointment is a shortage of bobbins for my woolee winder. I have four, on the theory that I never make more than a three ply, so this gives me three & one for plying. In reality I often ply on the big head of my Lendrum, which leaves me with an extra WW bobbin, now almost full of this roving. I think I need to spin enough gray to be worth plying, then I can have one empty bobbin for this wool, ply the two together, spin more gray, etc., etc. I'd order another bobbin but I think Nathan Lee is still catching up after the fire. Oh, what a pleasant fix to find myself in.