Agonies of indecision: Which shall it be?

Shall I make another Morning Surf Scarf (free pattern!),

...or another Garterlac Scarf like the one I just finished?









for this:







Just FYI, the "Garterlac Scarf" is actually named "Slotted Neck Scarf with Entrelac Knitting" and is Suzanne Pufpaff's (Pufpaff's Fiber Processing) own pattern.

The stuff I am spinning is so lovely, with its many subtle shadings of blues, browns, melding into whites - all of them quiet, gentle colors reminding me of a late Winter's day, with the sky so blue and the brown Earth still covered in snow, but melting at last. The Garterlac Scarf would work so well to express that! But, then again...

I am reminded of the Winter ocean with her cold, blue waters foaming almost-white against the sandy, shell-strewn beaches. The Morning Surf Scarf would be perfect for this imagery.

Which, oh, which shall I make?!? I wish you could see this yarn's sheen and luster. I suppose you could, if only I was able to take good pictures. My camera-skills are legendary. For their poor quality, that is. In the skein photo, it appears as if some of the browns have a green-ish cast, but I assure you - they don't! That's just my lack of photog skills shining through. Guess I'd better have dd try her hand at it.

I wish you could feel the warm, silken hand and surprising drape. I didn't know a rather tightly-plied yarn would still have such nice drape! I had to spin it rather tightly due to the general shortness of fibers, and - being so eager to see it "done" - I then Navajo-plied the first bobbin (the second just barely begun).

Because of the extremely uneven character of the dyed areas across the loose roving, I knew I couldn't get a satisfactorily shaded (to me) 3-ply. Once again, I had recourse to the good old standby of Navajo-plying. I'm so grateful someone invented it; what an excellent way to keep color-runs together to obtain a certain effect!

If only I'd had 8 ounces of this exquisite 50 silk/50 Merino, I would make both! Does anyone out there have a preference, or should I just toss for heads/tails? Take my poll and help me out, here, please!

Winter's End:











I think I forgot to mention that this fiber came from Leah of Yarn Or A Tale - wonderful stuff! - and she ain't got no more of that particular dye batch :-( Dang it.

What a long weekend!

Well, I'm finally done plying the Apple Blossom and there are 422 yards - whoot! Plenty of yarn to knit up socks, and it looks like the yarn is a fairly consistent fingering weight. Wow. I have to say, it turned out better than I thought it would. It's almost as consistent as my 2-ply Cormo. I'm no big fan of Navajo-plying, even though it's great fun to do, but I really dislike the way a Navajo-plied yarn does not like to ply nicely right up against the next loop. It's gets loose and "ugly" (imo), even though it won't show up in the actual knitting. I added in quite a bit of extra twist just for that reason, hoping there wouldn't be too much. Will wonders never cease?...there isn't. Another reason to celebrate! Here's the finished product:

I also discovered a woolen-spun, 3-ply (not Navajo-ply, but the 'real McCoy') worsted weight skein I'd spun up early this year (January, I think), squirreled away in one of my fiber drawers. Good Heavens. I remember being so impressed with myself that I'd gotten a whole 425 yards (before fulling). I ended up with 397 yards after fulling. Not bad, but I'm going to quit fulling my yarn :-) Everything but the kitchen sink went into this one, but all the fibers were soft - even the Shetland.
I was going for a next-to-the-skin, if i could manage it. I stuck with all natural colors, using black Merino, brown/grey Shetland, cream and brown Finn-Lincoln (VERY soft and fluffy) fleeces, and (I think!) some of my oatmeal-creamy Bluefaced Leicester. Heaven only knows what else I found to throw in there!

It all turned out quite nicely, much to my amazement. At the time, I was a new spinner of only 2 months, and felt that everything I did looked crummy and had a 'why would anyone want to buy that junk'? mentality.

A LESSON LEARNED...

NEVER - but never! - Navajo-ply delicate Merino singles. harrumph.

I'm nearly done plying the Apple Blossom. I sure hope it fits on my one bobbin! I think I'm going to have to swear off using only Merino to spin with, as it just really wants to float apart during plying, even if I use a high twist to spin the singles. It's SO frustrating to have it break during plying, but it's ten times worse if you're Navajo plying - augh! One needs a minimum of 3 hands to fix it, and 4 would be better! When I'm doing this, I make SURE one of the kids is home to help provide the needed extra fingers.

Apologies for the blurry photo of the 2 bobbins. I DO wish I could figure out how to take good closeups!