Still here

Time flies. Two weekends ago, I was on a plane to Toronto and didn't have a chance to write. This weekend was consumed with Alpaca shearing (YES) and a friend's wedding (Congratulations again!). Today, I'm finally back home and settling in to a routine. Lots of exciting things have happened since I last posted, and I have tons of fun things to share with you. However, pictures will take a while to sort through and process, so I thought I'd pop in today to say Hello! and give you a sneak peek of what's I've been up to.

Since we last spoke I:

Finished my Cotton Candy Fractal Handspun, and began a shawl which I have no pictures of (but it's almost done, so you'll see it fairly soon!).

Went to Toronto...

CN Tower

Unexpected waterfront beach

 where I toured several local knitting shops...

Romni Wools

Americo Original

The Purple Purl

and came home with a fabulous yarn and fiber haul.

Oh Canada! Besides the Malabrigo, everything here is from Canadian indie dyer/yarn/fiber companies.

Helped with the Spring alpaca shearing at Plain View Farm...

Before

During

After!

and left with the promise to return in a few weeks to help process alpaca fiber, and teach the farm-owner's wife how to spin.

I also built a wee drop spindle:

0.8oz; standard-size spindle in the background for comparison (2.2oz)

and can finally spin cobweb-thin Merino. I'm a little worried about the logistics of spinning copious amounts of this (can I spin 4oz of 2-ply laceweight this way?), as the weight of the spindle will grow as I spin and I may need to spin each single in sections, and then graft together to ply...?

I'll be back soon to share more about my yarn tour of Toronto. I am insanely jealous of the knitters who live there and get to have these shops as their LYS's - they were absolutely delightful, and I only got to 3 of the ones on my list because the ladies at The Purple Purl were so nice I decided to knit and chat with them for a few hours (!!).

Talk to you soon!

--Amanda