Lots of lace

I did cast on for two lace projects last night. Remember that luscious cashmere I showed you last night? It's now become a secret project so no more pics until you see it in a magazine. (Picture of swatch deleted 8/9).

I also cast on with the gorgeous silver sock yarn and this is what I came up with: I did have some other plans but then as I started charting something else completely popped in to my head. I quite like the result though so I'm carrying on with this.

I've made a little bit more progress on the silver shawl today. I went to a friend's for lunch and spent half hte afternoon there chatting while knitting away on my secret sweater. It's stocking stitch so perfect for relaxing 'chatting with friends' knitting. Luckily all my friends are used to me knitting away while we chat. I'm trying to convert them to knitting but no luck so far.

With some of hte money I got for my birthday I ordered 2 spinning books: Spin Control and the Intentional spinner. I also ordered a couple of extra bobbins and some fibre (pics next time). The parcel finally arrived today. I love the books especially Spin Control which I've been reading already. I can't wait to try out some of the techniques in there. I'm more or less selftaught when it comes to spinning and most of my handspun yarns tends to come out more or less the same. The amount of twist may vary slightly and it comes out somewhere between 4ply and dk thickness. I'd like to be a bit more intentional in my spinning and to actually plan my yarn before I spin. One thing I'm keen on experimenting with is singles, both energised singles and softly spun, balanced singles. I love singles yarn like the Uruguayan Merino I used to stock and I'd love to spin something similar.

I'm aiming to finish spinning the sock yarn I started the other night tonight. If I can spin up hte 2nd bobbin of singles I can ply it tomorrow night. Not sure if I'll manage spinning it up and plying it tonight.