One Thing Leads To....

A while ago, I posted about some yarns I have been organizing for a pair of gloves or mittens. I dyed the angora yarn mentioned a spring green, thinking it would go nicely with the coral and brown yarns. The color reminded me of something else...



a bump of dyed wool from Steph, waiting to be spun. How nicely this would bring the other colors together, I thought, and so I spun up a skein:



This is three singles on (l to r) a Spinner's Lair, a Spindlewood and a Golding.

I bought the wool above with another bump, of blues, which seemed like a nice complement to the other yarns too:



So I spun up a small amount:



This is the ( in reverse order r to l)Greensleeves, another Golding and a Cascade. I plied both sets on the Hound Design Dervish (my current favorite spindle, but I am fickle):



All the yarns are 3 ply, they seem to go nicely together:



The colors reminded me of something I had seen:



The pattern is Composed Mitts (Rav link).

Seems like a theme here lately, last post: no brainer design. This post: no brainer design. All you need is time, effort and a an eensy remainder of memory, and all things come to those who wait...and do the work. That part is important. Nothing happens if I just sit around and daydream, or talk about it. I have to make an effort.

Things may not just make themselves, but sometimes they neatly present themselves for the making.

Sometimes It's Just Obvious

When one has a spindle with a Celtic Knot design:


The spindle bag for it will be a (doh) Celtic Knot design:



And the band for the bag will be a (doh) Celtic Knot design:



Sometimes "design" is easy. It does not carry the weight of a capital *D*, it just happens.

Details: Celtic Ring Spindle, cherry wood with silver inset, .89 ounces in weight, from Golding; spindle bag woven on the Cricket loom, warp is crochet cotton (size 10) sett at 12 EPI, pile weft is handspun wool and wool mohair yarns; band is woven on a Schacht inkle loom using size 10 crochet cotton for background warp, and Tahki Cotton Classic for pattern warps. Design adapted from a once-ubiquitous-but-now-not-there online four strand Celtic braid pattern, into a six strand Celtic braid pattern.

Eventually It Comes Together

Several months ago, Abby sent me a gift of fiber to spin. It happened to arrive on my birthday, so I considered it my birthday present :). I spun the fiber almost immediately into a three-ply, ready to knit some gloves or mitts:



I even started to knit them, but alas, got involved in other things and they languished. Interest was revived when Abby gave me another batt this Spring:



I divided this batt into three sections, and spun them on separate spindles:


The top spindle is a Maggie (also a gift from friend Connie), the middle is a Desko and the bottom is an Ethan Jakob from Greensleeves.

I wound the three strands into a plying ball, leaving very little on the Desko, and a bit more on the Ethan Jakob:



I've started to ply on a Tabachek that I bought as one of my first spindles at Olds last June:



Now I plan to rip back the false start of last year's cuff, and restart with at least these two colors. I may add a third yarn, a 3-ply white angora I've had spun up for several years: the fiber was also a gift, this time from Helen of Bay Colony Farm.

Percolate. Some projects take a while to percolate to the top. Sometimes it takes a catalyst to re-start the process after a lull. But eventually....all things come together, with a little help from my friends :).