Like I don't have enough work deadlines

I've been really good all this week, working on the POTW on the bus and at lunchbreaks and spinning when I get home with the result that I've completed 10 out of 21 repeats of the 2nd half of the POTW and am more than half-way through the fourth bit (or batt if that's the right word?) of prepared fibre out of 5 on the 2nd single for my 2-ply yarn. Still, there's a lot of spinning still to do before I can even ply the stuff, let alone knit it (thank goodness it's a quick knit).



My plan (and I'm a novice spinner so do tell me if this sounds hopelessly naive) is to spin about half of my fibre to make one ply, then on a fresh spindle, spin the other half-ish for the second ply with the aim of ending up with two plies of roughly the same length which can then be plied together. We'll see pretty soon how that works out in what I like to call reality. Once I've finished spinning there'll be a mammoth skeining session and then it's off to Katie's to wind the two plies into balls. Actually just typing that makes me want to chicken out - the plies are pretty thin in the places where I let the spindle drop without grabbing enough fibre and I have now idea how my spun fibre is going to behave in a centre pull ball. Maybe instead I need to hand wind my first ply back onto a bobbin and ply it together with its mate still on the spindle.

I think I'd risk the centre pull option if a) I wasn't on a schedule and b) the eventual product was for me (I can put up with lots of woven in ends from knots and breaks). Given that I need to have knitted and posted a pair of Sockapalooza socks from this by August 2nd I think this is going to have to be done quick and dirty so to speak!*

In the meantime..



I made these on Sunday when my wrist was too tired to spin any more and it was raining (thus precluding a trip to the Co-op for bought biscuits). I was going to try small chocolate flowers in the middle of plain flowers and vice versa but the dough was a little too soft, still they look pretty good I think and they certainly taste alright.

* I am still horribly worried that it won't be done on time. I really don't want to let down my sock pal - I think I'll have to buy in some emergency sock-yarn as a back-up. I'd use my Trekking but she doesn't like purple.