Hi, my name is Bobbie, and I'm a spinner . . . .

and I have never actually knit with my handspun yarn.

That's right. I have never knit with yarn that I actually made.

I have spun all these skeins since September:



























That's right, I've spun over two POUNDS of fiber since I decided to learn to spin in mid-September. So, I'm a little obsessed with this spinning thing.

I've made yards and yards and yards of handspun in purple, blue, turquoise, magenta, pink, white, brown, red, yellow, green, and combinations thereof.

I've made over-twisted and under-twisted singles and then proceeded to make the same mistakes when plying. Eventually, I got balanced yarns.

I've tried Navajo ply, unsuccessfully; but I can make two-ply, three-ply, and four-ply.

I've learned how to set twist, and how NOT to set twist.

I've made bulky weight singles, worsted weight, sport weight, sock weight, lace weight, and some very eccentric novelty yarns. And some of them were even made on purpose.

I've shown my homespun to damn near anybody who stood still long enough for me to thrust a skein into their hands and say, "Look I MADE this!"

I've traded my homespun in a yarn swap and was thrilled that somebody, anybody took it home to love. Last week, I even gave some handspun away.

And yet, I have not actually knit anything with my own handspun.

Keep in mind that one of the things I bought at OFFF last month was 1 1/2 pounds of alpaca with which to spin and knit a sweater for ToolMan.

So tonight, I decided that I had to take the plunge and actually make an item with my own yarn. So I decided on a pattern, picked out the skeins I wanted to use and wound them into a single ball in the order I want to use them, got out my needles, copied the pattern so I don't have to carry around a book, and decided I'll even use those markers I got from MonicaPDX last weekend. Tomorrow morning, I'll cast on during my commute downtown.



Cover my back; I'm goin' in.