Gettin' a groove on . . . .

I finally feel like I'm getting back in the groove. I started feeling a little run down early in December; I'm not sure if it was starting the new job or the holidays or what, but by Christmas I was really starting to feel worn out and by the end of the year, I knew a sarcoidois flare was coming on. After going on that little fiber jaunt with Duffy, I knew a flare was definitely underway. I tried the rest of the week to just struggle through it, but by last Friday, it was just too much so I wound up in the ER getting a prescription for prednisone. By Sunday, I was feeling back to my old self and finally today, I think I've got my groove back on.

Even though I have the yarn for a test knit job and I'm anxious to get started on it, I knew I just wasn't up to it until the steroids kicked in. So, I've been knitting these on the train:

I know, I know, I did a whole bunch of these not too long ago, but those were all given away and when I reached in the drawer last week to get a dish rag, every single one had a hole in it! So, back to the Ballband Warshrag pattern and cotton yarn. And they make for very good commute knitting.

Remember that fiber from Butternut Woolens that I was spinning? I took Kathleen's advice and plied it into two 2-ply yarns, starting with the same end, and am I glad I did. Just look:

Since my spinning wheel doesn't have a large bobbin and flyer for plying, I couldn't ply this on the wheel; I had to do it using my drop spindle. The advantage was that I could really control the twist doing it that way, but I was worn out after standing almost 5 hours to get all this plied!

I'm REALLY happy with the way this came out; there are long stretches of the same color ply with sections between with 2 colors of ply. I'm not sure what I'm going to knit with this; it's 80% merino, 20% silk so whatever I do with it will be soft and comfy. I have a little over 440 yards, so I'm thinking maybe a mobius or small shawl that I can wear in the office. With all the colors, it will go with just about everything I wear. I'll have to contemplate the dilemma while I'm working on the test knit.