Need for speed

Guess who's got a new washer & dryer coming?

Yes! finally I will not be a slave to laundry day. There will be no more hauling of clothes up and down the three flights of stairs to the apartment. There will be no more planning my weekends around washing. There will be no more "Oh crap that shirt I wanted to wear is dirty" scrambling at 5am to get dressed.

There will be NO MORE WASHING SOCKS IN THE SINK.

Ha! (and you thought I wouldn't relate this to knitting somehow). Yes, I've splurged and bought a washer with a handwash cycle. I'm not sure yet if I will trust it with the really super delicate stuff, but I'm pretty sure the most aggressive handwash cycle will be good enough for my socks. I hate washing socks in the sink. It makes me think about everything I've stepped on for weeks. Also, it requires I compulsively scrub out the sink before hand (because after I've thought of everything I've stepped on, I think of everything that's been in the sink). Its a nuisance.

So yay! Awesome washer! (Its also energy star and high efficiency so it will be good for my electric & water bills - every penny saved is a penny to put towards yarn & fiber)

I did, in total contrast, buy the cheapest dryer ever made (this seemed to baffle the salesman somewhat). But the stuff that I put in the dryer I'm not worried about, and it does at least have an air fluff setting. Beyond that - none of the Energy Star dryers were in my price range and all they do regardless of price up to that point is blow hot air on stuff. A cheap one isn't going to felt my socks or shred my dress shirts.

In spinning news I finally (FINALLY) finished that sock yarn.

Its just over 350yds and on the light side of fingering (I'm too lazy to take a WPI right now, but think averaging Heritage sock or panda silk). Its quite nice stuff.

I am however under no circumstances doing another cabled sock yarn unless there is a wheel in my care that goes AT LEAST twice as fast as my top ratio on the sonata (seriously at least. 3 or 4 times would be nice). Spinning this wasn't so bad but plying it took me forever and by the end I vaguely wanted to throw something out a window. Myself. The yarn. Possibly the wheel... no, no... I love my wheel. She just needs a big brother to do this sort of thing for her.

Seriously I'm thinking of putting aside all my other major fiber desires for the second half of the year in favor of a second wheel. A fast one. Maybe a production saxony or something with an accelerated head. As long as its really REALLY fast.

Anyhow. Sock yarn from hell is done. The color gradients aren't as clean as I'd like but that's largely due to some sloppy dyeing on my part (I did dye this up in a rush...) I do like the overall colors a lot though and I'm interested to see how it knits up and wears.

Having finally completed that massive time sink I've started working on a BFL/Silk/Seacell blend that I got a few weeks ago from thethylacine on Etsy.


It lushious.

I'm guessing based on the overall texture and quality that this is a local custom blend. There are some small slubs and nupps, but they're easy to pick out and pretty minor if it is indeed a small mill product. The colors are great too and it spins effortlessly. The fiber bundle was a little compacted (from dyeing or shipping or both) but it lofts back up with a gentle fluff and predraft and then drafts very easily.

I've worked up about a quarter of it so far. It's going to be a lace yarn, but beyond that I don't know. And yes, it is that glossy in person. :)