After having drop-spindled for a few weeks, I'm now happy enough with the results to try and spin yarn I might conceivably work into something worthwhile.
I've chosen some merino fibre in one of my favourite colours and am simply trying to spin as thin a thread as I possibly can. Depending upon how much I get out of the fibre, I may or may not ply it. Hopefully I will get enough to make a lacy cowl or even a tiny lace shawl.
Oh the excitement!
I still am woefully oblivious to the proper techniques, of course, but I can feel I'm getting better at "feeling the fibre" as my fingers work it. I can't ever see my drop-spindling a sweater's worth of yarn, but it is very relaxing and quite fun. I even have my greedy eyes set upon some of this fibre and this once I get just that tiny bit better at my drop-spindling.
Then there is the actual knitting, lest we forget.
I've been surfing various Danish blogs and discovered that my Pine is apparently "en pine" (i.e. a pain). I had no idea.
I'm knitting from the Danish-languaged pattern which is said to be riddled with mistakes and nigh incomprehensible. So far it is making perfect sense to me, but I don't know if it is because I'm a) an intuitive knitter who tends to use patterns as springboards rather than line-by-line instructions or b) using my grandmother's brioche stitch method which I was taught at a young age or c) doing something very wrong and not realising it? At any rate, my Pine is progressing well and I'm enjoying myself. I may get back to the question of the pattern's difficulty/flaws after I've started the yoke.
But that is not Pine in the picture! It is a little baby cardigan I started last night in Patons Washed Haze DK.
The yarn is working up awfully well and I much prefer it to the Aran weight I used earlier in the year for another baby item. The DK is smooth and doesn't split unlike it's heavier sister product - the colour is also very pretty and (dare I say it) gender neutral. It is a top-down cardigan straight from the top of my head and I'm really enjoying the experience. I'm currently combing my vast collection of vintage buttons - I may have accidentally found more - for something suitable. And more pictures will follow.