Projects and plies and roses, oh my!

A pair of socks hits the mail tomorrow, heading for my mother in England (KnitPicks Simple Stripes in Storm, 9st/in on size 1 Addi turbo), hope she likes them.  The colour seems to be discontinued, but it's a good yarn, and another chunk of leftovers for the blanket.  Another pair of socks (KnitPicks Essential in Dusk) is in progress, these for Hubby, who brought me roses because it was a random day in April.  And I plied my singles today.

I'm doing the heel on Hubby's sock.  Essential feels a little thinner than Simple Stripes, but it looks good.  I'm using my basic sock pattern (toe up, Sherman heel and toe, rib the cuff until you can't stand it any more, then cast off as loosely as possible using a needle two sizes larger, putting in extra stitches as you go, and praying it'll be loose enough to fit over a foot).  Seems to work.

But the yarn is what I'm really proud of, my own handspun yarn.  The singles wanted to be plied, they spun the spindle themselves, and it looks like actual yarn.  Bumpy and uneven, but yarn nonetheless.  I now have a ball of singles, and a ball of plied yarn, and tomorrow I start on the spinning wheel.  Love the dark Coopworth.

Plying a whole ball wasn't easy but it was fast.  I was running out of room on the spindle towards the end.  I want to try making much thinner yarn next.  How anyone makes laceweight is beyond me!  Got to make the most of the loaner spinning wheel, I'll only have it for a week.  There's most of a bag of Coopworth left to spin, George, and the piece of fluff that came with my spindle.