More pictures of handspun....  I feel like, as I learn to spin, I'm learning more about knitting as well.  This fiber is Superwash Merino, and is as squeezable and springy as I would expect any Merino yarn I would pick up at my LYS to be; perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised at this, that the springy-ness must come from the fiber itself - that it's there, in the Merino sheep - but I was.  Don't you love those "oh... of course!" moments that you get when you learn something new?

When I saw Adrian's French Press Cosy, I knew I had to have one right away.  It's so cute!  I love my French Press... well, loved it, I guess.  I broke mine this morning while I was drying dishes.  It was not a pretty moment.  Let us not speak of it again.  I'll get a new one later today, because I love French Presses and am very much dependent upon cranky without used to having my coffee made that way every morning.   But I didn't have the right yarn to make the cosy; everything was either too thin to really insulate, or was slated to be another project already, or wouldn't be washable (um, I know that for most people this wouldn't be an issue, but trust me... it will need to be washed, I'm sure of it... note the story of how I drop things while doing simple tasks... ok I'll come right out and say it:  I'm clumsy!  Now you know.).  That's when the lightbulb went off - spin it myself!  Of course!  I know I'll use the cosy every day, so making it "from scratch" is a blast.

This is Juniper Berries from Spunky Eclectic, another almost-solid colorway.  It is the perfect type of greeny-blue color, I'm just a nut for greeny blues and bluey greens; I think that's been documented pretty well here on this blog!  I bought 4 oz of this fiber, which I know is more than enough, but I want as much left over as possible (to spin some finer yarn for something... a hat?  Another La-La? Fingerless gloves?) so I'm spinning as I go... spindle spindle spindle a thick-and-thin single, Andean ply it, admire the colors, wind, wash, dry, knit until I run out of yarn, set aside, repeat.  I'm on my third and possibly last cycle right now, spinning the singles. I probably wouldn't go about most projects this way, but for a funky French Press Cosy that I just had to cast on right away, it works!  I've been knitting away on two bigger projects that I'm really enjoying (my Stranded Colorwork floral-yoke sweater and a giant Manos afghan) but they don't fit on top of my bathroom cabinet AKA my new favorite picture spot - my Kermit-green bathroom gets much more light than any other room in our apartment - so I'm itching for a chance to set up pictures outside.