Somewhat-Finished Object

It may not be the prettiest yarn, but it's my first attempt at Navajo plying my homespun, and I'm pretty pleased overall with how it turned out. It's lumpy, bumpy and overspun, not to mention partially boucled, but it's mine. Oh, and did I point out that it looks exceedingly like a mop?















I've been spinning on this "mystery wool" for a long time now, but I finally managed to finish not only the spinning but do the entire plying job today while hiding out from the heat in our basement. DH, M and I got waylaid this morning by a) a flat tire, and b) M's sudden relapse into vomiting and diarrhea (a repeat of last week's "summer virus"). No work for DH and me; no day spent with doting grandparents for M. Instead, DH worked from home, I got the tire repaired and the dogs vaccinated (in between cleaning up vomit/poop...charming, I know) and M played her little heart out when she wasn't busy soiling herself. All in all, an interesting day.

But I did manage to squeeze in some spinning, as the photos attest. I think my next task will be to Kool-Aid dye the skein. I have half a dozen packets of something that should dye red, and with the heat we've had lately I'm tempted to dump them all in a plastic baggie of water and vinegar and set the mix in the car for a day -- down-n-dirty "solar dyeing." Otherwise, I may just pull out my Twisted Sisters sock book and figure out how to dye from that. I've never dyed wool before, nor have I used Kool-Aid as a dye. My dyeing experiments were mainly high-school attempts to Rit jeans and T-shirts -- nothing nearly as fancy as trying to dye my own homespun.

DH is talking about possibly getting me an I-Pod (something I've dearly wanted so I can listen to books from librivox while knitting)...if and when that happens, I may just have to make myself an I-Pod cozy from my Kool-Aided homespun. All the more reason to get me a-dyein'.