New Toy

Seems everyone's doing it these days.



I procured this (Hazel Rose 4-inch loom) during a really fabulous event: our local knitting group hooked up with Urban Fauna Studio for a get-together at their shop. We had cheese & crackers, did some shopping, and had an all-around great time! I am super excited to start using up all the little sock yarn leftovers I have in my deep stash. It's also endlessly fascinating to feel the woven fabric, and how different it feels than knitting. I did a square in Malabrigo worsted last weekend, and it's like knitting at a really tight gauge. Or maybe I'm just warping the thing too tightly... not sure yet.

I haven't been blogging because I've been spending the weekends trying to get out of my head. It's looking more and more like I won't get the new job I applied for (back in January... yeesh) and I've been really down about it. I'm not totally shocked, but it was a full-time job for a place I'm currently working at part-time, and I'm going to continue to work there part-time for the foreseeable future. So the office dynamic is going to change with a new full-timer, and everyone knows I tried for and didn't get the position. It all makes for work being a little awkward right now, and nothing will be settled for sure for another few weeks. So I am trying to get re-involved in other aspects of my life besides work (lots of crafting got put on hold while I was preparing for interviews) and sorta distract myself with the hand loom, lots of spinning, and this:



The first sleeve. Currently I have both sleeves done, this photo is a few days old. Thank you Purl Jammers for convincing me to do one more cable repeat! At least now I'm sure they will be long enough. Now, I'm getting mentally prepared to cast on for the front of the sweater. I have a few decisions to make about inserting some waist shaping (just a little teeny bit), but the knitting is chugging right along. I hope I won't run out of yarn! If that ends up happening, the problem is not spinning more, it's combining the light and dark locks I have left into something that's more homogeneous in color and at least attempts to match the rest of the sweater. There's also the last-ditch option of making some of the ribbing at the waist or the neck in a slightly darker color. I'll be back soon with another update on the handspun!