Finishing the spinning of the HY Romney. Separated the fiber into two initial piles - one grays and blues, the other greens, golds, oranges, and burgundies. I’d originally intended to make a 2 ply, but when I saw how many blues and grays were present in the dye job, I decided to play with that.

I broke the fiber down by closest color and then handcarded a progression, moving from soft gray, to steel blue, than from gray-green to deep burgundy. I wanted to pair the final yarn with some stashed cashmere blend I won in a benefit years ago, so I took into account the twist direction of the cashmere and then spun the romney as S-twist (counter-clockwise, and the direction I would normally spin for plying).

I gave the finished yarn a mild fulling (two hots, two colds, and a squish in the middle), but noticed the yarn was overspun and way too energized for my liking. So, I am in the processing of running the yarn back through the wheel with a bit of Z-twist to make me happy. So far so good.

I have two small rolags left to spin. They apparently fell victim to gravity and cats. I can easily spin them (the rolags, not the cats. Cats are not for spinning, I’ve been told.) into their proper order, which will then in turn boost my overall yardage.

Not sure if or how I want to knit any edging for this. I’d definitely be using the cashmere blend for that, though - I have way more of that than I do the romney.

10/31/11 - Now well into the golds of the hank and it is just an amazing section to knit. Of course, I’ve said that about every color change so far…

I did noticed that I got one of the sections out of order, but I think it’s not worth frogging.

11/2/11 - I’ve reached the greens in the skein. The yellows and golds glow. I’ve used up one small ball of the stashed cashmere and am partially through the second ball. I only have 5 balls of this stuff, and I doubt I’d be able to replace it, so we’ll see how the project progresses.

11/9/11 - I’m well into the blues and starting to see the shift from dark blue to light. Soon, it will all be shades of gray!!! Thinking about picking up stitches for a cashmere ruffled edge along the top, but need to be sure there’s enough cashmere leftover for that. Turns out I’m getting fantastic yardage out of my handspun, but am now on my 3rd ball of cashmere (I think I have at least 1 more in my stash, maybe even 2!).

11/22/11 - definitely have 2 balls of the cashmere blend in stash still. This project has taken a backseat to a couple of other things that were more pressing. Also, craft ADD. Well into the grays and the handspun almost matches the millspun. Hoping to push through and get this done this weekend.

11/25/11 - very little progress yesterday because I was with my family. Those of you following me on Twitter know that after a rather sedate dinner, the evening picked up with all kinds of insanity, leaving little time to knit lest I felt my work with my laughing and tears. The end is near, though. Getting excited!!! And, also having that “this project will SUCK” feeling.

11/28/11 - dunked and blocked this mutha last night!!! Debating weaving in the ends and being finished, or weaving in the ends (all 3 of them, by the way - totally brilliant to spit splice and carry yarn up the edge to reduce ends!!!) and then doing a stockinette edging (so it curls) along the top edge. I have 1.75 balls of the cashmere left, so I have options.

11/29/11 - Eff some sort of wonkadoodle edging. This is done, done, done, and is perfect AS IS. Wearing it today and I can’t help feeling like I’m getting a perpetual hug. <3