Oh dear, oh dear...

I'm really excited about the dark chocolate colored wool that I'm spinning and plying with the fawn colored alpaca that I'm spinning. I'm even more excited about how the hat is coming out. It might actually fit my dad (unlike other hats we have purchased for him). And it will be warm and soft.

The trouble is that I'm headed off to the Academy for training this coming week (starting off tomorrow morning at 4 a.m.). I will be staying down there this time instead of staying with friends or coming home each night because of the long days: Class will start at 8 a.m. and not end until 6 p.m. Monday we will be in the classroom and I can probably get away with knitting like I did the first week I was there. After all, it helps me focus on what the speaker is saying if my hands are well occupied.

I know better than to try to knit lace or follow a pattern in which I have to count while in class because I will miss both stitches and class content. So the hat is really pretty perfect (at least until I get to the decreases at the top).

But I don't have enough yarn spun and plied. I have been spinning like crazy, but because of the lovely weather we have turned off the furnace which means my "rapid dry" method of drying the skeins by hanging them in front of a heater vent isn't available. I've hung two skeins outside to dry, but my homespun comes in tiny skeins having been done on a spindle.

I need to complete about two more of my mini-skeins before I can finish this project. I'm thinking that I MIGHT get it done on Christmas day, which might not be so bad... but wow, is this a close call.

And, I still need to finish my mother's lace scarf. I'm about halfway through. I can work on this in the evenings at the Academy as there is really nothing else to do there. I will probably be 3/4s of the way through by the time I get home. I can spin in evenings as well. But I don't think I can subtly spin while sitting in class.

We decided that the tea cozy can be my mother-in-law's birthday gift in February and Ken got her a nice gift certificate instead from both of us for the holiday.

I am fairly certain I can work on Ken's hat while in class. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are all "gym days" which involves a lot of standing around waiting for instructions and opportunities to practice "attacking" and repelling attacks from my fellow students. Self defense classes are always a good time for standing around knitting something simple because I can toss it down fairly easily.

Thought it was interesting to note that while the alpaca (the light brown) and the ramboulliet (dark brown) were skeined off the spindles onto the same niddy noddy, after I wash them and hang them to dry, the real difference in elasticity becomes very apparent. The wool pulls up at least four inches. It's not shrinking, as I can pull it out to match the alpaca in length.. it's just that springy. Neat, huh?