Last week I finished plying that lovely purpley Squoosh Polwarth in two marathon sessions. I have no idea how much I’ve got yet. I know I have about a hundred and fifty yards in the second part, but I have no idea how much is on the first bobbin that I haven’t skeined yet. There’s more than was on the second one, though, I know for certain, because the bobbin of singles was less than half full when I started the second round of plying. [LATER: 376 yards. Oh, yes.]

And last week I also finished spinning the first two ounces of Ashland Bay Merino I added to my first WEBS order. It was going to be chain-plied too, but I changed my mind just as I hit the halfway point, and now I’m doing the last two ounces on another bobbin and making it a two-ply. I feel a bit like a snob because I caught myself dismissing the idea of the Ashland Bay, since it was commercial instead of indie dyed, but wow, it’s super soft and spins nicely and I kind of like how the colour is a blend of mostly green, a bit of red, and a touch of darker green. I’m glad I ordered some to try it. I have two other colourways in my stash, one that was a gift (Wildberry), one as another test from the same order (Sandalwood).

The Ashland Bay (it’s the Sage colourway… and I don’t think it looks sagey at all — more celery-ish — but the colour is nice anyhow):

And the first half of the Squoosh Polwarth, chain-plied:

In other spinning news, I wound 266 yards of heather-coloured, Aran-weight, woollen-spun singles off my Louet S15 three weeks ago, thinking as I did so that it was possibly the last yarn I’d spin on it, as a potential buyer is coming to see it that weekend. I wasn’t using it enough, and it could be someone else’s intro to the love of spinning like it was mine. And it turned out that yes, I did sell the Louet wheel to that like-minded individual I met through friends, after watching him fall in love with it over three hours while I taught him how to use it. It went to a good home, and I am so very happy. The test yarn I talked him through making was better than the stuff I made on a wheel for weeks. Mind you, I learned on my own, and he had someone there talking him through it. But still! He was so excited to go home and knit it into something. I love helping people discover new abilities. And I now have someone to spin with now and then!

Is it weird that I feel like he was doing me a huge favour by loving it and taking it home to live happily ever after with him? Because I do. I’m so relieved. I didn’t want to list it in a classified ad and possibly sell it to someone I didn’t know. Especially after angsting about the decision to sell it for about a year. In fact, when he was leaving, HRH said to him, “You know, if you hadn’t taken it she would have had to list it online, and there would have been adoption interviews.” I loved that wheel, and it spun lots and lots and lots of great yarn. I’m glad it’s going to help someone else on their journey into the wonderful world of spinning.