Lucky Me!

How about this for a wonderful birthday gift!  A box full of wonderful hand spun wool from my old school friend Merilyn.

This  arrived by courier

I had a birthday telephone call from Merilyn the other day and she told me that she hadn't been able to find a suitable Jenny gift so far to send for me.  Then she went on to relate that she was busy spinning and plying double knit wool.  I like to use double knit wool together with 4ply sock yarn to knit my thick socks, I mentioned.  And so the perfect Jenny gift presented itself, she packed up some of her precious yarn and sent it off.  There will be plenty of nice thick socks coming out of this box, and maybe a small jumper or maybe a beanie or two, we’ll see how it goes.

And talking of socks, my current sock knitting is coming along nicely.  The grey/purple pair are 12 ply, grey double knit together with purple sock yarn.  And the burgundy red pair is 4ply sock yarn, using up odd yarn and tiny balls in this colourway, there will be plenty of ends to deal with when I sew them up.

Current sock knitting

As soon as I get these completed, I’ll be able to start a new pair of warm cozy  socks using Merilyn’s gorgeous hand spun wool. I can hardly await to get started.

All this made me reflect on our ancestors way back in the mists of time when they first  plucked tufts of wool from the undergrowth,  and rubbed it through their fingers.  Who were the first to reason that these tufts of wool could be turned into a continuous yarn, I wonder, and then go on to make a drop spindle?  Interesting questions indeed.  And these days, we have a whole world of beautiful yarn at our fingertips, or should I say, on our knitting needles and crochet hooks.