New Challenges

So I'm back :)
I have been busy, not that you think I have been slacking off this time away from the internet.
I have been frogging.
I frogged the white socks and I frogged the blanket.
I started a new scarf with some Debbie Bliss pure Silk and stopped again, because the yarn stained my hands and my needles and was just not worth the money I spent on it because of other things as well, so I frogged that scarf.
I wrote on the sock pages and worked ahead a bit.
I worked on getting rid of my stah yarn. I made a nice dent so far. I will be done with the last scraps of it towards the end of this year.

I will need a new challenge!

I thought about it while I was spinning the alpaca for my friend Karen. Oh how lovely it is. Oh how it tempted me to sink my needles in it when a new bobbin was full with plied yarn. Oh how it distracts me from what I am doing/writing/thinking about by hanging on the mirror across from where I sit....

That's when it struck me!

I don't nearly knit enough with handspun-by-me yarn! I give most of it away usually. That needs to change! I have this wonderful wheel, that I love! I have great roving out in the garage (ok, so not a ton of it, but it should be used really).

The challange for the coming year was born right that minute!

I want to only knit with handspun-by-me yarn this coming year! So the "don't buy any yarn" rule will still be in place. I will ONLY buy roving/fleece this coming year and spin it up for my knitting. No millspun yarn. No handspun by other artisans. It has to be my own hands work from start to finish!

Since I have a dog, that is allergic to lanolin, I am allowing myself to buy roving, not just fleeces. The more processed the fibre comes to me the better it is for his allergies. I don't let him roll around in any of my fibre/yarn anyway. Should he brush up against it while I spin, with roving the chance of him breaking out is less then with fleece. And to be honest: I dislike washing/carding fleece in the house. So that is a summer job to be done in the yard. Since the new year doesn't start with summer, I will need some to keep me busy for the colder months. :D

So 1212 will be the year of the handspun yarn.


I'd love to have company! So if you feel like it, by all means come along for the ride! All I ask is for you to post it to your blog, so that maybe others, that don't stumble by mine get to hear about it and let me know here, so I can put a list together of people that participate! I will host a link-party once a month to all participating blogs. If you don't have a blog, but still want to go along, just let me know here. I will gladly host pictures for you once a month, so others can see your progress.

The other requirement for participation: Be happy and enjoy the process! 

Hope lots of you will join me in this challenge!

ETA: I will exempt cotton yarn from the don't buy any rule this next year. I have spun it in the past and it was not my favourite LOL. I will keep "getting better at spinning cotton" for another challenge some other time!
Feel free to customise this challenge to suit your needs! If you don't have enough time to spin ALL the yarn you use, then vow to spin every other one! Or vow to knit all socks in 1212 with handspun yarn! Whatever fits your schedule.. it should be fun and is only to make sure you use more handspun by you yarn in 1212~