Booties and alpaca

I really appreciate all the lovely things that have been said about my stole. Thank you all.

Over the weekend, not a lot of knitting went on, but I did make something, from start to finish. They are (small and rather fiddly) bootees from the book I won last week; '50 Bootees to knit' by Zoe Mellor. I made the smallest size using some 4 ply baby superwash merino in non gender specific colours. There are supposed to be some french knots around the top of the foot, but I decided against them after several attempts failed miserably. I can do them with embroidery floss on linen, but can I do them on knitting? Anyhow, I like them just as they are.

I started another sock, this time in a commercial yarn. I haven' t got enough done yet to show up in a photo though. I've finished the first handspun sock, I'll take a picture tomorrow.

My ongoing spinning project comes under the category of ' What on earth was I thinking?' I bought about 800g or 1.75lb of raw alpaca fleece soon after I got my wheel. The fleece is lovely and soft, very dusty, and it is quite a challenge for a new spinner who has got used to prepared rovings. I spun two skeins like this one while the fleece was unwashed. I've washed about half of the rest, and I've just started spinning some of that. It's going to take persistance. The plied yarn is ending up roughly double knit thickness and it is fairly fluffy. I was expecting a smoother effect. This is going to take a while!

I've tried spinning it from the lock and also carded it to get parallel fibres, but it isn't easy for me. I expect it will get easier with practice. I certainly hope so. It would help if I could decide what I want to make with the finished yarn.