A little bit of knitting

It's been a bit quiet on the crafting front lately. Recently on the needles is the swatch, oops, the sleeve of the Weekend pullover by Veronik Avery from Interweave Knits Fall '06. I'm getting gauge, so my guess about which size to cast on was correct for a change. I had to hunt in the stash to find something the right weight that also had the yardage, and I found some Sirdar Salsa in Cappuchino. It's half merino and half acrylic DK, and is very soft, slightly brushed, but it still shows up the patterns nicely. I've also cast on for a sock, but there isn't much to see yet.

On the wheel is some light brown alpaca which I got off eBay which is proving a challenge to spin. The staple is quite short and the rovings have a fair bit of VM. I am having to spin it a bit thicker than I really wanted to, because it kept breaking even with a lot of twist. Strangely, it seems to be greasy which I thought alpaca wasn't. I have one bobbin full and have started the second. I'm just going to have to dye some more of the BFL soon, I enjoy spinning colourful fibre.

Secret of the stole ii is going slowly, near to the end of clue 4 and it's still an easy knit. The Swallowtail shawl is also growing with 7 of the 14 pattern repeats done, before the border pattern begins. The border incorporates nupps ( increase to make 5 sts from one, and then purl them together in the following row) in the pattern which look pretty tricky, so I'm wondering whether adding beads might be a better option. Maybe I'll take it shopping and see if I can find some beads which go with the colours.