karmic stall?

I've been joking with my fibertraditions friends that if I finally finished one of my knitting UFO's, it might karmically tilt the universe. Lord knows we need some karmic tilting right now--the news has gotten me so down lately, and I could only get through the State of the Union by watching a certain lady senator's reactions and knitting, madly! Anyhow, I have been fiber-stalled out, like when your car dies in the middle of an intersection, and this week I decided to push my "fiber car" down the hill until the engine kicked in. It worked. Here are some of the things I've gotten going. I finished some socks. I know, I know, they were not remarkable socks in any way, but I'd been carrying these babies around to doctor's appointments and airports for months now. Perhaps years. Here they are, just off the needles. (note how they are still needle shaped and haven't accomodated themselves to my feet yet!) You'll notice someone else's foot is in the photo too. Harry likes to be a part of things, how could I say no?

Then, I did some spinning. I must say that the lesson here was one I have to learn over and over again. The cost of the fiber does not relate directly to its quality. (This from the queen of free and inexpensive gorgeous fiber...Doh!) This may have been some nice alpaca from the San Juans, and the color was great, but at $6 an ounce, it was way too expensive. Second cuts everywhere and that alpaca had been rolling in dirt like you wouldn't believe before being sheared. For $6 an ounce, they should have blown out his blanket (prime fiber) before shearing and invited a shearer who knows how to please spinners. For $6 an ounce, I'm just saying...


Here's what it looks like, in process. I have no idea if this will be anything in particular, I haven't even plied it yet. It's only 4 oz. Ideas, anyone? Should I ply it with another color alpaca? Go for nice plain black, or pop in some colored ingeo?

Finally, one last comforting story-'cause I think most people need comforting stories in February. It's a tough month! For the first time, I found Sally sleeping in a little dip, in the wool quilt, a nest on our bed. Harry has defended the bed as HIS spot and since Sally's new here (hey, it's only been 3 months), she was too shy to try it out. When I saw this, I had to capture it for you. Isn't this the meaning of snuggling up, at home, in a patch of winter time sunshine? Yeah, I thought so.