Second skein, first year

Earlier this week I finished my second skein of handspun, but there wasn't enough decent light to take photos of it until today.

The yarn proved devilishly difficult to photograph. This photo looks a little dark, but it's the closest representation of the yarn's true color—a deep greenish blue. What this shot doesn't capture are the subtle color variations in the yarn. Here's a lighter photo that does show it.

The fiber is Ashland Bay merino top, colorway "English Garden." This skein is 3.25 oz. (92 grams), 2 ply, 16 wpi, 284 yards. It's between fingering and sport weight; that is, some bits are fingering weight, and some bits are sport weight. Yes, I'm still working on my consistency. My second single was quite a bit finer than my first. In fact, it was so much finer that I have an 80 yard mini skein of 2 ply that I made from the leftovers. Still, I'm quite pleased with this yarn! It's so darn pretty.

In non-spinning news, my one year blogiversary came and went on November 7th with very little notice from me. When I started this blog, I mainly intended it as a way to keep a record of my projects. No one could have been more surprised than I when people actually started reading it. I've met so many nice knitters in the past year! As a way of saying "thank you" to all of you who stop by, I'm offering up a little contest.

That's one skein of Lisa Souza Superwash Merino worsted in semi-solid Teal (a huge 8 ounce, 560 yard hank), and one skein of my beloved Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino sock yarn, colorway "Earthenware" (4 ounces, 550 yards). Both of these lovelies can be yours! Just leave a comment on this post by midnight CST on Friday, November 16th. On November 17th I'll select a winner at random. And thanks again to all of you for reading. Mwah!