A Tale of Two Yarns

I know, not the most creative title. But here's the two yarns I'm talking about: Malabrigo Rasta and my own hand spun. e indulged the photoshoot, such a little cute boy! I had him wear a few of the latest pieces.

The cowl he has on is the malabrigo. I saw the color way and HAD to have it/knit with it. Like all the other malabrigo yarn it is ridiculously soft. What's strange about it is how big it is. I felt like I was knitting with rope. The softest round rope in the whole world. Maybe dense is the better word. You know yarn is usually squishy and you can squeeze flatish? Can't do that with Rasta. I don't know why, but I find this intriguing. I have one more skein of the same color. I'm not sure what I'm doing with it yet, but I'm thinking some crazy cute little baby something would be good. I'm waiting to hear what flavor the sister in-law is having. Too bad she's waiting to find out!

The other knits e is wearing are my hand spun. Funny, I didn't dye either of them. I don't usually spin what I dye up. I just dyed up a bunch of fibers for an order and a lot of them were v-e-r-y tempting. The bag e's holding is merino/silk from BMFA in bleeding heart. I spun it up a while go and plied it. The bag holds something very special to me and I had the hand spun lying around. A perfect fit.

I love this picture! I know I'm his mom, biased and all, but he's striking such a great little pose. The shawl I knit up from some batts, unfortunately the store is no longer in business. Major bummer.

So what is it about my hand spun? I think it's all the change. Thick/thin, change in color, change in over spun, to barely holding together. I don't usually spin for a specific project, I usually fall in love with the fiber or color and want to spend some time with it. I really like spinning for the problem solving that happens when I'm doing such basic mindless motions. I think I take that same state of mind and bring it to the knitting project.
I've started another shawl, same pattern using my hand spun. I think it's a great pattern for single ply. Maybe I'll have a stash of them to hand out!

What are two yarns for you that tell a story? I need to go see what the topic is for tomorrow!

2KCBW