Way too much handspun cotton!

This is not even what I started with - I had already wound several yards off onto my niddy-noddy when I took this photo!  This is actually about a year's worth of cotton spinning.  Several years ago I bought a pound of cotton sliver, and have been slowly working my way through it  I don't have any particular project in mind, and it'll be a very long time before I'll really be able to use my loom again, so I had figured it would be OK if it took me forever.  I don't think I'd accounted for losing my ball-winder, and then wanting the bobbin for something else.  I'm not even going to speculate on how much yardage is here!  Do you have any idea how sore a shoulder can get from having to manually wind off this much thread?

Why I stopped knitting

 

I had mostly stopped knitting (and spinning!) about 7 years ago when I came down with an acute case of Bouncy Toddler.  My daughter had a tendency to treat Mommy and all of her stuff as a jungle gym/trampoline, with no regard whatsoever for what I had in my lap, or what might happen to it (or her) if she landed on it.  All pointy sticks were packed away, and rarely saw daylight.  Because I worked nights, there really was no time that I could knit safely - what little free time I had needed to be spent on other things. 

Unfortunately, she never really progressed past the Bouncy Toddler phase.  She was diagnosed with autism at 2 1/2, and has continued to jump into my lap with her typical lack of concern/understanding that there is something sharp that might do her damage.  Until she has been hurt by something, she doesn't recognize that it can hurt her.  Fortunately it only takes once, and she'll avoid that thing like the plague - but I'd rather she didn't have to learn about 2mm lace needles by experience :(  These last two years have been better, as we have found an ADHD med that reduces her tendency to Superball off all available objects.  It also makes a big difference for her in school - always a good thing!  As a result, I have been slowly rediscovering things I had to set aside those first few difficult years.  I'm glad I've been able to come back to these - I really missed spinning!

 

I still have a lot of unspun fiber stored away, which should keep me occupied for quite a while, as long as I don't decide I really need to make something for which none of the fiber I have at home is suitable.  I hope it will be many months before I get to that point.  I'm all in favor of The Bottomless Stash, and I understand quite well why it's necessary to have several different types of tops or roving, and at least one full fleece of every different breed one comes across.  Right now I just can't afford it - I need to spin what I've got before I can justify spending money on fiber.  I count myself lucky that most of the wool I have can be spun into a variety of different yarns, and I still have enough dye that I'm not limited to knitting with white (with the exception of one gorgeous black Navajo-Churro fleece - but that's another blog post).  I'm luckier than some - at least I already have everything I need!

So I'm still spinning my three-ply sock yarn - two bobbins down, one to go!  I finished my Cookie A. Clandestine socks and have started a pair of plain-vanilla wool socks for my son.  In the spirit of "don't buy what you can make," I've been knitting warm socks for the household instead of buying them.  I also have a growing basket of socks that need darning that I will get to one of these days.  If I can fix it, I won't replace it.  I do admit to procrastinating on the sock darning - I don't expect it to be fun! I am, however, getting some assistance with my sock knitting....