Damn that ebay. Damn its eyes for selling such cool yarn. Like this gorgeous handspun merino plied with beaded string that I bought and made a quickie scarf with this week.

It’s sort of a miniature version of the crossover scarf from knitty gritty. And sort of influenced by a summer scarf in this summer’s Vogue Knits.

It’s hard to see the beads. There aren’t a whole lot, just a sprinkling of them.

This yarn is so soft and the variations from being handspun really add a nice varied texture. As do the little sparkly beads. But this is just the beginning of the handspun yarn thing.

I’ve crossed my “crazy line” where knitting is concerned. I tend to get obsessive about things: my dog, hedgehogs, knitting, germs, asparagus, to name just a few. But I try to keep myself in check by creating a “crazy line,” or some sort of action or behavior I think is going too far.

In the case of my dog it’s the BARF diet. Yeah, barf. It’s an acronym for Bones and Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food, depending on who you’re talking to. I have Winter’s food shipped in from Wisconsin and add all kinds of supplements to it. She usually gets yogurt and a greenie about once a day and lately she’s been getting a little less food and a little more canned unsalted green beans for some diet filler lately. I’ve looked into the barf diet and decided that grinding chicken necks and eggs and raw bones up and serving them to my dog were beyond my crazy line. You don’t even want to know what all I do to guarantee the hedgehog has a high protein low fat diet. I’ll throw a few mealworms into food and serve Melon her nastyass tinned smoked kipper snack but I will brook no raw chicken necks and backs in my kitchen.

I had a knitting crazy line. Had. But I just wasn’t strong enough to stay away from it. There’ve been just too many beautiful handspun yarns to buy on ebay and I was finally tempted. I blame winning this auction and receiving such beautiful and brightly colored yarn. And Jeannie for letting me borrow her drop spindle and showing me spinning basics. And helping me pick out such beautiful purple mohair to spin.

It sure isn’t perfect but it’s pretty damned cool.

Now I’m working with this beautiful orange and cream merino top. Don’t ask me what my thing for purples and oranges is about these days because I honestly have no idea.

Oh and want to know my new knitting “crazy line”? Spinning my pets’ fur.