On the road again...

I am traveling this week and am knitting and spinning on the go. I gave up on the cowl and left it at home. I will be back to try it and try Colleen's preventive technique once I get back. For now, I am knitting Polyhymnia's Triangle in two variegated yarns. I am also adding beads to mine to make the colors associate better.

 Here is the triangle non-lace part with the beads. I really like the beads. They are matte beads with different colors in them.

 The colors in the beads pick up the colors in the yarn I'll be using for the lace part. You can see the yarn in the ball here.

 Here's another view. I think the final shawl will be more homogenous in color than the ones pictured on the pattern page.

 I even did the beading on the plane. I use Oral-B Superfloss.  It has 3 parts: a stiff part in the beginning followed by a spongy thicker part and then something that looks like regular floss. You make a big knot in the latter. That holds the beads on the floss. You can see this on the left in the picture above. I only have about 8-10 beads on right now but I thread beads onto most of it when I run out and then use them up. The spongy part prevents the beads from sliding off. It also holds beads that you might need to use right away. You can see a couple of beads on this part in the right of the picture above. The stiff part is used as a needle to thread the beads onto the floss. It also is the part that you insert into the st and fold over to hook the bead onto the stitch when you add the beads. It isn't fast but it works and it is pretty safe from a travel perspective. You tend not to lose beads on the road.

I have also been practicing my supported spindling. I brought some cotton top with me and have been doing a few minutes a day. I had trouble with the top till I started spinning from the fold.

 That is me, hanging out in the hotel room with my feet up and spindling. I like the supported spindling because it is easier to do sitting down. But I should have brought wool to practice on. The cotton, though is cheap, and I have a good bit of it.

Here is my progress so far. My difficulty has been in keeping a decent amount of fiber in the yarn. It thins out to nothing if I try to flick and draft at the same time. I have been flicking to build up twist and then drafting. It works for a while. I need more twist though.

Over and out!