Absoluletly Possitive!

Since I quit the bar, I've started cooking again, something I do really like to do (although if I could forgo the clean up it would make me infinitely happier!), I've started spinning more, I finally finished the scarf I've been working on since last September, and I even dyed some yarn last night! I feel like I have my life back!

(Stella Bamboo Lace Scarf, Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders, Storey Publishing)
The pattern doesn't require actual blocking, just asks that you dampen it, and spread it out to dry. Surprisingly, it is almost perfect in width from end to end, surprising because I tend to start loose and tighten up as I go. It does look looser at the beginning end but not much, and it also is a little worn; its been in and out of my knitting bag so many times that it kind of looks like its been fulled.
These are not very comely pictures of the scarf that took me almost 10 months to knit, but as soon as I can get Jari to stand still long enough to model it for me I will get better ones. The colors are autumn in nature, yellow through a brownish red. Very pretty! Oh! And its for sale! :)

I spun this pre-dyed silk a few years ago, have looked at it longingly over the years, wondering what it would grow up to be. I actually started this pattern with another hand spun wool lace yarn that has languished in my stash for a few years, but didn't like the drape. This skein jumped out at me and viola!


Went looking for another pattern to use the yarn I dyed last night on. I went through all my books, spent an hour on Ravelry didn't find anything that I thought would do this yarn justice. I found one in a book, but apparently I didn't get it, cause I couldn't make the pattern work. I went looking again today and realized that Ravelry has a very good search engine! You can even search by how much yarn you have! Who'da thunk it? Ok, so I'm not very observant sometimes lol
I love this yarn! It is spun from 'Panda', from ...can't remember the company. Mim? Who do you get it from? Anyway, I bought it from Mim a couple of years ago it is 60% superwash merino, 30% bamboo, 10% nylon, and is a dream to spin, to handle, to look at! 
I had seen so many singles in yarn stores at the time, apparently they were all the rage! May still be but no LYS's in this part of the world so I wouldn't know. I decided to try my hand (again) at a thick single. There is so much luster in this blend that I think it worked really well, although my thick single was less than perfect, it looked rather nice, I thought. Another skein to languish in my stash. 
But I know that you know what this is like. I have one of those huge zip-lock bags full of hand spun, waiting for the right project to be found. Anyway, when I finished Stella, I picked it up (it was white) and decided it needed to be red. Well... it didn't quite turn out red, something to do with proteins no doubt, or lack thereof.

It's kind of a pinki-peachy red, if that makes sense. The color here is influenced by the flash on my phone, but its close. So I think that its going to end up as this;

A free Ravelry pattern I found today, you can find it here. I'll let you know if it works out.

As far as the BLM goes, I'm in waiting. The whole system is a bit convoluted, so not easy to explain, suffice to say, I'm considered something of a contractor. If there is no call for my services, I don't work. But that's OK! I will enjoy my freedom until I'm called.