Violet Mittens: March Mid-Month Check In

Spinning

I am working on Teeswater combed top (UK source). I am intending to spin a 2-ply to use as warp for a scarf or cowl.

Today I took some time to do some sampling with the Corriedale I am combing. I haven't landed on anything that feels right yet. If I spin in double drive it gets too fine. If I put it in scotch tension I am finding the treadling a little heavy and I don't see that being sustainable for a sweater spin. Long story short- I think I am going back to the original plan of spinning that wool on the Kiwi. I'm not sure what I will spin next on the Flatiron.

Newleaf: I finished the left sleeve last weekend and am about a third the way down the right sleeve. I want to finish this soon so I can go back to working on the body and be done with the handspun yarn that I used as the contrast color.
Festive Sweater: I am still picking this here and there because it is on the body and is just inches of stockinette in the round. I am still in no hurry to complete this but I feel good knowing I am continuing slow progress on it. I have about 5 inches or so under the sleeves done.

I cast on a new pair of purse socks! Actually, what I did was divided the skein in half and cast on for both socks and one sock is in my purse and the other is in a bag I can easily carry with me to the bus stop etc. because the weather has been warm enough in the afternoons that I can knit while waiting for the bus without my fingers freezing.

I'm trying to work on the Corriedale more frequently now. I've been using the lock pop to open the locks and then loading up the comb. I am really liking this method for a couple reasons. First, it gets a lot of the trash (vm, dirt, second cuts) out before it even gets to the combs. This means that my combing waste is nice enough I can use it for carding. Second, these locks are really dense. It is easy to overload the comb with them because they end up fluffing up so much. When I open them up on the lock pop first I don't have that problem. All this means I can make fewer passes with the combs which my arms really appreciate.