The quiet desperation of autumn, with FOs

Hello, fall term. Goodbye spare time -- or energy to accomplish anything if I had such a thing as spare time. Evening classes to teach, 12-hour days, a conference to prepare for... is it too late to take up spot welding?

It's on cold, damp mornings when I'm throwing lunch together and tripping over the cats who are all demanding, "Feed us, pet us, don't leeeeeave, meowmy!" that I have these fantasies about how I'll just spin and knit and pet the cats all day and somehow the money to buy the cat food and pay the mortgage and the vet bills will just appear. A little fairy with a kitten's face and carrying yarn will wave her magic knitting needles and a winning lottery ticket will flutter out of the air... then reality sets in and I'm on the road with all the other grumpy people. Thank goodness for audiobooks. I can listen to knitting-related books even if I can't knit at the moment.

Still, I recently finished and plied about 550 yards of approximately laceweight, from two hanks of Cormo wool roving with little nubs of silk in it.

This would have been splendid spun up as a fluffy woolen-spun worsted as well. As it is, it's a soft, nubby yarn with just a hint of the lanolin still in it. It will probably end up as a lace scarf, stole, or shawl.

Stephania had a quiet little spindle spinning party where we watched part of the Respect the Spindle DVD, and I picked up my finished hand-painted sock blank:

I think it came out very well indeed. Now to pick out a pattern that will go well with the wide stripes.