Here is some yarn I beaded and spun.  I spent a long time putting beads on tufts of fiber.  I then spun the fiber and plied it with an unbeaded ply.  It was kind of fun but it took a long time and has some thick/thin issues where the fiber would not draft through the beads. I'm not sure if I would do it again.

I enjoyed podcast day.  I listened to Wolfe Farms, Dramatic Knits, Homespun, and old episodes of Knitting Pipeline.  I thought it was funny that Dawn (Wolfe Farms) was wearing her Hitchhiker wile I was working on mine.  I really like hearing Paula (Knitting Pipeline) talk about the nature in her back yard.  I think it was funny that she was talking about bats on a day when my daughter and I saw a bat outside. 

The subject I want to talk about is acrylic.  This is can be a hot topic in crafting circles.  They were talking about it on the Home Spun podcast.  The two women (I don't know their names yet) had different views.  One started with acrylic and feels it has it's place but she has moved on now to other fibers and would like to get it out of her stash.  The other was taught with wool and never looked back and won't use it at all.  The sort of "anti-acrylic" one (I think her name is Molly) said she thinks that if more people started with nice fiber they may enjoy knitting more than trying to learn with scratchy acrylic.  Wile she may have a point for some people, my thing with beginning crafting was the price.  If someone had told me I had to make things with wool or something like that I would not have pursued it just based on price alone.  As I continue on my crafting journey I see why people like natural fibers better but many times I can't afford it.  I use the cheaper acrylics for amigurumi (knit or crochet toys) and the "baby" kind for baby blankets.   I have been told this is a bad idea as acrylic can melt.  Wile this is true I don't think me making a baby blanket will mean life and death.  Very few people use open flames and if there is a house fire there is more to think about than a blanket.  I use the nicer acrylics for scarves and even my sweater.  I would like to use more wool and other natural fibers but many people do not know how to take care of them and they are sometimes cost prohibitive.  I just think acrylic has it's place and should not be looked down on quite so much. 

Ok getting off my soap box.  Speaking of my sweater I had some trouble with it.  It was nothing to do with the pattern, just me.  I was using magic loop and lost the end so my second leaf was off a bit.  I "tinked" (knit backward or taking it out) it back and fixed it.  I also lost count of the rows in between the two patterns so one sleeve may end up being one row longer than the other.  I finished one sleeve and am a little concerned that I will finish it early. I can see how experienced knitters say they finish it in one day.  I worked some on my Hitchhiker as well.  I have 34 "teeth." I know I can get to 35 and will have to evaluate after that how much yarn I have left. 

I think that's it for today.  I plan to play WOW today so maybe I'll have some progress tomorrow.