Lace Baby Alpaca

Hurray! I managed to blockthe shawl for my mom, so I have two Christmas presents ready :)
First, it's knitted from 1 skein of Baby Alpaca - the softest wool I ever seen and touched (also the most expensive, but worth every PLN). I used 2.5 needles and it was perfect. The pattern is Triangular leaf shawl from Ravelry.
The shawl is so bi it didn't fit the size of the picture ;)

Od knitting

Close-up on the lace pattern:

Od knitting

And finally the picture with whole shawl!

Od knitting

And some other:

Od knitting

Turquoise shawl

Some time ago I wrote, that I have a plan to make all my family handmade Christmas presents. Here is the list:
Mom - Baby Alpaca shawl (done, I'll post pictures after blocking)
Aunt Ania - beige shawl
Bro - socks
Gem -
Zuzia - grey thin bolero
Grandpa - socks
Grandma - lacy scarf
Gem's side of the family:
Mom - shawl
Dad - socks
Grandpa - ?
Grandma - shawl (picts in this post)
Some of the friends:
Ula - beret ?
Kasia - bolero
Ignus - socks
I think that's all but you can never be sure. So much work to do...
But for now, today I blocked a turquoise shawl for my grandma-in law. It is very light, not so big, rather for warm days. The colour is what distinguish the shawl among others. Fabulous yarn from e-dziewiarka, needles 2.5 and here we are:

Od knitting

I made the pattern myself, therefore it's extremely simple ;) It was ment to be flowers on meadow. See any resemblance?

Od knitting

The actual size of the shawl:

Od knitting

Od knitting

Spinning on a spindle - Attempt no.1

The wool arrived yesterday, and even after twelve hours at the university I was so excited to try to spindle that I read Fanaberia's post again, watched another tutorials from Meg TUTORIALS and started the production of my first yarn.
First, I split wool on two, four, eight parts, and all the floor was covered with soon-too-be yarn.

Od knitting

Then, after first really unsuccesful try (I won't even show the pictures) I split my wool on two once again. And, using on the great idea of Fanaberia to use kitchen accessory as a spindle, and after watching Meg's tutorial once again, I started spinning !

Od knitting

I must say I have a big problem with determining how tight the twist of the yarn should be. I either make it too loose or too tight. Mainly too tight, so this is the effect:

Od knitting

The yarn is a bit thick for me, I think I must prepare wool for spinnin more carrefully - it must be thiner and more even, so I think I will split it once more. I could use some advice on this matter :)