Blueberry loveliness + a new way to draft silk hankies

My wheel was spinning like crazy yesterday while I spun the rest of the silk. In doing so, I stumbled upon a new way of drafting hankies that is a whole lot easier on the hands. The way I was shown is to poke a hole in the center of one silk hanky and draft it out into a circle. My hands get sore doing this.

Here's my new method. With your right hand, grab the center of a hanky. With your left hand, grab the corner points. Then start pulling your hands away from each other. It will quickly and easily pull into a roving. It doesn't take as much effort and doesn't cut your hands. Plus you can continue to draft it as you spin. Once I figured this out, I flew through that pile of hankies!

One negative observation about spinning silk hankies is all the little neps and lumps you get in your singles. Some of them you can pull off and others you can flatten with your fingers. It really doesn't matter though, when it's plyed, you won't even notice them.

With the silk spun up, I plyed it with the Fleece Artist merino single. I was a couple of yards short of the silk. I don't like waste so here's what I did. I unreeled what was on the bobbin, found the end, hooked it to the silk single end, and plyed the merino on itself. Skeined, washed, and dried, I have a 2 oz skein/378 yards of beautiful blueberry and silk!

Now to find a pattern that will do it justice. Something suitably lacy and probably a scarf. I went through my pattern binder and a few books last night and only found one possibility for the amount of yardage I have. If anyone has a suggestion for a pattern (free, purchased, or in a book or magazine), post a comment to let me know where I can find it.