Skip to main content

Spinning Away

I have this spinning wheel as a part of my spinning class to use for just a few more weeks so there is a need to make the most of it.  Last week I continued to practice in an effort to improve the end product and I have to say things are getting better.   I finished spinning the cream coloured Corriedale roving we were given in class, then spun some natural light brown coloured Shetland roving purchased at my LYS and finally spun all the pink pencil roving I had in my stash for years, probably 10 or more.  (In my defense I did use it to felt, but I can only use so much pink.)  These three were plied together to form a chunky ¨art¨ yarn.  ¨Art¨ in my case means yarn that has a few thick and thin parts in it, but as I continued to spin there was much more consistency.  Here´s the pictorial evidence of that effort.  (BTW, represented below is about 10 hours of spinning for me.)


The Corriedale


The Shetland

My first three plied ¨art¨ yarn
So what does one do with just 33 yards of chunky wool?  (33 yards or 30 meters of yarn is not very much even though it was hours of spinning.)  I knit it into a little cowl for Miss M.  This is a cowl she can wear outside her pink snowsuit OR it can double to cover her mouth and nose on those really, really cold days.  Either way her grandma took fluffy, soft wool roving, converted it into this cowl and had a great learning exercise.

How about that new model?  She makes it so much easier than the mirror selfies.

Last Wednesday Tena and I drove to Bellingham, Washington and visit NW Handspun Yarns.  I wanted to check into the spinning wheels they have for sale.  Prices were a bit more than I am willing to commit to this effort.  A low-end wheel with the accessories a beginner needs will come to approximately $450 USD.  I think I will be renting one for $12/week (CAD) for the time being gauging whether my interest is appropriate for that type of outlay.

I did purchase more roving from NW Handspun Yarn.   Since it was very clear to the clerk I am a beginner in spinning, she recommended 4 ounces or just over 100 grams of Romney roving.  This came to $7 USD.  She said because this breed of sheep produces a long staple with a bit of sheen,  it would be easier for me to work with and so far it has been a dream.

You can see the natural luster of this wool even in this photo.  Also note the more even consistency of the wrap.

We are dying yarn Tuesday in class.  I plan to see if I can convert the pink pencil roving into a colour I might actually use and use the Romney to add some contrast.  You will be updated.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and
1 comment
Read more

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms.  (BTW
1 comment
Read more

Yarn Barf

It's back to quirkiness and time to step away again from the cuteness for a while.  But as you see I'm someone who slips from one to the other without much effort so anticipate this back and forth to be my new normal. A dramatization of me in the midst of my startitist frenzy Yarn barf .  I'm willing to bet you hadn't thought of putting those two words together, had you?  It just so happens yarn barf can be a reoccurring pain for those of us who use yarns that come in a skein instead of a hank.  (No pun intended regarding the current Noro virus, well maybe a little pun.) Skeins of yarn wound by the manufacturer These are hanks which need to be wound into balls  If you look closely at the picture on the right you'll see the start on the millet yellow skein at the centre right of the photo.  Its start can easily be seen coming from the centre of the skein onto the violet skein to the left.  Easy to find, right!  Sure but what about the remaining 4
5 comments
Read more