Saturday, March 27, 2010

Blame it on Bea!

Yes, I've started spinning. And it's all because of Bea and Jody. Jody posts such beautiful pictures of her handspun.. and then that Olympic sweater! So gorgeous. But Bea's Wurm is what really pushed me over the edge. So here I am... a budding spinner.

I bought a spindle kit a few weeks ago from Pacific Wool and Fiber. Not long after that, my first merino roving arrived in the mail. The timing was perfect, because as soon as that was spun up, the Homespun Yarn Party was here! Ryan, dutiful husband and expert enabler that he is, bought me quite a lot of roving to keep me busy.

So let's back up a little. That first merino roving was from Freckle Face Fibers, in "Ocean Glass." I forgot to take a photo of the braid before I dug into it, but here's a shot of some of it unwound. I was a little terrified by how much there was!



The fiber was fluffy and easy to draft, and I spun it up in about a week. Nowhere near perfect, but I'm working on that. ;)



Plying it was interesting - I'm definitely going to have to work on that. I think I put a lot of twist in the singles, and then tried to put a lot in during plying as well. I'm not sure how that will work out in when I start knitting, but the yarn looks pretty similar to what I envisioned. The finished yarn is 2 skeins of about 70yds each, and varies from dk to aran weight.



The Homespun Yarn Party was a blast. Yes, it was a little warm.. and yes, it was very crowded.. but it was totally worth it. All of the vendors were super-friendly (and talented!).

I ended up bringing home 4oz. of BFL from Wild Hare, 4.25oz. of Finn Wool from Cosymakes, and 3 2oz. braids of merino cross combed top from Folktale Fibers. I've already broken into the blue braid - spun up about 50yds of fingering weight singles. I put a bit too much twist in, but that was because I was actually planning on plying it. But I think I want to spin all of the merino cross up as fingering weight singles and then (someday!) crochet a granny square scarf with it. Someday. Maybe.



Ryan and I are headed out for a weekend in WV soon, so I supposed I should go get ready. But.. Happy Spring! And thanks, Bea and Jody! :)

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Time



Feels like it's been awhile. Or maybe a lot has happened.

Miss Radar has been adopted...



..and the house is a bit more empty...




But I guess that's a good thing, because now I have more time to spend with my pony. And apparently we really need it.






Don't ask.

But I also have more time for basking in the warmth (in my hammock), gardening, knitting, and my two new time-sucks: knit night and spinning. More on the latter later.

Because now it's time for bed. 'Night!