I mentioned in my last post that I've also been knitting a lot lately - well I've also been spinning quite a bit too...

I finished 3 different spinning projects in the last few weeks, the most interesting of them was probably that silk bell that I got in the fiber swap...

I've never spun anything like it before so I had to look up just how to go about it. Turns out you're supposed to separate these into layers. This was no simple task, but easier than it sounds, I didn't realise that this silk bell was actually make up of 9 or 10 super thin layers of silk that will actually peel apart. The hardest part was making sure I was only peeling off one layer at a time. The layers wer so light and thin I could suspend the whole thing in the air just by blowing on it...

I believe this is actually two layers, it was the first 'layer' I peeled off and it seemed thicker than the others --

After you peel apart the layers you have to make a hole near the center and stretch it out from that until it's a long narrow rope, how long an narrow depended on how thin I wanted to spin it... then I had to pile it in a glass bowl... ok so maybe I use a large glass loaf pan... same-difference.

I think this was probably 2 of the 9 layers, the whole bell weighed just over half an ounce...

This stuff is so thin and fluffy and cloud like. (think. puffy. clouds. *sigh*). But when you're drafting it doesn't feel as soft since it catches on every ruff spot on your hands or any finger nail that isn't absolutely smooth and perfectly filed. A little lotion helped but didn't completely cure the problem... it was also really strong so it took some work to draft it out which made my hands really tired by time I'd finished spinning just those 6/10 of an oz

I got it all spun up in one evening, spinning it as fine as I could to maximize the yardage. It was a lot of fun watching the color changes pile up on the bobbin. I've spun blended top and roving before, but never hand painted, so watching the color change every few yards was really fun and new to me. Watching the colors blend together to make a new color was really interesting too sometimes when the turquoise and purple would end up in the same area it would spin up sort of cobalt blue...

In the end I got about 100 yards of lace-weight (I should have used a penny or something to show scale a little better...) out of that 0.6 oz, which will be nice for a very small lace project (like a lined clutch bag) or a nice edging on a larger project. I haven't set the twist yet, but I have a feeling it wouldn't make a big difference to this particular yarn.
I lost some of the purple in the plying since a lot of it twisted with the turquoise, but it's still there and I think it will give a nice variegated/flecked look without pooling. Overall I had a lot of fun spinning this and trying the silk, even if my hands did ache afterwards...

I know, 2 posts in a period of 7 days... I hope you can recover from the shock!

I thought it was about time for a spinning update...

I've been busy spinning the merino that I got for Christmas. It's in all stages of spun-ness right now I have some still to be spun, a finished bobbin of single, some newly plied, and some knitted up! (if you want to count everything and not just the merino, I've also got some wool hanging out to dry and some soaking to set the twist...)

I thought I should show pictures of all this in some of it's different stages...

Doesn't this look like a nice cushy bed of moss?? I love this color...

This green is what's currently on the wheel right now though I'll be done with it soon - about 1.5 more oz to go! I've already finished the first bobbin full.

Here's a picture of the red, all plied and ready to use! I even set the twist. I've been setting the twist of every hank immediately after plying, aren't you proud of me??

Here's a sneak peak of some of the hand spun all knitted up... I haven't blocked the finished item, so you'll just have to wait for that!

I got this silk bell at the spinning and weaving guild's annual yarn swap!! I didn't have a chance to steal the cashmere (any particular item can only be stolen twice *sniff*), and the angora was stolen from me (the nerve!!!), but even though this was stolen from me, the lady that stole the bag of stuff that this was included in traded back the silk bell because she wasn't a spinner. Aren't those lovely colors??? To be perfectly honest, I originally stole this from someone else, it was then stolen from me, I opened the angora and the original opener of the silk stole the angora from me! Her revenge didn't last long though, because it was then stolen from her by someone else... I felt sorry for her though, she originally opened the cashmere fleece and that was stolen from her too...

And finally some nice fluffy black wooly stuff flecked with silver...

Oh wait!... that's some of my daddy's new hair cut... (he really needed that hair cut!!)

BTW - Happy Valentines Day everybody! Or Happy S.A.D. (Singles Awareness Day) if you don't have a special somebody ;-)

Actually - to be exact that should be merino sheepy goodness... see??

Everything you see there is off a merino sheep... well, except for the wood bobbin, and the cotton quilt, and the plastic bags, or their sticky labels, or the rubber soles on the boots... but that's not what I'm talking about, and you know it, so don't be so literal!

This is part of my Christmas spoils from my mom and dad... some merino sheep skin boots (even softer than they look, if that's possible!) and 1.5lbs of merino rovings.

I'd started spinning the pink (as you can see). It's really soft and drafts so well. But you want to know the best part about combed top? No little bits of veggie fiber (or *cough* other organic matter ;-) ) to stop and pick out! You just spin. Now there's still something to be said for carded fibers, but this is a really nice change...

I've since finished spinning it and it's a nice plump little hank waiting to be wound into a ball and knitted!

I knitted several Christmas gifts this year, one of which was the Touch of Whimsy Scarf made of Blue Sky Alpaca's 'Alpaca & Silk' which I need to post the pre-blocked-yarn-blob and FO pictures of... Hopefully that post will be following shortly, I'm trying to get back into the swing of things now that we're over the holidays and getting settled into the new year...

Incase you're wondering. I'm alive! I lived through the snow storm, though my knitting isn't doing to well from all of it - I've lost almost a week of knitting time to the storm. If you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about and thinking how should I expect YOU to know about some arbitrary snow-storm that put us without phones for 2 days, without power for 3 days and without water for 4 days (bytime the power came back the pipes were frozen), you can go check out my mom's blog for more information...

I'm afraid this will probably be the last post before Christmas... I've got an insane amount of wrapping and knitting to do on top of a party and the other usual festivities.

But onto the actual subject of this post - the handspun!

This pink romni wool was spun up within a few days of getting my wheel. I divided it into 3 parts and did one single a day an then plied the 3 the same day I finished the last single.

Here are all the singles sitting on the lazy-kate. This new lazy-kate is quite the luxury for me. Up until I got my wheel I'd been Navajo plying my single from a center pull ball I'd wound off the only bobbin...

After I plied it I set the twist at the same time I set the twist in all my other yarns I've spun & plied thus far... they were all mostly balanced so I didn't really need any weight on the skeins. This is all my plied yarns so far... (don't look to close at that front skein, it's my nightmarish first...)

Waiting on the swift to be balled...

It made quite the hefty ball!! It was about 7oz or so, the other ounce was made into a 2 ply, one single was a little shorter than the other two. I only had a couple yards of waste off the last bobbin!

I made real yarn! How cool is that?!

Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of it knitted up soon...

I spun about half a bobbin of some nice Icelandic, but I was finding TONS of stuff in it that I was picking out... most of the junk I suspect is little flakes of sheepskin... pretty icky. It makes me think of when you comb a dog that's been over or under bathed... Is this normal for Icelandic?? Otherwise it's really lovely wool, a gorgeous silvery pepper gray and really soft. But I don't have any pictures of that like I thought I did...

What's on my bobbin right now is some purple wool... not really sure what kind of wool except that it's purple. lol. I've only spun a little more than what's already pictured, it's 3/4 of a bobbin now instead of 1/3... It's not as even as I'd like, it's soft with rather fine short hairs, very spongy and clingy stuff - which made it hard for a novice like me to control the draft.

Ok, It's well over a week since my spinning wheel came, and I've been so busy filling every gap between my Christmas knitting with using my knew spinning wheel that I've totally neglected to keep ya'll updated and show you the new wheel and new fiber coming off it!! I still haven’t gotten to spin as much as I would like, but I’ve got a little done!

My pictures are out of date, and my pink romni 3 ply and silvery black & white Icelandic partial singles will need to be shown later, but for now I have some older pictures! See?!

Proof there's a new wheel in the house... fragilé!

And proof it's a Lendrum! See the leaf?

And... set up!!!

It really took very little assembly, it pretty much just ships in it's folded state and you unfold it like you would if you'd brought it somewhere. The brake string was the hardest part to figure out, but some spinners on the knitty board helped me figure that one out... it's actually set up a little wrong in this picture, but it was fixed soon after.

I'm having so much fun with my new Lendrum!! I've gotten to take it to the spinning guild meeting twice now! The denim carrying case is incredible. Now that I know what I'm doing it only takes seconds to brake it down and put it away and the bag is very well padded throughout and the straps are very well placed for easy carrying (it can go on as a shoulder-strap and lay against your side and back or a full back pack, or re-clip the strap to be a 'plain' shoulder-strap that hangs the bag at your side). Getting The Woolery bag was totally worth the wait for the wheel. I'm finding the flyer drive spinning with the separate bobbin-brake tension so much easier to get good tension on than the bobbin drive and flyer brake strap that the Louet had. I can spin my yarn so much finer and more even when I'm not busy fighting the intake to give me proper tension! It's also easier to change bobbins or take off the drive band and keep the same tension.

I'm feeling really good about this whole spinning thing. The woman who taught me asked if I'd found what I was born to do, I feel totally at home behind a spinning wheel and can spin and spin for hours at a time without even noticing how long it's been.

As the McDonalds' marketing department would say - "I'm Lovin' It..."

My spinning wheel is out for delivery!! Ack!

...and for a change it was NOT an off-shore indian phone bank, but a most decidedly on-shore North Corolinian fiber company!

My spinning wheel is in stock and will ship out today or tommorrow! Then it takes only 5 business days to get here!

I CAN'T STAND THE SUSPENCE!!!

I hope that UPS counts this coming friday and saturday as business days (they deliver on Saturdays, but who knows with Thanksgiving...) because then it might get here in time for the guild meeting thursday afternext!

EEP!!

I called The Woolery yesterday morning to check on the availability of a particular spinning wheel...

I found out that their latest shipment from the company that had arrived at the beginning of this month, had already sold out!! But that they had a new shipment already on it's way and it would be 1-2 weeks until it gets there... a little disappointed that they didn't have them in stock at the time I sat there dejectedly staring at my computer and I got to thinking what if they ran out of THIS shipment before it was even in? How long would it be before they got more? I really wanted it from The Woolery because they had the real nice carry-bag exclusive to their store, and right now it was 50% off with the purchase of a wheel. I continued giving my computer a cold hard indecisive stare... I really hadn't planned on getting a wheel this soon... and now all the sudden I was trying to decide whether or not to order NOW, was I jumping into all this too fast?

I mulled it all over, telling my mom all my random thoughts - the only one around to hear me at the time... when finally mom just handed me the credit card, I think it was a silent "Oh shut up and order it already!". Well, of course I took the hint. Within a few more minutes I was the future owner of a...

"Lendrum Original Double Treadle Complete Package Spinning Wheel"!!!
(that's a mouthful...)

It'll be up to 4 weeks before it's here, I think I'll handle the wait okay, or at least I tell myself that thinking it helps somehow...

I want to shout from the hill tops - "I got a new WHEEEEEEL!!!! And It's all MIIIIIIIIINE!!!"... but it's pouring rain out right now (as it has been for the last week :-P ), so I'll have to content my self with shouting from my desk top, or at least shouting from atop a dinning chair and generally driving my family insane for the 4 weeks till it's arrival...

I had a chance to try spinning wheels at the last spinning guild meeting I went to, and it was a draw between the Lendrum Original and the Schacht Matchless (both double treadles, the single treadle matchless felt very stiff to me and no one had a single treadle Lendrum there)

About a week later I decided to check up on prices, just so I knew how much I was looking at needing to save, and that was the clincher, the Schacht was $244 more than the lendrum - I decided that the Schacht was not $244 smoother...

Then things about the lendrum kept popping up, this person or that person posting a good opinion, I'd looked and seen very few negative opinions of the Lendrum wheel, and with the larger plying orifice and the foldable feature (and the fact that when set up it seemed to take up less floor space than many other full size wheels - floor space is precious in my bedroom, which is where I'll be keeping it so that little hands will be safe from spinning flyer hooks and vise versa ;-)) . It was also the tallest of any of the wheel I saw at the guild meeting, which makes a big difference to me.

I really hadn't planned on getting a wheel this fast, but I had some money from my Grandmother who passed away a few years back. I'd been saving the money for several years to spend on something really special. I thought I had settled on a cedar chest, but when I was looking at wheel I knew that it would take me a long time to save what I needed and started to wonder if maybe a cedar chest wasn't for me. I really didn’t have a practical place to put one... and they took up more space than I'm usually willing to give up (I'm a strong believer in vertical storage ;-) )

The final deciding factor was when I went to decide whether or not to spend that money on a spinning wheel, I could actively save for a spinning wheel, or use the cedar chest money, but then I thought to myself... but I don't know then that I would actively save for a cedar chest... wait... then should I really be shelling out hundreds on it, and would it really be as special to me as I thought it would be?

My Grandmother was one of the biggest supporters of my arts and crafts. There was nothing she liked better than something hand made by my sister or me. Every time she'd visit when we were little she would encourage my sister and I to set up a shop for her with things we made so she could come and buy from us. She also saved a table loom knowing that my sister and I would like it, weaving is something I have yet to learn to use, but look forward to the time when I can, and I can use her loom. So I decided that a spinning wheel - my first spinning wheel - would be the perfect 'special' item to buy with the money.

I had a wonderful time at the spinners and weavers guild today! And you wanna knot the best part???? I'm borrowing a wheel!!! I have a spinning wheel in my home right now can you believe that? The ladies even provided me with 'practice' roving. Between my poor attempts at spinning, I've been happy-dancing on cloud nine most the night, I'm so excited that I've actually used a spinning wheel!

One of the ladies who was there had been spinning for 20 years, she was the one that did the most instructing and was so nice and patient with me :-D .

After the lesson she talked to the other ladies about the possibilities of loaning out the wheel! I couldn't believe it at first, I don't think I really believed it until I got home and saw it in my own room! WOW!! I've got a spinning wheel in my room...

My first attempts at spinning haven't been the most impressive, the yarn is a little over twisted most the time, and it likes to twist up on itself. It's also pretty 'thick & thin' (the understatement of the day... *cough*)... oh well... maybe I can at least make a potholder or something out of it LOL! I'm a little embarrassed to show it, it really is pretty bad and doesn't even show all in the picture, but this being a blog to take down my adventures in all things fibery I feel obligated to post at least a little bitty photo...

Eeeeeeeeeee!!! I get to learn to spin on thursday!!! I called up the lady the runs the spinners and weavers guild around here, and she was really friendly and told me that they're just happy to teach people for free (I asked if she knew of someone who would give lessons and that I was willing to pay). That she learned the craft 'way back when' because she was afraid that if no one did it would be a lost art. So get this - They have extra spinning wheels for use and plenty of roving she said they have people coming now that raise their own sheep and even a few with alpacas so they have more than enough materials, so I don't even need to bring anything right now, just walk in and introduce myself!!! Eep! I'm soo excited! She was really nice about the whole thing, I never even brought up the fact that I might like to buy a wheel eventually, but she warned me right of not to just run out a buy a wheel (which even if I hadn't known already, I couldn't do just now since my bank account want have it ;-) , but that's beside the point), that I'd want to try several of the different ones at the guild and owned by the ladies that went before I knew what my personal preferences were.

I can't wait till Thursday!

Today we went to the Stitch and *bleep* and had a very nice time as usual. Mom brought home some organic veggies that a lady there was trying to give away from her garden. The women there are always so sweet :-) . Last week I was sick so only my mom went, and report has it they said "Aww... that's too bad she cant make it... ... but... since she's not here... we can talk about her!" LOL!. Most of the women there are 'older' (my grandmother's age or so) a few are closer to my mom's age (though still a hair older I believe). I'm the young one there, but they seem to enjoy having a younger person there, and I'm more comfortable among them than I am most people closer to my age.

While in town we stopped off at the post office to pick up packages, and I got some DVDs in the mail!! See??

Deep Discount DVD was having a big sale on a bunch of their older movies and a select set of some released within the last few years. I don't think any of these cost more than $4.50, and a most cost less. I couldn't pass up a deal like that, so I spoiled myself and now I have some new movies to watch while I knit!!

In a more knitting related subject, that lorna's from Becka has been burning a whole in my stash (um... figuratively...), and I can't stand not to use it! I couldn't take it anymore, my resolve of refraining from casting on any frivolities for myself before my Christmas presents are done (or at least my Bob socks) didn't hold and I finally wound one skein...

The only thing keeping me from rushing off and casting on is that I'm waiting for a pattern to come in the mail. I love the Leaves of Whimsy Socks, but I think that I would really really like to make it best in a green, and I've been looking for a solid color yarn that I like to knit this other pair of socks in, and I think this will prove to be the perfect yarn, (providing it's the right weight).

So, if all my friends and relatives get half finished Christmas presents they can all just send Becka angry e-mails.