Spinning

I have been making up for lost time on my new electric spinning wheel.  Since I'm working on yarn for a new vest for The Shepherd, I have decided to do one bobbin for him, one bobbin for me. (I get easily bored spinning plain white yarn) This green is some merino and fire-star that I got from Paradise Fibers in Spokane.  I finally had to unsubscribe from their newsletter because I kept buying stuff and god only knows I don't need to add to my already abundant stash. (You think I'm kidding don't you...)

This is also the last project on my Ashford Traveller wheel, so it is for sale. Contact me if you are interested.

Holy Cow, it's the FIRST DAY OF FALL!!!

 So, what have I been doing all summer?, you ask...

Well, I've done a  little bit of spinning - this is some roving that I spun up for gifts for co-workers.  I call it my Seahawks yarn. I will use it to make them a cowl or a neck scarf.  If you click on the pictures, they should "biggify" a little bit & you can see the little bits of blue and green mohair that I plied into the yarn. 

And I spun up some of Elliott's wool to take to the NW Washington Fair.  Look!  I got a blue ribbon!  

I truly thought I'd get the blue on my Seahawks yarn and not on the white, but she didn't like how I had plied it.  Judges - they are so picky...

She also counted me down on how I tied the skein, even though I had used yarn from the skein to tie it.  I guess I'll suggest that we have a "skein tieing for the fair" class next year at our spinner guild meeting. 

Here's a picture of both skeins of Seahawks yarn - you can see the green mohair bits in this picture a little better.  

But this is when I know I'm doing it right - this is all that was left from two bobbins of singles after I plied up the second skein  - just about a foot or so.  I'd say "I rock"  

This was taken in our front yard only a week ago - the Katsura and the birches are really starting to turn now - I'd say they are as surprised as I was to have summer end. 

Well, that's all for now -  We'll be back soon! (and a lot sooner than the last time...) 

Yarn, Navajo plyed

Here is my latest project from my spinning wheel.  I have been wanting to learn how to Navajo (or chain) ply -  What is Navajo Plying you ask? 

Well, to quote  Lee Juvan from KnitTV.com, "Navajo plying (also called chain plying) is a way to make a three-ply yarn from only a single strand. Spinners often use this method when they have spun singles from a multicolored top and want to avoid creating “barber pole” yarn as they ply. Navajo plying preserves the color changes of the original singles, giving you a striped yarn rather than a marled one."

I have always just made two ply yarn, but, as a lot  of the  roving I buy to spin is multi-colored, I generally end up with the "barber pole" effect to my yarn and wanted to learn this method so, as you can see, the colors stay together. 

So I asked my friend Yvonne, who is also the current President of our local spinner guild if she would teach a class on how to Navajo Ply, which she did. 

It takes a "bit'o larnin" and a considerable amount of hand-to-eye coordination to Navajo Ply.



Everyone says, "Oh, if you cam crochet, you should have no problem learning how to Navajo Ply.  Au contraire, my friends. 

So the bottom part of this skein is what I plied at guild - kind of tightly wound, so to speak - then I got home, and my wheel sat in the living room for a couple of weeks - and since I needed to get started on some more yarn for The Shepherd's next sweater vest, I really HAD to get this project finished.  So off to the internet I went and ended up watching this video by spinner extraordinaire, Sarah Anderson .  Actually, I watched it several times, and by the time I get around to doing my next project that I need to Navajo Ply, I'll probably watch it a bunch more - ain't the internet grant?

Anyhow, as you can see from the top of the skein above, after watching Sarah's video, my yarn was much more balanced.  I think I will make myself some fingerless gloves for work.

I'm still having a bit of trouble with my eyes and it just isn't much fun to blog when you can't read what is on the screen.  And I've been thinking up quite a few things that I want to tell you about from taiko drummers to, sadly,  dead friends.   So, I promise I'll make an effort to get some things written up in the next week or so.  Till then, Happy St. Catrick's Day! 

Tour de Fleece

I have never participated in Tour de Fleece - a stash busting event by spinners over the same time period as the Tour de France (in fact the Tour de France people got so worried about their image that I heard they actually sent a nastygram to the Ravelry people saying cease and desist - like who isn't going to be able to tell the difference???)

Anyhow, I took stock of my "stash" before we headed to Eugene & Black Sheep Gathering last month.  No new stuff for me - I have MUCHO MUCHO stash - probably not as much as some - bur probably more than many - 6 or 7 large plastic tubs?

I didn't join any teams or anything but my Tour de Fleece goals for myself are:

#1 - spin at least one ounce of fiber a day - I have found that 2 ounces on each bobbin plies up to a FULL bobbin but I can generally fit it all on and then I have a 4 oz. skein with no breaks.

#2 - Keep a log of what I spin, how much the fiber cost, and how many yards I spun.

#3 - Spin nice enough yarn that our friends Donna & Tom will be comfortable offering it in their farm stand at the Bow Farmer's Market.-

So far I have three 4 ounce skeins - the third one is yellow & lime green - I'm calling it "Lemon/Lime Sorbet" - it's really pretty.

Well, It's late and I've got today's ounce yet to spin!  I'd better get busy!!   

Cutting it close, again -

 This is the second glove in a pair of fingerless gloves that I made for my friend Felicity -

See that tail?  That is all there was left of the handspun grey yarn. And since I had no more roving left, that's all there was ever going to be. 

I had suspected that I would run short, which is why I put the turquoise and black stripes - but I didn't think I would come THIS close!  The good news was that they fit, and she liked them.  Yay -