I wish it would quit raining.
We've had enough rain that we could skip every drop for the summer and still be OK. I must admit, though, that it's a good excuse to sit by the window and spin.
The blue yarn is a silk/merino blend two-ply. I have more to spin, but couldn't wait to get this plied and washed to see what it looked like. It is incredibly soft and mooshy and although I forgot to check the wpi's, I judge it somewhere between fingering and DK weight. There's 522 yards there and it will make something someday that I'll love.
This one you saw on the bobbin--a merino and colonial blend batt in gorgeous colors of yellow, deep grape and brown. The yarn turned out kind of wonky, since I started it on a new wheel I bought myself for Christmas (thank you again, self!), then realized one of the 3 bobbins the seller sent from Holland with the wheel (it's an old one) doesn't fit well--too tight, and another doesn't have a small enough whorl. You can spin all you want, but the yarn won't wind on.
I was a little disappointed. I bought the wheel on eBay because I so loved it's small compact size and the configuration. It is a beautiful wheel. The seller said there was only one original bobbin, but 2 more had been made to fit. And that's true. They fit, they just don't work. I'll have to find someone to make me a couple different ones, and it doesn't diminish my love for the wheel.
So anyway, I spun some on that new-old wheel I'd never used before. It is really spun tight. Then I spun some on my Ashford and it's not so tight. The singles were all a little different, so the final yarn's a bit uneven, but it was a good learning experience. And I love the yarn anyway, and have already picked out a pattern for it. It's a DK weight, about 370 yards.
Learning experiences are what I need. I've only been spinning for about 5 years. I had wanted to learn forever, and years ago took lessons from a woman in a neighboring town. She was wonderful, but we finally decided that I would get much more from it if I
had my own wheel.
What a dunce I was. She finally gave me a Navajo spindle and sent me on my way. (And a couple years later I took a dyeing course from her, too--still without any spinning wheel or wool to call my own. But my God, what a fun way to spend a beautiful Fall day--running around collecting marigolds and purple onion skins and cooking them up in big cast iron cauldrons over camp fires in her yard. I felt like a Druid and couldn't get enough.)
Finally D gave me the Ashford the Christmas before I quit work, and it came with a huge amount of really bad wool and a how-to-spin DVD. I tried to spin that stuff for a year before I finally signed up for a 2-hr class at a local fiber shop. And started instantly spinning. It just clicked all at once.
So except for the watching Betty, my teacher, and that one 2-hour class, I'm self-taught. And like most crafts, the more you learn the more you realize you don't know anything. I want to spin long-draw. I want to learn more about plying and twist and grist.
I'm studying now. I just scored Mabel Ross'
Encyclopedia of Hand Spinning on eBay, and bought a few books on Amazon. And today I started this:
Silk roving that I dyed in peaches, pinks and chocolates last year. I'm going to ply it with a beautiful champagne colored angora I bought at a fiber fair last year (or maybe baby alpaca). A three ply if I can spin the angora fine enough and there's enough silk. Or a two-ply if not.
What fun.
