Archive for Spinning
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Confession time
By the time I’ve spun up two bobbins of this: The carpet under my wheel looks like this: I have to admit, I was kind of hating myself for buying two pounds of this wool after it arrived. The only thing that kept me from truly hating myself for it is that inexpensive and less [...]
I’ve gone to extremes
My goal was to get at least 600 yards of very fine yarn from 4 ounces. I ended up with more than 1600 yards of 2-ply lace weight, which totally explains why it took me a freakin’ month to spin it up. I assumed I was just out of practice and spinning slower. Turns out [...]
So close to having yarn
I usually complain about plying. I like plied yarns, I like what plying does to yarn, and sometimes (once in a while) I don’t hate plying. It’s just that it took about 30 accumulative hours to spin up two bobbins with 2.1 ounces each of Shetland into very fine singles and I really want to [...]
I did it!
I put in a wool order with R H Lindsay on the 13th. I will have wool. Not fancy wool or expensive wool, but good clean carded sliver that I can actually spin. Depending on when they shipped it could arrive before or after the holiday. I’m so relieved. I was starting to believe that [...]
One bobbin full
As I spin up the camel and gold wool I have a growing concern that there might not be enough of this batch to make the hat. Then I filled up the second bobbin, there might just be enough. I was planning on doing contrasting bands in the natural color. I did dye some uncarded [...]
Spinning gold into yarn
My singles from the dyed roving are coming out a little fuzzier than I’d hoped. I’m adding a little extra twist for a harder more defined yarn. Sometimes dying does a little to correct the texture, this time that was not the case– I’m sure I’ll live through it. Pretty sure at least. Today is [...]
Wool, just plain white wool
I did dye some of the same stuff, a lovely golden camel-ish color meant for a friend’s surprise hat. Since I asked said friend for head measurements getting a hat in general will probably not at all surprise my friend. The kind of hat might come as a mild amusement. Shh! Top Secret. While dyeing and [...]
Plying plying and more plying
I don’t actually have a problem plying, except when I’m actually plying. I love the magical way it makes uneven bits disappear, I love balanced yarn, I even love the tweedy effect with blends like this one. I just do not love doing it. For some reason the task is much more tolerable when I [...]
Where do I get my wool?
I pluck it right from the tiny sheep in my living room. Where he got it was from FiberOptic on etsy. He’s a wise little sheep with very good taste. My other fiber order got lost in the mail. This is a 50/50 blend of bamboo and merino, handpainted in shades of brown, deep brown [...]
Wrangling projects
The two skeins on the left are from the same colorway as the one on the right. Superstition from FiberOptic. I just finished the two on the left (the one on the right is from before.) The new skeins are sock weight, and Navajo plied to keep the colors in solid blocks. I am also [...]