Singles
Paula Simmons is my hero. She's convinced me to make the softest singles ever.
Fiber: Pewter Super-Fine Merino, 4 oz.
Vendor: Blue Goose Glen
Yield: 322 yards
Weight: Sport to worsted
Technique: Openhand, worsted
Granted, merino's shortish staple made it a bit difficult. Not too much twist before it becomes ropey, not enough that it falls apart. Well, as pretty as those skeins look, I had to tie a few of them up in one or three places.
It's okay to let go of goals and. Just. Spin. This was all about the process. Full on.
First, to spin a soft yarn. Next, to spin a soft single yarn. Then, to spin a soft, consistent, single yarn (my next goal with a 3-ounce batch of "butter-dipped camel"-colored merino, as Mary-Heather described it). Finally, to spin quickly. To do all this and achieve a perfectly-balanced yarn off the niddy-noddy. All in due time. I'm taking it day by day: 15 minutes here, a half-hour there, always making sure to spend some time after dinner pre-drafting the following day's spinning fiber. No tricks, no shortcuts, right Monica?
P.S.: A rant. Is it just me, or does anyone else find misspelled words irritating? Does anyone use spell check anymore? Someone (food blog; no longer subscribe to it) used "Segway", which is a product name, for "segue", which, in the way it was meant to be used, is a verb. How (insert adjective here) can you be? Let's not even go into possessives versus plurals, just spelling. Spelling. I don't mind the typos: things like "yhe" or "guage" or even "duce" because I type pretty quickly and my fingers slip. BUT. If you're using a word you're not sure about, look up the proper spelling and what it means. There's Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster.com online. Use it! End of rant.
Would you like to flame me? I've got my comments open. Of course, spinning comments are always welcome. Have a nice day!
Ooh misspellings drive me bonkers! Especially the word "gauge". Argh!
Oooh pretty. I hate seeing "definately" and "guage", but I think my least favorite is "casted on."
Wau, thaet yern duz loook reelly saft ;)
I've never used the dictionary as much as I have since I started blogging.
The spinning is gorgeous! Just beautiful.
I have 1lb of black merino from Blue Goose Glen waiting to be spun (I love that store!). I hadn't thought about spinning singles with it until I saw how soft and fluffy your yarn looks. All I have is a spindle, so it would speed things up because I wouldn't have to ply. Being the spelling bee champ of the 4th and 7th grade, I can sympathize with the spelling issue :)
I almost always spell stuff wrong, comments dont have spell check but I do most of the time spell check my blog entries, sometimes I do forget.
Love the spinning! It looks soft, which is hard with the staple length of merino as you said! yum.
I fear that the Segway instead of segue actually WAS an auto-spellchecker and the poster didn't read over what it selected as a substitute. A lot of people don't re-read what they write before they publish either. I think a decent number of misspellings / typos / grammar mistakes would be caught that way. :)
my pet peeves are grammatical errors and misspellings (that word was a tough one for me)! i think that everyone should know the difference between there, their, and they're, your and you're (that's the worst one), its and it's, etc...
also, i read the comment about "casted on" being a pet peeve. i never knew which was correct (casted on or cast on), but now i know, and i have to go fix all of my blog posts! ;)
you would like firefox! it has a built in spell check with the latest version. for example, if i type "guage" it puts a lovely little squiggly line under it for me, and i can right click it to get alternative spellings. hooray for technology!
Pretty spinning!
Ok, I'll admit it. I am a terrible speller. But http://www.spellcheck.net is my friend.
i am guilty of not always using the spellcheck. the new firefox has caught a few for me. i wonder if there is a correlation between the avid readers and proficiency for spelling?
I am a speller and I do use spell check and all of that. It bugs me when I see people just patently using the wrong word, viola, egads, why? Nope, I won't flame you. I'm with you all the way.
I actually think misspelling "gauge" is far worse. No knitter should misspell that word, especially over and over in their post!
Of course,if one were English,one would talk about one's knitting tension !
I try to catch my dodgy spelling before I post,but don't really have the time to edit thoroughly. I also seem to become dyslexic when really tired ! I do confess to a strong dislike of people writing that they knitted something,when it should really be I knit some socks,for example. Ah,language. So full of pifalls.
:0)
Your spinning is lovely. Rather beautiful singles. Very impressive. I've just bought the book,and intend to study it soon.
Those singles look so cushy soft - and the color!!!
Gorgeous singles!!
I used to be more of a stickler for spelling. Nowadays, I don't mind it so much in blogs and email. It's professional advertising and published books that get me. "Barbeque" is not right. (It's gaining acceptance, but good old "barbecue" is the way to go in my book.) And a white dog with black spots is a Dalmatian, not a Dalmation, like I read in a paperback once.
I have learned that sometimes even smart people are rotten spellers, so I try not to be as judgmental as I used to be.
Thank you for not misspelling "misspelled." :-)
I guess your post is bringing all the sticklers out of the closet! Yeah, drives me crazy too. Punctuation mistakes make my brain hurt even more, though. I laughed out loud reading "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" - have you read it?
I do use "knitted" and "crocheted" as past perfect participles, a practice I will gladly defend. :)
Lovely spinning!