Recently in Ashland Bay Colonial (Agate) Category
Many thanks to the Knotty Girls JenLa for naming this humble little effort the Blog with the Most Visual Serenity in their Best of 2004 (scroll to 1/1 entry) list. Truth be told, I designed this at 4am one morning and picked soothing colors, only because I didn't want to really wake up and my eyes were permanently half-shut from doing freelance all night. But thanks Jen and La!
It's been hard to concentrate on knitting with all the problems related to my computer crashing, work stress, holiday madness, and then the Asian tsunami. I found it was easier to reach for the spindle and feel the fiber flowing through my fingers. There are no patterns or stitches to keep track of, no rows to count, just the twirling of the spindle stem and the winding of the yarn into a satisfying cop:
I'm quite happy with the end result. This is the rest of the variegated Colonial roving that came with my beginner's kit from Annie Mae's eBay store. The color mix is Agate, and I'm afraid I did a poor job of spinning the colors, as it looks muddy. After a day on the spindle I wound it on to my improvised niddy noddy. It's a frame made of canvas stretcher bars with white paper taped to the rough sides to prevent the yarn from snagging. Kinda convenient when the BF is an artist, yah?
I gently washed the yarn and let it air dry for a couple of days, then skeined it. The yield from an ounce of fiber was 166 yards of some degree of laceweight. I graduated from the park and draft method (highly recommend this to other beginners) to full-on standing and spinning long lengths. It was going well until BF said "Hey, you're standing!" whereupon I broke my concentration and dropped the spindle. So anyone have any ideas for this, other than hats, mittens or mittenettes?
Reading: Hahaha... check this out. If it's missing, here's my screenshot. And this about marketing mistakes. And this is a great clip about truth in advertising.
Watching: Happenstance, starring Audrey Tautou. She picks great roles.
Yes, the spinning bug's arrived at Yummy Yarn. I bought an inexpensive kit off eBay some weeks ago, a sort of trial to see if I would like this spinning thing. It's *fun*. I got some advice from Anne on spindles and fiber, and from Nancy (whom I met briefly at [not so] Fab Fiber Fest), who told me to "draft, draft, draft". I read how-tos and watched videos online, then went to the library and borrowed everything I could find on spinning. Amid the fiber-breaking, over- and undertwisting, spindle-dropping, not to mention heaps of frustration, I managed to spin some single ply that was for the most part even. And then I managed to spin some 2-ply. And then I made a skein. All 18.3 yards of it, baby!
I still have an ounce left over that I'll be spinning with during the Thanksgiving break. I want to try a top-whorl spindle; Anne's given me some names, and I want to experiment with different fibers. Some friends are planning a day trip on motorcycle up to Santa Barbara in 3 weeks. I'll make sure we drop by here. Jen or La, any special fiber requests?
