Stitch Whimsy

It’s amazing how this:

can turn into this:

in a matter of hours.

So I took a road trip to Mount Holly’s famous Woolbearers shop. It took me a good hour. A lovely drive, since I was all alone yesterday. I spent a good 2 hours in the shop just fondling all the gorgeous fibers, yarns, and whatnot. I decided to buy myself some bamboo size 8 Fiddlesticks double pointed needles. I also got this:

THIS gorgeous fluffball is Romney with bits of Mohair. It had just been carded into a batt. I like to have died when I saw it and I just HAD to have it. It was cheap, too.

This is one of the 2 -ounce sized bags of Rayon I got. It’s so soft I nearly fell out of my chair when I touched it. This should be fun ot figure out. It has a short staple length, which is new for me.

So that is what I did yesterday. FUN FUN FUN!!!

Tags: fiber, spinning, romney, mohair, rayon

Last night I took out some aggression and smacked around my spun dark BFL. It came out really nice. I was a bit scared that it felted in the hot tub water, but it didn’t. It just washes funny and comes out fluffy and pretty. It tends to unspin a bit in the water, too… so I have to overspin it a bit before I wash and whack it. So here is what I have:

Tags: drop+spindle, spinning, yarn, handspun

So here is my second attempt at spinning BFL dark, my 8th spinning experience overall. This is one ounce that I spun over 2 days. The spinning is becoming more and more consistent. I would call this worsted to lace weight yarn. Some of it is still rather thin, but I am getting the hang of park and draft as well as a bit of draft while spinning. I switch constantly, for various reasons. This is gorgeous fiber and I wish I could get a more close picture of the fibers as they lay on the wooden knitting needle.

Tags: spinning, bfl

OMG I just got the pound of BFL in the mail today. Im petting it. It’s so pretty. I don’t ever want to spin it. I want to roll around in it like a blanket. Terrible, right? OMG I never dreamed it would be this soft.

Tags: bfl, spinning

DROOLS Yes I did it
I bought a pound of Blue Faced Leceister Dark. I shouldn’t have bought it yet but I couldn’t let it go. She only had ten lots available. If I didn’t get it now and waited and it was gone I would have kicked myself. I check this site all the time for fibers and this is THE one for me, I just know it.

Tags: BFL

From DropSpindle.info… a hand crafted Golding. Isn’t it gorgeous? This is the one I want next. I think it’s the perfect size and weight for what I want to do with it. This one makes me want to spin more. I will be saving up and honing my skills for this one.

Tags: golding+drop+spindle

So I finished two of my yarns. The first one I spun is now in a necklace, but I haven’t quite finished it yet so I won’t show it till it’s done. The first was plied with cotton red thread, a bit thicker than normal sewing thread. The other was plied with my baby stripes yarn (purple and white) because I am tired of trying to figure out what to do with the yarn. The blue would probably have looked nice plied with the other baby stripes (blue and white) but I will save that for my multi that I have yet to spin. I love plying. It’s pretty fun and easy to do. Check out my flickr for some other photos of the process to this yarn.

Tags: spinning, drop+spindle, plying, yarn, handspun+yarn

Here you have my first attempts at drop spindling in order from top to bottom. I spun those both this morning. I am in love with spinning and am trying to make myself NOT spin any more yarn LOL I only have 2 little rolls of roving left and I want to take time to go through and figure out what what to do better on the next spin before I go into it again. I can’t figure out how people draft with two hands and keep the spindle spinning. I did it more like one hand is holding the predrafted fiber and the other hand keeps the spindle going. I think I like that better. Thinking about how I want to ply it, if I am going to ply it at all. Suggestions? I was thinking a dark blue thread with the blue to give it that worsted look. It is S spun (clockwise) you know? I love that way more than Z spun.

Tags: drop+spindle, handspun+yarn, spinning

My new obsession? Maybe. I am all psyched to get the things I need to get into it. For today’s Work With Me Wednesday I am highlighting a how to for drop spinning.

Tags: drop+spindle