More Spinning! And a Pair of Socks

Mmmm, this just reminds me of Sherbet all the way.

Fiber from The Loopy Ewe, Sakina Needles, Briar Rose, 8oz 100% Alpaca.

I *loved* spinning this. The second bobbin full went a lot smoother and more consistently than the first and I had quite a bit left over from itafter plying. I plied that one into a mini-skien and gave it to a friend of mine. She's going to knit it into a little hat for her 5 month old little girl.

Next up is this rich chocolatey Coopworth. The fiber is from Louet. Steven ordered a whole trunk show from them, and believe me, there's some beautiful stuff. I snagged a few bags for myself and this is one of them.

I'm going for laceweight with this, and I think I might have it. My singles are sewing thread thick (which when allowed to relax back on itself is a lovely two ply laceweight), but it's taking - f o r e v e r - to spin.

But it will definitely be worth it!

Another pair of Embossed Leaves.

What can I say, I love this pattern!

The yarn is Classic Elite Alpaca Sox. If you haven't tried it yet, I thoroughly urge you to run to your LYS and get some. It's lovely!

More Handspun!

I flew through this one. Alpaca just slides through the fingers!

My 3rd yarn. The name “Fairy Wings” came from a friend in my knitting group. When I brought my wheel there last Monday, she took one look at the drafted fiber and said it looked like fairy wings. It seemed a great name.

Fiber purchased from The Loopy Ewe. It’s Pastel Caesar (100% Alpaca, 4 oz) from Sakina Needles.

Approximately 216 yds. Wpi and other such info to come later. ;)

About 1/3 of the way through spinning this, the lightbulb went off in my head and I totally got drafting. Like really got it. So the last 2/3 of the fiber were spun very evenly, as a laceweight single.

Once plied, it turned into a light fingering weight, with some laceweight spots and a couple of sport/DK weight spots. Consistency is something I'm striving for.

Still though, I'm pleased like crazy with it. And it's a good amount of yardage, so I can actually do something with it.

Start to finish shots: (click to make bigger)

Look! I Made Yarn! (& a little Harlot talk)

My very first yarn on my new wheel.

I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

It's not perfectly consistent, but it's not bad.

The fiber is 100% Merino, roughly 56 yds. Not sure of the wpi - I haven't measured that yet.

This is the leftover fiber that I had after spinning with it last year. There was 4 oz originally. I think I used up most of it last summer when I got my Spindolyn.


And here's my 2nd singles, still on the bobbin.

This is 100% Alpaca. I absolutely adore spinning this. It just glides through my fingers with great ease. I thought it was going to be difficult so I was going to wait to spin this till I got better. But I decided to just dive right in yesterday. I'm so glad I did.

There's about 3 oz here on the bobbin. I've got another ounce to spin up later tonight when I get a chance to sit down at it again.

(And I've ordered another 4 oz of this fiber that should be coming in the mail later this week!)




Here's a couple of other shots (isn't the fiber just gorgeous?):









OMG, I have a bunch of other fiber I should have taken photos of. I ordered some the other day online, and then Steven also got a trunk show of fiber in from Louët. I got some beautiful stuff from that. Pics to come soon.

Spinning is sooo much fun! Just like Brandy said it would be. :)

Oh!! I forgot to TELL you! I went to see the Yarn Harlot speak in St. Paul on Thursday night. She was amazing!! We had so much fun. I'll blog more about that when I get pics from my friend.

It's Here!

Isn't it beautiful?

My Lendrum Double Treadle wheel. I'm already in love and I've only had maybe an hour to really play with it today. Shortly after it got here I had a couple of friends over to "welcome" it. ;) We all tried it and had a good time playing. Thanks for coming over!

I haven't spun anything seriously on it yet at all. I've just been playing with little bits of all of the fibers I've got on hand here. I do notice how easily it is to get an even yarn on the wheel as opposed to the couple of drop spindles I've tried and my Spindolyn.

I'd say more, but really, I think I'll just let the pics speak for themselves.

(Better pics to come soon. Uggh, lighting was questionable . I'll shoot new ones tomorrow morning.)

Something Exciting

Absolutely can not. wait.

I ordered the beauty on the left last night and my tracking info says it should be here next Tuesday. It's a Lendrum Double Treadle Folding Wheel. I was lucky enough to try out a friend's Single Treadle Lendrum about a month ago and absolutely fell in love with it. Talk about a buttery smooth wheel! I knew eventually one would be mine.

*SO EXCITED!*

Ahem. So I've got some roving here (well, actually enough to keep me busy for a while) and I've got others bookmarked for future reference. ;) (Hey Brandy, got any good tips on some I should look into??)

Literally right now it's all I can do to be patient. And that's not working very well at the moment. Luckily I've got some fun distractions over the course of the week. The girls in my weekly Monday afternoon knitting group and I are all getting together Saturday night after I work. We're having our first Knit Night at a friend's community room in her apartment complex. We're going to have snacks, movies, music, and possibly a yarn swap. And maybe a little wine. Or a lot. Who knows? I'm really looking foward to it.

But really, my *must spin RIGHT NOW* desire is soooo strong. Is it Tuesday yet?