Latest handspun and some stash gloating

Well, since I only have another day left before I'm back in school and back into the non-stop studying and art-churning routine, I figured I'd spend some time here sharing some photos of the fiber I've been working with.



This is 2 ounces worth of a lovely warm brown alpaca that I spun up on my drop spindle-- so far I think it's the largest amount I've ever spun up using a spindle...

I got it from Harmony Wools Alpaca, which happened to have a booth over at the John C. Campbell Folk School Fall Festival I went to back in...oh, October-ish?...

It's been a busy year.

AND...here's the final product, after I plied it using my drop spindle. Using my wheel to ply it after spending all that time spinning it on my spindle just felt like cheating. Oddly enough, I think this is my most balanced ply yet.



I found it to be a wonderful spin...I usually prefer batts to roving, and when I *do* spin with roving it tends to involve a copious amount of pre-drafting...not so with this.

Lucky for me, I bought more!



From left to right: 2 ounces of an even softer squooshier alpaca roving that I will definitely need a lighter spindle for, 2 ounces of a grey alpaca/blue silk blend roving (both were gotten from Harmony Wools Alpaca), and about 2 ounces of some gorgeous mossy green mohair locks from Good Fibrations, who were also at the John C. Campbell Folk School.

I regret not buying more mohair...this I purhchased for an art yarn I've got in my head, but a couple of ounces would have been great for a nice floofy curly yarn spun from the lock...

I'm going to make an effort this semester to set apart some time off during the weekends to work on some non-school related art and crafts stuff. Its going to be difficult-- I'm taking both Brit Lit 2 and Visual Literacy, which apparently are both writing-intensive classes...not that art or british literature are subjects that I find at all difficult to write about, but deadlines are such creativity killers. Blech.

Gah...gotta think positive! At least I'm taking textile design and weaving again. Can't wait to get back on the loom...

Ciao!

- The Bloated Ewe Read more!

Finishing with my Drop Spindle and Second Sock Syndrome to the Enth Degree.

Well, I seem to have both good news and not-so-good news to share today.

To start of with the not-so-good....

Second Sock Syndrome has been forced upon me. Okay, so I bought a lovely skein of Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn in "Popsicle" a gorgeous colorway. 100 grams, typical sock yardage. Should definitely be enough for a typical sock pattern.

This is where I made a grave error.

Just because sock yarn weighs a certain amount doesn't mean it will give you average sock yardage.

Now I'm left with one whole sock and one almost whole sock without the tip of its toe.

Now the yarn was about 22 dollars. I'm not sure whether I should a) just suck it up and buy another skein, b) beg the LYS owner if I there might be any scrap yarn in the same colourway that's left over from one of her sock classes, or c) substitute the toe with some of my (not at all similar) regia sock yarn I have left over from the socks I made for my father.

I really don't feel like going with option c. So I'll probably try options a and b, starting with b first, despite its pathetic lameness.

Onto the good news: I'm finished with the navy and fuchsia I was spindling! It's a pretty nice-sized ball, definitely would be enough for a pair of handwarmers if knit as a single.

Though I still definitely want to ply it with my spindle...I think.

Ah. Decisions, decisions.

-Cat Read more!

Rambouillet-Finn=Done.

I've finally plied all that rambouillet-finn roving I was spinning up; thank God I didn't put it aside for later. It came out pretty nice, even though I kept freaking out about whether I was over-plying or under-plying it. Whenever it seemed like it was balanced it would come out all wilty and crappy looking, but when I finally gave it a tight enough ply so that it looked nice and beaded it would started coiling on itself. But since I'd rather block a garment to remove whatever energy is left than have to deal with ugly yarn, I decided to give it some extra twist.

It reall came out nice, didn't it?

It's 16 wpi, basically a fingering weight yarn. Finest I've ever spun. The little Bauhaus-esque block on my hand next to my handspun helped me figure out that little technical detail. I picked it up over at The Spinner's Emporium on etsy. Really nifty, and yeah, I know I could have just wrapped the stupid yarn around a ruler and ended up with similar results, but this little poplar wpi gauge looks way cooler than a ruler, and the price didn't make me suffer. Plus, it matches my louet. Rulers don't do that.

Now that I'm done with the rambouillet-finn, I've been working alot more on my drop spindle. It used to feel really awkward, but now that I've been spinning so much with the wheel it no longer feels difficult. I just grabbed some chunks of fuchsia and dark navy corriedale I had floating around and decided to spin random pieces of them together; once I finish that I'll spin up some other wierd colour combo and Navajo-ply them together, because I've been really wanting to learn how to Navajo-ply.



I'm still not quite sure what to make of it, I'll wait 'till it's completely done before I make up my mind.

Now I'm off to work.

Later.

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