Dalliance with moonbeams ~

I was serious about The Banshee. I was looking forward to some serious color spinning in a retina searing way, with hot pink, orange and some wild green for good measure....really, I was serious...we had a date....Then the moonlight moved into my skylight last night, and I remembered a very sweet little braid that I received at Christmas....

She called to me...polka-dots and moonbeams (yes, that is the name) and I wondered how I could have left her as "not spun yet" fiber for this long.....This fiber is from Fiber Optic - the first booth at the first Sock Summit where I tried spinning on a drop spindle from Kimber - the amazing dyer...and oh, how she does colors!  I loved all of her colors, and this fiber is stunning.

So, I am going to dally a little with this sweet and soft bit of moonbeams...yes, this is "the stuff moonbeams are made of" and I am loving this little detour with my sweet pastels.....look at that yellow and the mint green, and the pinks and blues just melt.....and violet too......I will return for my date with The Banshee, once the moonlight begins to fade....:)

New Spinners ~

This holiday weekend we had our annual girlfriends' Island weekend. We have been having our vacation weekend for at least 6 years, and we look forward to our time together all year. The four days we spend together is filled with laughing, relaxing, knitting, some quilting, some beading, some spinning and always singing and dancing, plus chocolate, great food and great wine. Yes, the weekend is packed full of all things fun! This year was my first one to bring my Pocket Wheel, although I've brought my spindles before. This year two friends continued their spinning journey, and both are getting better and better. Both of them are naturals with the fiber, and I think they will be spinning experts soon!

Counting blessings ~

One of my lovely birthday gifts from my BFF Jitteryknitter is a yarn meter for counting yardage. I have wanted one of these since my spinning started, as I have no clue how much yarn I have, and the niddy noddy method seems a bit too loose for me. I was so excited to see how much of my green BFL that I had, spinning here, here and here, that I set up the yarn meter when I came home from my birthday celebration and started counted all my sweet little plys.I have 139 yards of this lovely hand spun, from 4.2 ounces....I wish there was a shawl to cast on for "139 yards of heaven".... still looking for a pattern for this special yarn!

Meriboo spinning ~

I realized after Sock Summit that I've not spin in a few weeks. Seeing all the beautiful fiber and all the amazing spinners made me realize that I need more practice. I need more time to practice too, but we'll work on that too...I pulled out on of my samples that I bought from Little Knits, a great little shop in West Seattle. This is called Meriboo from Frog Tree, and it is a mix of Merino and bamboo. So far it spins up well, not too slippery and a lovely color!

Plying instead ~

Instead of working on the shawl that had mystified me (aka, the Whoops Shawl), I did more spinning. Pretty chicken of me, I know, but the spinning did work out well.I spun enough as a single that I was able to ply in one session, which is always gratifying to see how the colors blend. Some as barber pole, and other match up with the same color. Always a delightful surprise!

BFL and Tussah ~

The winner is.....blue faced leicester and tussah silk blend. These were one ounce samples from Serial Knitters, my favorite yarn shop. The samples are such a great idea for a new spinner, as it helps me practice on many different fibers without buying an entire four ounce rope.Although, some are so beautiful that I buy all the samples....for example, I bought all 3 of these......and here is the initial spinning. The purple and lime green are amazing, the purple is so deep and saturated, I love these colors! This fiber is a bit messy with the silk fibers, yet still very soft to spin. I had to adjust my drafting as it is a bit different than the superfine merino, but all is good practice for me! I can't wait to get back to this spinning!

Superfine Done ~

I have finished spinning and plying all the one ounce sample of superfine merino. I would definitely spin with this again, as it was fun to spin, not messy and the colors are lovely.Here are the two spindles full of the 2 ply.Here is the lovely 2 ply all washed and ready to knit. Isn't it lovely?!!! Hurrah!!!!! What should I spin next?

Plying Success ~

Oddly enough, I thought of my plying success when I was into my big superfine merino tangle while plying this weekend. My plying bits were still hanging after being washed a month ago, so here they are....can you see any improvement in my spinning and plying?Here is the first lovely green fiber of which I finished spinning and plying 4 ounces, my blue faced leicester, given to me my JitteryKnitter (aka The Enabler). This was a dream to spin, and I learned a lot and improved a lot during this spinning and plying.Here is the 100% tussah silk, given to me for Christmas by sweet Marion. The reds and pinks are so saturated in this fiber ~ just amazing and lovely! Silk was fun to spin, and oh-so-soft running through my fingers. I'm exciting to spin the rest of this amazing fiber.Here is the 50% merino 50% tencel blend which I found as a sample from Serial Knitters, my favorite yarn shop. It is more lavender than this picture shows. I loved spinning it and next time I was at their shop I bought the remaining two samples of this blend! I can see some improvement in my spinning and plying!!! Plus I am enjoying this, too!

Superfine Saved ~

I made it through untangling my superfine merino. It took a long time, but the results are so beautiful! Some of the colors barber pole against each other, and other colors line up to be one color.I was so excited at this ply that I've taken a picture of it wet!!!It is still lovely wet! I'm wondering what I can knit out of 83 yards of handspun! I'll have to check Ravelry for those great little patterns, especially for handspun!

Superfine mess ~

After spinning a full spindle of superfine merino, it was time to ply. I am almost done with my lovely one ounce sample, and am excited to see how the ply works, and then how it looks after washing.Well, after my Andean bracelet trick to start plying, the trick was on me. Somehow there was a very big mess of single ply wrapping itself around itself in one big mess of tension. Heavy sigh, as I really didn't want to untangle it, as I just wanted to ply it!!!! But no, I had to do "yarn yoga" by myself and try to work out all the kinks and twists...all the while knowing how lovely it would turn out if I could just keep in in one piece!!!!

Spinning Superfine ~

I am almost to the end of spinning the sample ounce of this colorful superfine merino. I have been enjoying this sample, and loved how it plys as well. I am excited to ply the rest of it, as I hope to ply this single this weekend, and then spin the last of it too.I am only squeaking time out to spin for a few hours on Sunday or Monday...I know I need to spin more often to improve on my drafting technique. Any ideas on how to find more spinning time? And more knitting time? Hmmmmmmm, more fiber time would be so lovely!!!

Spinnin' fool ~

I do not want to stop spinning this superfine merino in these wild and happy colors. This weekend I plyed what I had spun last weekend. Then I starting spinning more of the fiber.The plys are lovely, and I'm even drafting while the spindle is spinning some of the time, with out "park and draft" as the only method - I do hope I'm improving!!

Plying Silk ~

This silk spinning is a little tricky for me, very thin and I am still getting some thick and thin, plus some lumpy bumpy in my single.

I plyed the single I had, just to see what it would look like. It certainly is not consistent as commercial yarn (although that is not my goal, either) but I think it could be knit into a lovely shawl as it seems to be a sock weight in the 2 ply version.... I just need to spin and ply a bazillion yards more.... I love the colors!

We have notches ~

My man found the perfect tool to add notches to these little spindles. His first idea was, "How about putting them through the table saw?" to which I said, "How about I use your electric turkey carving knife?" Perhaps we needed middle ground.....

He used a file that he uses to sharpen his chain saw teeth.... and it seems to have worked fine. Can you see the notch, now, where the fiber is coming off the spindle top, and then passing by the notch to the bottom of the shaft? Now I just need to see if the notches help my spinning... stay tuned!!

Tools to Practice ~

When I started knitting hats, I kept finding new yarn and new patterns to try. I couldn't knit those hats fast enough, so I started getting more Size 9 16 inch circular needles. As I look in my Bass Pro Extreme Worm Binder, I laugh each time I see how many Size 9 16 inch circular needles I have....what was I thinking back then? How long would it have taken to finish one hat before starting another one? (I see you nodding your head...right?) Well, a similar phenomenon is happening as I learn to spin. As I look at the silk I am spinning, and how much more there is to spin, I'm antsy to try to spin something else too....sort of like startitis of spinning, perhaps....

So I found these spindles on eBay (plus the squarish yarn gauge) however they do not have a notch on them....and that surprised me, as I've only spun with notched spindles. They make it easier for me to stop and start...... so I started to spin this black alpaca with silk.....ooooooooooooh, so soft.....

also started to spin this 50/50 merino and tencel (Rain City Fiber Arts) that I just purchased at our favorite local yarn shop, Serial Knitters.....this fiber is ooooooooooh, so soft as well...

.......do you detect a softness pattern here? Hey, did someone say, "pattern" - Is it a shawl???

Amazing Silk ~

I'm still enchanted by spinning this silk. The colors are amazing, and I'm able to let the drop spindle "spin" while I'm drafting some of the time.

Sometimes I even get the grist (thickness of the ply) small enough too. Check out all these colors!

I'm wondering how this will be to ply....into 2 ply (get it, to ply into 2 ply.....clever, eh???)

Smooth as Silk ~

After all the fun I had spinning and plying my first single of the Lornas Laces Rainbow, there was still 15 minutes left...so I asked my teacher if silk is difficult to spin. I received two beautiful hanks of tussah silk from Susan's Kitchen for Christmas from Marion, and it is so lovely!

In 15 minutes, this is what I started, with some good direction from our great teacher! I love my spinning lessons!

I'm hoping this will be a lovely shawl once I've spun and plyed it!

Which Rainbow ~

Sweet friend, the JitteryKnitter, found some Lornas Laces Rainbow super wash merino roving for me to practice my spinning. Since I loved-loved-loved the Lornas Laces Rainbow yarn she was using on the lovely shawl that ended up as my Christmas gift. When she found the Rainbow roving, she also gave me the rest of the Rainbow yarn and laughed that perhaps I could spin it to look just like the yarn....


Well, in spinning class this week, our wonderful teacher helped me figure out what I was doing wrong, as I couldn't ply my singles. She said that super wash is very slippery and I needed to give my singles more twist that I'd used with other roving....so I was back in business, but not quite back to my "getting better every time" spinning self...but not too bad, really....


As it really looks like yarn, doesn't it! Can you tell which one is my spinning...or is it memorex? :)

Expo Treasures ~

I found a few great treasures at the Sew Expo. From Roberta's store, Fibers Etc, I found this beautiful rayon metallic yarn to make my mum a clapotis scarf. There was a lovely sample there, and I think I can attempt the clapotis again!

The next treasure is merino & silk fiber from Carolina Homespun. I was so glad that they were at the Sew Expo - it was their first year, plus Morgaine taught a beginning drop spindle class (that I took!) to 4 different classes. I hope they come again next year! I fell in love with these pastel shades mixed in the creamy white... I can't wait to see how this spins!

I also found some merino & silk fiber from Vogue wholesale.

this is the same fiber that I've seen from Webs. I can't wait to spin this!

Horrible handspun ~

My first handspun is now made into a horrible scarf. The scarf, though horrible, delights me as I can see how I am improving as a spinner.

This is very exciting, and compells me to keep practicing.

I'll have to get more of this lovely yellow merino to spin when I can spin it into a lovely yarn, instead of this thick, thin and really thick handspun!