One Crazy Fiber Lady

The ramblings of a fiber-affected single mother of twins who makes a living as a code monkey

One Crazy Fiber Lady

Roundabout

August 28th, 2006 · 9 Comments

I know I already posted today, but I just had to post this with more and better pictures.  Not to mention that I’m entering into another spinning phase.  Yes, they have a way of coming and going.  I spin quite regularly for a while and then don’t do it for far too long.  Well, we’re back into the upside of the spinning curve. 

I did have a short phase around my birthday when the Fricke E-spinner arrived.  A spinner I very much like.  I’m ever so glad that I ordered the click on/click off pedal for it.  It spins very well.  I just wish I had known when I ordered it that it wasn’t compatible with the majacraft woolee winder.  I’ll be getting the level wind flyer for it, just not immediately.. well not this week anyway (I just ordered a new video camera but that is fodder for another post).  I don’t remember what broke that nightly spinning phase, maybe it was the going away for the weekend that killed it and I just never got back to it. 

Recently though, I’ve been seeing a lot of beautiful spinning going on around blogdom and the siren’s song of the wheel has been in my head.  I’ve even made some fiber purchases including one that shall be the heart of this post.  Finally on Saturday during naptime, I flipped on the TV and caught a program on King Cotton on the History Channel.  There were many sections devoted to the history of the cotton textile industry and when I watched the evolution of the spinning process, I just couldn’t fight it any longer.  I pulled out my PB&J wheel, my first and beloved, the Lendrum Upright.  There was that reddish colonial roving that I bought at Modern Yarn still on the bobbin.  I did some quick weighing and found that I had approximately half the roving (there’s that half thing again) left in the bag.  Time to change bobbins if you ask me.  Over the course of the weekend, I finished up that roving, plied it and then skeined it off.  I’m pretty sure my niddy noddy is in one of the storage units waiting for construction to end (though it is unlikely to start prior to October as we need a variance before the permit can be issued).  I need to do some googling to see what the longest length is on the winder and then count the laps and do the math.  Yeah soon ;)

As always, click to embiggen the pictures…

Woolybuns_roving_1Anyway, all that was to empty the woolee winder bobbins for the Lendrum in preparation of this glorious fiber that I had ordered from Chris of Woolybuns fame.  What you see here (and it arrived today woo), is 6 wonderful ounces of Polwarth/Angora blend roving.  Not letting any moss grow under this stone, I broke out the wheel immediately upon closing the twins’ door.  Chris warned me that this stuff wanted to spin fine.  She’s absolutely right! 

I had a spool of standard sewing thread sitting nice and handy in my knitting gadget bag.  Yeah, I schlep it around for when I need to sew on one of the copious buttons I sew. 

SpoolUpclose


Um yeah, not so much.  Anyway, it did prove handy for showing the grist of this single.  The white thread is on the left and the single is on the right.

Bobbin This is how much I was able to spin in an hour.  Doesn’t look like much does it.  I’m thinking this 6 oz is going to take near forever. While a project designation for the resulting yarn might be a tad premature, I don’t think I’d be going out on a limb to predict a shawl for it.  Maybe a plain pi shawl.  Somehow I suspect I’ll have enough yardage ;)

Craft on!

Tags: Spinning

Full or Empty?

August 28th, 2006 · 10 Comments

Depends on how you look at things. I have a number of active projects right now and they all seem to be at some halfway point.

  • sundara calla lily socks: halfway through the leg portion on the second sock
  • schaeffer anne socks: dead even halfway point. One sock complete and the other is waiting to be cast on.
  • Dale monkey sweaters: the major knitting is done for Alex’s and awaiting the digging out of the sewing machine. One sleeve is done for Kat’s. Another half.
  • koigu socks: halfway through the foot of the first sock
  • alpaca shawl: reborn from ripping out the leaf lace and now half through the 14 repeats of the building chart of the swallowtail shawl. (btw, homey still doesn’t do nupps but will ignore them when I get that far)

I’m not entirely sure what to make of all this half stuff. Maybe that’s where my attention wanders and I am compelled to start something new.

We’re oh-so-close to the milestone now but haven’t quite hit it. Good thing as I wasn’t able to make it to Modern Yarn last week. Mom was recouperating from a bout with bronchitis and after a full day alone with the shorties was done for. While I pouted for a short time, I understood and took charge of my lego weilding munchkins. I did knit after they went to bed and finally finished the body for A’s sweater. I am going this week and will buy prizes then, stash just wouldn’t do for this now would it?

On a completely unrelated note, if anyone has a late model minivan could you give me some feedback as to your likes/dislikes/etc on yours. I’m comparison shopping for when my lease on the stupid Durango ends in November. The front runner right now is the Sienna.

Craft on!

Tags: Misc