Sarah's Journal » Spinning

Fiber Festival Loot!

Sarah — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 00:52:53 +0000

As today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, here are my “spoils of war” from the Fiber Festival:

All that and a bag of chips...er, maple cotton candy, that is.

Let’s see…clockwise-ish from top left:

* Patterns from various vendors.
* A “headache pillow” made from lavender & flax seed from Cherry Hill Quilters.
* Blue/green fiber is 4 oz. of Polworth from Fuzzy Bunny.
* Two skeins of Panda Sock in “Black Cherry” from Spinning Bunny.
* Cinnamon leaf handmade soap from Maggie’s Farm.
* Orange/purple-ish fiber peeking out from the back is 4 oz. of Falkland in “Autumn Sunset” from Spinning Bunny.
* Cute little floral bag is also from Cherry Hill Quilters.
* White fiber with streaks of brown/orange/pink is 8 oz. of Blue Face Leicester/silk blend from High Bid Farm.
* Adorable little white ceramic sheep is from…I can’t remember!
* Pink/brown fiber is 4 oz. of BFL/silk blend in “Chocolate Boxes” from Fiber Fancy.
* Brown curly sheep is from Cherry Hill Quilters.
* Blue-green lace yarn is alpaca/silk laceweight (plus coordinating beads) from Ellen’s 1/2-pint Farm (a kit to make the Starry Starry Night shawl shown in front pattern.)
* Two natural lip balms, Ginger Peach and Berry Plum from Fuzzy Bunny.
* And last, but not least, Chai soap also from Fuzzy Bunny.

So many new goodies! I can’t wait to finish a few things on the needles & wheel so I can start playing with it all!

Rhinebeck, 2008

Sarah — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 15:14:05 +0000

We took a whirlwind trip to Rhinebeck over the weekend (we left Saturday afternoon and came back late last night…or early this morning, depending on your point of view!) I was determined not to buy anything to spin, as I haven’t spun anything I got at Hemlock yet, and I have to confess that most of what I bought last year at Rhinebeck is also waiting patiently in my stash. However, I did buy yarn. I’ve decided this must be the year of the sock and lace weight yarns, as I seem to be running out of needles in the 2 mm to 3.5 mm range.

Someday I’ll manage to take some pictures of the pretty things I came home with!

Never Too Late

Sarah — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:07:17 +0000

This is my great, great Aunt Amy learning to spin. She turned 90 almost two years ago. I hope I got her genes, and that I’m still learning new things 60 years from now!

Fiber Festival ’07 Loot!

Sarah — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 03:04:25 +0000

Here’s what I got at the festival:

At the top of the basket, two bean soup mixes from Healthy Sisters’ Soup & Bean Works and one of two 4 oz. hanks of hand-painted merino from High Bid Farms (the other is already half spun on my wheel – which is at the shop or I would have included the bobbin in the picture.)

The big plastic bag on the right is a sampler fiber pack from Spinning Bunny, in the “Roses for You” colorway. I thought it might be a good idea to try spinning a small amount of a variety of fibers before committing to, say, a merino/tencel spin-your-own socks kit. (Was very, very, very tempted by that sock kit.)

The bottom center of the basket has a 4 oz. ball of gray Jacob wool from High Bid Farms and a hand-made sheep ornament. I wanted something less colorful to spin on my drop spindle for practice.

The left side of the basket has two 4 oz. balls of alpaca/merino/silk from Spinning Bunny. Couldn’t pass on these, the colorway (Autumn Sunset) and that particular blend of fibers was too much to resist.

The center of the basket contains a hand-hooked sheep pin, gray (how exciting) cotton/bamboo sock yarn (so that I can finally make Denis a pair of socks that fit and don’t contain wool), and my Bosworth drop spindle with some of the Jacob wool. Also, there are two wood tools: first, a diz from Millpoint Emporium. I’ve never used a diz, nor am I entirely sure why I’d want one, except that I have a weak spot for exquisitely crafted wood tools. Which leads me to the last item: a nostepinne my dad made from Cocobolo wood…and that I may have gushed over so much that he had no choice to give it to me. He made others to sell in our booth, but mine’s the nicest. ;) Here are the others he’s made so far:

All in all, a bit more than I’d usually buy at a festival, but since I’m actively spinning some of my new fiber already I’m not feeling particularly guilty. Oh, and not shown: a black & white sheepdog stuffed animal to go with Carrie’s sheep and llama from previous years.

There’s a small chance that I’ll actually make it to Rhinebeck next month, and if I’ve spun that merino/tencel sample successfully and Spinning Bunny is there…I’m so getting myself a spin-your-own socks kit!

A Very Crafty Update

Sarah — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 20:02:09 +0000

Apparently, a shawl I knit four years ago has generated some interest at Knitting Daily. How exciting! But when I clicked the link to my own page, I realized that all of my actual current projects weren’t even mentioned on my current projects list. So, without further ado, here are my current projects:

Clue #1 and the first 20 rows of Clue #2 of the Mystery Stole #3:

It’s really hard to take a nice picture of unblocked lace, so excuse the lumpiness. Maybe next time I’ll at least pin it out!

The Tango baby sweater:

This poor sweater gave up its needles for the sake of the mystery stole, but I’m happy to report that I got another set in the mail today, so there’s hope for it yet! Now if only there were knitting elves that would knit that ever-so-exciting second sleeve for me so it could actually get done before the baby outgrows it, that would be great!

Carrie’s “summer” sweater, Reid:

Ahem. Yes, I’m aware that summer is a good portion of the way done, and that Carrie is growing quickly, and that I made this a size that would fit her this year and most likely not next. No, I don’t know what I was thinking. I’m going to knit on in denial and trust that I can block it bigger if need be.

Never fear, sockpal, lombard street sock #2 is ready for the heel turn:

I’m working steadily past my second sock syndrome symptoms. I have to admit, I still get a thrill out of each cable row, so it’s something of an encouragement to knit the other seven slightly-less-exciting rows in each repeat.

And finally, here’s the tiny 20-yard skein of my smooshy pink yarn, all balled up and ready to be swatched:

Carrie was quite enchanted by my nostepinne, I think because it’s such a fun word to say!

Whew! See, I really can blog about things that are not related to potty training! ;)

Pink Smooshy Yarn

Sarah — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 01:30:40 +0000

Check out the pink smooshy yarn I made!

It’s pretty darn bulky all plied up – around 9 or 10 wpi depending on where you measure, as I’m not the most consistent spinner yet. I wound up with 188 yards split into two skeins about 84 yards apiece and a tiny skein of 20 yards – one bobbin was more full than the other, so I had to split the remainder in half and ply that together. So, I could probably manage a hat and scarf for Carrie at, what, 3 or 4 stitches per inch? That should be quick, and warm!

The yarn is currently drying out from its bath, after which I’ll use that 20 yard skein for some swatching. I’ve never knit anything from my own hand spun yarn. This is very exciting!

Oh, and I treated my completely unfinished wheel to a coat of walnut oil today with my dad’s help. It looks absolutely gorgeous now – the oil really brought out the grain of the wood!

Addicted.

Sarah — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 20:30:16 +0000

This past Saturday, my mom and I went to the spinning guild meeting. I have to confess, after all of the excitement of learning how to spin, discovering that the spinning guild meets in my town and being given a wheel of my own, spinning kind of fell off the map in terms of my hobbies.

I think I may have figured out why – well, aside from the fact that in the intervening years I’ve had a small person take up a lot of my time. I wasn’t spinning the right kind of stuff. Everyone says to start with Blue Face Leicester, because it has such a long staple length and it’s really easy to spin. I bought some (OK, a lot) and didn’t like spinning it.

On the other hand, I seem to have no problem with shorter staple lengths – like this absolutely scrumptious shetland/alpaca blend I bought at the guild meeting. Those four ounces you see on that bobbin there? I had spun it all between Saturday afternoon and Monday evening. I’d estimate there are maybe three hours of spinning on that bobbin, and it’s (relatively) even.

I just wrote a check to drop in the mail to the seller so she could send me the second four ounce ball of this roving she had in her basket. I’m planning to ply them and knit something for Carrie – maybe a new hat and scarf for winter? Eight ounces of worsted-ish ought to be plenty for those and maybe an extra hat or two to donate, right?