Spinnin' Like a Villain...

I have been having so much fun spinning this week! It's been a good in-between for me as I decide where to go with projects to work on. I have done about 3 oz. of one of the 4 oz. bundles I bought and I love it. One of my singles was getting a little squirrel-y on the "bobbin" I had it on (and by "bobbin" I mean pencil.) I decided to ply it last night, so I watched many, many videos on plying on a drop spindle to decide what type of ply to use and how to do it.

I opted to make an Andean bracelet to create a center-pull ball, and it was definitely interesting. My singles were all pretty over-spun so they kept wrapping back on themselves and getting tangled, but slowly but surely I finished plying. What I was most happy about was how consistent the color changes ended up! I'm thinking that might have been a fluke and I probably won't have that happen again so I will have to alternate mini-skeins when I knit it up to make it look consistent, but for now I'm enjoying just admiring how beautiful it all looks on the spindle. I plan on spinning the last ounce before I ply any more, then ply all that up and then doing the other 4 oz. Eventually (thinking January) this will hopefully become a hat and mittens.

(Andean Bracelet, taken at night so sorry about the bad light coloring)

Spinnin' All My Troubles Away....

I have really been enjoying using the drop spindle I picked up last week at one of my local yarn stores. $10 for a spindle and some sample roving? You bet! I finished that roving up in a couple of days, plied and all, and went to my favorite LYS to pick up some Corriedale roving. I got 8 oz, which now seems like an awful lot, but I figure it will make enough for me to knit a hat and mittens or something nice and useable. This roving is by the Woolen Mill St. Yarns Spinning Fiber in the colorway Juliette Jules. I love it, it's so pretty with it's constantly changing blues and pinks and greys. I have finished about an ounce so far, and I'm still learning a lot. I like to spin tight and fine, mostly because I also like to knit with fine yarns. My yarn still definitely has some bumps and inconsistent pieces but it's getting much better than even when I started just last week. I am going to try some chain plying to make the colors a bit more consistent when they knit up, we'll see how it all goes though!

Lots to Share....

...but it will have to wait.In the meantime, enjoy this photo of a gem I picked up today at my LYS.