Fresh Off the Wheel

I'm in the midst of a summer cold which has settled into my head in these last few days of August.  So, sitting here in my favorite chair (one of those Poang Ikea bent wood chairs in case you're wondering) resting, I look over to my spinning wheel and the half finished yarn being plied and I think "I have enough energy for that".  I then sit and pedal my way through finishing the skein of yarn.  It's a lovely blend of merino wool, which is the white ply, and a plant dyed mixed fiber batt in pastel  tones.  The skein came out a worsted weight with only about 140 yards.  It's destiny will be knitted cats and gnomes I think as I'm just not quite ready yet to sell my yarn as well, yarn.

 

This is the completed yarn wound on my Ashford Jumbo Flyer Bobbin.

 

And here it is wound on to a Niddy Noddy.  I count how many wraps to determine yardage.

  

Lastly you see it wound into a skein form.  Lots of winding in making yarn!

Now the yarn is still not ready to knit with and must go through a soak with a little soap to set the twist and let the fibers "bloom" or puff out so to speak.  Then I'll rinse it and hang it dry.  When it's dry I'll take the skein and place it onto a swift and use my ball winder to wind it into a center pull ball ready for knitting.  After I started spinning yarn I have deep appreciation for the amount of effort goes into each skein.  Of course, mainly machines do these tasks now, but still the amount of steps really is amazing.

Joining Linda on Creative Friday on a Thursday :)