Meet My New Spinning Wheel

 

I finally found a used Lendrum spinning wheel on Craigslist after searching for two years!  My first spinning wheel was an Ashford Traditional which I added a double treadle to as I had horrible rhythm with the single treadle.  It was a nice wheel and while I enjoyed spinning on it just wasn't a good fit to our tiny house and boy was it hard to carry to classes.  I tried a Lendrum at my first spinning class at The MN Textile Center in St. Paul and loved it utterly and completely, but the price put it out of my reach. Then a few weeks ago I found one on CL for a price I could afford and it is a perfect match.  She fits sweetly in a corner, spins beautifully and it's a breeze to fold her up and take her with me.  I turned around and sold my Ashford wheel with all her accessories which amazingly covered the cost of the new wheel - yay! 

 To try her out I finished spinning the second ply of some BFL fiber I purchased from the lovely ladies at Friends in Fiber.  The colorway is Antique Tapestry and is a rich array of copper, brown and teal.  I then plied the two singles together using the Bulky head flyer (which is a breeze to switch out) to a DK/light worsted weight yarn.  I cast on right away for the Spiral Cowl which you see above.  It was a fun knit as I learned something new - how to do a picot edge cast on and bind off, and the spiral lace pattern that makes up the middle section was a breeze to knit and very relaxing.  I even got to use one of the handmade buttons from Wooly Moss Roots that I salvaged from a failed project .  It's made of walnut which matched the cowl's colors beautifully.

Currently, I'm spinning the fiber I got from Shepard's Harvest from Three Sisters Farm and Fiber which I talked about here.  It is practically spinning itself into a very fine ply.  I purchased 8 oz. of fiber which gives me enough to make a 3 ply yarn with a good amount of yardage I think.  I really love 3 ply handspun yarn as it's so round and pleasant to knit with.  I'm only sneaking in time at the wheel when I take a break from knitting my Hubbie's cabled vest so progress is slow and I'm only on the very beginning of the second ply.  This yarn's fate will be a cowl I think as it is so, so very soft and well, I love simply love cowls - so cozy!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.

A Fun Experiment

 

It all started with my seeing this yarn from Folktale on Etsy; I instantly fell in love with the "scrappy" nature of the skein and the "pops" of color.  Color, if you're in a cold climate like here in MN, is hard to come by during the dark winter months and I simply crave it on a truly physical level.  Thus, I thought I'd try my hand at spinning some of my own scrappy yarn with lots of colors to fed my need.  Friends in Fiber's shop carries  Ashland Bay merino wool in a plethora of colors, which are also pretty inexpensive, but the quantities were much too big if I wanted to purchase all the colors I desired.  So, I inquired if they would sell me just 1/2 ounces of each of the 28 colors I wanted and they happily agreed much to my satisfaction.  Really they are lovely ladies and I have been so happy with all of my purchases from them, they have unparallelled  customer service skills.  You should give their shop a try.

Well, the fun began when all the colors arrived in the mail and I began sorting them out and matching them up.  In my first attempts I tried for a random look, but I wasn't really liking how my colors got muddied and diminished in brightness.  Which brought me to the colorway you see above that has more of a gradient/rainbow effect (Me liking rainbows - shocking I know.)  The colors stayed bright and flowed nicely into one another just as I wanted.  I used 16 colors total per pair of mitts and with 14 ounces of wool I got almost 7 fingerless mitts (I'm missing just 2 colors for the last pair.)  They are all listed here in my shop for you to peruse.  

I focused mainly on the colors I like blues, greens, yellows, oranges and browns, but if they sell well I'm going to try my hand at mixing in some reds, pinks, purples and greys.  You would think it would get boring to make the same mitts over and over again, but the color changes really make it so fun for me and the surprise of how it all turns out upon completion is wonderful.  

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Sunshine on a Cloudly Day

I'm not really a big fan of yellow, but when I saw this plant dyed yellow batt called "Daffodil" in Judy's shop I felt compelled to purchase it.  Something about it really called out to me and I think it was that it reminds me so much of the warm bright sun of summer which I sorely miss at this time of year.  It also reminded me of this post I read a while ago on Tonya's blog about how there are so many plants which give us yellow dye and her thoughts that maybe wearing yellow sweaters would help us think of the warm months to come.  Well, I really liked that thought of wearing yellow to cheer oneself through the darker months here in the north, thus for a change this yarn is intended for me and not my shop.

Now, I only had a few ounces of the yellow wool so I needed to ply it with something else to make a good sized skein.  I've been wanting an angora hat for a while and found I still had some angora/wool roving that could flesh out the yellow nicely.  The angora is a soft dove gray which got me thinking about how the roving looked like a fluffy gray cloud waiting to be spun as it sat pooled at my feet.  Then I thought what a nice juxtaposition of clouds, which are the mainstay of winter, and sunshine, the mainstay of summer.  Needless to say I'm happy with my lumpy, fluffy, squishy "Sunshine on a Cloudy Day" skein of yarn.  Oh, in case you were wondering it came out to be 250 yards of DK/worsted weight.  I've already begun knitting this hat making just a few modifications, but more on that in another post. 

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday and Andrea for Fibre Arts Friday.

From Beginning to End - A Hat and Mitten Story

 

I thought I'd show you a picture story of taking fiber to yarn to finished knitted project today.  The beginning starts with some luscious fiber I purchased from Jakira Farms on Etsy.  The vibrant orange/red roving is a blend of Alpaca, Merino Wool and Silk and the soft tan roving is Alpaca mixed with Romney Wool.  I spun singles of each on my Ashford Traditional spinning wheel and plied them together; which is my way of stretching the more expensive dyed fiber to more yardage.  I can't find my note where I wrote down my yardage, but I made enough DK weighted yarn to knit a Rikke Hat by Sarah Young, a pair of Classic DK Mittens in Six Sizes by Joan Janes with enough left over for a small project I'll show you in another post.

The exciting accident the occurred was that this yarn matched a scarf I purchased in Italy about 10 years ago.  I never wear the scarf as had no hat or mittens to match, and I am that kind of matchy matchy person that needs a coordinated set to feel comfortable, but I loved the scarf too much to give it away.  So now it has been pulled from the closet in the bedroom where it languished for a decade to the front closet cubbies where we keep our hats, scarves, mittens and gloves.  I couldn't be happier with the results of this hat and mitten set and getting to finally use a much loved scarf

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On. 

Copycat Cowl

I was inspired to spin this yarn by The Yarn Harlot's post "One for you, one for me?" on this past January 21st.  She spun this beautiful gradient yarn that shifted from purple to pink to a greenish gold.  Those are not my colors, but the long color change, instead of my usual self striping, was so intriguing.  She knit the pattern Zuzu's Petals, a cowl that gives the impression of a draped lace shawl, with a few mods to use up her large skein of fingering yarn.  

Searching for a gradient roving of my own led me to Friends of Fiber's shop on Etsy.  There I found this beautiful BFL combed wool top in blues, teals and greens which are very much my colors.  It was delivered on Saturday early afternoon and by dinner time it became the skein you see above.  Same as Stephanie McPhee, I hate to wait until the next day for my singles to relax to ply my yarn.  Instead, I just jumped in and finished.  I am so thrilled with the results which amounted to 200 yards of a worsted weight yarn.  It' now had a bath and is currently drying on the back of my spinning chair so I can admire it.  And let me tell you I'm trying ever so hard to be patient and not wind it into a ball until tomorrow morning.  But you can bet  will be winding it as so as I wake up and will cast on while sipping my morning cup of tea.    

Joining in (late) with Linda for Creative Friday.

Fresh Off the Wheel - Pastel Rainbow Dreams

 

Winter is long here in Minnesota and I am just craving color like my black lab Easy craves raw hide bones.  I turn to fiber to find the color I desperately need at times like these so fresh off the wheel this week is more rainbows of the pastel variety.  I thought a photo progression would be fun: fiber, single ply on the bobbin, double ply on the bobbin, finished product close up, wound and finally skeined.  The rainbow fiber was special ordered through Judy of Mamajude on Etsy and is a mix of domestic sheep's wool that has been naturally dyed with plants.  The gray ply is some heavenly fiber I purchased at last year's Yarnover event hosted by the Minnesota Knitters' Guild of baby lama.  It was so soft and drafted with such ease that if it wasn't for the price I would spin it ALL the time.  Lama is a weighty fiber with a lovely drape giving the rather plain jane sheep's wool a little more character.  That said, it took twice as many ounces as the rainbow fiber to make the skein which turned out to be a whopping 6.3 ounces/180 grams at 216 yards/197 meters of Worsted to Aran weight. All in all a rather expensive hank of yarn, but oh isn't it beautiful?  It's listed for sale in my etsy shop, but I must admit I'm tempted to keep it for myself to just look and touch when I need a fix.

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

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 :)

Fresh Off the Wheel

I haven't had time in the last week to spin at my wheel due to being sick.  When sick I just don't have the focus I need for spinning.  So, last night I sat myself down and spun up the rest of my "A Wee Garden Path" batts from mamajudes.  That single along with another single of Blue Faced Leicester/Tussah Silk that I had spun earlier made more of the yarn that I used for this project.  Since I'm making mittens to match my mother's hat I thought I too would like matching mittens for my Mother's Day hat.

Here is the yarn on my niddy noddy which is used to wind the yarn from the spinning wheel bobbin into a skein.  Please excuse the dark photo; it's rather gloomy here in MN this morning.

 

And here is the yarn wound into a skein.  Next, I just need to soak it in water to set the twist, hang it to dry and lastly wind it on my ball winder.  Then I'm ready to start knitting this pattern!

 

 I chose a simple plain mitten pattern as the yarn itself is really the focus.  What are you up to on this Friday morning?

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday

Mother's Day Hat

In my previous post I showed you the yarn I spun for my mother's hat.  Well, I thought I'd show you my progress thus far.  The pattern I choose was slow going at first with lots of  little cables (of course this may be because I was using a smooth and slippery darning needle as my cable needle) but now it's clipping right along in stockinette stitch on size 9 needles.  Maybe I'll even finish it tonight, a whole day ahead of Mother's Day!  Woohoo!

 

Knitting with my own yarn really is a pleasure.  I think this is going to be a new trend for me.  Extending the knitting process by spinning the yarn I find really grounding.  I realized this past year I was consuming yarn at such a rapid pace that I would never get to it all, turning it all into a burden instead of a joy.  Having since sold off most of that yarn I feel lighter.  Now, instead of knitting just to knit and mindlessly consume, I am moving slower, thank you spinning wheel, and more thoughtfully to knit out of need.  This feels like a healthier balance for me.  So, now I want to start dyeing the fiber to stretch out the fun even more!

Joining in with Linda for Creative Friday.

Yarn for Mother

I have not been able to stop spinning yarn at my wheel!  The quiet that washes over me as I sit in front of my living room window quietly pedaling away with my bare feet while wool slides through my fingers - it's bliss!  This skein was finished just last night before I went to bed.  It's a blend of a plant dyed mixed wool and silk batt from mamajudes and some lovely gray wool angora roving I purchased at Yarnover from Angora Gardens.  It's intended for my mother to replace a hat I made for her for last mother's day.  She lost that hat at the dog park we think.  I can only hope someone else is treasuring it right now as opposed to it becoming a dog chew toy.  Ouch!  That previous hat was made specially to coordinate with my mom's sage green quilted jacket; a favorite for the "between" seasons.  So, when I saw the color of this batt I knew just what it was going to become - a new hat for that sage green coat.

 

My spinning results have been improving over the weeks, but I'm still not confident enough to sell it yet. Don't get me wrong I'm really pleased with my progress thus far; I just have high standards for myself.  Hopefully, soon I will be able to show you the new yarn tags my multi-talented and long time friend Emily is designing that I will use when I am ready to sell my handspun.  Now, I just have to wait for the yarn to completely dry from it's bath.  This is the hardest part!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On

Spinning into Spring

Well Spring has been quite elusive to us folks here in Minnesota.  Just last week I sent my son to school in snow pants due to the cold temps.  Today though is a different story of sunshine, soft breezes and warm 70 degree temperatures.  I thought I'd celebrate by spinning some Spring pastel colored yarn from a lovely wool and silk batt (plant dyed of course!) I purchased from mamajudes on etsy.  Here's a peek at my first single.  I might ply two of the pastels together or ply it with a strand of white merino. 

Has Spring sprung in your neck of the woods?  How are you celebrating?