Thursday, March 20, 2008

Adventures in SPINNING!

Yes, that's right. Spinning! And I love it. I officially have another hobby.

I started spinning Monday night, and didn't really stop until Wednesday evening (of course, I work during the day and didn't spin except for in the evenings). I couldn't get enough. I think I was so proud of myself that I could actually produce something decent that I couldn't stop.

Anyway, here are some shots of my first batch (Corriedale pencil roving from Crown Mountain Farms - a very generous gift from Leah):


(spun singles - notice the one on the right is much better...I spun that second!)



(after plying)


(the finished product!)


(a lil' swatch)

It was so much fun that I stayed up late into the night starting another batch. Here's what came out of that:


I wish I could tell you how many yards of this and how many ounces it is, and how many wraps per inch, etc., but I'm just not that good yet. I love this stuff, though - it's Sakina Needles BFL in the Alpaca Dales colorway, and was very easy to spin. I may have ordered some more.

Lastly, I spun some Tussah Silk, which I really don't think I was ready for, but here's what I ended up with:


It's pretty horrid, but I couldn't resist - it was St. Patrick's Day.
In other news, I've taken a slight vacation from sock knitting, because I was working on a model for the shop:



This is Laura from Mission Falls' pattern book for 1824 Cotton called The Illustrator. It was a super easy knit, and I think it only took me two weeks of evening knitting. I think I was able to knit it so fast because I'm so used to knitting about a zillion tiny stitches for just one sock. Anyways, since I knit this and it was a success, you might be seeing more than socks on here for a little while at least. I am still knitting socks, though - albeit very slowly:

...just some plain ol' toe-ups using Araucania Ranco Multy - this yarn rocks!
Smiles,
Erin

6 comments:

Leah said...

Congrats on making your first yarn..and great job too! It is a great feeling.

Kim U said...

OMG, a sweater! It looks great. And the spinning is really impressive. Will probably stop in @ the Haus Saturday, see you if you're there!

Nyxxie said...

How did you learn to spin? I have had a wheel for about 3 years and I cannot spin at all on it. I really want to learn though. I am just down the hwy from you in Murfreesboro.

Erin said...

I love spinning! It sort of makes me feel like I could do the whole thing, wool to wear, so to speak! Congrats on starting to spin, it looks like you're a natural!

Anonymous said...

The yarn is gorgeous - I really love the yarn you made from the pencil roving - just beautiful! Great sweater - I'll have to check out the pattern!

Senora Fuerte said...

Hey, I think I just bought that same Ranco colorway on my trip to Vegas... might have to break that bad boy out next, looks even better than I would have thought! :)