Way back when Sock Summit came to Portland I decided that I wanted to learn to spin. Student loan budgets being what they are, I decided to learn on a drop spindle. I bought the spindle and some fiber that looked pretty.
I didn't get to far with it though... I had a hard time getting a hang of drafting while the spindle was spinning and was getting frustrated. I later learned that Targhee (that's what the fiber was) is knowing for being trickier to draft and isn't the best "learning" fiber. I set it aside for a long time and pretty much gave up on spinning.
Then in August I got the idea into my head that I would tie up all my loose end projects. I got the spinning back out to finish it. Something clicked this time, and I blew through all the fiber and wanted more.
The end result is certainly not perfect, but it was quite fun to make.
This is 3 0z. (I used one oz to make thrummed mittens) of 100% Targhee wool. It ranges it weight from super bulky in places down to light fingering in others.
The color is much more like the top photos, a happy pink rather than the muted coral of the last picture.
At that point I pretty much decided that I was hooked on spinning and I jumped into the deep end and bought this:
That is a Babe Fiber Arts Fiber Starter Double Treadle Spinning Wheel. I bought it on eBay. It is made of PVC pipe and a wheelchair wheel. It is perfect for me. Cheap, easy to use and maintain, and pretty near indestructible. The cats have not been able to do any perceptible damage even though they are completely obsessed with the wheel. The wheel came with 8 oz of mystery wool fiber which I promptly spun up. It's way over-spun in some places and pretty thick and thin but it was great fun to make. I'm sure I'll just knit something to felt that way it won't show. I've been stashing fiber ever since.
Last weekend was the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival and I somehow managed to convince Ryan that it would be a good idea to take time away from our law school studies to drive an hour over to Canby and spend the whole afternoon looking at yarn and fiber. I think Ryan was expecting a few tables with a few piles of yarn on them since he still has a hard time believed that there are actually people in this world that get super excited over yarn and fiber. It was glorious. Every building of the Canby fairgrounds was packed with booths and the entire lawn/picnic area was covered with outside booths as well. There was easily 250 vendors present. I walked away with a fantastic new fiber stash and, this is the most amazing part, I only spent $75! Yeah for local products!
These are each 4 oz of 70% Merino and 30% Tussah Silk. The top picture is colorway Sea Mist and the bottom picture is colorway Red. This fiber is fantastic. I've heard the phrase "drafts like butter" bandied about on the Ravelry forums but with my Targhee experience I never really believed it... until now.
This is only my second wheel-spun project and it's so even. It's drafting down to almost lace weight. I don't know if I'll ply it or just work with it as a single, it's spinning so evenly it would work well as a single and I would have more yardage. I love the subtlety of this color. "Mist" is the perfect word for it.
This is 4 oz of 70% Merino 30% Tencel blend. The picture makes it look like its silver and that's because it is. Yeah, that's right, SILVER yarn. I don't know how the dye looks so metallic, but it's wonderful.
This is dyed by the same woman. It's 4 oz of 70% Merino 30% Yak. That's right, Yak. It's wonderful. It's harder to draft than the Merino/Silk but easier than the Targhee was. It's on my spindle now. I don't have a picture of it because it lives at Ryan's house so that I have a project to work on when I'm there. Ryan seems to understand that having something for me to work on at his place is necessary for keeping me sane.
This is 8 oz of 60% alpaca 40% wool. It's super soft and I love the earthy colors. This will be interesting to spin since I've never spun from a bat before, only roving.
These are 4 oz each of Blue Faced Leicester. They were $5 each. Amazing deal. I love the colors. They will make something fun to wear during the bleak Portland winters
This is so shiny it's impossible to get a picture of it. It's the softest thing I've ever felt in my life. It's 2 oz of pure silk. I don't think I'll be able to get any real yardage out of it, so I don't know what I'll do with it, but it's worth it just to feel the fiber.
I haven't really don't much knitting. I've finished one project since my last post... (and I can't even show it to you since it was a test knit and the pattern hasn't been released yet.) I have several projects that will only take an hour or two to finish but I can't bring myself to do the boring bits like weaving in ends, sewing on buttons, ribbing, etc. Hopefully, I'll get something off the needles this week that I can show you.
