Saturday, May 24, 2008

Things of Beauty



I actually won a blog contest!....Theresa sent me some of her photo cards.....they are even lovelier in real life than they are on the computer.... Just quality. Thank you , Theresa!

Wisps of Summer

Spring comes in like wisps of summer.....





Spindle spun tussah silk single "Sangria Nights" by Spunky Eclectic, knitted into a little wisp of summer scarf on size 8 needles.


Friday, May 16, 2008

Black Norwegian, Ramboulliet, Bamboo Yarns


The outdoors and especially thoughts of tranforming our yard into a fruitful flowery paradise have still not managed to woo me away entirely from fibery pursuits.....Above is the Babydoll Southdown that I dyed in the wool, and am now in the process of carding.

Above, 150ish yards of Ramboulliet in Yarn or a Tale's "Wendy" colorway, spun up to make socks for Peace.

Nestled on top of some black Norwegian 3-ply that is the last of the yarns for my rug.

Below is 170 yards of two-ply bamboo spun from my natural dyeing last summer. I want to use this for my first project on the floor loom. Because it was missing some heddle bars, I have had to wait some time to use it. At last it is in working order, and soon it will be time to warp it....to that end, the bamboo has captured my attention this week....even though there is more to spin there is not enough for a scarf....so I will have to think of something small to make. Any ideas?




Friday, May 2, 2008

Bottom Whorl, Score 1



Two spindles, ready to wind off. Despite this poor little bottom whorl's disadvantage of having a pretty bead, it wins for the larger cop category. I have never been one who can deal with big cops, and some would say these look downright sickly, but the bottom whorl definitely lets me pack on a lot more singles while keeping a nice stable spin! :-) And that is a good thing.



Here is the finished yarn, 160 yards, from a polwarth-silk Abby batt. Yes, more lace. For in spring, a young spinner's heart turns to thoughts of lace.....

This was pure spinning pleasure. If you want a smooth even yarn, get your hands on some of Abby's batts. (Spunky Eclectic and The Spinning Loft both carry them now, but they go fast....)
I was privileged enough to watch her card a batt after the class last month, and let me tell you, she is one particular, relentless carder. :-)


Verity's Second Yarn





Here are my girls spinning. Verity's first yarn was not knittable, and so her goal was to make her second something she could knit. She succeeded quite well. In fact, she spun this so fine that I may have to teach her to knit lace. One cute little skein.