What I made, by Sharon

  Just before we left for our long weekend away I grabbed my Turkish spindle and the oldest yarn in my stash and got spinning. Spindle spinning might be very slow (for me), but it's also very portable. I got this little turtle done over that, and the next, weekend away. I'm spinning it thin, and I'll probably three ply it, for socks or a shawl. Really, it's more about the process. In wheel spinning I am more about the product! I've just finished the second bobbin. I have two more to go, but they are actually a bit smaller than the first two. I am spinning this with an end in mind ( The Traveler pattern by Andrea Mowry ) which is sport weight. I suspect this will vary from light fingering to DK, and it feels like I'll have enough yardage, but I won't know for sure until I'm done. I was worrying about that to Leon the other day and he said "But are you having a lovely time?". Yes I am, and even if it doesn't work with this jumper, I'm mak...

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago , my Moosie was on it's way. And now it's here: I cannot describe how beautiful it is, and my meagre photography skills certainly fail to capture it! It's 33 grams, with a tulip wood shaft. It's pin balanced, and spins so beautifully. The weight of it makes it ideal for making light fingering yarn, which is perfect for shawls. The fist project I'm working on with it is is a EGMTKs merino/seacell blend, that I bought a couple of Bendigos ago.   I'm finding I'm taking a spindle out with me where ever I go, which is not something I traditionally do, but I'm trying to minimise the knitting, in order to ensure my arms finish getting better. If I'm going to be completely honest, I'm not sure that spinning is a whole lot better than knitting, but Leon's vest is just too big to carry around. One of the few advantages of not carrying knitting around with me is that instead of carrying the big blue bag I...

I made a colourwork hat to match the Wollmeise mitts I finished a couple of weeks ago: The pattern is the Cat's Eye Tam by Mary Jane Mucklestone. I changed the fairisle part to match my vagabond mitts and am very happy with how they look together. I love the crown decreases and I love the fact they worked: I knit the second half of this project on a very long work trip to Wangaratta. The train was delayed and I knew I was too tired to knit, but that didn't stop me, so I was pleased that the very clever decreases came together properly. Then yesterday I got a package in the mail: My 63 gram Bosworth Morado plying spindle. I think it's so pretty, kind of like 1960s furniture, and it spins amazingly. Despite the weight of it I can make quite a fine thread, although I suspect I will only use this one for plying, since I have my beautiful Bids Eye maple spindle for spinning singles on: Here's a gratuitous shot of the two of them together: I'm spinning for socks, and ...

I finished the dyed by me merino that I was spinning on my Ist Turkish spindle . I loved spinning of the Turkish. I didn't love the plying. I won't mention the maker of my plying spindle, but it was quite badly designed and the edge was bevelled and thin, and after a couple of falls the edge has started to sort of flake away. I'm not that sad though, because I have a Bosworth Maxi in the mail. I love the stripes and how they came out. This was originally intended for socks, but came out way to thin. I got 472 meters from 90 grams and am going to make a Romi Hill shawl. I seem to do a lot of spinning for Romi Hill shawls, but I need to actually knit them. As soon as I finished plying I started spinning on my never been used Bosworth Birdseye Maple mini. I love both the spindle and the fibre, which is a EGMTKs superwash merino / nylon blend, which I dyed myself. Both the spindle and fibre are pure joy.

Saying goodbye to Nicola was hard and sad, but the process of saying good bye to her has been a lot of fun. I even crossed the river to have drinks in Northcote. And I'm not making it up when I say that there was a cannon pointing at us when we did! And then knit night last night was really fun. The only problem was that when I went to leave, I put my key in my bike lock and it broke! Tony, who runs the café had a ladder and he stood on it, we passed him up the bike and he lifted it over the parking sign to which I had locked it. Nicola, please don't take that as your abiding memory of me. Remember me being graceful and wearing decent clothes, not having a minor drama in lycra. On the weekend I finally dyed for a project I have been planning for a long time: Blackrose socks from Knitty I've actually tried to spin these before, but on the wheel and the yarn came up short and a bit harsh. I'm going to spin this this three ply on my new Bosworth Spindl...

Now that I am enjoying my spindles as well as the wheel, I decided I wanted a turkish spindle. They are rim weighted, so they spin slower, but forever. And, since they have no hook they are sturdy enough to throw in the bag and go... I hope. This is my my brand new Ist spindle, made of Brazillian Kingwood and so beautiful. I just want to hold it and stroke it and carry it around with me. It's not teeny tiny, weighs in at 23 grams and will, I hope, be perfect for sock wool. My first project on it will be to fractal spin some slightly felted wool I dyed for socks. Here it is all prepared for spinning. (The colours are super bright, but don't look quite like this). I have started, just to play, but am going to finish the yarn for my mothers shawl before I dedicate myself to this little beauty.

I haven't knit since Thursday. Partly by design, and partly due to the large amounts of alcohol consumed on the weekend. I have been spinning though. I've just finished the singles for Vinelle - I've taken Friday off work so I can get it all plied up this weekend. Having made the decision not to take my knitting to the pub on Saturday - partly due to a desire to rest my hands, but mainly because I am doing a chart on the cardigan I am working on, and it wouldn't have mixed well with a social, beer filled afternoon- I took my spindle. This is the lace weight that I am going to ply with some Wensleydale that I am going to spin next, on the wheel: It's actually lots of different colours, although you can't see that because the outer wrapping is all gold. I'm loving using the spindle again. Walking around, taking it with me, the whole act of spindling I find very freeing. I'm having so much fun I ordered a Turkish spindle from Ist , which should be arr...