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...

It was a bit of a nothing weekend, since I didn't organise any coffee walks or anything else much. it just feels like we are waiting - next announcements changes come on the 23rd, when Vitoria will be 70 percent first vaxxed. I'm hoping we will be able to have park drinks, that's always a good time. I don't feel like I knit a lot this weekend, but I knit enough that I sliced open my finger! Nothing a bit of Roc Tape (gymnastics tape) couldn't fix. I also finished spinning the singles for the main colour of Waiting for Rain . I'm going to ply it with the black mohair. While spinning I've been watching Craftsy classes on dying and on spinning colour. I have learnt a lot already. The platform itself is very odd, all the classes seem to be original - from about 2014 and none of the attached PDF documents actually work.  But I've already had more that my three dollars worth, and there are a fair few more classes I want to do. 

I have finished the fifth bobbin for Leon's winter set. The last two bobbins are the trickiest, because I didn't have enough of any one fibre, so I've roughly blended 100 grams of I don't know what, with 100 grames of something that was already blended with silk. I'm  aiming for the final effect to be NOT stripped, but with the variety of different fibres I've thrown into the singles for this yarn, I'll just be satisfied if the final plied yarn has structural integrity, and doesn't end up looking like some weird, stripped bouclé yarn.

I've been spinning away on bobbin four for Leon's winter set, and I finished it today. This is no great achievement, since as you can see, this bobbin is less than half full. Also, I'm on leave for two weeks, and my intention is to spin every day, even if it's only for a few minutes.   Yesterday Romi Hill released her latest Oddments patterns, which are a headband/earwarmer and some mitts . I think they will work very well with this handspun for Leon's winter set. my intention is to add a top to the earwarmer, to make it into a beanie, use the stitch pattern to make a scarf and knit the mitts, at least, as written.

I finished the second bobbin of merino / possum for Leon's winter set. Right, now  off to spin the third bobbin, which is polworth and mulberry silk.

I finished the first bobbin for Leon's winter set 2014. It's a possum merino mix, and was surprisingly, an absolute joy to spin. The fibre looked a bit smooshed and compacted, but spun up in a sort of modified long draw, that meant I could largely spin one handed. It was actually a very quick spin, when I was working on it, but making the time to sit and spin has been a bit of an issue. But I realise I had better do so, since I have five more bobbins to fill and it must be done in time for me to knit Leon's winter set, so probably around March. Still, if I enjoy the other two fibres as much as I enjoyed spinning this one, that will be no hard ship at all.