Some of you may remember, when we were living in South Carolina, spinning was my method of dealing with migraines. I'd take a pill, cross my fingers, then turn on some music and hunker over the spinning wheel. That's what I've been doing for the last three months. (That and cranking out a really impressive amount of garter stitch.) So. Pretty pictures.
In progress is this:
It is "Pastel Rainbow Gradient" by Fiber Optic. It was dyed in one long color grade, and I spun it to keep it that way. It's as thin as possible, to make a lace weight... right now it's a single, because I'm sick of looking at it. Eventually I'll chain ply it to preserve the colors, and knit myself some kinda scarf thingie with it.
For practice, I spun this first.
It's from Yarn Hollow. I think the color is called "Third Eye". You get the idea. My MIL got this for Christmas.
This is a two-ply fractal spun lace weight, color "Iris" from Frabjuous Fibers. I used it to knit a shawl, but you can't see it yet 'cause it's a gift for a friend of mine. However, once she gets it, I am going to post three thousand pictures because it is AWESOME. I love when you pair the absolute perfect yarn with the perfect pattern, and it works. That's when knitting turns the corner into art. Or one of the times.
My last spinning project was for a pair of socks.
I split some Abstract Fibers superwash (I can't remember the color name, I was calling it Obnoxious Pink) lengthwise in half. Then I spun each half separately, and chain plied to make sure the colors would turn into stripes when knit up. I took these in to show the folks at the LYS today, and they were mistaken for commercially spun yarn. I'm calling that a win.
My current project looks like this at the moment:
This is another from Abstract Fibers, also called Iris. It's 50/50 silk and merino. I'm doing another fractal spin, and knitting another shawl like the one I knit for my friend. But I'm KEEEEEEEPING IT FOR MEEEEEEE this time. It's the tactile equivalent of a hot fudge sundae.
For Christmas, I gave my MIL a couple hanks of stuff I'd spun, and she was thrilled with it. Last night we all met for dinner, and she whipped this out in the restaurant to show me what she was doing with some of it:
That's two ply laceweight spun from superwash pencil roving dyed in the color "Catamaran" from Fiber Optic. (They do some of the most vivid colors I have ever seen.) She's knitting one of the scarves from Victorian Lace Today. She called me a couple days ago, to thank me for the yarn. And the book. And the needle she's using - I gave them all to her. We had a good laugh. ANOTHER ONE LURED TO THE DARK SIDE.
6 comments:
someday I'll spin as well as you. right now I'm just trying to figure out how to a) fit 2 oz on the damn spindle and b) spin it evenly without it breaking because of the change of weight of the spindle from all the fiber already added.
oh, right. What I meant to say was--that's gorgeous, and I can't WAIT to see the shawl, as well as your grandma's.
Tas, wind it off onto a toilet roll (empty) it it's too much for your spindle. Join another length like joining new fiber (does that make sense?)
Julie, wow!
I'm afraid of learning to spin; everybody gets consumed by it!
These colors are extraordinary: wow.
Did you get snow? We escaped the worst, but we have a lot.
all so pretty! can't wait to see what it all turns into.
You do beautiful stuff and its a gift to be an enabler. Keep up the good work in recruiting to the dark side.
my sister keeps wanting me to spin . . . she has five spinning wheels . . . I avoid the issue. See my theory is that I buy the fiber and she spins it (I got buffalo at the Great Lakes Fiber Fest that she spun up for me . . . its a whole heck of a lot cheaper than buying the stuff already spun).
Post a Comment