in my greatest week yet of procrastinating, i added a fab new item to my wardrobe. i purchased 8 ounces of roving to practice using the spinning wheel, but i got the hang of it before the roving arrived. so...there i was, alone in the house for a whole week, with only my incomplete dissertation to keep me company. what is one to do? make yarn of course!!! i decided to try spinning a thick yarn for some sense of satisfaction in actually being able to complete a task. as new spinners, we pride ourselves on being able to produce almost-impossibly thin singles, but sometimes, you want something with a bit of weight to it. problem is, you start thick, but habit and practice kicks in, and the end of the yarn is about half the width of the beginning. i have not fully mastered the technique, so there are thin spots here-and-there, which actually adds a bit of homey charm. the finished product is about 14-15 wraps-per-inch. not exactly chunky by normal standards, but much thicker than my previous efforts. it was so satisfying to spin three full bobbins in an evening of TV watching which required no plying. i let this new yarn sit on the bobbins till the following day so the twist would have some time to set. trust me, this is a worth wile practice in patience.
i recently obtained 6 jars of Jacquard acid dyes [which should make my sweetie-pie think twice about making bets with me in the future!]. i space-dyed the yarn using random splashes of
burnt orange,
chestnut, and
periwinkle. the periwinkle was mostly lost in the fray, but it did produce a few interesting blue-greyish splotches. to be absolutely honest, i was frightened when i first looked at the dyed yarn. i thought i'd made a HUGE error in color choice, and i strongly considered dyeing the whole batch a single dark color to hide my shame. while i was pondering this option, my attention suddenly turned to thoughts of lace knitting [there is nothing like procrastination to fuel the imagination]. i found tons of interesting patterns to add to my collection, but i decided to give the scary yarn a chance at the
Halley's Comet Hat - a great beginner lace knitting project. i will let the result speak for itself...
i recently obtained 6 jars of Jacquard acid dyes [which should make my sweetie-pie think twice about making bets with me in the future!]. i space-dyed the yarn using random splashes of burnt orange, chestnut, and periwinkle. the periwinkle was mostly lost in the fray, but it did produce a few interesting blue-greyish splotches. to be absolutely honest, i was frightened when i first looked at the dyed yarn. i thought i'd made a HUGE error in color choice, and i strongly considered dyeing the whole batch a single dark color to hide my shame. while i was pondering this option, my attention suddenly turned to thoughts of lace knitting [there is nothing like procrastination to fuel the imagination]. i found tons of interesting patterns to add to my collection, but i decided to give the scary yarn a chance at the Halley's Comet Hat - a great beginner lace knitting project. i will let the result speak for itself...
