Yet More Wool!
I undoubtedly bought the most fiber from Bountiful (see a snapshot of their booth in Monday’s post). There is an 8oz wool and Angelina blend in purple there, 8oz of a lambwool/angora blend from Louet in natural nearly white and an 8oz sampler of various color wool/Angelina blends. Most of these were marked down around 50% off and I got them so I’d have fiber I felt comfortable just practicing with. Though I have a feeling once I’m through the 8 oz sampler bag I’m going to be a bit tired of Angelina for a while, LOL!
~ .8 oz, 20 yds from Bountiful Grab Bag
Singles, Steam Set on Niddy Noddy
I had some issues while spinning these singles. One was that I was sitting in a rocker/glider in the basement with the wheel on carpet so I wasn’t treadling smoothly and evenly. Another was that DH was sitting right next to me doing a very poor job of pretending to read Harry Potter and instead staring *very* intently on my spinning and the last being that there was no form of distraction at all - no music or television so I was a little too intent upon the spinning process I think. But, over all, I’m pretty happy with these.
I did use our professional clothes steamer we got for Christmas to steam set the twist while it was on my niddy noddy. However, if I’m going to be using that technique much I think I’m going to want to build a PVC version as I don’t want to expose my gorgeous Cherry Wood one (pics later in the week) to that hot steam on a regular basis.
~1.2 oz, 30 yds from Bountiful Grab Bag
Singles, Wet Set (dried with a .8 oz weight)
This was much better! I moved to the back row of our stadium seating in the basement - a futon on a platform DH built and covered with left over Pergo. I also spun it when DH was not home and had the television on for a bit of distraction so I wasn’t overly intent upon my spinning and was more relaxed.
Because of the steam and the wood niddy noddy I wet set this and it did fluff considerably more than the steaming produced, but it didn’t even out my overtwist as much as the steam setting. There is also of course my lack of patience and the 24 hr dry time. Why that bothered me when I’m not up to using these singles anyway I’m not sure, LOL!
Speaking of using these singles - because they are from a grab bag there really aren’t long enough lengths of any of these fibers and I don’t care to ply the different colors together. But, I want something that properly uses these singles for posterity sake. I have a friend who is crocheting these gorgeous little bowls, but I’m thinking the singles are likely not bulky enough. But I was thinking that would make a lovely little project of my first singles. Anyone else have any suggestions?
OOOoooOO that second one is pretty!!
Comment by Jen — 6/22/2005 @ 2:37 pm
Welcome to The Spinning Wheel!
One thing I love to do with handspun singles is to knit little pouches.
They’re great for gifts, everyone seems to love receiving them.
Comment by Joni — 6/22/2005 @ 3:22 pm
new here jsut wanted to say and i lvoe all the photos you share here;)
Comment by minnetta — 6/22/2005 @ 11:21 pm
I made what I call my “humility scarf” out of all of the singles and 2 plies that I made when I first started to spin. I knit 30 stitches on size 9 needles and just continued adding to it until I felt the yarn weas usable. I love it and still pull it out to see my own progress as a spinner. it has helped me really see how the yarn I was making behaves and using the same size needle you really get a sense of how the size of your spinning singles changes as well. I also continued on the scarf when I first learned to ply. That was a trial and error process, and I am glad I kept my first plying examples so I can see how far I have progressed.
Just a though. Your yarn is beautiful so far though! Thanks for sharing pictures with us!
Comment by Lizzy B — 6/23/2005 @ 12:25 pm
Fear not! For I have a bag of fun things from my stash for you to spin! If only I can remember to bring it with me tomorrow night.
Comment by Snow — 6/23/2005 @ 1:17 pm
Ooooh! Fiber! *droooooool*
I (heart) bountiful, too. I get a lot of stuff from them (when i’m buying). Now you HAVE to get to Brown Sheep, though — $4 a POUND domestic wool blends, some pre-dyed, some not. They show you the WHOLE FACTORY, too! *swoon*
Comment by eliza b — 6/24/2005 @ 9:32 am