spin span spun

01 Dec 2005 in journal

first off, check out the brand new spinning magazine spindlicity! janel, one of our local l.a. spinners, has done a tremendous beautiful job. go ahead and look, i’ll wait. there’s a lot of good stuff there – patterns, article and more, including an article by julia perfect for those who want to get into spinning but don’t know where to start. ..oh, and you might see some pics that look familiar in the reader’s gallery section, yay!

in the same spinning spirit, here are some photos from my last spinning rental, mmm. i love how this batch of yarn came out! definitely getting better at the spinning thing and i must say the majacraft rose is a dream to spin on – quiet as a mouse, no oiling in over two weeks of regular spinning, incredible rations, smooth treadling and very pretty to boot.

first off, the gorgeous red and orange roving that was from my stitch ya neck out pal bethieee.
and that’s not all she sent – see that cute handmade cat? she also sent the some pink roving that i wish i’d taken a close up of, it was the prettiest deep pink with this occasional creamy white stripe, so lovely. i was so excited when i got the package, i sat straight down and spun all the fiber up. in my excitement, i totally forgot to even thank her till now! bad me, very bad. thank you bethieee!!

some experiments were done here.. first off, the striped chunky yarn was my first try at spinning thick. some beginning knitters spin thick, some thin, and i’m the latter category. but i absolutely love some thick yarn i see (especially on the excellent live journal ‘spinning fiber’ community)
and so wanted to see if i could spin do it too. it was hard but all in all, i was really happy with the results. and honestly, i was squealing a good majority of the time i was plying, that was so very much fun.

then, some felted soap as you see – ta daa! that’s my soap i talked about a while back – it lathers beautifully, smells very clean ;), but was fugly as can be. so! felted soap it had to be. what a great great way to use up bits of fiber. i definitely will be making more of these, that’s for sure. chicas, if you’re reading this, these are my stocking stuffers for the family – cool, huh? (ten points to anyone guessing which one was the first felted soap..!)

lastly, my pride and joy would be these low twist singles – first off, some hand-dyed superwash from a store in the valley, then slow careful treadling, excited winding on the niddy-noddy, and finally a gentle wash in the sink. ahhh! i love this yarn – and here, unfortunately, the limitations of the web really show, for this yarn is the softest and cushiest yarn there is. i’m biased, but really, it is. love it love it.

i’m once again(!) trying to organize my fotos, and so i set up a spinning album with finished pictures of all my yarn – including these here, check it out..

happy day, everyone ~