Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Spin, spun

I have been spinning these last few days; trying my hand at art yarn. It was going very well, but I'm not having the best of luck plying on the Lendrum; at least not at these weights. Until I get a plying flier, I think I'll switch back to the Louet. I do have some really interesting pink/purple, plied with black. I'm going to knit the Urchin beret with it, I think.

Following you will find some spinning projects by Bessthespinner, and birchblanket; all done with Spinknit colourways. Beautiful... I couldn't be happier. Both Bess and Kathleen have done some gorgeous spinning.




2 comments:

Kayla W said...

I've looked at the WoleeWinder, but I don't know if it'd be worth it. However, sure would be nice to ply without having to stop and switch hooks. The yarn look lovely. :)

Anonymous said...

Woohoo! I found your blog!

Your pictures are just beautiful and so are the yarns.

Now, I wanted to tell you that if you are making any kind of textured yarn, it requires work on the plying... don't blame the poor helpless wheel on that. The beauty of art yarns is well balanced with the pain in the hiney it is to make them. They stick, jam, hook, stop, blop and anything else you can imagine as they go through the orifice - both on the single and the ply.

I was teaching a friend who has been spinning lace weight for 30 years how to do a more textured yarn and besides me repeating 200 times that she needed to STOP DRAFTING, I kept having to explain that when I spin, I have to stop and wind on almost every two or three feet.

The conversation went like this:

her - Holly, I don't think I am doing it right
me - yes you are, stop drafting, you are doing perfect
her - but why isn't it wanting to wind on the wheel?
Me - stop drafting
me - Because the lumps keep getting - stop drafting - caught on the - stop drafting - hooks.
her - but it is so much work
me - stop drafting - yes, but the end - stop drafting - results are well worth it!

So my two suggestions are, stop drafting and get into a routine with the stops and starts. You get used to it after a while.

And that IS with the Babe Bulky with the huge orfice. So if it keeps getting hung up, you are doing it right!
:)
Oh and I am soooo oggling your haul. That is awesome.
Happy Spinning.
Holly