This is left over from some yarn I spun last spring when I was borrowing Erin's Ashford Traditional. When I plied I was left with a whole bunch of singles on one bobbin that just sort of sat around until I gave her wheel back a couple of weeks ago. I figured Erin would want her bobbin so I wound the singles off into a centre-pull ball and it sat on my sewing table for a few days. Eventually I found my spindle and tied on a leader and plied my yarn.

It felt really nice to be spinning, even if it was just a bit of quick plying. I haven't done any spinning since we got Abby (a rambunctious puppy, a basket of fluffy roving, and a bunch of whirling objects are not a good mix). There are rhythms inherent in spinning and it felt good to settle into one. It was also nice to be using this particular spindle since it's not the one I use the most and I fear it feels neglected.

I haven't unwound and measured my yarn yet. I think it's probably around the 30 - 40 m mark. It will be a handy addition to what I've got already. I just need to come up with a project for it:

I'm considering some socks - it's superwash after all - of the squashy, around-the-house variety. I realize I'm already working on a pair of socks (I'm about halfway done the heel of the first of the Unmatching socks - Abby gets very curious every time I pick it up so it goes slowly) but those are everyday socks.

A cowl might work too. Something loose and drapey to fill in the neckline on my scoop necked sweaters. But then I just got a nice bunch of alpaca fibre (it's so soft and a beautiful pale caramel colour and came from an alapaca living in Alberta) that would make a wonderful lacy cowl (and alpaca is so nice and warm).

No, I think it will be socks for the superwash and leave the cowl for the alpaca. I'm sure I was thinking of socks when I spun it up in the first place and if I made it into a cowl I would always know that it was really supposed to be socks. A two ply isn't great for socks but it should be fine for house socks (or are they called bed socks) - the kind of thing you wear on Saturday mornings while you drink your coffee and when you're stuck at home feeling sick and want all your most comfy stuff.

I wonder what needles I should use?

I wonder if Abby has chewed them yet?

ps. I think I am getting a cold. My nose is stuffy. Rob suggested we have tea. It's good. I think I might want to knit something cozy.

I started a new project on my lace spindle last night. I have a largish piece of hand-dyed merino top left over from the felting class I took in December. It is the rest of a piece I used to make a scarf in the class. The scarf is very sheer and I decided it would be kind of neat to knit a lace scarf out of the same wool - a sort of a study in the different textures that can be achieved with the same wool. I wasn’t sure how finely I’d be able to spin so I just drafted out some skinny strips of wool and set to it.

It turns out that it is much easier to spin a very fine thread than the thicker grey yarn I was making last time. It’s absolute magic to see the spindle whirling around suspended by this tiny line of wool. The colour variations in the wool are very soft and look beautiful wound around the spindle body. I’m planing to make this another two -ply. I don’t think it would be strong enough for a lace style blocking as a singles.

I had Rob take some pictures of me spinning this afternoon so I could share this with all of you. Notice my wrist distaff - made out of the grey two-ply from last weekend. It’s very handy.

 

 

This is the first product off my very own spindle. What began as a piece of nice grey roving is now a silvery two-ply. I think I might make this into a wrist distaff to help me with my next spinning project.
 
Weight: aprox. 10g
Length: aprox. 11m