June 21, 2012

spinning and knitting and spinning


Oh how I love my spinning wheel. I knew I would. Somehow, for some reason, I knew that this particular wheel and I would be perfect for each other. I can spend hours spinning. I do spend hours spinning. I keep looking up at the clock in the evenings and realizing that it's past midnight. Once or twice it might even have been past one in the morning. I can't help myself. Of course that basket of beautiful braids of wool sitting next to me, begging to be spun up into yarn, doesn't help.

At some point I'd like to learn to dye fiber in bright, varied colors like these. It's an art, as I've realized after a few somewhat bland attempts at it. I'm hoping to find myself at Yarn School in the fall. Partly because I can't get enough of Hello Yarn fiber, her waiting list is closed it's so long, and so the prospect of a big old bag of it as part of the weekend sends my head spinning. But also because learning to dye fiber well sounds like an excellent way to fuel my addiction. Plus, it's not too far from my parent's house. A win win.

Knitting is still happening as well. In the car, on the deck, at the creek. It's become my on the go hobby so that the evenings can be taken up with spinning. When I started this shawl I had no idea we'd be moving somewhere where I could actually use it right away. I imagined that either a) I'd pack it away for the fall once I'd finished it or b) all this moving would mean it wouldn't get finished until it was fall. But in the end it came together quickly and is perfect for the cool evenings here. The pattern was easy to remember which meant I could just knit away with out checking or even much counting. Probably one of my favorite knits to date. I'm about to embark on a similar shawl by the same designer in fact.
 Also on the needles now is a winter hat for Briton made from the last batch of spindle spun yarn I made. I actually only spun up half of this on the spindle and the other half is in progress on the wheel. In theory the rest will go into mittens for him to match. or maybe it will end up as a strip on his winter sweater. I have high hopes of spinning enough yarn this summer to knit both kids their solstice sweaters this year. We shall see.