Saturday, November 15, 2008

I think this spinning thing could get seriously out of hand. No, really. I spent 5 hours yesterday sitting at the wheel and I can't wait to get finished the chores so I can do it some more today. That, my friends, is a sign of a serious addiction.

I have spent the last three days at work (when my work was done. I could do all my work in 3 days each week and still get it all done) browsing spinning groups on ravelry looking for ideas and helpful hints. Lots of people were spinning their singles with embroidery thread or metallic thread. It looked really interesting and I wanted to try. I took a trip to the craft store and bought a huge bobbin of colored cotton thread (very thick thread, tatting thread) and sat and played with some bright purple and turquoise roving that Kate had lying around. I came up with this. Sorry about the photo but it is unrelentingly gray here today and the light is nonexistent. Flash just washes it out. I'm calling it Kate's Carnival because it reminds me of a carnival. It's probably the most evenly I've spun anything and it's so colorful. I can't wait for Kate to get up so I can show it to her. This is what I started with. The thread colors go from yellow/red to red/blue to blue/green to yellow/red. It made for yarn that is never the same color twice. The roving is a deeper purple and brighter turquoise than the photo shows and I tried to mix the colors and keep them separate at spots to enhance the randomness of the yarn.
I still think uploading your stash and needles to ravelry is a weird thing to do, but I will say that browsing the groups and reading the threads has been very educational. Spinners, like knitters, are so willing to share their secrets and help newbies out. It was fun to play with the different textures of fiber and wind them together to come up with something new and totally my own. Somehow, I remembered that while there are techniques, there are no rules. I could do things my way and as long as I like it, it's all good. Sometimes I need to be reminded of things like that. And I also remembered if I wanted perfect, evenly spun yarn? There is a yarn store a few miles away that will happily take my money as I purchase it. I am (slowly) learning to embrace the imperfections and love my handwork. Someone at work asked why you would go to the trouble to spin your yarn when you could buy it (does this sound familiar?). I said "the same reason I spend 2 weeks and 25 dollars to make a pair of socks when I could buy some for a dollar". You can't explain the satisfaction to someone who does not create anything with their hands.
I'm hopelessly addicted, I tell ya.

9 comments:

amy said...

"You can't explain the satisfaction to someone who does not create anything with their hands."

So true!!

I don't upload all my yarn to Ravelry (especially lately), but it does come in handy when I'm wondering if I have yarn suitable for a project I have in mind. I don't have to unpack all the bins* to look through them and remind myself what I have.

*I don't really have a big stash, but the bins are small so there are about 5 of them.

Galad said...

I love your spun yarn! The best part is the wonderful time you had creating it. Have a great weekend and go forth and spin.

Rose Red said...

I love this yarn - it looks fabulous - spinning is so amazing - I can never tell what the yarn will look like from the fibre, or how it will look knitted up, even once it is spun. You spinners are all very clever!

Bells said...

Your spinning is turning out beautifully - and I love that first photo! With the dark background, it's lovely.

I don't care to upload my needles, but I like my stash uploaded on to Ravelry because it means at work, I can check what's in my stash when I'm dreaming about what patterns to make!

Bezzie said...

Ok, that thread plyied yarn is really cool. I've got plans to do something similar with a single of silk I did up a while ago. But it's a bit more labor intensive than I was hoping.

roxie said...

Cotton and wool? Whatcha gonna knit with it? It is sooo beautiful!!

Dianne said...

That yarn is lovely - absolutely beautiful! Housework can wait - go spin!

I uploaded my needles on Ravelry so that, while at work browsing on the computer, I could see if I had what I needed for a project or if I should buy more.

Louiz said...

That looks beautiful. I always intend to upload my stash onto ravelry but I've never actually got round to it. I've got a few bits and pieces up there, and mostly handspun, but nothing else.

Amy Lane said...

I'm so beyond the people who don't get it... I just looked at your bobbin of yarn and went "oooooooooh"--isn't that enough reason to do what you do?

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