Talking to myself

OK, I find that I am talking to myself about the fiber arts.  That's what started this blog in the first place.  So I am going to make a concerted effort to keep posting here.  Yeah yeah, I know you have heard it before, but really... this time I mean it.

So what has been going on chez Rob since my last post?

I decided I wanted another very light spindle to use on the merino pictured on two spindles in my last post.  I went with another Greensleeves spindle, an Ethan Jakob.  It weighs only .5 oz, and is shaped like a cup, which puts the weight on the rim.  Wow, does this spindle spin -- incredibly quickly and for a good long time.  I have to say it spins much better than the new Cascade (the one on the left in the picture in the last post.)  I have had great experiences with Greensleeves spindles.

What I really got going on, though, was spinning on my Majacraft Suzie spinning wheel.

I bought this used just before I moved from PA to TX.  I finally sat down to figure it out and holy moly I love spinning on this thing.  One problem though is that it is so much fun to treadle this thing I overspun the beautiful fiber I was using.  Here is the original batt:

This beautiful thing is by Butterfly Girl Designs in a colorway called Casanova. I loved spinning it, but overspun it, so that the single strand is very curly.

This is what it looked like under tension, just off the wheel.

But taken off this device (which has the weird name of niddy noddy) and after its soaking in cool water, this is what it looks like:

 

All twisty.  I messed up attempts to ply other bits of this "single".  I think I will run this through the spinning wheel very quickly in the ply direction (the opposite direction of the spinning direction) to see if I can get the twist a bit more balanced.  But I love the batt, love the colors, love the spinning wheel.  The creator of the batt will have a booth at the Yellow Rose Fiber Producers festival in Seguin in April -- I may asked her to bring me another batt in this colorway.

I also got the urge to knit again.  I am taking a big trip soon, someplace much cooler than Texas, and so I decided to use some of the yarn I made the baby sweater out of to make myself a hat.  I miss knitting hats -- fun, quick, and I used to wear them all winter.  Not much use for them in south Texas.  But here is the result.  The (free) pattern is called the Buttoned Beret.  Here's the hat:

Here's the button, which I already had, waiting for another mythical project that never materialized.  I love using things from the stash.

And a final shot of my old friend The Head modeling the hat.  All in all, a very satisfying project.

Comments

[Laritza]

I would ply the singles....:)

[Michelle]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo! Sparkles! I really love that fiber! I don't spin, but if I did, this is what I would be working with! :-D

[Rob]

Laritza, thanks for the encouragement to ply it without any intermediate "unspinning." Since it is a highly twisted single skein, I think I will try chain plying it.

[Rob]

Michelle, this is my first sparkly batt. Oh wait, it's the second, but I didn't like the coarse strips that made the first one sparkly. I really enjoy the sparkly parts of this one.