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Sunday June 22, 2008
My first skein.
Here it is. New born and vulnerable.
Don't look too closely now - no - now come on, play the game. Put that magnifying glass away, now!
I went to the Creative Fibre meeting today, and took my wheel. Wendy was also spinning and was very helpful - more than anything, most encouraging. She showed me how to ply, so I was able to do that this evening.
It's taken only 20 years for me to get round to doing this - and I am so pleased with myself. The wool is pretty poor - I had to deal with George prodding at the wool at various stages of production, every time he walked past me, saying "it's a bit like string, isn't it?" then "that's more like wool, o but it's a bit hard isn't it? not very woolly" and finally when it had relaxed a bit "o it seems to be fluffing up a bit now".
Earlier in the week, I found a book Rob gave me years ago "Spinning and Dyeing - an introductory manual" (Gill Dalby and Liz Christmas). Mostly I remember it as being a very useful reference for dyeing, however, being older it had very useful stuff on what to do when faced with a fleece. As I have 4 fleeces waiting to be dealt with, I am anxious for any words of comfort I can get, so this was very helpful. A lot of the modern books don't focus here as spinning is so popular now, you can source much more reliable, high quality, ready-prepared rovings and tops.
I am impatient to try knitting with it - it seems to be an Aran weight, (75g 100m). So - now I am settling down with my book "Spin to Knit" (a gift from Alison) - the perfect way to decide what best to knit with my first skein. I still have to wash it again - and possibly try dying it - before I get to knitting it though.
Posted by Christina at 9:36 AM. Category: Spinning, Dying, Weaving
Comments
Well, I think it's just fabulous. I'm sure it will bloom when you wash it, and if it turns out like string, surely George will need a new vest?
Posted by: Alison on June 23, 2008 6:56 AM
