I haven’t done my ten minutes of spinning a day since Sunday, when I lost the end of the yarn and almost drove myself crazy trying to find it.
So many other things are pressing on me at this point, and I feel daunted every time I contemplate trying again to find that end.
In the meantime, I’m stealing tiny bits of time to knit with handspun.
It’s enough, for now.
…by the magic of spinning.
I started with this:
Hello Yarn Polwarth, “Troll” (December 2012 Fiber Club), 4 oz.
I’d originally been envisioning spinning it as a chain-ply, but never got around to it. Then at Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law asked if I might make her a hat like mine:
That’s a Norie Hat, without the lace bits, from my handspun Hello Yarn Falkland (in “Broken Things”). This hat has been in heavy rotation for me this fall, and my MIL was taken with it. I told her I could make her one but the colors would be different because I didn’t have enough of that yarn left to make another hat. She was fine with that, so I went stash-diving to see what fiber might be a nice choice for a hat for her, and I came up with the Polwarth in “Troll.”
Hello Yarn Polwarth, “Troll”
I am super-pleased with how it turned out.
the flip-side
I did a basic two-ply, mostly matching up the colors, with some occasional barber-poling for transitions. I ended up with 312 yes DK weight 2-ply.
floofy
I enjoy spinning the toothier wools (think Shetland, Falkland, Corriedale) and the longwools (think Wensleydale, Romney, Masham) a bit more than I like spinning the fine wools (think Merino, Polwarth, Rambouillet), but it’s certainly hard to beat Polwarth for softness.
floofy flipside
And the colors! Adrian worked her usual magic here, and I couldn’t be happier with how these colors played together.
I’m still dedicated to spinning at least ten minutes a day, and it’s remarkable how that simple discipline can affect not only my output (i.e., yarn production) but also my mindset and sense of well-being. I am never not amazed that I can actually create yarn – and I’m never not grateful for the effect spinning has on me, the way it seems to connect my head, heart, and body. It’s a remarkable craft.
Isn’t that how the saying goes? Or something like that.
After spinning hardly at all this fall, I set a goal last week of spinning at least ten minutes a day. So far, I’d say it’s working out pretty well.
That’s Hello Yarn Falkland, “Spirograph,” the August 2013 Fiber Club fiber. I spun it up fast and fat using my slow whorl, and ended up with 352 yards of thick-and-thin singles (ranging from DK to bulky). I am very, very pleased with this yarn (shown here in shots from my phone, which didn’t fully capture the squishy glory of it).
For me, the fastest way to break a spinning hiatus is by making quick and fluffy singles.
Now I’m working on a standard two-ply. It’s going well, only here’s the thing. Ten minutes a day is really hard. Because once I’ve spun for ten minutes, I honestly just want to keep going and going….
Kirsten and I decided to set ourselves a goal of spinning (at least) 10 minutes a day this month. So last night, I got to it. I actually spun for close to half an hour (it’s so hard to stop!) and then another ten minutes this morning, and BAM!
on the wheel
I’m still learning my wheel, which I just got in June. This is the first time I’ve spun with the slow whorl on it, and I had a few issues with take-up (sometimes the double-drive system confounds me, even though I currently have it set up for single drive – does that make sense? I mean, there are still two adjustments that can be made – the tension wheel and the brake band – as opposed to only the one adjustment I always made with my Ladybug). Anyway. I got all these singles packed on this bobbin and I was certain I could finish up the fiber but it just would not wind on anymore – not for lack of space on the bobbin, but for lack of any take-up at all. I’m probably doing something wrong.
a wee bit left to spin
Of course, with all this spinning, I made no progress on my current design-in-progress. Whoops!
look at that red!!
I was so excited to get this on the wheel and it was spinning up so quickly, and then I got interrupted by something, and another something, and another something, and I never got back to spin the second half of it. It’s killing me how little spinning I’ve done this fall, and this gorgeosity sits on the wheel just taunting me. But I am trying to work on a pair of knitting designs that are taking priority right now, as well as a list of must-knits a mile long (’tis the season, yes?).
Hello Yarn August 2013 Fiber Club, “Spirograph” on Falkland
The fiber is Hello Yarn August 2013 Fiber Club – “Spirograph” on Falkland (Falkland! One of my faves!). It is spinning up so fat and floofy. I love it so much.
What I need to do is just take spinning on as a daily discipline the way I have blogging, and just do it even a little bit a day. Ten minutes really shouldn’t be too much to muster, even with holiday knitting and design deadlines. Doesn’t that sound manageable? Of course, I don’t usually tend to do things the manageable way, so we’ll see how this works out.
earthchicknits 