Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Lotsa Stuff Goin On!

Okay I'm going to start from the most recent - basically because I need to work backwards and give myself a chance at remembering most of everything as I go.

Remember that Feather and Fan scarf I was making last year for my mom's birthday. Well her birthday came...and went last year, and this year, same thing. I did send her a lace scarf that was pretty short (about 36 inches, but that's what the pattern said) and so when she did receive it, she said "It's short!"

Now that I've managed to frog the Feather and Fan scarf (I bound it off at the wrong row) and finished it, I can ask her to return the lace scarf I sent her last week so I can lengthen and in exchange she can have her present from last year. I have to remind myself to make one for myself. This one looks gorgeous unblocked!

Feather and Fan Scarf
A week ago I received this in the mail:

Drop Spindle from Ghostworks
It's a beautiful drop spindle from Ghstworks on Etsy, and it's a plying spindle. It's pretty heavy, weighing in at 3.1 ounces and it spins like a dream!

Here's what it looks like all filled up to the max with some Splash colorway yarn I navajo-plied. The singles I had spun on my Hitchhiker spinning wheel using the brand new jumbo flyer.

Full Cop

Speaking of the Hitchhiker and its brand new jumbo flyer, here's what it looks like with the jumbo flyer and bobbin:

Jumbo Flyer on Hitchhiker
I think I filmed myself spinning on the Hitchhiker last week and it was SOOOO noisy. Then this week, it totally changed. It is spinning so quietly. There's still some noise but not as bad as the last time. Turns out, it just needed oil. Now I'm getting ready to paint it.

Here's what I'm currently knitting now with one of my handspun yarns. The yarn is called Iris by Treats for Breathing on Etsy. It's a simple 2X1 rib scarf that I'll be making pretty long to make up for its simplicity and inconsistency. The yarn is thin is some places and bit thick in others. But I do like it. It won't survive New York winters but for Southern Calfornia, it'll be perfect.

Handspun WIP

Last week I attended a class by the awesome Gwen Powell on how to spin art and novelty yarns. She had just completed the Pluckyfluff workshop in Santa Monica and was kind enough to show us some of the tricks she learned. This was the first time I'd seen it done in person (spinning art and novelty yarns) and most definitely, my first time to use a drum carder. I so want one now, although after a week of thinking about it, and having bought something I've been wanting for a while now (I'll tell you later), I think I'll settle for a pair of hand cards and give it a try first. The drum carder can come in later.

For now, let me show you my first attempt at spinning my very own art yarn intentionally:

My first art yarn effort
I think it looks pretty cool!

Leo made me a pretty cool skein winder last week, from which I got to wind all my finished yarns into many many center pull balls. The plan is from Beata on Ravelry:

Skeinwinder
At the moment, I have 2-1/2 wheels. I have the Hitchhiker and unofficially, I also have the Louet Julia that I'm kinda renting to own. I already broke the tension filament on it and I feel that it's basically mine...thank goodness it's on an installment type of plan. The "1/2" wheel is my antique wheel that's missing a flyer and bobbin. It's not the easiest part to restore as I have to have it measured and the flyer and bobbin have to be built to fit the wheel.

So last week, after weeks of researching on which wheel to choose to spin art yarns and fingering or lace yarns, I've finally decided that the wheel that will "spin all" would be a Fricke. It would be great to get the double treadle, but I found a used single treadle folding Fricke wheel on Ravelry for $50 less than what I would get it brand new. And that includes shipping. She was nice enough to absorb half of the $40 shipping charge.

Here she is! She'll be heading over my neck of the woods sometime next week. She'll arrive the week after I spend a weekend up in Sacramento and Nevada City with friends to take a Thai foot massage class with Master teacher "Mama" Lek Chaiya.

Fricke ST 160 folding wheel

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