Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Can This Be May?

I had planned to write about my handspinning endeavors today, but look what was out my window when I woke up. It’s May 12 for heaven’s sake! I fear that we’ve gone straight from early spring to fall and I’ll never have a chance to complain about the heat.

I’ll take this opportunity to show off my handspun anyway. My 5-week class is over and I’ve produced some yarn that I might actually knit with. The white yarn is from the fleece that we washed, carded, and spun. I’m not sure I can bear to take this yarn out of the skeins (I’m so proud!). The purple yarn is from some prepared fleece that I bought at the yarn store (what a treat to circumvent the whole washing and carding process). This may become a shawl. The beautiful mud-colored yarns are singles that I spun then dyed in a variety of natural dyes—walnut hulls, cutch, onion skins, and cochineal. I plan to keep these as reference because I really do love the colors.


Will I continue to spin? My husband thinks I’m nuts (he points out that I don’t have time to knit the yarn that I already have—but since when has that been an excuse?), but I think it’s likely that I’ll spend more time at a wheel or with a spindle. I just can’t get over how clever I feel when I make yarn out of a pile of fluff. The proof will be when I actually knit with the stuff. If it feels better than store-bought, I’m a goner.

9 comments:

J said...

I woke to the same view - blech!

Sharon said...

I've had my wheel for just over a year. And be ready for falling down a rabbit hole, it does feel better than store-bought!

Virginia G said...

Pretty! (the yarn, not the snow). And as a bonus, that is a great photograph! Good use of natural light. :)

I haven't started spinning yet. But then I've only been knitting for just over a year, so I think I've got some more knitting to do before I undertake another monster crafty project.

Deborah Robson said...

Yay, Ann!

P.S. You're a goner. It's definitely nicer to knit than storebought. I still knit storebought often enough. But the best is handspun.

Karen Frisa said...

Your yarns are beautiful!! I especially like the purple, but then I'm a sucker for purple. I hope you start knitting with them soon! I have some skeins that might never get knit because I don't think I'll find a project that's special enough. Let's hope that you do!

Sorry about the snow...

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, once you've knitted with your own handspun you're a complete lost cause. And as you get better with the spinning you'll only get more addicted.

Still buy yarn from stores, though; you really become a yarn-snob because you're comparing it with your own.

Kayten said...

Yay for spinning. It does suck up the time, but I always say I never understood the concept of meditation until I started spinning. I take a drops pindle with me everywhere.

knitspot anne said...

oh ann, your yarn is so beautiful! knitting with handspun is like eating food from the garden; it's so fresh and alive!

Unknown said...

Those colors are amazing, I attempted some yarn dying a while ago and now I am tempted to use natural dyes instead of easter egg stuff. One day right? Where did you take that spinning class?