My Handspun

Many thanks to sgeddes, whose reporting example is so easy to follow. I just wish my last name was as easy to turn into a great brand name. ;o)

From The Passionate Mind

This was my first attempt at Navajo plying, and there are a few flaws. Overall, though, it's decently balanced and doesn't have too many open loops where the three strands of the chain weren't the same length. ;o)

From The Passionate Mind

I was too excited to wait to take pictures during the day, so you've got to suffer through with ambient living room light for this post. Never fear, though . . . a light box is in the works.

From The Passionate Mind

EastSide* Handspun

Fiber Content: 100% Merino
Fiber Source: Sheepish Creations
Colorway: Unknown.
Yardage: ??? yards
Weight: 28 grams/1 oz
WPI: ???
Notes: 3-ply, Navajo plied, spun from the fold.

(*It's a play on one of my names.)

Here She Is!

There was a ring at the door, and there stood a friendly-looking woman, with this huge box for me. :o) It was easy to see, from the stickers and postage, that this box had made the trip from New Zealand . . . my wheel had arrived!



Oh, wait. Did you want to actually see what's inside the box? So did I! It was a little tricky though, keeping all of my helpers' little mitts out of the contents. Thankfully, it was naptime, and I only had the two oldest wanting to help. ;o)

Oh yeah. The box contents . . .



Beautiful, isn't it? {sigh} But wait! There's more . . .



There. The long-awaited wheel portrait. Spinning next to the fire is one of my most favorite things, e-v-e-r. And, thanks to Sheepish Creations, I had some lovely sample fiber all ready to spin.



I haven't come up with a good name for her yet . . . and a Majacraft Suzie Alpaca needs a proper name. She's smooth and easy to work with, and lovely to look at, as well. MrC, my 9-year-old, has quickly taught himself to spin with her, and has turned out some fairly nice singles, considering they're half the diameter of the ones he made with his wimpy toy-wheel spindle I made in September.

First wheel yarn:

The aforementioned 1oz. sample of hand-dyed Merino from Sheepish Creations, a mother/daughter team I found on Ravelry. It was almost too soft to be nice to touch in roving form, but once spun up, it's lovely.

Here's show-and-tell on the plied SC Merino:

Not the most even, but not too shabby, eh? (It's a pretty lousy photo, but I haven't built my light box yet, so please forgive me.) I spun from the fold, trying to pull the colored sections off cleanly. Didn't work entirely, but the colors were preserved fairly well. It was fun to spin. And the wheel is lovely, lovely, lovely!

Here it is, the sweet little skein. I'm not sure what I'm going to make with it, but I'm eager to do something. Maybe an accent on some fingerless mitts, or a band of colorwork on a handspun hat.

And now, the rest of the day awaits. Or rather, it's steaming on ahead at full speed, and I've got to do my best to not be run over . . .

More handspun soon!

My first handspun.

In all it's glory. ;o) About an ounce of 2-ply woollen-spun Merino in a colorway I can't remember (I'll fix it later, promise!) bought locally. I spun it on a drop spindle I made myself following instructions at The Joy of Handspinning.

I plied this with my spindle, using some leftover doweling from the spindle project laid across a notched child's size shoebox to hold the singles. I have two more bobbins of singles I spun waiting to be twisted some more on my spinning wheel before plying. We'll see what happens with that another day. . .