Monday 24 August 2009

I'm not that patient.

As you can see.

My boss called the store and I asked. But the store is still pretty darn tidy, stocked and put together. (I think. It's hard to judge)

I spun on Friday night. I spun on Saturday morning. I plied on Sunday morning. I spun everything I had ready. I took a bobbin of yarn spun on the Babe, and plied it with everything I had spun up the previous couple of mornings. It looks a little like yarn. Its resting now, and ought to be ready to knit in a day or so. That will be the real test.

I have today off, and intend to spin my way through Maggie Casey's video, Start Spinning, just as if I am taking a spinning class, and I think I'll continue that all through the week. I am reading my way through the Alden Ames book of spinning, and tomorrow, I'm going to check out the library and see what they have on spinning.

I may have to go fleece shopping. Maybe.

When it was time to put away, I did. I knit and contemplated spinning. It was productive knitting though. I'd been working on a little scarf made from a rich blue green Bamboo Silk from Patons. Exactly the right length for someone sweet to tuck into her jacket and keep the chill away, not too long, not too short, nice little lace pattern and warm to boot.

I still had quiet a bit of yarn left, so I knit it up too. I started with a plain ribbing, and then idly wondered what would happen if I changed the ribs around. Where there was a purl rib, I put a knit, and where there was a knit, I put a purl. Interestingly enough, when you do this, you get bamboo. Or what looks a lot like a bamboo stalk. Little ridge bumps on the growth rings and smooth in between. Quite appropriate for the yarn.

It was a little shorter than I would have liked, but when the yarn runs out you have to quit knitting. It makes a nice wee neckwarmer.

I've some more prepared wool in the study, and I think its time to go spin for a while. If I do it every day at least a little, I ought to improve quickly. Perfect spinning isn't my goal. Its about learning the technique, and understanding what generations of people felt like when they spun. It is about getting to the heart of their work. And its about spinning yarn for a shawl of my very own.

But not today. Today I can be very patient. Today is about baby steps, and blue fibre and maybe a single thread at the end.

1 comment:

Scrappy Raven said...

Very nice scarf and collar/neck-warmer. I have this exact color of the same yarn. It's nice to see it made up into such lovely items.