Category: yarn

  • a spinner is born

    So back at Rhinebeck,my travel buddies Cheryl and Andrea both decided on Sunday afternoon that it was high time to look for a spindle and some roving and get spinning! Obviously I was rather pleased, having both of them turned by the wool fumes…buahaha.

    With that goal and a tight budget for this whole spinning lark, we set out to find some inexpensive spindles (a bit challenging) and some pretty roving (not nearly as challenging) and I got ’em spindling on our last night at our Rhinebeck house.

    Fast forward a month, and both of them have finished their very first handspuns! I didn’t take a photo of Cheryl’s (I should’ve though, it was awesome) but I did take some photos of Andrea on Wednesday night at knit night!

    Plying…which is my favourite part;

    big-time plying

    Stephanie helping Andrea with Andean plying;

    andean plying

    And Andrea’s very first plied mini-skein! She ended up with about 100 yards or so. (From pretty Ashland Bay merino, in case anyone’s wondering!)

    first skein of finished handspun!

    Awesome. I love seeing spinners being born.

    I’ve been spinning a little bit myself, too – here’s some gorgeous 2ply worsted-ish weight that I spun up from merino/silk batts that I got at Rhinebeck. I haven’t counted up the yardage yet, and there’s another bobbin full that I haven’t wound off yet.

    from Rhinebeck batts

    I’ve also finally managed to get a few woven scarves up in my Etsy shop. I’d wanted to get more done for this update, but I figure I’ll just add as I go – lots more to come, and you can always contact me if you have a request!

    new woven scarves

  • rhinebeck spoils

    It’s late and I’m dying to go to bed, but I wanted to post all the yummy stuff I got at Rhinebeck! So it might have to be point form if I’m going to get through writing this…

    rhinebeck yarns

    L: Teal laceweight cashmere, over 1600 yards, from the Skaska booth. Mmm!
    C: Black fingering weight cashmere, 1200 yards (score!) from the Skaska booth as well. A woman at the booth was a little disappointed that Andrea and I bought up all the black cashmere!
    R: DK weight wool/silk from Brooks Farm, 1 skein. Probably destined for something like a swallowtail shawl for a gift.

    rhinebeck yarns II

    L: a sweater’s worth of pillowy, squishy natural coloured DK-weight merino from Greenwood Hill Farm (I think?). Sort of knits up tweedy – I totally got sucked in by the knitted up samples at the booth!
    C: three skeins of sock yarn from Sliver Moon Farm in a gorgeous plum. Seriously, the camera did not want to capture the true luminescence of this yarn.
    R: two skeins of yak down/cormo DK-weight yarn from Bijou Basin. This yarn is irregularly spun, cushy, and I love it! I’ve got 300 yards, and I’m thinking something with cables…

    fibres mosaic

    And finally, in spinning fibres (do you sense a colour theme here?) –

    L: batts from twitchystitches.com – crazy awesome teal/green/shiny goodness. About 180g.
    C: smokey grey corriedale mix from Spinner’s Hill – 5 oz.
    R: one lone braid of Ashland Bay merino in Cranberry – 4 oz.

    I also came home with a heck of a lot of raw milk cheese and a couple bars of soap, too! I actually had a bit of trouble shopping on the Saturday since it was so darn busy, I just wasn’t really able to concentrate properly! I more than made up for it on Sunday though :)

    In not-unrelated news, I have a pair of Fluevog Marians, red, in size 7.5 that I want to sell to a good home. After I twisted my ankle, it’s decided to be a bit…reconfigured. So they don’t fit quite right anymore! I’ve only worn them a few times (maybe 3 times) so they’re in like new condition. Yours for the same price I paid, $165 (USD or CDN is fine with me, despite the now rather significant difference!) and I’ll include the shipping. Email me if you’d like some new shoes!
    Taken!

  • the yarn…and a first!

    I bought a lot of yarn while I was away. A lot. I only bought one piece of clothing (an expensive but amazing, made-in-France skirt) and the one pair of shoes (which, by the way, are Doc Martens for anyone who asked), but I bought a hell of a lot of yarn. I hadn’t really intended to, but whatever. Yarn makes a great souvenir!

    I got some at k1 in Edinburgh, some at Le Bon Marche in Paris, but most of it came from iknit day.

    yarn from iknit (and fabric from liberty)

    In the top left, there’s cashmere from Devon Fine Fibres, some for presents and some for me – they raise their own flock, and have a very limited supply of yarn, but it’s sooo beautiful. And inexpensive, for sure.

    Top right is organic merino from ColdHarbour Mill, a working mill and textile museum! They had 100g skeins of the undyed organic merino on for 5 pounds, and I bought a sweater’s worth of the 4ply plus some others for gifts.

    Bottom left is two skeins of Bowmont wool from Devon Fine Fibres, a new rare cross breed. It’s a mix of merino and shetland, and is really soft in a still-wooly way! They didn’t have much left when we got there (I blame erqsome, she bought a sweater’s worth of the grey) so I just got the two skeins. Now, what to make?

    And in the bottom right, not yarn of course, it’s fabric from Liberty. Expensive, but sooo pretty. I’m going to have to make a few more practice skirts before I commit to cutting this up!

    And the first?

    48.365 - my first signed book!

    Last night I held my book for the first time – a box came into the store just when I was starting to work last night. And I sold my first book, to my friend Jeff (I’m sure books have sold so far, but this was the first one *I* sold!). And I signed my first book.

    Whew.