Sunday, May 20, 2007

Another busy weekend

I am spinning again at last! Friday evening I gave it a try and now I don't want to stop. I am celebrating by working on a new project. At last weekend's Dye Day I bought 4 oz of purple roving from Wayne. It is 70% Merino and 30% mohair and should become nicely fuzzy with wear. This should be just the ticket to finally make my own pair of purple fuzzy mittens. I have spun up the first bobbin's worth and am set to start another. At first its neppiness was a bit frustrating. Then I relaxed, shifted to a looser, longer draw and just let it pull out the fiber as it twisted. A little unevenness will just add to the texture and not be a liability in mittens.
I am spinning fairly fine, with a plan to knit double-layered mittens on approximately size 3 needles. Small stitches means small holes for minimal snow perforation and double-layered means warm. Even warmer when I add a color-stranded pattern to the outer layer. What color? Don't know yet.
Saturday I went out to Sharon's to spin, chat, eat and particularly, to plan the workshop we taught at the Spanish Springs Library on Sunday. Ian made us his fabulous burritos and we sat with our wheels on the porch. The weather was perfect, the garden was full of birds, and a small herd of 3 dogs napped and milled about our feet. In the late afternoon I took a brief tromp through the sagebrush to get some photos of the desert in bloom. In addition to pretty spring greens and a blue nevada sky, I saw lots of cool lichens.

Today I packed up the little car with fibers and fiber tools, put the painted Kiwi in the passenger seat, put the top down and zoomed out to the Spanish Springs Library. Sharon and I gave a 90 minute (or so) overview of fibers, fiber-preparation, spinning, dyeing etc. to a smallish audience of 9 knitters.
Now I am home and rethinking the Pembrokeshire Pathways Socks. The pattern has an obvious error at the beginning of the heel flap. I checked online for a fix, but only found someone else complaining about it. Guessing might mean a later massive frog (ripping back, for you non-knitting types) so I have decided to substitute my usual short-row heel and toe, while continuing the cable and eyelet pattern down the instep. Pictures later as I progress.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So glad to hear your spinning again. It's like welcoming an old and dear friend. Sounds like you and Sharon had a wonderful time together. I like the pictures.

Sharon said...

What a handsome dog! I sure like your vista of the high desert. I try to make myself stop and appreciate it's beauty, not take it for granted.

Birdsong said...

Sounds like an all-around great weekend. Glad you are able to spin freely again and thanks for the wonderful photo of your sky!