Anarchistelfliege 2

Yay! I've received Abby Franquemont's new book "Respect the Spindle" today! The layout and styling is great, with lots and lots of wonderful photos, and what I've read so far is really interesting. There's something about history, spindle types, ergonomics, lot of how-to's and some project ideas in the book.



I thought I would have to wait until next year, because amazon said it would be shipped within the next 2-6 weeks - when I looked it up again on sunday, it was in stock and ready to ship. So here I am happily thumbing trough the book!
It's my "one-year-smoke-free" present I gave to myself.

And here's my collection of spindles. They are all homemade toy wheel spindles, half of them top whorl spindles and a few bottom whorl ones. I've run out of hooks, and I wanted to try hand-bent hooks next time I make a top whorl spindle anyway... and I just didn't get around doing it. So the spindles I made recently are all bottom whorls which don't require hooks. I'm just securing the yarn with a half-hitch, and although I wouldn't have believed it, it's just as fast as using a spindle with a hook.



right now I'm reading on in the spindle book, which is worth every cent in my opinion.

I'm trying a new way to spin a colour gradient. I've got merino tops of different colours (solid colours) and I'm carding them to blend them a bit with hand cards. The rolag I'm getting from this is split in half and each half is spun on one spindle. I've finished a skein spun this way yesterday, and when I would my plying ball, one single was only about 10 meters shorter than the other.



Now that I finally understood how to card fine fibers, it's such a joy to see those colours blend together and the spots of bright or dark colour, very subtle, I get this way.





The next thing I would want to do is make a blend with silk this way. I only think it would be maybe better to start with a commercially prepared silk blend instead of trying it myself without any experience with silk.

I'm feeling a bit bad, because this is really developping into a knitting and spinning blog instead of the quilting blog it was intendet to be.
But hey, I spun yarn!
This is my second ever attempt at artyarn spinning, and I was trying to spin thick and thin on purpose and make some coils. I thought it was easier, because some of this happened to me when I spun my first yarn ever. Then, it was not artyarn, but beginner yarn with beginner mistakes. If I want to do this on purpose and in a planned manner, it's suddenly hard to get texturered yarn.



But I'm really loving it!

Besides Artyarn, I'm also spinning "normal yarn" for unique projects... like... my handspun sweater!
Yeah, it's finished after all!
I've never dreamed of owning such a colourful and fancy garment.
It's so great to be able to spin and dye just the yarn I want.



This was taken by my beloved guy, when we went to the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall being opened.
I've done some work on the bottom hem because I hated how it kept rolling upwards, now it's 2 inches shorter and looking much better.

It seems to me like I've completely become absorbed by knitting and wool and spinning and stuff. I would love to make more Midget Blocks, but I always end up knitting more socks. Some time ago, I have counted my sockyarn skeins and estimated that I've got yarn to knit at least 24 pairs of socks. Which means I will have to knit 20 pairs of socks until I may buy more sock yarn.
I have been tempted several times, seen really beautiful yarn, or yarn sold cheaply, and I stayed strong and didn't buy anything. Which means I can really be proud of myself. At the moment, I'm trying to knit up my stash, and here's what I'm doing:



September 2009 Mystery Sock designed by Nancy Bush "Fox Faces".
Ravelry link

And here are "Hat heel socks" from the new issue of Knitty:



I'm knitting 2 more pairs at the moment, but haven't photographed them yet, and I finished these "Spring Forward Socks", also from Knitty:



I've knit 14 pairs of socks so far. That means, I started knitting in November 2008, and that's what I did since then. Now I can wear my handknit socks every day. I'm a selfish knitter, I knit mostly for myself. I gave one pair of socks to my mum, who really loved receiving socks from me. She really appreciated them. And I, in turn, liked that very much, of course.

Now, summer is definitely gone. I've seen the wild geese leave for the south two weeks ago:



It really makes me sad each time, the end of summer. But then again, I like fall. If we only could skip winter.

Wow, it's finished!!





it's got a belly made of handspun yarn. I just spun a very small amount for this cute crab, and knit it up without washing it or doing anything but plying.

I think I'll have to make one for myself as well, that is, if my niece doesn't want the crab. If she doesn't like it, I'll keep it for myself, of course.
:-))

The pattern is available for free here at knitty.com

On the annual womyns summer camp I started to make a rattle for myself, out of goats skin, I think.
Today, I picked up the empty, hardened head of the rattle, and filled it with mung beans. I stuck the handle into the head, and wrapped a wet strip of cloth around the skin around the wood, to make it soft and adapt to the form of the wooden stick.
It was a wonderful day and I tried to capture the sun, the water, and the rattle with my camera:



I love it, I love it, I love it!!

And I finished my Revontuli Shawl:



It's made from handspun merino top, and it was quite a hassle to spin the colour gradient. The very fine fibers stuck together, forming lumps and knots, when I started to blend colours. But the result is really rewarding.

I looooooove them!!
handdyed wool top with easter egg colors, spun into a single yarn and without any setting of twist knit the socks with the "energized single".

At the moment, I seem to come across online discussions where in public you can knit or spin quite often. The best pic I have seen is by Starathena, here she is blogging about herself knitting on a "Splash Mountain" ride at Disneyland! (Inclucing photo)
I'm quite moderate compared to her, I only spin while going to the grocery store and in the park, in the waiting room.... my knitting isn't that portable at the moment, because the socks I'm making need a lot of chart following and concentration.

People usually turn their heads when I'm spinning in public, especially children think spinning is cool.

My current vision of a relaxing walk is me, with a good or my best friend, walking through the countryside on a sunny day and I've got a spindle in my hand, and I'm spinning some nice yarn while talking and laughing...

Today I met a farmer who I got to know many years ago. He's got sheep and maybe, when he doesn't forget about it, he'll get me some wool of his sheep! He's got some left from last year. This year they didn't shear them yet because of the bad weather. He said, they won't shear them at all this year, probably.
Anyway, I'm curious. I hope he remembers it :)

I'm so proud! I'm knitting socks from my handspun yarn!



It's a single yarn, and since I did nothing to set the twist, it's also knitting with an "energized single". It worked better than I had expected. This is "Eiderwolle", dyed with easter-egg-colors, And then spun with a worsted short draw into a single.
Noro does it, Schoppel Zauberballs are single sock yarns, so why should I not?
The fiber is rather rough and strong and I think the socks will be durable enough. I reenforced the heel using commercial sock yarn, though.

...I love it!!



That shape on my back is the hood of a hoodie - I don't know why I was too lazy to put on something else before taking photos.



I wore it all day today - so nice and soft.