Hello, Patti....

Hello Pattie!
It was really great to hear from you.. hope all the puppies are growing like weeds and eating you out of house and home! grin

What a great couple of days! Had a surprise visit from daughter and son in law. Went shopping, out to eat and just sat around visiting. Bev is crocheting a lovely afghan for her son and daughter in law. Made me want to drag out my crochet hooks..grin

Well, not feeling too well for the last couple of weeks. To the dr. yesterday and am now taking antibiotics.. Sooo... better soon!

Don't Use Downy!

When I knitted this shawl last winter, I loved it and wore it continually all winter. So .. early this spring I hand washed it in the sink and used a little Downy to make it soft and have a delicious smell... Well, I won't do it again. The back now reaches the floor and the stitches are much larger than they were before.. sagging a bit instead of the close warm feeling ones of before. I did not know that Downy will loosen the fibers...ughhh.

Well, before I found out, I knitted this scarf with the first hand spun I did that was usable Blue Faced Leicester wool.... When I hand washed it after I finished it and then blocked it... well, you can see how widely spaced the stitches become. I won't do that again....

My Bossie...

I'm a little rushed today...errands to run.... On with the saga of my hand spinning adventures...



This is my first smaller sized yarn. I am working toward the size that when plied will be sock yarn, then I want to do sweater yarn. Well, what a trial and error...grin After this was finished using the homemade spindle, I thought perhaps I could (maybe) do better with a professionally made spindle. Sooo.....

This is my Jonathan Bosworth Bird's Eye Maple spindle. This is what the lace weight yarn was spun on. Ask me if I love it...!!! In the background of the picture is a wrist distaff I made by braiding the first hand spun yarn (Hobby Lobby stuff...ughhh). I had wondered about them and thought..."How could that help?"... Well, it's wonderful. I have to make a real one now with some weights on the ends because I have to stop and unwind the roving, but still... it keeps the roving from swaying in the air conditioning and getting caught in the spinning. It also keeps plenty on hand...

Gotta run...

Finished Lace Weight Yarn...

I finished spinning the small sample of roving that came with the BFL roving that I ordered from funky carolina... Carrie always adds a bit of another kind of roving or something in another color. I'm not familiar enough to know what this roving was, but it is so soft and blissful that I will have to find out! This yarn is triple plied (Andean) and measures at 1mm in size. I have no idea what I will do with it...

We have rain in the forecast for today, but then we did yesterday too but the clouds divided and went around us. The minimal cloud cover didn't do much for the humid high 90's we had, but have to admit it was better than the low 100's we've had.

Edited: .. This is not Andean plied.... It is Navajo plied!

I'm Finally Back...

Hello again after the longest blogging pause I've had yet. There is much that has been going on, but will take a while to get it all up here.

These are the lovely fabric postcards received from the Art We Mail group of very talented ladies. These are from different points around the country and a couple from New Zealand. Mine have been sent and alas, I did not think to get a picture of them before they were mailed.

This is my dowel rod and wooden toy car wheel spindle. With a little help from my wonderful DH (drill press for starter hole in the cuphook end), it was done in about 15 minutes or so. A little sanding along the sides and voila! we're off! Well, the first roving (needle felting roving from Hobby Lobby) was pretty bad, but it was good enough for me practice the basics. Took a little while to figure it out, but is much easier than I thought it would be. This is the 3rd usable yarn that I have spun, the other two being a bulkier yarn that is being knit into scarves. The current roving I am spinning and the previous roving (now being knit into scarves..grin) are Blue Faced Leicester wool that I ordered from Funky Carolina Etsy shop. (What great service and wonderful roving!)

More tomorrow....