A bit of Everything Friday

Good God it's hot down here! No not in hell people, but in South Florida. LOL.. This is the time of year I wish Adam and Eve had not screwed up and clothes were optional. Well of course if you go to South Beach, it actually is optional. What I saw last weekend on the beach is scorched into the memory bank, I need a Clorox wipe to remove, but anyway here is what the beach was like with out the various degrees of lady bits. (this btw is a family, public beach but I guess visitors are not aware, oh and ladies over 55 should not, really not go topless there is nothing sexy about gravity trust me I know).

We had a great time and it was relaxing, I always come back from the ocean feeling calm, if we ever move to the mountains this is what I will miss the most, being able to get to the ocean in 20 mins or less. Mr. Deepend says, I'll appreciate it more because it won't be as available as it is now, we'll see about that.

I also attended WWKIP day at the Broward Library, our small group joined a larger one and we sat, talked and had some good fun. There was one lady with a Schacht Spinning Wheel, with this wonderful yarn she was working on, I was amazed actually stood there with my mouth open like a numb nut, in my defense, I've never actually witness really spinning so I was allowed the stupid expression and idiotic questions. I talked to her about her spinning and told her my spinning is still in it's art yarn stages, she agreed (as everyone has told me) that it takes some time to get good enough to produce anything worth knitting or weaving with, but eventually you get there. I need to practice more.

I made a bag with some extra woven warp and purse hardware I had stashed for my spindle and roving. I need to start carry my spinning to knit club and to work for lunch time spinning (part of the practicing agreement I made to myself). This bag is deep and has lots of pockets, I can also carry some knitting in there if I have to, or as my DD so graciously put it "daaaaamnnnnn woman, you can carry a small tribe of babies in that bag", yeah, she's proof that the apple doesn't fall far from the ol' tree in the odd humor department. I was also thinking I may take my spinning with me for my wait at the hospital with my mom. I wonder if anyone would care if I spun yarn in a waiting room??

And finally some warp on the RH loom. I'm going to make the bible cover for my son. It will be loosely based on the Folio Cover from pg. 64 of Woven Treasures by Sara Lamb. I don't have the double heddle and know I'm not going to get the sett she's getting in the project specified, but did double up on the yarn to create a stiff fabric. I also plan on doing the twining and maybe a pick up technique for some texture. I have copper brown linen, 3ply cotton in teal, red and light green that will be the accents. After the weaving of the fabric, I will be doing some card weaving to add page markers to the cover before assembling the whole project. I'm really excited to start weaving on this one.

You spin me right round baby, right round!

I plied the yarns that I had together to practice and these are the results. They are by all means "interesting" looking. The plying was relatively easier than spinning them sort of like twisting fringe unless of course I didn't that wrong, but they seemed ok to me, they lay flat when I un-skein them.

I'm still practicing and I think I'm getting a bit better. This is my third attempt and it seems to be going better and the yarn is a lot thinner and more even through out the spinning.

I'm separating the roving into thinner strips and drafting? (tugging it thinner) before I spin, it seems to help me get it more consistent thickness than drafting as I spin. I don't know if that's the correct thing to do, but I've seen a few youtube videos and the spinner's were working that way so I thought I'd try it out.

A Wonderful Gift

Dave from the Weaving Studio
sent me a very generous spinning care package and OMG can I just rave about him for the next few posts! Dave you totally rocked my spinning world to bits with your care package extraordinaire.
Loving packed was : In better detail :
100% Merino Wool Super Wash OH BOY, is this stuff soft and wonderful.
50% Silk 50% Merino, nice sheen, softer than a baby's butt.
Angelina Fiber - looks like this will be fun stuff.
Hemp - I've never seen it before so WOW interesting.
Black Merino Wool, also soft and gorgeous deep color.

Then I saw these, samples of Dave's awesome weaving and spinning skills, no doubt in his abilities to produce wonderful results from some fiber! Hand spun and woven samples with his hand spun.

This my dear friends was the Pièce de résistance, can I tell you I'm in love. This spindle is beautiful, and can it spin like a top on crack!

This is the top with a very nice laser burned tree of life motif

and the outer rim is brass filigree that is very decorative and simply gorgeous, reminds me of a Moroccan bracelet my SIL has.

I couldn't wait to spin, I took some of the 100% Merino and started the Spindle is great, spins rapid fast and I had a good run with it. My hand spun still looks lumpy and bumpy but I enjoyed this spin much more than with the other spindle. I want to try it with the alpaca and then decide if it's the fiber or the equipment, but really I know it's the operator LOL..

Spinning? What was I thinking!

I got my drop spindle and the alpaca kit. The spindle is great (blogger won't let me upload pics today). I tried to start but when I opened the bag of the roving it has alot of particles in it, straw, dirt etc... The kit said it came ready to spin, but I don't know if that's true, there is no smell to the fiber (thank God) and I'm a bit put off by the stuff in it, but can get past that. I watched some videos on youtube and thought I got the gist. As I pull the fiber apart for the drafting part I get little tufts of hair no longer than 2". I grab a bunch and did the pulling thing and it all comes apart, I took small bits and tried to spin it but it kept breaking apart. Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? The yarn didn't come in a long batt like this video (guess that's the word for it) so what do I do?

Thanks once again for any help.