I’m currently working on a reproduction of a 1897 Danish wrap shawl. I’m using some Shetland yarn, previously used on a shawl that didn’t work out. I really love the bottom lace pattern. I think this will be a good use for the yarn. I’m concerned about running out of yarn. I picked up 2 pounds of shetland roving from Wing and a Prayer Farm that seems to be a good match. I’m going to trade off the two yarns in the garter section, then finish up the last lace pattern with the new yarn.
I’m using some handspun yarn for my new shawl. It’s a Shetland fleece from Ingrid Painter that I bought at Black Sheep Festival some years ago. I hand carded it and it’s not very uniform. I made a shawl out of it but it was too small. I took it apart and let it set.
This shawl is a reproduction of an old Danish shawl. I think the yarn gives it a nice Rustic look. I think of it as a very 1970s project, because it does not look like it was produced by a machine. The problem is that I do’t have enough yarn for this project.
I started looking for fleece to buy. December is not a good time to do this. On Etsy, I came across Wing and a Prayer Farm. She had some roving that looked like a good match. I’m in the process of spinning it now. It’s been nice to have the wheel out. I’ve had several spindle projects going, but I think I will finish some of those on the wheel. Will be nice to have some new yarn to play with.
I am still working on the blends shown in the last post. One is tussah silk and alpaca. I think the other is camel blended with something. They are close in color and I’m considering plying them together. I have also been working on the blue wool that I got on the way to the Toledo boat show. I did some spinning during the Messabout last weekend and it was nice to sit outside and spin. I have no idea what I’ll do with it when I finish it. It’s nice stuff.
To have a blog and not post. It’s sort of like having this nice spindle that I decided I didn’t like:
I’ve been using it as my work spindle as it’s been very nice. When we went to Depoe Bay several weeks ago, we passed a fiber shop. It was almost closing for them but I bought a cheap toy wheel spindle and a bump of dyed wool fiber. I had fun spinning during the drive. I’d never really done that, as I usually drove with Jeffrey as the passenger. So it’s got me spinning again. I think I’m about to take on a major spinning project. I’ll get enough wool to last me the rest of my life and make a new knitter happy by spinning up some of it for her.
And that’s the joy of spinning. It’s just waiting for a chance to make you happy.
You can have a spinner’s desk!
With the holiday almost on us, I’ve even managed to do some spinning. I recently found my Hatchtown and Alhambra spindles so I added it to the collection in front of my monitor. I don’t find much time to spin so it really helps to have this at hand. I’m not sure if this is two different batches of camel/tussah silk or a different blend.
is start posting links to interesting videos. This one is from Rosemary Knits, which is a blog I really like, both for spinning and knitting. Take a look.
Rosemary Knits: Update to Tammy Rizzo's Navajo Ply on the Fly technique.
I thought I’d post a picture of my home spinning project. I work from home several days a week. My spindle is a great stress killer.
It seemed like a great project at the time but I’m starting to feel like I will never finish it. I’m getting close but bad stuff continues to happen. I took the time to string a lot of beads to try and finish it. Then I found a bad spot in the yarn. All wasted time. I was in the process of moving to a larger needle too.
I was listening to a cooking show the other day, while I was working on the edging for my Featherwwight cardigan. The hostess was talking about how you could vary the dish by changing the spices. It seemed to me to be a lot like what I was doing, setting off a feather and fan edging with a reverse stockinette stitch welt, adding some short rows to the collar. The pattern is a pretty basic one. I just spiced it up a bit, to make it more to my liking.
This has been a fast knit so far with one small snag. Lolo was on my lap the other night and managed to unravel a section, causing me to rip back 4rows. I just have a couple more rows to do.
