A little spinning update

We had another relaxing day today. Well, the children had a relaxing day. I did laundry, went to the grocery store, and washed all the linens we used on Thanksgiving and stuck them in the freezer to iron later. The house feels a little bit more organized now.

There were some highlights, though. First, D. made bread so we could all enjoy turkey-cranberry orange relish sandwiches for lunch. To my mind, these sandwiches are the real reason to cook Thanksgiving dinner.

Second, I spent some time in my studio at the spinning wheel. I finished the blue merino wool I have been working on forever.


All that's left to do is to ply it together, wash, and hang it to dry. I love how it turned out, and I cannot wait to see what it looks like plied together. The only downside is that I'm afraid it is going to make a very small amount of yarn.

I also started the Blue Faced Leicester wool that I bought in October. It is beautiful with dark plums and browns.


Right now I am spinning a particularly dark section, so it is difficult to tell in the photo that it is both dark brown and plum.


The Merino has a pretty short staple length, so it took me quite a while and a lot of frustration to figure out how to spin it. In comparison, the Blue Faced Leicester is extremely easy to spin, but is not quite as soft as the Merino. (I've linked to images of each of the sheep, if you are curious. I love sheep and love seeing the different kinds and the differences in their wool.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Making bias tape... otherwise known as the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Image
( Sorry, the contest is now closed .... though you're welcome to leave a comment if you like.) It's Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway time again.  I love bias tape.  It is so useful and so easy to use... finishing edges ... finishing seams ...  And while the pre-packaged stuff has it's place and I use it often, I really like to have patterned bias tape as well.  Enter one of my favorite little tools: the bias tape maker.  This one make 3/4 inch bias tape and I will be giving one away at the end of this post.  But first, I thought some of you might like to see what it does if you've never used one before. I don't have a rotary cutter, nice cutting mats, or even a proper cutting table (I cut-out things on my floor), so if I can do this, so can you.  Here is my admittedly quirky method. Step 1:  Lay out the fabric and fold a corner over to find the bias.  The woven threads should be at right angles to the part you turned up. Step 2:  Using a ruler and some sort of mark
Read more

Apple picking in the rain

Image
Today was our planned day to go and pick apples.  It was raining off and on, but when it comes to fruit, we don't let a little water get in our way so off we went.  We met our friends and enjoyed their company and picked a lot of apples (3 1/2 bushels).  We also ate quite a few. G.  L. K.  (with an apple nearly as big as his head) P8, TM and L. Now, I don't know about you, but even picking 7 bags of apples does not take us very long.  It's a shame to drive so far only to turn around and go home, so we packed lunches, headed to a park, and enjoyed the now sunny weather. TM and P8 A good day all around.  Of course now I have to do something with all these apples...
Read more

Kenzie on the beach

Image
We have made it back home. I am feeling a little more balanced, but it was hard saying goodbye to a house we've created such meaningful memories in for the past 34 years. I'll write more about both later.  In the meantime enjoy pictures of Kenzie living his best life as a beach dog.  Note the ears blowing in the wind (Photo credit TM) (Photo credit for the rest MC)
Read more