Spinning and casting on
I also went to Black Sheep Gathering on Friday with my friends Lee, Star, and Caitlyn. It was lots of fun! We saw a pile of baby goats (click on Lee's blog for the baby goat pictures), looked at lots of roving and yarn, and I bought a spinning wheel! Even though we went on a Friday, a lot of people were at Black Sheep. I ran into Kelley, Alison, and my friend Adam.
Several of my crafty friends and coworkers at Knit Picks are very good spinners, and this is something that I've wanted to learn for awhile. With my new wheel, it finally clicked and I started spinning yarn evenly! This is what I've spun so far:
The first two bobbins are very thick pencil roving that I spun up when I was practicing treadling and adjusting everything on the wheel. I need to procure a lazy Kate before I can ply the singles together (sidenote, as someone named Kate, I don't like that this tool is named a lazy Kate). The gray fleece is random undyed roving with a fairly long staple length that I use for practice. But the single is smooth and seems to be balanced! This is fun! I bought some really pretty dyed roving that I am looking forward to using after I've practiced with the gray stuff.
Also, I just started the Vivian sweater from the Twist Collective. Actually, I cast on for the sweater during lunch today. I am using City Tweed HW, and due to its alpaca content, my swatches grew a little when I washed them. The pattern calls for a chunky weight yarn, but then it's knitted to 17 stitches per 4 inches in stockinette stitch. A few months ago, I swatched with a chunky weight yarn in my stash, and it was too thick to get that gauge. When City Tweed HW came out, I knew that this would be the perfect yarn because it's an aran weight. I'm using the Brocade color, and it even matches my purple hiking boots!
Several of my crafty friends and coworkers at Knit Picks are very good spinners, and this is something that I've wanted to learn for awhile. With my new wheel, it finally clicked and I started spinning yarn evenly! This is what I've spun so far:
The first two bobbins are very thick pencil roving that I spun up when I was practicing treadling and adjusting everything on the wheel. I need to procure a lazy Kate before I can ply the singles together (sidenote, as someone named Kate, I don't like that this tool is named a lazy Kate). The gray fleece is random undyed roving with a fairly long staple length that I use for practice. But the single is smooth and seems to be balanced! This is fun! I bought some really pretty dyed roving that I am looking forward to using after I've practiced with the gray stuff.
Also, I just started the Vivian sweater from the Twist Collective. Actually, I cast on for the sweater during lunch today. I am using City Tweed HW, and due to its alpaca content, my swatches grew a little when I washed them. The pattern calls for a chunky weight yarn, but then it's knitted to 17 stitches per 4 inches in stockinette stitch. A few months ago, I swatched with a chunky weight yarn in my stash, and it was too thick to get that gauge. When City Tweed HW came out, I knew that this would be the perfect yarn because it's an aran weight. I'm using the Brocade color, and it even matches my purple hiking boots!
Comment
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Comment by Grannie Linda on June 27, 2009 at 9:31am -
Oh, yes. I have some friends whose last name is "Hall". At Christmas time they dread the song,
"Deck the Halls". giggles
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Comment by Kate on June 23, 2009 at 11:50am - There are a lot of drop spindle videos on youTube that I though were really helpful because you can see what the person is doing. Hands on Spinning by Lee Raven also has good drop spindle instructions. It was pretty hard for me to figure out how to make an even yarn, I felt like my hands weren't coordinated and I couldn't understand how people could just sit and spin gorgeous even yarn and look relaxed. I'm still not there, but improvement comes with practice.
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Comment by Knit4Many on June 23, 2009 at 11:33am - What nice idea to pass on the drop spindle. I received one as a gift last Christmas but its just not clicking. Hopefully some day it will. Until then I can have fun admiring everyone else spinning. :)
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Comment by Kerin on June 23, 2009 at 10:47am - Haha, I have a cheapsKate for my wheel! It's a mailing box with dowels skewered through it. I put a book in the bottom for weight, and it works like a charm :)
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Comment by Kate on June 23, 2009 at 8:05am
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Yes, I tried a drop spindle before the wheel. Using a drop spindle is harder for me than using a spinning wheel, but it taught me the basics of how to spin, ply, and draft before committing to spending a lot of money on a wheel. Spinning with a wheel would be harder if I hadn't learned to drop spindle first.
My drop spindle was given to me by a friend who had just bought a wheel and wanted to get me interested in spinning. And I'm giving that drop spindle to my friend tonight so she can learn to spin. It's nice that drop spindles are inexpensive and portable, and I recommend trying them out before getting a wheel.
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Comment by Knit4Many on June 22, 2009 at 7:13pm
- Did you start spinning with a drop spindle first then decided to get the wheel? I hear some say they didn't do well with a drop spindle but it really clicked when they tried a wheel. You guys make it look so easy. Love your swatch color by the way.
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Comment by Kate on June 22, 2009 at 5:26pm
- Sure, I'd like to borrow your extra lazy Kate :P The problem is that the Schacht bobbins are larger than Ashford bobbins, so they don't fit on my Ashford lazy Kate. I was planning on just building something that will work as a lazy Kate and save $50 (I guess that would be a cheapsKate). I could take apart my Ashford lazy Kate and nail it to a larger piece of wood to make it fit these bobbins.
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Comment by Alison on June 22, 2009 at 5:15pm - I have an extra lazy, er, industrious kate, if you'd like to borrow it!
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Comment by Susan the Blue Lake Knitter on June 22, 2009 at 5:10pm - That is what I have heard. I was just curious.
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Comment by Kate on June 22, 2009 at 4:58pm
- I have a used Schacht Matchless. It's a really good wheel!
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