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Monday, January 14, 2008

Practice Makes ...

Well, not perfect, certainly. But better: Behold my second attempt at spindle spinning, done over the course of a couple of hours last night:

You can see it all got a little wonky toward the end there with some underspun portions, but trust me when I tell you that it was much more even at the beginning. I was certainly able to handle the spindle much better and no longer needed to "park and draft" to spin. I'm still struggling with adding more fiber, though some of my joins were better than others.

I was excited to pick up the spindle again after Jen let me try out her beautiful wheel over the weekend (we were talking fiber while the boys were playing video games). I felt a little bad about ruining her bobbin of very nice looking singles with my slubby mess, but she assured me she didn't mind. I will say that her wheel is quite beautiful and she was extremely nice to let me test drive it!

I'm still not sure if there's a wheel purchase in my immediate future. I'm going to wait until after my spinning class at the festival, once I've got the mechanics down a little better. I'm pretty sure that if I do buy one, it will be a single treadle. I just don't think I'm coordinated enough to manage two treadles in addition to what I have to do with my hands.

Lest you think I've spent all my time playing with roving, I present you with evidence that I have still been knitting:

The beginning of BSJ #2, which as you can see is being worked in the same striping pattern as the first one. I worked on this on Saturday afternoon while finally watching La Vie en Rose (I had to do something I could do mostly without looking; my French is not good enough to go without subtitles).

Oh, and I finished my first Jitterbug Monkey.


Mmmm, so nice and squishy and soft!

8 comments:

  1. The yarn is looking good!

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  2. Wow, that is one funky Monkey...

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  3. Since I'm not a spinner (yet) I have no idea how difficult it is or not, but to me it looks great for attempt #2.

    2nd BSJ already? Slow down!!

    Will it be a lonely monkey or will it have a friend soon?

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  4. Anonymous8:53 AM

    Yay for no more park & draft! I still park & draft. :P

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  5. I've been itching to do a BSJ lately - yours (both this one and the last one) look fantastic!

    Also, please stop talking about spinning - it's making me want to try, and there is NO room for that in my apartment...

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  6. That funky Monkey is too cool! Love those blues!

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  7. Your yarn looks lovely and soft - great job! Hee, I still park & draft, too, Yvonne!

    Wow, a whole whack of Baby Surprise Jackets! Very cute, and your monkey looks refreshing.

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  8. LOL I started my monkey's with my jitterbug cause I was so inspired by yours. It looks awesome!

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