Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Spinning And Knitting In The Heat

Just thinking about spinning in this heat is enough to make your feet swell up! Way over 90 and sticky heat. I had washed a fleece but somehow it just did not get clean. It had that 'ram' odor. So I just could not spin it. Then a couple of new KAL popped up. I figured with enough help I could finally 'gitterdone'. I used a whole bottle of dish soap and tub after tub of hot water. Finally clean enough to spin so I filled 2 bobbins and then plied them. I ended up with just a touch under 200 yards of two ply fingering in a really pretty gray. It is soft and smells clean and fresh now. I can't wait to knit with it.

It really was not the fleece at all. It was how I washed it. But I didn't know so I will just do better from now on.

My twist is uneven and I do wish I could get a good twist going on so it would be all nice and smooth. Any hints or tips on making a better yarn would be greatly appreciated!

OTN a new cardigan for someone special. Using Kauni in teal mix and wine mix with roses roses roses all over it. I am using size 3 needles and the Philosopher Wool 2 color method. Loving the fabric I am making. I did get off to a false start with the ribbing and have to do it 3 times before it was ok. I love Kauni. Next I want to get the natural one AA and the gorgeous gray one BB. And of course every color she sells!!

At first I thought it was just me, that Kauni was new and it was a passing fancy of mine but there are thousands on the internet knitting it right now. So it can't just be me loving this simple, plain, wonderful wool. Watching the color bands show up and feeling the wool fabric growing.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

practice is what fixes that twist issue...i wish i knew what else would fix it...over the course of the last couple of years my twist has gotten better...

now i can't spin novelty yarn without a real effort...hehe

drMolly, the BeanQueen said...

Ah Jeannie, I so envy your time to be able to spin & of course I envy your wonderful talent. I do know how to spin, I just don't have time left at the end of my work day to get all the things I "want" to do, LOL. I figure when I retire, I'm going to have a HUGE amount of stuff to do on the schedule. Make sure to let us know how the knitting with your handspun turns out.
drMolly