Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Right Round Baby


Thanks for your input on the last post, and would you believe we got over 200 votes? I'm shocked, even though it WAS possible to vote twice. That's still a lot of people.

So far Boo is in the lead, but Joe and Dave haven't made a final decision yet...do you need more possibilities, guys? Because I can come up with more...and now that I know you want "girly", I can certainly deliver that.


Yesterday I took my sister-in-law and niece to the local Ashford/Louet dealer for a private drop-spinning lesson. We took the camera, but when the rep gave us each a spindle to try, we completely forgot about the camera and didn't take a single picture. I was using a locally-made maple spindle and fell in love with it, but didn't buy it quite yet. I did, though, buy my niece her choice of spindle - an Ashford top-whorl. She also came home with 250 grams of fiber - mostly Corriedale, but with 50 grams of merino in the mix as well. She picked up the knack quickly, and is a fair way to being obsessed with spinning.

For my part, I loved it. I loved the meditative nature of the task, though my results were fairly imperfect:




Today is Messy Tuesday, so here is my laundry pile from camping on the weekend:




but instead of doing it I swatched my handspun:


and enjoyed that very much.


Edit: I forgot to show you a picture of Piper, who has grown a lot in the last few months. Isn't he cute?


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love it!!

Ames said...

You deserve to sit down and swatch your yarn. Especially since your no-good-SIL left all her laundry for you to do. In fact, you deserve a spindle, too.

Anonymous said...

Pretty!!!

And, um, if Piper should suddenly go missing, it is because his Auntie Lizbon has pupnapped him. Don't worry; she will take him to play in the park and give him lots of treats.

Brenda said...

You will be over on the other side (spinning!) before long. You know you wanna!!!!!

Oh, and keep meaning to tell you that I take great comfort in your messy Tuesday posts.

Jo said...

Wow! He's so much bigger now! Your handspun reminds me of the hair ribbons I had as a child.

Anonymous said...

But Boo is as girly as all the girls I know (of course, we're all cantankerous as heck). What a beautiful dog! What pretty yarn!

KB said...

Shan,
You have to show me how.... another addiction I don't need(!) but this one looks really compelling and necessary!!

Annalea said...

Like a record, baby . . . (now, to get the song out of my head ;o)

I've been resisting mightily the urge to dive into spinning. The Tour de Fleece this year has sorely tested my resolve, but all I have to do is think of my stash, and all the yarn in there that I want to spend time with first.

Speaking of yarn, I finally got to see my yarn yesterday after nearly a week's separation. I didn't know how much I would miss it! lol

And what a great photo of Piper. He has just the perfect name, and is so clearly in the teenage phase . . . with adorably big nose and feet!

Anonymous said...

PS. Forgot to thank you for putting that old gem of a song in my head.

Dave Hingsburger said...

Well here is a quiz what was the name of the woman who could spin straw into gold? Joe and I have decided that today is the last day for polling and we'll decide tomorrow. I have a question though, someone wrote that BOO would be very difficult to care for because of the material used in the making. Is that true? Any words of advice on the means of care for the designs?

Tabatha said...

My friend Q is really into spinning and between the both of you, you have piqued my interest.

The yarn you spun looks nice and soft and cuddly and so does Piper! What a big boy he is becoming.

Shan said...

Dave, wasn't she just 'the miller's daughter'? I don't recall her ever having a name, though I've been wrong before. Do tell.

BOO is made of wool, silk, and mohair. Though it won't need cleaning often (wool self-cleans) it will be dry clean or "hand wash cold lay flat to dry". If it's put in the washing machine it will felt, which means irreversibly shrinking to doll size.

As a person who wears wool and dresses my children in it, I sometimes forget that not everybody is willing, or will remember, to use unusual care in washing.

Kimmer said...

Please tell me where you went to spin wool. I have access to "raw" alpaca wool and am pondering if I want to get involved in all that.