Jananas

I’ve spent a lot of time over the last two weeks spinning. I’ve been doing a pretty major spring cleaning/overhaul of the house and had started to get a little overwhelmed by my fiber cupboard. The best solution? Spin like a mad woman! I think any point in time when you spin pounds of yarn in a one to two week period qualifies as crazy.

One of the difficulties with indie dyers is that you often end up with 4oz of a beautiful colourway. Because I don’t have fantastic yardage I end up with little skeins. Partly because I wanted more yarn and partly because I’ve been inspired by all the lovely yarns I see spun up on Ravelry I decided to play around with some combos. Excuse the photo heavy post – imagine how much work it would be if I included all the yarn I spun. Below (at 12oz of fiber, or one pound) is about half of what I spun up – eek!

First up is Hello Yarn in Minerals (shetland) and Juliespins in Amish Rainbow (targhee). I think that this is just lovely and it makes for a springy, dense yarn. Lovely, lovely, lovely! I also ended up with two giant skeins of yarn!

Next up is Spunky Eclectic’s Storms of Jupiter (organic merino) and Hello Yarn’s Icing (superwash merino). I’d originally hoped to ply Storms of Jupiter with Minerals (both are red/blue/white), but the colours weren’t complimentary. I think that this mix worked wonderfully!

I’ve been playing around with weaving on my new rigid heddle loom over the last few weeks. Mid-last week I warped for my first scarf made out of handspun yarn! I had spun up 8 oz. of Spunky Eclectic’s fiber clubs (4 oz. each of David’s Gift and Mordor) and plied them together. It was funny, I disliked both colourways on their own but really like them together. I love how you have to learn to trust fiber in that things that look bad at first can look amazing further along in the process. For the weft I used a mix of the SE two ply and some two ply I spun up quickly from some Moonrover batts I had in my stash. It worked so perfectly!

I like weaving on my little rigid heddle! Its extra awesome because it means another way to use my hand spun and I can use sock yarn without having to knit socks!! I’m not sure where this scarf will end up, but my first two are already in the mail on their way to their new homes so there’s a good possibility that this one will get gifted as well.

I was discussing life with an old friend on Friday. Its funny, when I started working he was hugely inspirational for me. He had definite goals and worked towards them consistently, whether it was training for a marathon or learning piano or becoming a teacher. He is hugely accomplished and very driven. Compared to him, I felt like such a slacker.

Needless to say, I was surprised when he said the same thing about me. That I’m busy and driven and productive. I’ve realized over the last while how productive I’ve become, but I hadn’t actually realized how far I’ve come. It continues to blow my mind that after all my education and corporate experience, that it is they physical things in my life that truly teach me.

When I dye fiber, I find the willingness to play and experiment. I find the patience to have to wait (until the dye has set, until the fiber is dry, until its spun into yarn, until its knit into a finished object) to see how it turns out. Can you tell from the colours below that I’m excited for Spring?

When I bought a loom off craigslist, I found the willingness and patient to learn and make mistakes. I find the strength of will to not accept making excuses. I found the strength to get my ass up off the couch and to open the manual and to (mostly) follow instructions. So Sunday morning, I assembled the loom and measured out the warp, and got all the ends in the heddle, and wound the warp onto the back of the loom. After all of that I got to sit down and try my hand at weaving.

Its not perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination. The tension is a little off on either side and the weft isn’t always totally even. All of that will come with time and experience and trial and error. It is bright and cheerful and is using up stash (some lovely Noro sock yarn). How awesome and inspiring is it that I made that – I wove it myself. I’m excited to be get better so that I can start using hand spun to weave items! Oh the joy that will bring.

How do you challenge yourself?

I spun up some lovely superwash yarn (originally a plying partner set from play at life fibers on etsy). I got 280 yards of a worsted two ply from about 7oz of fiber in lovely, bright colours.

My friend Miss Ellen (from my local stitch ‘n bitch) bought it off me. She had plans to make an adorable baby sweater from the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book, but we were worried that she wouldn’t have quite enough yardage as it was close. Well surprise, surprise when she was able to eke out the sweater and a hat and have a little leftover! I stole the photo from her Ravelry page & project.

This is sweet little set is just adorable! I think that Ellen did a fantastic job knitting it.

Its really amazing to get to see things go from fiber to hand spun yarn to finished knitted item. I’m grateful that I get to be a part of the process!

I’ve been productive getting wedding related crafting done lately. Sometimes it makes me feel like I’m not getting other things done in me life. This morning I took (photo) stock of what I’ve done this week and, well, I’m just as productive as normal in the rest of my life as well.

In that last week I finished up a top secret birthday project (photos to be revealed once the package has been received & opened). I cast on and finished the first of a set of seat covers for our dining room set. I’ve cast on for the second one and will work away on it (and the rest of them) over the next few weeks. These are super fast given the bulky yarn and giant needles (seriously – US size 15 aka 10mm), which is rewarding.

I’ve also spun a bunch of yarn. I spun and plied 8oz of stuff I dyed at yarn school in the fall. I spun 4.2oz of raw gray alpaca that I bought and carded at yarn school. Its not too much longer until I’m back at yarn school once again, so it seemed only appropriate that I finally start using some of my stockpiled fiber (eep). I also spun up 4oz of superwash merino & firestar that arrived in the mail this week. I can’t help but love sparkle!! I also (also, also, also!) finished spinning the 12oz. of Juliespins in a superwash merino that I had started last week. Total weight – in the realm of 20oz, which is over a pound of fiber!

The one thing I adore about crafting is that there is physical proof at the end as a reminder of what you’ve done/accomplish/created. I spend so much of my life in spreadsheets or concepts that its really easy to forget how much I actually do. Crafting is a great reminder for me.