Friday, April 19, 2013

Park and Draft No More!

So, I've had my drop spindle for two years now.  It's just a basic beginners spindle that I bought from Fibre Space in Alexandria, VA.  It looks like it could be the same type that Louet sells in their spindle kits.  In all this time, I've been drafting, then spinning.  It hasn't been an all at once sort of thing.

After a fair amount of reading on Ravelry, I've realized that my spindle doesn't spin all that long, which could be part of my problem.  So, doing what any craftster would, I went shopping for supplies to make a new, longer spinning spindle.  I succeeded, sort of.  I wanted a whorl that was weighted on the outside and I couldn't find anything quite suitable at my local big-box craft store.  I ended up making two really ugly, but slightly longer spinning spindles and I can draft as I spin!!  Knowing that, I got a new, very pretty spindle that should be here any day now.

I still wanted to work on my new found spinning skills, but my homemade spindles weren't doing it for me, so I went back to my former spindle.  It still doesn't spin as long as I'd like, but I found that I could practice the drafting with built up spin.  Now I don't park and draft, I spin and park.  In my mind, this is an improvement.  I'm getting a consistant, thinner single without a lot of prep to the roving.  I've just been fluffing it up a little.

Here's my current plaything.  It's more punta roving that was dyed ages ago.  I'm not a huge fan of the green (love the teal though!), so I'm planning on this batch as a bit of a throw away.  If I get a nice amount, I'll see if I can learn Navajo plying with it.



Speaking of plying, the other batches of punta I was working on are spun and in the process of being plied. I wrapped them on empty toilet paper rolls using the same cake making wrap style one would use with a nostepinne.  The purple was wound haphazardly all at once and the blue was done in little bits as I spun it.  Can you tell I don't have the patience for repetitive activities except in small blocks?



To ply the two together, I'm using another homemade spindle.  I call it my über-spindle because it's so big.  If a vampire ever attacks me, I could use it as a wooden stake.  The toilet paper rolls were threaded onto knitting needles stuck through a weighted cardboard box.  It's a totally classy Lazy Kate, don't you think?  Regardless of how classy it is, it gets the job done.



The finished yarn will be gifted to a friend who wants to learn to knit along with a nice pair of bamboo needles and a copy of Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller.  Pretty yarn, nice needles, and that book are my favorite way to get people hooked on the craft.

In other news, the sock is still growing.  It's been living in my purse and coming out to play during odd moments of the day.  Rather embarrasingly, I realized while knitting it that I've been doing twisted knitting for the past decade.  Whoops!  Apparently, I've been wrapping the yarn clockwise instead of counter.  I've adjusted my knitting mid-sock and there is a definite difference in the flatness of the yarn. It won't be a big deal because the shift is in the foot of the sock, but I can't believe I've been doing this wrong for a whole decade!  Sock pictures will come...eventually.

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