Guess what I found? My sanity perhaps

You guessed it, my batterie charger! I guess it heard from aroud the way that I was talking smack so it finally decided to pop up so I could stop bitchin. It was hiding out in one of my WIP project bags. That shows you how long its been since I picked up one of my WIP (more like UFO's). I actually pulled it out to block a toddler vest and poncho that I finished like two months ago (yes I don't mind telling on myself).

Now that I have my camera, here goes the parade of pictures. I just wanted to warn you that this post will be entirely of spinning, so if you don't like spinning or looking at pretty yarn....I suggest you seek mental help.

Ever since I got my wheel, I have become overly obssessed with spinning. I love making yarn. The only problem is that once I make the yarn I become so attached to it that I don't want to give it up. Case in point, here is a picture of all the yarn that I've made since learning how to spin. My son insisted on agreed to help me with this photo shoot. Here's a close up of the yarn Here are some of my favorites And my absolute favorite spun from a Grafton Fibers Batt that I got from my SSF Carine

Does this seem like a lot of yarn? I don't know, I may be a bit biased but this doesn't seem like that much to me but it does seem like a lot for me to have not knit anything out of (yes I know I contradicted myself but this is my blog and I can do that). It's just been nagging me a bit that after all this spinning that I've done, I only have two projects to show for it. Not to mention that the two projects that I did both used less that 30 yards of yarn. I love to knit so I don't know what my problem is.

Actually I do know what my problem is, I just can't let go. When I finish spinning the yarn I just want to admire it. I want to throw it on my bed and roll around in it naked like Demi Moore did in Indecent Proposal. I'm emotionally attached to all the yarn that I spin, big and small. I have this irational thought that once I knit it into something that all of the qualities I admired it for will somehow be gone forever. My rational side knows that this is not true but for some reason I still feel that way. But all hope is not lost, I'm planning on weaning myself off of my handspun stingieness by spinning yarn with specific projects in mind. That leads me to my next project.

I recently the twisted knitters blog. It was only fitting because I don't think I would have wanted to learn to spin if I hadn't purchased the book. When I first got the book, I thummed through it and immediately thought "I wanna make that". It pushed my urge to spin more and more everyday until finally I got a kit on ebay and the rest is history.

Let me take you through the process of my twisted socks.

First I weighed out 3.75 ounces of Romney Fleece along with .25 ounces of Mohair to blend. Then I carded it up into rolags (21 to be exact). I dyed 7 of them in three different batches using the stovetop method and Aljo acid dyes. I think I've spun about half of them. Here's how it looks spun up as thin as I can. Guess who just learned how to use the close up feature on her digital camera?

It was ME!(lol) I was planning on Navajo plying the singles to keep the stripes but I don't think I'll have enough for a pair of socks if I three ply it so two ply it is. I like how the colors came out and I can't wait to finish spinning it up. The rolags got a tiny bit felted while I was dyeing so I have to smack em up against the wall to make them draft smoother. I wish I knew what all the term meant so I could tell you what method I'm using to spin these (I could look it up but I can be lazy like that sometimes). How about if I just explain it, I hold the rolag close to my body and the twist is a bit ahead of the drafting zone. When I'm pinching the twist, I draft towards the orifice so I'm basically moving my right hand front and back and my left hand is stationary. If it's going really smoothly then I let the twist travel a little into the rolag and I gently grab the yarn that's already twisted near the orifice and drag it in that way. I hope that's understandable. Sorry for the really long post but I had to spread some spinning love. Hey maybe next time I'll do a whole post about sewing. We'll see.

By the way, Cuzin E aka Suga, I started your project but without those measurements, I'm at a stalemate. You know what to do. I also have some fiber for my favorite babysitter to spin. Luv yall.

Happy Knittin


"SAVE THE CHEERLEADER, SAVE THE WORLD"