A few weeks ago I posted about my loose ends and frayed nerves, to which several replied that I clearly needed to loosen up a little. (These friends diagnosed my problem from the looks of my Water Lilies singles, which apparently showed my slightly obsessive side.) One of those friends, a very prolific spinner and knitter, followed up her suggestion by sending me some batts she carded up just for me to play with and perhaps spin with long-draw, a technique I've never learned. So I sent out a cyber-plea to Laura for direction, and she responded by arriving on my doorstep last night to give me a spinning lesson!
Here are the batts sweet Denise sent me:
Here's Laura demonstrating long-draw using a bit of roving she brought along:
After practicing on the fiber Laura brought, I turned to Denise's batts:
Can you believe that I spun AND plied both batts in one evening?!? I can't! It was indeed very freeing and fun, and I look forward to playing with this technique more. THANK-YOU so much to those of you who pushed me out of my comfort zone and especially to Denise and Laura for enabling me with materials and instruction!Since I won't be using my "art yarn" for my favorite Romi designs, today I picked up these delicious treats, thanks to a generous birthday discount offered by my LYS and a gift certificate to the same from my MIL:
The individual shots are truer in color; from top to bottom they are Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Composition Book Grey; Tosh Light in Fragrant; and Cascade Yarns Heritage Silk Paints. Squeee!That's about it for my first half-century, from . . .
12 comments:
The chilly temperatures we are getting in Iowa is making me itch to knit..Your yarn is so beautiful and colorful~!
great job~!
Have a great day~ ta ta for now from Iowa
Denise's batts -- what gorgeous colors!
Beautiful! Which hand are you using to do the long draw? I typically spin with my right hand supporting the fiber and my left regulating the twist but I think if I were to learn long draw I would need to switch as most wheels have the orifice on the left?
Thank-you, Nancy!
Aren't they, Dr. Momi?
Christine, I used my left hand all by itself, which was wonderful since I've been suffering from tennis elbow for two months now. My miniSpinner is wonderful because you can spin from any angle.
Your yarn looks beautiful! And happy birthday!
Your spinning looks great! I'm glad you enjoyed it :-D.
I spun all of my long draw B. Willard yarn using my miniSpinner. Perfect tool.
Michelle, long draw was a very common technique used to spin Shetland wool. Old pictures in Sharon Miller's knittine books and in the Shetland archive's show women spinning this way.
It is very freeing and fast to do long draw on fine wooled Shetland roving commercially processed. I like to spin more worsted with my own drumcarded roving though.
Nice yarns!
It was really fun to teach you - I give you an A+!
I can't wait to see what the birthday purchases turn into!
Atta Girl! Long draw is fun, my method of choice. Love the bouncy, lofty squishy yarn it makes.
Shelly
If someone breaks into your place, kisses all of your precious animals and steals that Heritage Silk yarn, it wasn't me. Just wanted you to know right up front!
Thanks, Brenda - it was! :-)
Thanks, Sara; that's high praise from you!
Theresa, I can't imagine spinning really fine yarns that way!
Ah shucks, Teach. :-)
Thanks, Shelly.
Molly, I have the security cameras on just in case. :-)
Michelle- Glad you enjoyed the batts and got a chance to do some long draw. You can spin fairly fine with the woolen method, but it takes a little practice. And it's fast, Fast FAST!
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