Life as a Spectator Sport

A proud member of the reality-based community


Thursday, March 22, 2007

More fiber, more yarn

Not good yarn yet. But better yarn, helped along by watching the first actual spinning I've seen in person, other than a very brief demonstration when I bought my hand spindle. I stopped at The Woolery in Murfreesboro, North Carolina, on the way in to Newport News, asked a couple of questions, and ended up watching as the owner of the business sat down before a wheel just like mine and showed me how it's supposed to be done.

So tonight I spun up the rest of the multi-colored roving that I made the first skein from, and what a difference. Still thick and thin, but on the average, much much thinner. Still a bit slubby, but only here and there, not every few inches. Still over-twisted, but again, only here and there.

I've gotten to where the treadling is not a problem, and I can even slow down when I need to without the whole works coming to a stop. I can draft faster or more slowly as I need to, and my fingers are coming to know what the yarn feels like when the diameter and the twist are right. So I just need lots more practice.

That means I need lots more fiber, heh heh.

I bought 4 ounces of the prettiest merino in a colorway called Thistle, kind of a silvery white with faintly lilac strands running through it. Also a big bag of undyed Romney that I will dye probably this weekend. That is obviously the least expensive way to learn, and I can play with dyeing at the same time.

The skein I spun tonight is hanging over the tub to dry, after I stuck it in warm water for a bit and then thwacked it hard against the side of the laundry tub to set the twist. It isn't fine enough to ply for socks, but there is enough of it to knit up the singles for a hat.

I added the TECHKnitting blog to the list of knitting sites. That woman's illustrations are nothing short of incredible, and if you look all the way back to the beginning, she starts out at the rank beginner's level. Lots of good things there for the intermediate to advanced knitter too, the category in which I would place myself.
posted by Liz @ 10:04 PM     |


The template is set to display 10 posts. To see all the posts for this month, click on the month name in the Archive section

This site is a member of WebRing. To browse visit here.



RSS Feed


PERSONAL

Send email to
liz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com
Home

I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me

WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT'

"If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings."


I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart.

THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME

Cleaning, 1
Cleaning, 2
Cleaning, 3

KNITTING BLOGS

Extravayarnza
Knitting Heretic
Mind of Winter
Pie Knits
Persistent Illusion
See Eunny Knit
The Keyboard Biologist
Taleweaver's Ramblings
TECHnitting
Wendy Knits

FINISHED PROJECTS


SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE

-- Blogs and websites --
Causubon's Book
Club Orlov
Food Storage Made Easy
From the Wilderness
In the Wake
Listening to Katrina
Survival Topics
The Modern Homestead
The Oil Drum
Notes from a Hillside Farm

-- Mailing Lists --
12vdc Power
Living on the Land
Rainwater
Refrigeration Alternatives
Old Ways of Living

POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES

The political sites have moved

BOOKS I'M READING

How to Grow More Vegetables, etc.
Small Scale Grain Raising

ARCHIVES

February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
August 2008
July 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002

Powered by BLOGGER Template made possible by BLOGSKINS.