Thursday, April 14, 2011

A Little of This and A Little of That, 1 of 2

Wow! Where has the time gone. I've been busy at work, and then the expected change in my work schedule occurred, starting this week, which has thrown me off schedule here at home. As the title indicates, I've been busy with a number of things since my last post. Unfortunately, tatting hasn't been one of them. I did pull out my tie, and tatted a few more four ring squares. It hasn't changed enough yet for me to post a new photo. Don't worry, I will be tatting again soon. I am planning on going to my parents house early next week. I have to work Easter weekend  (so does my dad) so this is the best we can do. Tatting will probably be the only thing I can easily take with me and work on. A few of you have asked about how my spinning is coming along. Well, let me show you.

I received the new spindle on Tuesday. Of course, I had to start playing with it that evening (new toy and all). One problem though, I couldn't remember how. The spindle I bought is also a top whorl, and the one I made was a bottom whorl. Relearning how to spindle spin wasn't very difficult to do. As is turns out, I have an invaluable resource now that I didn't have years ago when I first learned spinning. YouTube. A few videos later, here was the result:


Not too bad. Could be better, but I'm not complaining. I made several small balls of yarn yesterday afternoon. I plied them in the evening. Here is the result of that experiment:


And a better look here:


Again, not too bad. It is uneven, and thicker than I'd like, but I'll get better. I've been wishing after I started spinning that I had purchased some undyed roving to practice with. Unlike some of you, I hate practicing with the pretty stuff (thread, yarn, roving). I've also decided that I'll have to find a project or two to use the yarn. No point making the yarn if I won't use it. In case you're wondering the skein of yarn above contains about 25 feet of two ply yarn, equivalent to a bulky weight or so. I have two skeins of approximately the same size, plus enough roving left for another single strand of yarn.

As it turns out the spindle I bought is pretty small. So I either have to make lots of short lengths of yarn, get my yarn thinner, or buy/make a larger spindle. Browsing though Etsy, I noticed a lot of the wooden spindles, not all but a fair number, were simply wooden toy wheels attached to a dowel with a hook on one end. I figured that since I'd be in the area today that I could pick up what I needed from Michaels. Unfortunately, they didn't have any wooden toy wheels larger than one inch in diameter. I needed a 3-4 four inch wide wheel. Oh well, I'll keep it in mind and keep using the one I have. Probably a good idea to practice with the smaller one anyway. As always, I'll keep you guys updated.

That's about it for now. I've been working on my chainmaille shirt, and have the front section about three quarters done. I'm going to start on the back section probably tomorrow. I did some other chainmaille as well, but I'll post about it in a couple days. Till next time.

5 comments:

  1. Really nice, I haven't got the hang of spindle spinning, I am using a 2 peddle spinning wheel right now, but I will get better, maybe some day I will be brave and try hand spinning with a spindle. I think you did a great job. :)

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  2. You did a great job at spinning. I am still learning how to use my Spinning wheel takes time and loads of practice!

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  3. Hi Jeff,
    Well done in doing some spinning, look forward to seeing what you do with it. I have never done spinning something to think about when I never have anything to do.... which with all the craft these I do maybe never
    Have a nice weekend.
    Margaret

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  4. Yeah, keep it up, and pretty soon you'll be spinning thread fine enough to tat with!

    David Reed Smith has plans for a spindle made from paperboard, a bamboo skewer, and a paperclip at http://www.davidreedsmith.com/Spinning/Lisard.htm Probably not the greatest spindle in the world, but it might be OK to practice with, and certainly inexpensive. Of course, David also makes beautiful turned wooden spindles for when you're ready for more. No affiliation, I just love David's shuttles.

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  5. I learned on a spindle made of a piece of dowel, an old cd, 2 rubber seals from the plumbing dept at the hardware store (to slide down under and over the CD and keep it in place. There was a cup hook screwed into the top of the spindle for hooking the thread. It worked like a charm!

    Your yarn looks great! Actually it's fairly even for a first go. Mine was so over twisted and thick and thin that in places it got wire hard and buckled in on itself. You should definitely be proud of your accomplishment!

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