Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Spindle spun fun!!

It's been a fun couple of weeks. I've been challenging myself to see how thin I can spin the yarn without breaking it. So far, the best I've made is a 25g skein which measures 80m. I haven't worked out the wpi yet but that's coming.

The Babe spindle can't cope with much more than about 6g of spun wool when it's spun so thin. I haven't tried spinning such thin wool on the wooden spindle yet and that'll be a project for another day.


For this skein I took the 4 blue singles (one pictured above) and plied each one back on itself. I then spit spliced each plied ball of wool to the other and then wound them into a skein on my arm.


Now all I need to do to finish off this skein is to give it a quick rinse to set the twist. I feel like I'm making REAL wool now. But it's hard work producing this much on the spindle as I'm using muscles I never knew I had.

5 comments:

Rositta said...

Hi Bernie, I've been toying with the idea of buying spindle and trying this. I saw a woman do this with dog hair (a golden lab) and it was wonderful yarn. Is it worth it or is it just something to do for fun?...ciao

Tracey said...

Hi, your spinning looks great. My spindle efforts weren't so good. I find the wheel fun though. In answer to your question on my blog I find the wheel quicker than the spindle. I can definately spin thick quicker than thin though. You have reminded me that I need to practice some more. I have been crocheting since I was bought a hook for Christmas and that seems to have taken over everything else.
Keep at it, your spinning is great.

AR said...

Lovely! I am in love with spindles right now. Nice Springlike color you got there, too.

blog-blethers said...

What great spinning, Bernie! And beautiful shade.

Hope you're feeling physically more comfortable at the mo. Am happy (please, please as it might motivate me to lose a similar amount!) to join you with the 'less of me' campaign. Am due to see the rheumatologist next month and will no doubt have more of the usual rounds of:
Me: It's the steroids
Him: No... it's just you're a porker;)

Piglottie said...

You've really taken to spinning haven't you?! I love your yarn (great colours too).