Hooked!

I am absolutely hooked, and no not on crocheting which is what I usually think of when I hear the word hook (but I am going to try that out sometime soon, too! I feel like I should really learn to crochet!). Nope, I am HOOKED on spinning! A few weeks ago I ordered a drop spindle and some roving, and I loved using it! I didn't take any pictures while I was spinning (I was too busy dropping the spindle and trying to unkink the yarn I was making!), but here are a few pictures from my process (sorry, I was having trouble putting the images into the post, so you'll just have to click the hyperlink!):


http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/shortern2/DSCN0748.jpg
This is my roving after I split it a few times and predrafted it. After I took this picture I ended up splitting it one more time because I felt like it was too thick. After I spun it, I still thought it came out too thickly, but everyone tells me that's how most first time yarns turn out!

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/shortern2/DSCN0753.jpg
Here is my yarn after it was spun when I spun it around the chair to tie it off in sections and get the yardage. I didn't even think to take pictures while I was spinning because I was too busy trying to figure the darn stuff out!

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/shortern2/DSCN0757.jpg
This is my yarn while I was setting the twist. I think I may have tied it into too many sections, because I actually ended up with tiny kinks in the places where I tied it with the other yarn. Also, some of the blue dye ran while it was in the warm water; does anyone know how to stop this from happening? Or is it just bound to happen when it's pre-dyed? I'd really love to try spinning some plain white colored yarn and then dyeing it, but that's another blog post!

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/shortern2/DSCN0759.jpg
After setting the twist, I hung the yarn up to dry, and I read that you're supposed to put a weight on the bottom so that all the twists and kinks work themselves out, and the only thing I could find to put at the bottom was a stapler! I think this was my favorite part of the process because I could finally see my final product, and I was just so proud of myself for creating YARN :] I hung it on my closet door so that everyone who walked into my room could see it right away. And I shoved it into all my friends faces and was like "LOOK, I MADE YARN!!!!" Needless to say, I was pretty excited.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/shortern2/DSCN0762.jpg
Here's the final yarn after I wound it into a ball-thingie! This photo doesn't really show off the color well, but the lighting in my room is horrible :\ There's about 20 yards of yarn in that ball; I couldn't seem to fit any more yarn onto my drop spindle, and I'm not sure how others get more than 20 yards! Perhaps when I end up making thinner, more consistent yarn I'll be able to make more than 20 yards! I made another, nearly identical ball of yarn, but I didn't take any pictures of it.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa95/shortern2/DSCN0761.jpg
Another view of my final product. I'm so proud of myself :] Overall I have about 40 yards of this yarn, but I'm not really sure what to do with it. It's really thick and thin, so I'm not sure it's practical for anything. I might just knit it up into a square or rectangle and frame it or something so I can always remember that first yarn I was able to spin!


So that was my first foray into spinning, and I'm absolutely sure it will not be my last! I've just had difficulty finding time to spin in the past few weeks because I've been absolutely loaded with homework :( Another orange-y rose-ish colored roving came with my drop spindle, so I want to spin that up soon, plus I still have a few pieces of roving left over from the blue roving. I also ordered two more rovings from a shop on Etsy, but I haven't gotten them in the mail yet :(

On the knitting front, even though I currently have all those projects listed in the right hand column on needles, I started two more projects instead of working one on of those :\ I'm pretty sure I'm not happy unless my projects table looks like complete chaos!

Ah well, off to knit and spin right now! Have a great day!

New Blog!

Hey guys, thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I just started it, as you can tell! I hope to be adding much more soon, so please check back often for updates.

To visit my Etsy store, check out this link: www.blacksquirrelknits.etsy.com
I hope you find something there that you love as much as I do!