Spinning Projects

I noticed that I have not posted anything that is actually about knitting since about October. Well, the project that I amcurrently working on is a secret, so instead I will flash my recent spinning projects.

Spinning is a nice way to relax at the end of the day- it is repetative, soothing, and you get yarn at the end. Recently, I saw an ad on Ravelry for spinning fiber from Yarn Wench. The fiber in the ad was so pretty that I visited her web site and bought enough for three pairs of socks! As soon as it came in the mail, I started spinning... this colorway is called Portal 1.

This is what it looks like spun up...

Now I just have to spin the other bobbin and ply it, and voila- sock yarn!

I received another fun package in the mail this weekend as well- some dark gray fleece from a Rambioullet lamb. For those of you not in the know, Rambioullet is a type of sheep breed with very soft fleece, and lamb fleece is the softest of all. I have been looking for some really nice dark gray fleece for a long long time, so when I saw this, couldn't pass on it!

To prepare a fleece for spinning, step one is to wash it. Lucky me- the woman who I bought this from had already done that! Step two is to process it, either by carding or combing it (or sending it somewhere to be carded by machine!). I like to comb, so that is how I do it... but it takes a while! I already have another combing project in the works, so I just combed up a few locks of this fleece to see what it looked like... pretty!

Next I spun my tiny sample of combed fleece on a drop spindle, and got this- a few yards of yarn.

Finally, I knit up my few yards of yarn into a tiny square... just to see what it was like!

I only have about a pound of the fiber, so a sweater is probably out of the question, unless it is very tiny... maybe I can make a vest? Regardless, it will take a few months to comb this and spin it up, so I guess I have lots of time to plan!